Can you make a gym more valuable so you can sell it in six months?
Yes—very much so.
In fact, working with a mentor to increase value before sale has huge ROI.
Think about it: No one wants to buy a condemned house with broken windows. But a house that’s seen some recent love and could use a little more? People buy those all the time.
Easy question: Would you pay more for a gym that’s losing $1,000 every month or a gym that’s making $1,000 every month?
We can turn gyms around very quickly to help an exiting owner maximize sale price, but you can use the exact same tactics to improve the value of your gym if you want to hold onto it.
7 Steps to a More Valuable Gym
Here are seven surefire ways we help clients increase the value of a fitness business:
1. We write down everything it takes to run the gym and get the systems and processes out of the owner’s head. Why we do this: Who wants to buy something without an instruction manual?
2. We teach everything to the staff members so they can run the gym when the owner’s gone. Why we do this: A business with solid staff is worth more because the new owner doesn’t have to plug holes right away.
3. We set up long-term retention systems to keep clients around longer. Why we do this: If a business increases its length of engagement and lifetime value of clients, revenue is greater and cash flow is more predictable. New owners care about that stuff a lot.
4. We build a Career Roadmap for each person on staff so the gym can keep its best people around for the new owner. Why we do this: Would you want to buy a business if you knew a key staff person was planning to exit ASAP?
5. We systemize the marketing so the current owner can predictably say, “We get five new clients per month.” Why we do this: Steady, predictable acquisition of new clients looks great to a prospective buyer, who doesn’t have to figure out how to add members right away.
6. We track metrics we can leverage to show the business is growing. Why we do this: A seller often has emotional attachment to the business, but that isn’t worth anything. Solid metrics are worth a lot to a buyer.
7. We mentor the owner through the tough transitions that must happen before anyone will buy the gym. Why we do this: No one wants to buy a ship that’s clearly sinking.
If gym owners are looking to sell, these are the key steps we recommend. If they take them, the value of the business improves.
And then, almost every single time, something amazing happens: The gym owner says, “I love my business now. I don’t want to sell it anymore!”
This is because the actions that make your business easier to sell also make it easier to keep.
A Strong Business Gives You More Options
I want you to build a business you’re proud to own.
That means you’re serving a noble purpose, you have caring staff dedicated to service, you have great clients who fulfill you, and the future is bright and predictable.
Almost nobody wants to sell that business, right?
On some rare occasions, an owner should sell—but for now, here’s my advice: If you’re burned out and broke and you think “I can’t take much more of this,” you’re actually in a good position.
You’ve probably learned more than a few tough lessons, and your experience allows you to get some emotional distance and do hard, necessary things without putting everyone else first.
In my case, it went like this: After years of keeping my prices lower than anyone else’s, I raised everything at once.
“Well, my back’s to the wall here. If this doesn’t work, I’m gone anyway. I might lose a few clients, but if I close, I’ll probably never see them again anyway. What have I got to lose?” I said.
So I did the hard thing.
But if everything had been going well—or even just OK—I probably wouldn’t have had the resolve to raise rates. And I have 100 other examples of reality forcing me to do things I should have done earlier—like getting staff members to follow the rules.
There’s really something to be said for reaching a point where your only option is to take clear action.
To sum up:
If you’re ready to give up, take six months and make your business more valuable. Then sell it.
And if you just want to run a more stable, valuable business that pays you what you deserve, collect your resolve and prepare to work hard for six months to push your business from struggling to solid.
In each case, we can help you avoid mistakes and make changes fast: Book a call here.
