Client social outings, badges and rewards, competitions—they only move the retention needle a tiny bit.
And yet gym owners will often focus on these things first when they try to improve retention.
That’s a mistake.
If you have a 100-workout club and a holiday party but don’t know each client’s exact goal, you’re coming at retention backwards.
Goal, Plan, Accountability
Here’s the foundation of retention in a gym:
- Every client must have a clearly defined goal.
- Every client must have a plan to reach that goal.
- Every client must have someone to hold them to the plan.
Combined, those three things trump every other retention tactic combined.
Why? Because the other stuff is really window dressing when you get right down to it.
Yes, it’s nice to get a coffee mug after 500 workouts, but how many people stay for 500 workouts if they never make progress toward a goal?
Clients buy your services to accomplish something. The goal and progress toward it matter more than anything else. Clients will leave their birthday card by the rowing machine if they want to lose weight but never drop a pound.
The best thing you can do to improve length of engagement is use a free consultation to find out exactly what a client wants to accomplish before they join. You’ll measure something related to that goal so you have a starting point. Then you’ll provide your expert plan to help the person move from the starting point to the finish line.
The conversation and prescription set you apart from all your competitors: You, the expert, provide the best solution to the client’s problem and the quickest path to accomplishing the goal. No one else does that.
Then you go further still by providing accountability throughout the client journey. That includes daily stuff such as “let’s book your next session right now” and “did you eat veggies at lunch?” It also includes larger stuff such as a goal review session every 90 days.
This process has been proven to improve these key metrics:
- Length of engagement (LEG).
- Average revenue per member (ARM).
- Lifetime value (LTV).
- Gross revenue.
- Profit.
- Net owner benefit (NOB).
Your “community” and clean bathrooms don’t do that.
Real talk: When clients have a goal, a plan and accountability, they stay longer and buy more services. Those are huge wins for your gym.
They also get fitter and healthier. That’s a huge win for each client, but it also fulfills your noble purpose of helping people.
The Other Stuff
Yes, you can add other retention tactics to the client journey. There’s nothing wrong with a 100-workout club, a coffee meet-up for new clients or a card that says “congrats!” after a PR.
You can implement stuff like that to offer “unreasonable hospitality” and create “powerful moments.” Put a cherry on top of the service sundae.
And your bathroom must be clean (you do not have to clean it personally, by the way).
But don’t major in the minors. Do not prioritize lesser tactics over the goal-plan-accountability triplet that’s a huge winner every single time.
Start doing this: Ask your next prospective client to come in for a free consultation. Ask the person about their goals, and then present the perfect plan to accomplish them. When the person signs up, book a goal review session 90 days down the line, and be sure to check in with the client regularly before that to highlight progress, offer congratulations and provide motivation.
If you do that, your gym will rise above the industry-average length of engagement of 7.8 months and hold onto clients long enough to change their lives.
How do I know? Two-Brain clients are mentored to use this process to improve retention, and our clients’ average length of engagement is over 20 months.
What would happen to your business if you held every client for an extra 12 months?
