Client count can be an irrelevant “glory metric.”
I recall many conversations over the years in which a gym owner would say to another “how many clients do you have?”
The answer is only important if you understand the gym’s model.
For example, a gym that sells access for $30 a month might have 1,000 clients and a $30,000 gross that’s eaten up by a costly lease on a 15,000-square-foot space in a great neighborhood.
In that case, 1,000 clients aren’t enough.
On the other hand, some gyms have just 80 clients—but the average revenue per member (ARM) is $750, the length of engagement (LEG) is 20 months and the lifetime value of each client is about $15,000.
In that example, the monthly gross is $60,000, and the 80 clients can be served in a space with low overhead. Because the clients stay a long time, the gym owner doesn’t have to spend a lot of time and money on marketing but can afford to open the wallet to acquire clients because the lifetime value is so great.
Another example: What if you have 400 members but horrible LEG? If you must acquire 80 members every month to stay at 400, you’re not really in the business of coaching. How can you change lives if 20 percent of your clients leave each month?
In that scenario, your real business is client acquisition, and it’s a hamster wheel. You’ll burn through your audience, burn out your staff, and burn up your cash. And then you’ll probably close.
Client count does matter, but only in relation to your model and your other key performance indicators, like ARM and LEG.
As a general rule, Two-Brain gyms first target 150 clients with an ARM of $205 and a LEG of 13 months. Those are great starting points that will allow the owner to earn $100,000 a year.
If you don’t have a clearly defined business model, use those targets to start.
Of course, we adjust the targets for our clients based on their business models and goals. Some models require more clients, while others require fewer. We also prioritize high-value clients and industry-leading retention (the industry average is 7.8 months; Two-Brain clients average 20.7 months).
We can create a plan for any gym, but it will always be based on metrics. It will never include “300 members” because it’s a nice, round number that puts you “ahead” of the gym down the street.
It’s important to explain all that before I reveal our leaderboard for client count in May 2024.
The gyms on this list are working hard to acquire and retain the clients their business models require:
“Do I Need a Lot of Clients?”
So how many clients should you target?
It’s impossible to say without knowing your exact situation, so I’ll give you two options that will help you move forward:
1. Head to Facebook and request my guide that shows five models that will help you earn $100,000 a year with 150 or fewer members. Review the spreadsheets and run your own numbers to figure out how many clients you need to earn the income you want. If you do this, you’ll be well ahead of most gym owners.
2. Book a call to find out how a mentor can provide a detailed plan to help you drive up key metrics in your business. That plan for your gym will address client count, but the metric won’t be on an island. It will be tied to other key business metrics and your personal goals.
I hope you’re inspired by the numbers I showed you here, but I don’t want you to think, “I need 900 members, too.”
Remember, you need the number of members that will support your business model. Don’t chase more for the sake of more.
Chase more if that equals “better.”
