A common mistake I see in fitness businesses is owners focusing exclusively on attracting new members to increase revenue and annual profit. Yet the easiest way to generate more revenue is to increase the average spend per member per week.
The advantage of this strategy is that your existing members already know, like and trust you. This makes them more willing to pay extra for convenience or additional services you provide. By comparison, advertising for new members on expensive marketing platforms such as Facebook and Google is highly competitive, especially in the fitness industry.
Wondering how to apply this strategy? In this article, I share my favourite ways to increase your fitness business’s revenue through your current members.
1. Premium memberships
Many businesses offer standard subscriptions for access to two sessions per week and a premium subscription for unlimited training sessions at a higher price. This gives the customer more value and a better chance of achieving results, while increasing their weekly spend. Gyms open 24 hours a day are no different: they offer basic access and premium access that includes classes or premium services such as infrared saunas, massages and online classes.
2. Simplify payments
In my experience, fitness businesses with automatic payments collect an average of 12-15% more money over 52 weeks than businesses offering prepaid memberships or class packages. Look here to see how Workouts Wizard can help you with automatic payments.
3. Membership duration
Fitness businesses that offer flexible monthly subscriptions alongside six- to twelve-month subscriptions will sell more long-term subscriptions at a higher average price than their competitors.
You can also increase the number of long-term subscriptions you sell by considering how you present prices. For example, you could organise a gym tour and introduce pricing along the way, or give your staff sales training so they can offer long-term subscriptions and perhaps sell them more easily.
Building rapport between staff and customers, listening effectively and providing real value also play a major role in selling these long-term subscriptions.
4. Joining fees
Adding a one-off joining fee of €30,- or €40,- when selling subscriptions can significantly increase a business’s weekly revenue. This can cover or introduce staff sales commissions, for example, or free up money to reinvest, such as in Facebook and/or Google advertising.
5. Personal training
The 80/20 principle proves that in every population group, twenty percent of members are willing to pay four to sixteen times more each week for a premium service such as personal training, if it is made available.
The same applies outside fitness, where 20% of the population visits a restaurant and buys the most expensive bottle of wine. It applies to health insurance, where 20% pays for the main insurance, and to housing, where 20% will pay more to live in a more expensive neighbourhood.
6. Nutrition
Nutrition is responsible for as much as 80% of a person’s fat loss or hypertrophy goals and is an easy addition to any training plan. It can be sold as a one-to-one appointment, meal plans or access to a nutrition library with recipes and cooking tips. Make use of this and offer to help your customers with their nutrition.
7. Offer challenges
The four- or six-week challenge format has been around for years and remains very successful. The general public sees value in returning to healthy eating and exercise habits a few times a year for motivation and to kick-start results. A good fitness business can easily sell a six-week challenge for €50,- or €60,- per challenge to increase revenue. Use the Workouts Wizard editor to make the customer experience complete.
8. Clothing
Famous sports teams, such as football teams, have made millions selling their own clothing, which lets supporters show their support. The fitness industry has jumped on the same bandwagon over the past 10 years, selling billions of euros’ worth of hats, leggings, vests, reusable water bottles and more. In the past, gym members visited a local sports shop or bought these items online.
However, making these items readily available at reception can increase sales with little or no additional marketing spend! You can also use a service such as RedBubble or Spreadshirt . These services not only make the items for you, but also provide the online shop environment and some of the marketing for your products!
9. Supplements
The fitness industry is currently estimated at more than 4 billion euros per year worldwide. A large share comes from supplement sales. You can therefore benefit considerably by offering these to your customers too. For example, sell various protein shakes at reception or in the café. This lets customers enjoy a fresh, chilled protein shake after training, and they may stay longer and make further purchases.
10. Avoid holiday cancellations
Many gyms see some members cancel each year during the holiday period. One of the easiest ways to increase annual revenue is to make keeping their subscription attractive during these periods. Offer special training plans that can also be followed on holiday, for example, so members continue paying during this time.
I hope reading this article has given you the confidence to increase revenue through your existing customer base.
