Categories
Retention Top Stories

5 Things That Your Trainers Need to End Their Sessions With a Bang

Picture two gym members—let’s call them Brianna and Kaye.

Both of them begin their day excited at the idea of working out. It’s because they’re determined to finally work on their fitness goals after years of slacking, binge-eating, and procrastinating. 

So, Brianna and Kaye show up at the studio for the first time, both dripping with excitement. Determined to have an absolutely great time, they each give their all during their 45-minute workouts. But towards the final set of their sessions, their moods begin to diverge.

When the buzzer goes off, signalling the end of the workout, Brianna leaves the gym in high spirits. Smiling ear to ear, she gives out high-fives and heartily says goodbye to the trainers and other studio-goers. She even tells them, “See you tomorrow!”

Meanwhile, Kaye speed-walks to the exit with her shoulders slumped… and she goes home without a smile or even a quick goodbye to the trainer.

Now, a question…

Between Brianna and Kaye, who do you think is more likely to return to the gym the next day?

Brianna, of course! 

She left the studio probably feeling the best she’s felt in years. So, why wouldn’t she show up for another session? 

Meanwhile, it didn’t seem like Kaye had a great first day. At the very least, that means it’ll take a LOT of effort and self-discipline for her to come back… if at all. And she will most likely spend the rest of her day dreading her next session, which means she might not show up at all!

This story shows the importance of ending your sessions with a bang. 

You never know who among your members is contemplating the idea of never coming back to your studio. But if you can provide that explosive finish to your sessions, you can give them some fuel to keep coming back.

And not only does that do wonders for your attendance and churn, but it also provides a more lasting impact on your studio members’ lives.

So, what exactly do you need to end your studio’s sessions with a bang?

The 5 Things

#1. A Set of Expectations

Delivering that explosive finish that spells the difference between high and low churn, it falls squarely on your and your trainers’ shoulders. And as the studio owner, the onus is on you to remind the team about what you expect from them.

During your team meetings and pre-session huddles, tell everyone that you can’t have a session that goes all the way through and just peters out. You don’t want members looking around at the end of the session feeling like, “Oh, it’s done?”

They have to feel pumped up, accomplished, and raring to go back for another round! 

So, lay some ground rules. And make sure everyone’s on the same page about what you want to happen.

#2. Quick Feedback Loops

Along with setting a set of expectations, you have to implement quick feedback loops to make sure your expectations are met. Know that 45 minutes in each session are long enough to turn around a session that started badly. 

If you notice that your members are not that engaged in the workout or if the energy seems low, step in and intervene. You can have another coach work with your lead trainers just to pump up the energy. That way, you can still end that session with a bang.

Whatever you do, don’t let a session go just because it seems like it won’t end well. It IS your responsibility to make sure it does. 

So, don’t hesitate to pull your team together for quick feedback huddles whenever something isn’t going well.

#3. A Showrunner

In every single session, you should have one person in charge – a coach who is running and controlling the room. That way, if a trainer leads the warm-up and the vibe’s a little low, then the showrunner can do something about it. 

For instance, they can say, “Let’s get everyone to drop their weights mid-session because the vibe’s really low. We’re all just going to do the same tempo squat for the next three sets to bring everyone together again.”

Your showrunner should know they’re in control and that they can totally own the outcome of the session.

#4. Self-Awareness

Another thing you need to end your sessions with a bang is a self-aware team of trainers and coaches. 

Each and every member of your team should have enough awareness of the atmosphere in your studio. That way, they’ll know if they have to work extra hard to create that explosive end to your sessions or just keep doing what they’re doing.

#5. A Build-Up to the End

Now, let’s get a bit more practical.

You want to build up tension and energy towards the end of your session, right? 

One trick to do is to turn the music down a bit halfway through the session, then turn it up in the last few sets to get the members’ blood pumping. 

Another thing you can do is start screaming out countdowns to let everyone know there’s one minute left to their workout. Then, continue counting down the last few seconds in a loud, booming voice to create that massive energy.

And once the buzzer goes off, go around and give high-fives, fist bumps, toe taps…whatever you feel like doing to create that explosive vibe. Make sure everyone feels they’ve just accomplished something great – and that they should be proud of themselves for that.

If you can send your members home feeling the best they’ve felt in a while, you can almost guarantee they’ll be coming back for more sessions in your studio.

Start and End Studio Sessions With a Bang

Finishing with a bang.

Sometimes, it’s all you need to turn a so-so kind of session into a 5-star experience for your members. And now that you know what it takes to end your sessions with an explosive bang… 

The only thing left is to go out there and make it happen.

Do it right and you can expect to keep record attendance in your studio, contributing to lower churn. And ultimately, you’ll have a more impactful studio!

Want to learn more about studio growth secrets?

Categories
Retention Top Stories

How to Create a 5-Star Experience For Your Studio Members

Low attendance.

It’s one of the telltale signs that you’re about to see a lot of member cancellations in your studio pretty soon. And yet, many studio owners get surprised when it happens. 

But it’s only logical, don’t you think? 

