Average revenue per member is generally very high in gyms that focus on selling coaching in a one-on-one or small-group setting.
Think $500 to $900 a month—I’ll give you our Top 10 below to show you the exact figures.
Do these stats mean you should ditch group coaching?
No. But you should probably offer one-on-one and small-group coaching as options at your gym. If you don’t, you’ll miss out on high-value clients who want your coaching delivered that way.
If you do add these premium options in a gym that sells coaching in larger classes, group coaching is your de facto “discount option.”
That doesn’t mean it’s “cheap,” bad or ineffective. Group coaching will produce results—just not the best results possible as fast as possible for every client.
Again, I’m not throwing shade at group classes. I loved running them. I’m just reminding you that they aren’t the best option for every single person who might want to join your gym.
Some high-value clients want more attention, and they’re very willing to pay for it.
Service Tiers and Speed, Convenience, Privacy, and Attention
Imagine a client said this: “I have to lose 20 lb. in the next six months. It’s a matter of life and death.”
Or this: “I want to give myself the best chance to make a professional football team this year so I can earn a living and support my family.”
Or this: “It’s critically important to me that I perform my very best in the national-level race in four months.”
In all cases, the best way to get the desired result is to provide one-on-one coaching. These people obviously need and want more attention, and they’re on specific timelines. They aren’t looking for community or general fitness.
You don’t have to get rid of your group training program to serve them, of course. You do not have to stop offering CrossFit classes or HIIT groups or bootcamps when you offer one-on-one and small-group training.
But you should stop inadvertently pushing people like this away by not offering one-on-one or semi-private training designed to produce results faster than group coaching will.
Let’s face it: A lot of people want to do hard workouts and stuff that looks and feels like CrossFit, but they don’t really want to do that in a group. Or maybe they don’t want to do it at noon. Or maybe there’s another reason why they want the one-on-one option. Same deal with any other fitness method.
When they select one-on-one or small-group options, people are paying for privacy, schedule flexibility, extra accountability and undivided attention. Or maybe they just want to come in with their spouse and train together.
The reality is that we are providing a professional, high-value service as coaches. When coaching is delivered one on one, the rate should be higher than when it’s delivered in a large group. And when coaching is delivered in a semi-private setting, it should be priced below one-on-one and above big-group coaching.
Let me say it again even though this line always gets me into trouble when people pull it out of context: The group-training program should be your discount option.
When your attention is split seven or 10 ways, the service is still valuable, but it’s less valuable than your undivided attention. This should be obvious to everyone.
With all that said, our ARM leaderboard shows what’s possible when you offer premium service packages:
How to Improve ARM
You might look at these numbers and think they’re beyond the scope of possibility, especially if you’re a CrossFit gym charging $130 a month for an unlimited membership.
But treat these numbers the way you would look at Matt Fraser’s or Rich Froning’s Fran time. The stats might be beyond your capability, but they show you what’s possible.
When I release our Top 10 every month, I want you to see the high-water mark so you can move toward it.
Maybe you never hit $800 ARM, but what if you move from $130 to $205? That’s a life-changing improvement. Just imagine how your business and life would improve if every client paid you $20 more per month, let alone $75.
So how did these gyms get here, and what can you do to improve your own number? Here’s the answer: These gyms might have a group coaching option, or they might not, but if they do, it’s their least-expensive option—and not everyone wants it.
They use a very specific process to find out exactly what prospective clients need and want.
The Prescriptive Model
To find out what prospective clients want, the owners of our Top 10 gyms offer a free consultation, which we call a No Sweat Intro.
You sit down with the client, you find out about the client’s goal, and you lay out the fastest path to the goal. For most people, the fastest path involves one-on-one coaching. At worst, it’s small-group coaching, where the client gets a lot of attention but not one-on-one attention.
Present those options. If the client can’t afford them, present the next best option—maybe it’s group coaching with one PT session a month. If that’s a no-go and the budget is about $200 a month, recommend your group program after a one-on-one on-ramp that’s designed to maximize results in the group setting.
The group-training option is the least expensive of the three. It will still produce results, but not as quickly.
After the person signs up, book a Goal Review Session 90 days down the line to review progress and adjust the plan, if needed. Meet with them and ask, “Are you satisfied with your progress?” If the answer is “no,” provide options to speed things up. These options of course require more attention from you and more accountability—so they cost more.
This process—the Prescriptive Model—pulls ARM up. A lot. On average, about 30 percent of clients upgrade their services by 30 percent in Goal Review Sessions. And many people sign up for PT in the very first consultation.
It’s not uncommon for gym owners to tell us a brand new PT stream blew up simply because they started telling people one-on-one training was the fastest way to accomplish their goals.
“I had no idea so many people wanted this!” they often say.
So when I tell you that group training is your discount option, I mean that if you run a coaching business, your most expensive option should likely be one-on-one training.
Your “second” option should probably be coaching delivered in a small-group or semi-private setting.
And your lowest-tier offering should be coaching delivered in a group.
Each tier should be priced to reflect its value.
We help gym owners build, price and sell high-value services fast. If your ARM is low and you want to improve it quickly, one-on-one business coaching is the best option. To hear more about that, book a call here.
