By the Numbers: Getting More Clients—Set Rate

An overweight woman checking social media in a park

If you want to get people into your program, you need to get them through the door first.

There are three critical stages to transforming prospects into clients:

  • First, they have to set appointments to meet you.
  • Second, they have to show up for those appointments.
  • Third, they have to sign up for your program.


This sounds like a simple path, but most gyms lose potential clients at every stage. The gym owner spends time and lots of money on Facebook ads or media content or other advertising. They drive clients to their website:

  • And then the potential client doesn’t book an appointment.
  • Or the lead doesn’t show up for the booked appointment.
  • Or the lead shows up but doesn’t sign up.


Every month, we measure metrics in the world’s best gyms. We produce leaderboards in each category, and we share a couple of those categories publicly. Even better, we share the top tips from the leaders to help you build your gym.

This month, I’m going to tell you how to improve your set rate (how many prospects book appointments from your website), your show rate (how many of those prospects show up) and your close rate (how many of those prospects become clients).

These tactics aren’t just my opinions: They are the best tactics, as proven by data from thousands of gyms. Stop whatever you’re doing and do this stuff instead.

Here are this month’s leaders for set rate:

A top 10 leaderboard showing appointments set by the best gyms in the world.


Top Lessons From the Leaders


Here’s what the owners behind the numbers had to say:

“There’s a natural ‘surge’ of clients waiting to come back post-COVID. Start there. Text everyone who put their memberships on hold. Ask how they’re doing. Book them for an NSI.”

“Don’t rely on your automations to interact with people. When anyone inquires about your rates, text them within three minutes. Automated emails are your safety net, but when you’re really ready to book a lot of appointments, answer their pleas for help fast.”

“Ramp up your social media now. People are tired of hearing about COVID. They want to hear about wins. Tell a ton of members’ stories.”

“Don’t be afraid that your onboarding process can’t hold up to a lot of signups at once. Get people in right now, even if it means you have to work a bit more. You can always turn off your ads next month or wait for the surge to subside.”

“We use Gym Lead Machine—it’s like a central hub we use to communicate with future clients.”

“Answer the phone!”

“If they don’t respond to our appointment booking, I’ll text from my personal phone. Just, ‘Hey, it’s Bryan. What are your goals, by the way?'”

“We find that the appointment no-shows are the people that are booking five to seven days out, so we only allow them to book within a short window—three days to book, max.”

“We even check in with former members who have gone elsewhere: ‘Let me know if the new place isn’t checking in on you.'”

“I send a caring video message with a gym walk-through to calm their nerves before the NSI.”

“On the day of the appointment, one to two hours before the appointment, I text them: ‘I’m driving to the gym now. Looking forward to seeing you at X p.m.'”

“I learned to do my marketing myself. I was paying double what I do now for an outside agency to run my (Facebook) ads. Then (Two-Brain Business) taught me how to do it myself, and it’s way better.”

“I’ve been running goal reviews and reaching out to old members who might be embarrassed to come back (due to weight re-gain).”

“Blog posts do work!”


Set Rate: This Above All


The key to getting more people to book free consultations with you?

It’s not jumping to new social media platforms like Clubhouse or TikTok. It’s not running short-term challenges. It’s sticking to the basics and doing them consistently well:

  • Answer the phone.
  • When someone asks for help, respond like it’s your mom or dad (fast and thoughtfully).
  • Hold their hands until they walk through the door.
  • Be a human.


Other Media in This Series


“By the Numbers: Getting More Clients—Show Rate”
“By the Numbers: Getting More Clients—Close Rate”

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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.