See, when you’ve got low attendance rates in your studio, that means your members aren’t loving their time with you. It also means they don’t feel good enough after your sessions to want to keep coming back. 

And if members don’t see the point in showing up to your sessions… then it’s only a matter of time before they leave your studio for good!

So, if you want to fix the issue of high churn, your goal should be to consistently hit record attendance. To do that, you’ve got to create a 5-star experience for your members.

5 Things You Need for a 5-Star Session

Creating a five-star experience for your studio members… It seems a bit arbitrary, don’t you think?

Let’s say you just had a group session. And your trainers and coaches feel pretty good at the end of the session – so much so that they’d rate it four stars out of five. 

But does that mean your team actually delivered a four-star experience for your members? 

No, not necessarily. And it’s because what you and your trainers feel is subjective and might not reflect the actual experiences of your members.

So, what we need to go after is a consistent, objective goal of giving your attendees a 5-star experience. And the best way to do that is to create a formula. That means assigning one objective for every star. 

That way, if you are only successful in hitting three out of five objectives, you can correctly conclude that your members just had a three-star experience. And if you were able to hit all five objectives, then you can rest assured that it was a 5-star experience for your members, too.

Now, to kick things off for you, I’m going to share the 5-star session formula my team uses. These are the five key objectives we strive to hit at every session so as to create a five-star experience for our attendees:

#1. A Big Community

No one signs up to team training to just train on their own in the corner. Chances are, they’re looking to be part of a big community.

That’s why your job is to be the light and the fuse that brings your individual members together, forming a community. 

As the studio owner, you must take on the responsibility of being a community manager. This means you should be able to break the ice for your members and have them bonding and connecting with each other even before the session begins.

Now, it really does take some time before strangers warm up to each other. But you can speed up the thaw by playing games and connecting people who have similar interests. 

For instance, you can ask your members to tell you one interesting fact about each other… or else they all get extra time on the treadmill after the session.

You can also break up the big group into smaller groups, but make sure you team people up with other members who might have the same interests as them. Then, spark some conversations by dropping tidbits like, “Hey, I think both of you are headed to Bangkok for the summer!” 

As you watch those conversations start to take their natural course, you can tell you’ve succeeded in planting the seeds for a big community.

#2. An Electric Atmosphere

Now, this is not about being loud or being a cheerleader-type of trainer to create the illusion that everyone’s having an awesome, electric session in your studio. What this is about is playing to your team’s strengths and designing an actual great experience for your members.

For example, you might want to pair one coach who has a gift for raising people’s energy with another coach who’s talented at spotting individuals who need help with their form or execution. 

So, while one trainer goes around the room helping individuals out with the workouts, you have the other trainer holding the room and keeping that electric energy flowing. And they’ll do it by shouting out things like, “Now, don’t you dare drop that ball! I can see what all of you are doing right now!”

#3. A Tailored Touch

Here’s an objective for you:

Every time you walk up to a member in every session, you need to add value to their time. It’s either a progression, a regression, or a target that you give them. 

Never walk past someone without giving them a specific, tailored touch.

You should let them know that you are well-aware of their goals. And that you’re hell-bent on helping them achieve those goals.

If you took the time to learn about your members’ reasons for being in the studio, providing this tailored touch should be easy for you… but it’ll be absolutely mind-blowing and life-changing for your members!

You need to communicate to every member that even though they’re in team training, their individual needs and goals are accounted for. If they feel that way, you can expect them to keep coming back to your sessions – because they actually see the point in doing so.

#4. Education and Empowerment

Apart from being adept at workouts and helping members achieve their physical goals, you need your trainers to be inspirational. 

They should be able to educate and empower your members. And an important way to do it is by helping members adopt a better mindset about going to your studio and creating habits that help them get fit.

Admittedly, this is one thing that your coaches might struggle with a bit, so help them out. Have them listen to motivational podcasts. Get them to follow fitness TikToks. And put them up to the task of sharing one thing they learned about mindset training during your team meetings.

#5. An Explosive Finish

It’s easy to start your workouts with a bang when everyone’s still in high spirits. But the real challenge is ending the session with a bang when both coaches and members are already exhausted.

There’s nothing worse than the timer running out for the last part of the session and everyone’s just looking around, saying, “Oh, is that it? It’s done?”

You don’t want your session to just peter out. What you need is for your members to leave your studio in an ecstatic mood so they’ll have the motivation to show up in your studio the next day. 

So, don’t let your sessions end with a whimper. Always go for an explosive finish.

Time to Get Record Attendance in Your Studio


One final thing…

You have to understand that the magic is not in knowing this 5-star session formula. The magic is in being able to implement it.

So, I want you to take what you’ve learned from this article, then go out there and make it your own. 

Sit down with your team and brainstorm what your studio’s five stars are. Once you’ve identified your own formula, the hard part comes next: putting those five stars up there and creating 5-star experiences for your members.

It won’t be easy—I’m not going to lie.

But it’s the best way to hit record attendance and maintain low churn in your studio.

And in my book, that makes the hard work worth it.

Want to learn more about studio growth secrets?

