“Retention!”
That’s what one of our top gym owners said when we asked him how he earned a spot on our leaderboard for client count.
I love the answer because it’s clear that gyms with a lot of clients are great at retention and acquisition—in that order.
If you focus on acquisition before you’ve got retention systems in place, you’re on a hamster wheel. You’re going to work hard but never get anywhere. You just can’t build your client count if members are leaving in droves.
And it’s worth mentioning that most gyms don’t need 400 or 500 members. An owner can make $100,000 or more with just 150 members.
I know that number gets some people fired up on social media. Business owners with very low rates don’t understand how the math works, and others really want 300 or more members.
I’ll just mention that you can make a great living with 150, and if you want more, consider the number a great first target.
If you can run an airtight operation with 150 members, you’ll be ready to add more if you want to. But if you run a sloppy business with 150 members, the wheels will fall off when you push for 200 or more.
Here’s what our masters of retention and acquisition did in December 2023:
Amazing, right?
I can tell you that one of these gyms has added another 55 members since we ran the numbers in December.
And another has capped membership. They have all the clients they need and want, so they’ve decided to hold fast at 400 and focus on improving the client experience.
We work with gyms that have fewer than 100 members and gyms that have more than 1,000. We can help you acquire the number you need to live the life you want, and we’ll help you figure out what that number is with a spreadsheet.
With that goal in mind, we’ll make a plan, and we’ll hold you to it so you make swift progress.
The exact plan for every gym is different, but I can tell you this: No matter how many members you want, we’ll always start working toward that number by figuring out how you can hold onto current clients longer.
Acquisition tactics are important, too. But if you have a leaky bucket, you’ll want to patch the hole before you try to fill it.
