You think losing clients is bad?
What happens when a coach leaves—and opens a gym down the street?
You’ll probably lose a bunch of clients, find yourself pulled back into coaching and worry about the rest of your staff.
Here’s why coaches leave and what to do when they say, “I’m opening my own gym.”
Part 1—Why Coaches Leave
Like me, you probably opened a gym because you wanted a career in fitness and couldn’t see any way to make a living without being an owner.
For many of us, opening a gym created the opportunity to get started as an entrepreneur. But it’s our job to turn the gym into a business that sustains our family and our staff.
If coaches can’t see a way to make a living—own a house and car and pay for their kids’ braces—they’ll leave. And we can’t blame them. Any employee making less than they need to live will pursue more money out of necessity.
The next reason most staff quit their jobs: They “run out of future” because they can’t see any opportunities to grow their careers in your gym.
What kind of ascension model do you have in place? I don’t just mean the path to earning more but the path to developing their passion.
Most staff quit their jobs when they’re offered a different plan by someone else: the opportunity to learn and explore new paths.
Finally, if they’re not learning, they’re leaving. If you mentor them to earn and learn, they won’t churn.
Part 2—How to Prevent It
1. Every six months, ask coaches “what do you want now?” at a Career Roadmap meeting.
2. Have them work through the “Perfect Day” exercise.
3. Ask which coaches want more opportunities: personal training, a nutrition specialty program or focused groups such as kids, weightlifting or sport-specific training.
4. Offer them roles that allow you to level up and build your business.
You need to build opportunities for your coaches to make more money while expanding your platform instead of taking a larger percentage of the existing pie. We call this Intrapreneurship, and we build those opportunities with you in our mentorship program.
Set up Career Roadmap meetings with your staff to paint a picture of the future and tell them how to get there. Think of this as “programming” for your coaches’ careers.
Remember, coaches earn more by creating the revenue to cover the increased wages and boost overall gym revenue. We consider coaches an investment, not an expense.
Part 3—What to Do When They’re Leaving
For many, the siren song of ownership is just too strong. They want to roll the dice and answer this question for themselves, “Can I do better on my own?”
As a friend once said, “Everyone thinks they want our job. But they don’t actually want our job.”
Of course, if a coach leaves to start their own gym, it’s hard for them to come back—unless you go out of your way to make a return trip possible.
Think about it: How many times in the last three years have you wished for a parachute? We all do it. In those moments, if you knew there was a secure coaching job available with a friendly former boss, would you take it? Many would.
After talking with hundreds of box owners, I’m 100 percent certain many would happily give up ownership for a secure position coaching.
They don’t want the burden of ownership; they just want security in a coaching position. Many have bought themselves a job instead of a business, and now they regret it.
Step 1—Keep the door open. Sadly, many coaches—and owners—burn bridges with gasoline and then stir the coals afterward. Fear of loss, confusion over emotional decisions and misplaced feelings of “trust”—they make for hard times.
Step 2—If the coach is open about intentions, offer to purchase a share of the business. After all, your counsel is very valuable: You can save them hundreds of hours of wasted time and thousands of dollars in blown income. You know what they need and how to avoid many of the startup pitfalls. Why not offer to fund 20 percent of the gym and then take a monthly retainer as a consulting fee? This will stop client poaching, protect membership rates in the area and help the coach who wants to try it alone. It also provides an out: If the gym doesn’t work, you’ll be there with an escape route.
Step 3—If the coach is cagey about intentions but leaves quietly, announce their “retirement” and stick to the high road. You have nothing to gain from belittling their memory. Your feelings might be hurt; either get used to it or stop having feelings (just kidding, but it does get easier to avoid becoming emotional). Try not to feel threatened. Amp up the energy in your classes and eliminate all reasons for clients to follow.
Step 4—During your exit interview, remind the coach of their duties under your non-solicitation agreement. You have that, right?
Step 5—If the coach lights the plane on fire before diving out, that’s a different issue. It’s hard to stick to the high road, but consider this: No one can “poach” a client. If one of your members is so attracted by a low price that they’ll quit, they probably weren’t a great member. If they’re more attached to your coach than to your brand, you have the “Icon problem.” And if your service is exactly the same as the coach’s new service but more expensive, you’re selling a commodity, and people don’t want to pay more for commodities. Move to the Prescriptive Model. Now.
Step 6—Let’s say the worst happens: a coach leaves, it’s a surprise, and they’re messaging your members about lower rates and better service. You realize you could have prevented this problem if you’d heeded the advice, but it’s too late. What then?
Here’s the plan.
- First, find bedrock. Who are the clients who won’t leave, no matter what? Interview them to find out what they value most, and then focus on that with everyone else.
- Start doing Goal Review Sessions. You’re in the results business, not the sales business. If people are leaving because of a price war, get out of the sales business and start talking to them about their results.
- Don’t go public. You can’t win in a social-media war because you’re playing defense. Win in the face-to-face war. You have a huge advantage: Most members are showing up at your gym today. Talk to your best clients and explain the situation and its impact on your gym family. Let the message trickle down from them (it will have more authority coming from them than from you).
- Focus heavily on messages of family, community and home. If you’ve read anything on psychology, you’ll already know these elements have powerful effects on retention.
An Ounce of Prevention
You can’t ever go back in time—but you can take preventive steps now so problems don’t appear.
Here are the steps:
1. Create horizons for your staff.
2. Give them continuing education and opportunities to grow under the safety of your umbrella.
3. Put every coach on a contract with a non-solicitation clause.
4. Continually ask coaches about their goals.
5. If a coach does leave, ask how you can be part of the new venture. Use the support, counsel and resources provided by a mentor to manage any situation and keep improving your business.
It’s never going to be comfortable when a staff member leaves to start a new business. It’s an emotional issue.
If you stay in front of the problem, you can usually avoid it.
But if you can’t, go with them.