Categories
Retention Top Stories

3 Best Tips to Launch Your Parachute (And Get Quick Wins for Your Studio)

Stacey was one of our clients who launched an amazing Parachute campaign for her studio last February. And given that February was the month of love, they did a little campaign to promote one obvious thing – Love.

And to show that love, Stacey offered a promotion that went like this: 

Here are 10 free training days for somebody you love. You have to claim it today.

Just from this simple marketing campaign, Stacey’s studio was able to bring in 20 people on that very same day! 

And after the promotion was said and done, out of the 20 people, they got six who turned over into paid members. That’s not bad considering the fact that they didn’t have to shell out any money– they just had to get their existing members to bring friends along. 

What Stacey did for her studio is an example of a strategy we call the Parachute Method that focuses on getting quick wins for your studio. 

If you’re interested to learn more about this one-of-a-kind strategy and apply it to your studio, then keep reading. This article is specifically made for you.

What is The Parachute Method?

As mentioned earlier, the Parachute Method allows anyone to get a quick win for their studio.

But how does it work exactly?

Let me explain.

See, the Parachute Method is a database campaign targeting your existing leads. It’s basically making another offer to the leads on your pipeline and getting them to sign onto a membership once and for all. You can do this by sending promotional emails to get these leads to pick up where they left things off with you.

Now, here are two reasons launching your parachute can give you quick wins: 

Reason #1 – No Ad Spend

Would you believe that the Parachute Method requires zero investment on your part?

It’s because you either have already paid for these guys in your previous Facebook campaigns—except you didn’t cover them at the time—or they’re organic leads who came through your website. 

They can also be previous members who cancelled and are only now looking to come back.

Reason #2- No One Refuses a Parachute

The whole idea of The Parachute Method is this: 

You launch an offer to help people. And once someone replies, that’s them putting their hand up, saying, “Yeah, man, I could really use some help.” And then, you’ll parachute and grab them!

That’s the thing – they’re putting their hands up and we save them. 

We already know these people need our help. That’s why they’re in our pipelines in the first place. Perhaps, they just weren’t prepared enough to commit the first time. But that only means their problem still lingers and they still need your help. 

The 3 Tips

Tip #1 – Learn How to Rewrap Your Parachute Every Month

You now know that there are truly some nice, quick wins to be won with The Parachute Method. However, some studio owners I’ve worked with also noticed one big challenge with this method:

It’s the fact that the system seems to work extremely well the first few times before it dwindles in terms of its open rates and results. 

Studio owners would be getting between 15-25 people for the first few emails they send to old leads. But then, that interest peters out as they send more emails within the same year.

Fortunately, the solution is simple:

Rewrap your parachute to keep it fresh, relevant, and seasonal. You want to make sure that you’re not just sending the same text or email every month—as if you’re not putting any thought into it. 

Think of how marketers rewrap the same Kickstarter or the same 50% off for the same offer every time they send out marketing materials. That’s what you want to emulate when you’re launching your parachutes. 

So, you want to mix up your email and text blasts every single month, especially during holiday months. If it’s February, for instance, you could send out a Valentine’s Special shape-up offer like Stacey. And you could also send out Spring Fling offers or a March Madness offer—even if it’s technically the same offer every time. 

You can keep your parachute relevant by making these little tweaks that make them appear fresh and in-season…

And none would be the wiser!

Tip #2 – Nurture Your Lists and Add Value

If you’ve got 100 leads on your pipeline, I want you to think that there’s no other way to grow your studio but to interact with those people on your list. Having this mindset will force you to treat them in a caring, nurturing way.

At the same time, you should also be willing to provide your leads with value before you send them an offer. You could send them tip sheets, newsletters, and healthy recipes they might want to try. 

Do anything that could make you a valuable resource for them.

Tip #3 – Build Authority and a Good Relationship with Leads

Truth is, building authority and a good relationship with leads shouldn’t be hard. It all comes down to how much value you can provide and how you communicate to your leads.

Instead of just receiving promotional emails or dry ones…

Your leads should be receiving your emails and texts as if they’re getting them from their best mates. For example, they should get emails that say: 

“Don’t tell my boss I did this!”…

These get more clicks and opens. 

Why? 

It’s because communicating in this manner builds your relationship with your leads.

Launch Your Parachute Today

Now you might be wondering: Why do I need to nurture, add value, build authority, and build a good relationship with my studio’s leads? 

Well, the thing is, if you can consistently do all of these things together, it will be easier for you to go out there with an offer. It will also make a whole lot of sense for your leads to accept it and finally become members of your studio. 

In contrast, if you simply ask, ask, ask, offer, offer, offer, and sale, sale, sale… Things will get pretty repetitive. In the end, they would probably be repulsed by you and unsubscribe to your list.

If you can make it a point to regularly do all of the things I mentioned, you’re sure to reap all the amazing benefits that the Parachute Method has to offer.

So what are you waiting for?

Start implementing it today!

Want to learn more about studio growth secrets?

Categories
Uncategorized

The Studio Owner’s Guide to Group Inductions

How do you start the journey of your new clients? 

