By the Numbers: LEG (How to Keep Clients Forever)

A small child desperately holds onto the leg of his father.

Gym retention is a critical stat, but it’s often poorly tracked if it’s even tracked at all.

Many software platforms don’t make LEG tracking easy or even possible, and some gyms actually use DIY spreadsheets to get their numbers. We track LEG through the Two-Brain Dashboard, our own app.

A leaderboard graphic showing the top Two-Brain gyms' LEF, from 36 to 65 months.

We track LEG because it has predictive value. For example, in 2020 we discovered that if you can get clients past the eight-month mark, you’ll probably keep them for 14 months. And if you can keep them past the 14-month mark, you can probably keep them for 24 months.

We’ve done the math: In 2018, the average gym owner who filled out our Gym Check-Up would have earned an extra $45,000 that year simply by increasing average retention by two months.

You can also use LEG to calculate how much you should spend on marketing and advertising (I’ll give you the details in the next post in this series).

Length of engagement is important. Here’s how the top performers in the world earned such great LEG numbers:

“I hired a (client success manager) to focus on reaching out to 10 members a week. I also have her reach out to people you don’t see attending—she has access to the system; she posts our bright spots board; she’s tracking all that stuff.”

“I was on the leaderboard a year ago for retention, and I went out and asked the members why they stayed so long. There were 83 answers that all fit one theme: We gave a shit about them. I know their name, their families. If someone leaves a water bottle we will know whose it is. We celebrate the shit out of them; we have an amazing client journey mapped out from their (No Sweat Intro) to their 2,000th class!”

“Our constant communication with our 125 members is what I can attribute this number to. Yes, we do goal reviews—but only officially for 15 months. Prior to goal reviews, it was all about being in tune (with) the needs of the members. We offer an extensive schedule of group classes and keep class sizes between 8-12 to allow lots of focus from each coach. But more importantly, I was emailing and texting members every week if I didn’t see them in class. If someone didn’t show up at 8 a.m. that normally is there, then I would be texting them. Now we have a GM who does this.

“We run a report each Thursday to show people who haven’t been in that week (4 days ago) and we reach out to them via text mostly. Mondays, my GM will message those who need a little extra accountability and make sure they are signing up for classes for the week. We also have events every few months that are free for members to attend (on top of the ones that cost them extra). We believe in making it more than a gym. We host a member appreciation week each year around our anniversary (11 years) and utilize our relationship with wholesale vendors to offer lots of giveaways.”

“LEG isn’t built in 6 months—it’s what you’ve done for the last 2-3 years that will impact it. Play the long game; create stickiness—they can’t imagine going somewhere else.”


Improve Your Business—and Change Lives


If you want to build a client-centric business, you have to keep a client around long enough to make a difference.

Measure LEG, and you measure the difference you’re making in their lives!

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One more thing!

Did you know gym owners can earn $100,000 a year with no more than 150 clients? We wrote a guide showing you exactly how.