Do you give them a tour of the studio? Start with a health assessment? Or do you just get down to work?

Well, if you’ve ever felt unsure about what your studio’s opening sequence should be, then today’s your lucky day! 

Why? 

Because I’ll be sharing a great way to start off the fitness and health journey of your studio members. 

And that’s by none other than applying inductions. 

I personally love doing inductions… Especially group inductions where people just get to bond and enjoy their first day.

Enough about me, though. Here’s a promise: 

By the end of this article, you will definitely see the point in doing inductions. I promise that you’ll learn to love doing it, too!

Let’s get started, shall we?

What Are Inductions?

To kick things off, let me first explain to you what a fitness studio induction is all about. 

An induction is an activity that welcomes new studio members by letting them do a series of activities. These include any of the following:

  • Meeting with a personal trainer
  • Going through orientation
  • Getting a tour of the facility
  • Getting a quick fitness assessment

If you don’t do an induction of any kind, then you’re going to leave your member feeling a bit helpless – and it’s just not right! This is especially true if it’s their very first time seeking professional help to improve their fitness and overall health.

Why Do Group Inductions

Now, I’m partial to doing group inductions instead of individual newbie inductions. See, with a group induction, you’re literally getting a group of newbies together and then setting them up for success. That’s the best part.

But if you’re still not convinced, let me give you three more reasons why you should start doing group inductions ASAP:

Reason #1: It’s the Key Thing That Needs to Happen to Rollover Newbies

Did you know that holding inductions is the first step in the rollover process after you successfully make a sale?

So, if you’re wondering why you’re not getting 80% rollovers from your free classes, then you’re probably not doing group inductions at all. 

My advice? 

If you want newbies to actually show up and recommit at the end of their program, then you should start doing group inductions.

Reason #2: It Saves Time

Doing group inductions is not just good for your would-be members. They’re great timesavers for you, too! 

See, instead of doing ten 15-minute inductions during the week, you can just split it into two sessions with groups of five. This is great because your time is precious, right? And so is that of your managers. 

Can you imagine how much more work (and rest) you and your team could do if you just conduct inductions in groups?

Reason #3: Your Prospective Studio Members Will Feel Safer 

There really is safety in numbers. 

The reality is that for thousands and thousands of centuries, it has been a natural human desire to feel accepted as part of a group. It’s a basic survival instinct. And people know they’re safer in a group, that’s why they come to team training sessions. 

They want to make friends. 

They want the accountability of a group. 

And they want the general vibe of not being alone.

That’s why it just makes so much sense to start newbies off in a group setting.

So, when you do group inductions, you’re immediately assuring them they’re part of a community. And you’re making them feel safe by telling them they’re not on this journey alone. 

Plus, the newbie members won’t feel like they’re being vulnerable in front of too many people.

Staging the Best Group Inductions – The 3 Tips

Tip #1: Find a Schedule That Works Best for Everyone

Ideally, you need to conduct group inductions before your members start their first session. 

But the truth is that it won’t always happen that way. Some would really have irregular schedules that it would be difficult for you to find one that would be perfect for every single newbie you’re inducting.

A good compromise is setting up their inductions at least within the first week of their joining. Anything later than that would defeat the purpose of setting up group inductions in the first place.

Tip #2: Start With An Intimate Group

It’s good to have a nice intimate group, like 5, 6, 7, maybe 10 members when doing group inductions. This will allow you to give ample time for every newbie to speak up and be heard. 

But why does this matter?

You see, during group inductions, it will be part of your job to dig deeper. You need to know the actual reason why they signed up for your studio. In fact, you need to ask ‘why’ three times to really get to the bottom of things. And of course, that takes time.

Keep in mind that the number of people in your group inductions will still greatly depend on how many people you close.

Tip #3: Adopt and Adapt

There is no one size fits all approach to handling group inductions. Even if you do group inductions, every member will be different. So you can’t expect that something that worked for a certain batch of group inductees will work on another. The same is true for different studios.

That’s why you need to figure out what’s the best approach for you and your team when doing group inductions. 

Start Doing Group Inductions Today

For us studio owners, holding group inductions is a great way to get to know our studio members. After all, we get to know their goals. Then, we set some habits in place to keep them accountable. And we understand how we’re going to serve them best. 

So, when you think about it, doing inductions is a win-win for both you and your client. 

You set yourself up for success to get them rolled over into membership. And you set your clients up for success by getting them on track with their fitness goals.

Now, if you want a full template you can use for your inductions, just reach out to us anytime.

Want to learn more?

Categories
Retention Top Stories

How One Studio Achieved a 2% Churn Rate (And What You Need to Do to Get Results)

You want to see results in your studio as soon as possible. But things just aren’t going along as fast as they should. And opportunities get missed constantly.

Such issues are usually the result of a lack of organisation. 

One of our clients was in this very situation. They struggled to get more traffic, gather leads, and raise engagement in their studio. The client’s membership was down by 150 people and their visits were only twice on average. 

When we started working with this studio, it turned out that all they needed was some structure and better organisation. That’s why from the moment our client became more organised, things took a turn for the better. 

In fact, the results were astounding.

Their membership started growing despite the disruption that was going on due to the global pandemic. The visits jumped up to 4.8 and the engagement soared.

And none of that happened by accident.

See, our client took action to remove one of the main causes that prevent studios from taking advantage of opportunities and getting results:

They got rid of the drama and the disorganisation it brought. 

You can do the same.

This article will show you how to make your studio more organised, approach your business with a clear head, and start reaching your goals.

Drama Makes You Miss Opportunities

New studios struggle with a particular issue that ends up keeping them down:

They spend most of their time on the urgent rather than the important.

Worst of all, that situation tends to carry on as people get accustomed to living in a world of urgency. At that point, there’s so much focus on the drama that studios miss key periods of the month and even the entire year.

In other words, you’re so caught up in urgent matters that you don’t think about tackling the important moments. This reduces your overall impact and causes you to make less money.

Drama can also cause you to neglect crucial aspects of business, such as getting more flow in your studio and making your team more organised and effective. As a result, nobody, including the owner, understands their role.

Of course, all these changes when the studio gains clarity on its goals and what needs to be done to achieve them. 

And getting your calendar on point is the first step toward that clarity.

The Calendar Is Your Friend

Much can be said about your cash flow from the way your calendar looks. But ultimately, if you don’t apply time blocking, that usually means bad news for your studio.

Now, the main benefit of time blocking is that it helps you single out the most important things that will generate wealth and cash flow and build up your assets. It’s the time you book for yourself to do all of the things that will drive your bottom line.

To put it simply, your calendar isn’t only for marking meetings. In a sense, it can become a logbook for your success.

The problem is that many studio owners don’t view their calendars as the powerful tools that they are. They don’t really understand that the point of a well-organised calendar isn’t only to keep track of your daily activities. It’s also to stay focused on the quality of tasks that take priority in your day, month, and year.

Seeing the calendar as your ally will allow you to carve out the time you need to improve your studio. And focusing on the right tasks might turn out to be just the boost your business needs.

Creating Your Own Luck

Tying in with time blocking, another critical aspect of your studio business is to be prepared and plan your actions.

Truth is, the most important things in business happen by design and intention, rather than mere luck. You might even say that relying on luck is often the worst choice a studio owner might make.

But luck in business is a bit more of a complex notion. In fact, we could talk about two distinct types of luck: dumb luck and the other kind.

Dumb luck is something like when you find $50 under your seat at a cafe. It’s something good that happens to you without any input or direction on your part.

However, the other kind of luck doesn’t work like that. Instead, it’s the luck that you create for yourself.

Imagine doing all of the necessary preparations for your studio. You come up with a formula, and you might’ve seen it play out with success all around you. Then, you see an opportunity appear. Finally, you take action.

Suppose you’re successful. 

In that case, it would be easy to attribute your success to business luck. After all, you’ve come across a perfect opportunity. And when you acted upon it, you actually got the results.

Now, most people would describe that as the “right place at the right time” type of luck. But the truth behind it is different.

What people call business luck actually consists of three key factors:

  • Thorough preparation
  • Spotting the opportunity
  • Taking massive action

Your team needs to be trained and your systems in place. Furthermore, you must be prepared mentally to jump at an opportunity. Then, when the time comes to act, you know precisely what to do and have all the mechanisms in place and ready to go. Finally, once you start acting, you have to do it consistently and with great scope. 

When all of these factors come into place, great results become possible for your studio. 

And that’s the luck that you create yourself, not a game of chance.

Let Go of the Drama, Organise, and Jump Into Action

Being prepared and focusing on the important aspects of your business are, without a doubt, the crucial aspects of your business. 

If you can learn to let go of the drama around urgent matters and pay attention to the key points, everything will start to fall into place. You’ll create a sound foundation for a well-organised studio that works like clockwork and reaches goals without issues.

Categories
Operations Top Stories

Two Things You Can Do Right Now to Generate a Healthier Bottom Line

If you went around and ask studio owners one of the worst feelings they can experience, many would probably give the same answer:

Missed opportunities.

Studio owners share this pain point with other businesses, and it’s particularly pronounced with new studios. 

But that doesn’t mean more experienced studios don’t miss out on an opportunity every now and then. In fact, you’d struggle to find a studio immune to the issue.

However, new studios have a more challenging time when they can’t seize opportunities promptly. This is because missed opportunities hinder growth, which is the primary goal of every new studio.

Luckily, there’s a way to resolve the issue. And it comes down to executing key tasks every month.

This article will break down two vital components to make that happen. These components will help you run a successful studio and never miss an opportunity again.

The Captain’s Checklist

This checklist serves to keep your crew, i.e., your team organised and functional.

The captain’s checklist is entirely focused on what happens within your business weekly. And this person-oriented aspect sorts out the crucial tasks your team members have every week.

Essentially, this checklist serves to avoid the constant “Did you remember to do that?” questions. That’s because forgotten tasks can pile up quickly if you don’t have a system to organise them.

That said, coming up with a functional checklist will require some careful consideration on your part.

First, you’ll need to break down everything that has to happen during the week. Then, you’ll need to split all of the crucial tasks into different days. Finally, you’ll have to outline which team member is responsible for which task.

Clearly, the captain’s checklist is an excellent organisational tool. But it provides another great benefit: 

At the end of each week, you can take the checklist and check for any problematic entries. And once the month is over, you can compare all checklists to spot potential issues with specific tasks.

Essentially, the captain’s checklist doesn’t only tell your team who should do what and when. It also tells you how well your team is handling particular aspects of your business. As a result, you can tweak certain processes and establish better work habits that the team can stick to consistently. 

You can make your checklist even more effective by marking key performance indicators or KPIs. Finally, if you want to get into the details, you could create multiple checklists to handle the finer aspects of complex tasks.

At the end of the day, the captain’s checklist will be your best friend when it comes to organising your studio for maximum efficiency.

Start Harvesting Correctly

When we talk about harvest, we’re referring to the last three days of the month. These three days are a critical part of your calendar when specific actions will be necessary. 

In particular, you’ll need to do three things during these days:

First, you’ll send out a new offer to all of your lead lists. 

When sending offers to your newest leads and people who haven’t bought anything from you yet, you’ll give them the exact same offer that they received the last time. The purpose of this is to freshen up these leads with the same message but with a new wrapper around it.

For example, if you had a Valentine’s Day or spring head-start offer, you’ll send out the same content. The only difference will be that you’ll rephrase the offer to make it fresh.

The reason behind this approach is to take away the monthly operational drag that can happen when you need to come up with new service promotions every time.

Doing this regularly will create an atmosphere in which people will automatically raise their hands when the end of the month comes. Then, you’ll have an easier time bringing those people out and making sales.

In essence, this task will set your studio up for the upcoming month while closing the current one.

Second, you’ll do blitz rollovers. 

In other words, you’ll dedicate a day to focusing on anyone who hasn’t rolled over so far during the month. This even includes people who have just arrived.

The vital point here is to gather everything that worked previously and go all out to try and get everyone on board using it. After all, there’s no point in keeping things in the drawer at the end of the month. 

So, don’t hesitate to offer every incentive you can to get people to roll over. Take note of all the freebies, giveaways, vouchers, and every other resource at your disposal and use them to your advantage.

Finally, the third thing you’ll need to do at the end of the month is to take care of the bulk stuff.

This mainly refers to nurturing your important business relationships. For example, you should reach out to your joint ventures, schools, sports teams, businesses, physios, and anyone else that you talk with.

Ideally, you’ll already have a tally of what you’ve done on that front during the month. This will make it easier to share relevant stories with them and let them know that everything’s working correctly.

Now, this task will be made more straightforward by getting it done in a single day. This way, you won’t have to take note of every contact you’ve talked to.

Remember, these three things are essential to wrap up your month. But there’s one bonus thing you should do come the end of the month:

Put the time aside to plan out the next month.

Once you get all of this done, the harvest period will be over, and your studio will be ready to take on the period ahead in full strength.

Learn to Organise and Wrap Up Every Month

The captain’s checklist can help you bring a high level of organisation into your business, with precise tasks for every team member.

In addition to that organisation, if you make sure not to miss harvesting on the last three days of the month, you’ll enter every period as prepared as you can be. With these aspects covered, you’ll give your studio the boost it needs to become as effective as possible. 

Careful organisation will be your best friend on the road to success.

Categories
Operations Top Stories

The Fortune Is in the Follow-Up – How Leads Work and How You Can Maximise Them

When you’re getting started with your studio, the first thing you’ll want to do is score some quick wins. 

This translates to getting a lot of leads and, by extension, new members.

…And that’s where the frustrations begin.

You want to get plenty of new members quickly, but you also want them to be the right type of members, right? Yet, when you look at the stack of names, emails, and phone numbers you’ve got, you don’t know where to start your search.

The frustrating part is that you know there are some potential members on your list. The issue is knowing how to bring them in and, even more importantly, keep them.

Ideally, you want to use the assets already available to turn a lead trickle into a full-fledged flood. 

This article will show you how to grab the opportunities in front of you and maximise leads for your studio.

Understanding How Leads Work

To make the most out of your leads, you first need to understand what happens when your studio starts engaging them.

First of all, it’s crucial to keep in mind that your lead campaign will never be 100% effective. In fact, 50% of the people who opted for an offer will never actually buy.

Another 35% will take between three months and two years to convert.

This leaves you with about 15% of people who will be ready to buy right now. Those are your quick wins.

Of course, leveraging the quick wins is a no-brainer. When you have people willing to buy immediately, that’s a slam-dunk case that won’t require too much attention on your part.

A similar thing applies to the 50% of people who won’t buy. The best you can do about them is keep warming them up and see if they change their minds at some point. However, that’s a task best suited for automation and something you don’t need to think about too much.

The critical part of your leads is those 35%. These are the potential members that might go either way – they either buy or they don’t. Furthermore, they are the leads that you’ve already paid for.

In other words, those leads represent the potential that your studio is sitting on, and that’s where you need to direct most of your attention.

Creating Your Lists of Leads

Building your lists is a matter of playing the long game. The principle at its core is to run specific campaigns to grow an evergreen list of leads ready to join.

Now, to create those specific campaigns, it would be best to segment your audience into particular lists. These should include:

  • Ex-members
  • People who’ve never been members, like the contacts you got from your website who gave their info but never bought anything
  • Unconverted trialers, or people who never rolled over or did sessions
  • Active members
  • Open-ended suspensions, or the members who made a pause due to a variety of reasons

These will be the main sections of your complete lead pool. 

Once you have them in separate lists, you can start reaching out. And the best way to do that will be in an articulated five-day effort.

The Five-Day Sprint

You might’ve noticed that there are five lists of leads and the corresponding number of days for your sprint. There’s a very good reason for that.

When you start to launch your follow-up sequences, you don’t want to do it at the same time for all of your leads. Otherwise, you might get into a situation where a lot of people will start responding and raising their hands at the same time. As a result, you could quickly lose track of who you’ve followed up with and miss out on some opportunities.

For that reason, you’ll want to dedicate one day to each group. And it’s worth noting that you might need to contact a person up to 15 times just to get them on the phone and eventually make the sale.

Doing the five-day sprint will make everything well-organised and allow you to keep track of the people you’ve contacted, as well as any feedback you’ve got from them.

As mentioned before, the way you follow up will depend on the type of lead. 

Building Your Follow-Up Sequences

If you want to make your outreach as efficient as possible, you’ll need to build tailored sequences for each group.

When contacting ex-members, you’ll want to send out a “win-back” offer. This sequence is pretty self-explanatory.

The second group is the people who’ve never been members. For them, you’ll want to create a massive level of engagement because you’re offering a new experience. Consistency is the name of the game here. After all, people will buy when they want to, not when it’s convenient for you. And that brings everything down to timing.

When it comes to the unconverted trialers, they’ll need some sort of incentive. It might be an extension, an offer to try again, or a special offer that feels like it’s tailored for them specifically.

For active members, it would be best to focus on those who might bring in referrals. Besides that, you should remember to answer any of their emails or questions.

Finally, the goal with open-ended suspensions is to connect with those people. You should get them on the phone, have a conversation, build a plan, and book them for their first session back with your studio. If needed, you might even offer some additional incentives like a price reduction for the first month. In essence, following up with these leads should be uncomplicated.

Use Leads Wisely to Build Up Your Studio

Leads are everything when it comes to growing your studio. You have to be able to bring in as many ideal-fit leads as possible and convert them efficiently to keep your studio business moving forward.

Remember that creating particular groups of leads and designing specific sequences for each one according to their wants and needs will be the best way to grow your number of members. 

Do it right, and your studio will start to thrive.

Categories
Retention Top Stories

What Numbers Say About Your Studio – And the Secret Key to Growth

One of the greatest challenges for many studios is that they aren’t growing fast enough.

This problem leads to numerous hardships and additional complications for businesses, as well as plenty of frustration.

After all, you put in all of the effort and give it your best, but things still seem to move forward at a snail’s pace. Then, when you try to determine the cause of the slow growth, you realise that so many aspects of your business need attention.

So you start playing whack-a-mole, chasing after the source of your business issues. You try to cover every base, sending yourself and your team into a spin. But it’s not clear what works and what doesn’t.

In the end, the only things you’re left with are feelings of uncertainty and a lack of control. And it’s all because of a simple mistake in the approach:

You can’t afford to make reactive decisions in your business. 

By the time you start patching up the critical spots, it might become nearly impossible to control what happens. That’s why the best way to go is to make your decisions proactive and based on data. 

This article will explain how to leverage numbers to grow your business and avoid the common pitfalls of an unprepared studio owner.

The Four Futures Outcome

Imagine an aeroplane flying from San Francisco to New York. 

On a regular flight, getting from one city to the other would be pretty straightforward.

But imagine if the plane veered off course by only two degrees. In that case, the aircraft would end up in Baltimore instead of New York.

In other words, a small mistake can lead to significant consequences in the long run. 

The same principle applies to businesses, and it’s the basis of the Four Futures model.

Based on your metrics, your business might be looking at one of four possible outcomes: 

  • Good
  • Okay
  • Poor
  • Disaster

Furthermore, these outcomes can manifest over different periods, which is why monitoring your metrics on a three, six, nine-month, and yearly basis is crucial.

Naturally, you’ll want to gravitate more towards better outcomes, ideally reaching great every time. But to do this reliably, you’ll need to understand how metric tracking and measuring work and why it matters.

What You Need to Know About Measuring Your Metrics

When studios don’t understand their metrics, they might find themselves in a strange situation: 

They might be winning without even realising it. On the other hand, they could be on a downward spiral and not know it.

This is why understanding your studio’s metrics is crucial.

Now, the essential things you need to know about your metrics boil down to three key principles. The first one is simple:

Your numbers should never be a mystery.

The reality is that so many studios have no idea about how many leads they’re getting. Not to mention their conversion rates, rollovers, and other metrics.

It should go without saying that missing out on the crucial numbers can make you leave a lot of money on the table. Plus, your team likely won’t have a clear direction towards success. 

Next, you can’t keep making decisions based on emotions.

This isn’t because emotions are necessarily bad in business. Rather, if you allow your feelings and stress levels to dictate your decisions, your team will never know which version of you will show up. This will make the work process unclear.

Your decisions should be driven by data because that’s the most definitive and measurable way to go. 

Finally, understanding your metrics will allow you to get help whenever you get stuck.

If you don’t know where you are and what’s working and what’s not, nobody will be able to help you to their best ability.

Now, these principles require you to get familiar with at least some crucial metrics. Let’s look at them in more detail.

The Numbers You Need to Know

At the bare minimum, every studio owner should know about one critical set of numbers: 

Leads.

To be precise, you should understand how many leads you’re getting weekly and monthly, as well as their sources.

Some of the leads will come from paid sources, while others will be from organic sources. Knowing how many leads either side brings will inform you about the cost-efficiency of your marketing. 

Then, you should view the number of leads in comparison to how many sales you’ve made. And if you express that ratio as a percentage, you’ll get your conversion rate.

Another crucial metric is your rollover rate. The magic number you want to reach in that regard is 80%, but getting there will require you to understand some other numbers. 

In particular, you’ll need to keep track of your overall number of members and whether your studio is at a weekly net growth or loss. This particular set of numbers brings us to one metric that will be the key to your studio’s growth.

The Key to Growth

To put it simply, growth is rollovers minus churn.

Now, this is simple in theory. If you want your studio to grow, you need to increase the number of rollovers and reduce the amount of churn. 

In practice, however, it can be a more complex matter.

To increase your rollover, you need to boost your leads, conversions, and sales. And to reduce churn, you have to improve engagement and your retention systems.

All of this work starts with tracking your numbers. If you do that correctly, you’ll be heading in the right direction.

Leverage Numbers to Bring Your Studio to the Top

Understanding the crucial metrics in your business is the very thing that makes or breaks a studio. In fact, it’s the main difference between the top studios and the rest. 

Remember, the studios that truly succeed have a clear grasp of their numbers and know how to tweak them to get optimal results.

If you devote enough time and effort to learning about your key metrics, you’ll be able to make your studio as efficient as possible, making it stand out from the competition.

Categories
Operations Top Stories

The Top 3 Mistakes to Avoid in Your Studio

Retention.

As you know, a large part of growing your studio has to do with getting your members to stay for long. After all, if they’re happy with your services, they may recommend your business to other people. Not to mention they’ll willingly pay the full price. 

You can use several strategies to improve your retention rate, such as auditing your newbie member acquisition process. Unfortunately, many studio owners overlook this step, causing their businesses to underperform. 

This article will dig deeper into why you can’t ignore auditing your newbie member acquisition process and two other mistakes you need to avoid. 

The 3 Mistakes

Mistake #1. Using The Word ‘Trialers’

As previously discussed, you want to audit your newbie member acquisition process to support your studio’s growth. But you also want to ensure your team is invested in the acquisition process by shifting their mindset. 

One of the shifts you should make is to stop calling your new members ‘trialers.’ It has a negative connotation because it means you don’t expect them to stay. 

Remember this:

Your new members aren’t trialers – they’re just new members. They’re yours to lose, and you will lose them unless you treat them as your customers. 

Unfortunately, many studio owners ignore this part of the acquisition process. They consider their new members as trialers, so they typically provide them with subpar services. 

What’s the result of this? 

A low rollover percentage, usually around 30%. They may hit 50% if they’re lucky, but they’ll get nowhere near 80% or higher numbers. 

You can only have a high rollover percentage if you audit your acquisition process and stop viewing your new members as trialers. 

So, adopt a different mindset.

Your studio’s new members are here to stay, and you need to make them stay if you provide them with high-quality services. 

Mistake #2. Not Changing Your Beliefs

The reality is that studio owners share certain beliefs that hold them back. 

For example, they’re not confident enough about their studio. While they become a coach or manager, they don’t think they’re cut out for it. 

Also, they want to help people, but they believe they will let them down. And they feel that they’re out of their depth because they can’t figure out how to approach their customers. 

If you share this attitude, you need to change it as soon as possible to prevent new members from leaving your studio. 

And the best way to do so is by getting coaching. 

Those who are experienced in this industry can guide you through client interaction and any other aspect you’re not confident about. 

As you train harder and harder, the conversation with your customers will be more authentic. They’ll trust you more and be eager to stay with your gym. 

Another belief studio owners have is that they need to talk to their prospects like they’re selling their services. They think this is the only way to persuade potential customers to become full-time members. 

But that’s not what you should do. 

Rather than cutting a deal with people, listen to their needs and accommodate them. 

Remember, you have something to offer to these people. But don’t make it sound like you’re only interested in selling your services. 

Instead, put yourself in their shoes. 

They want to exercise, but they don’t have support at home pushing them to sign up for a studio. Their family may not be interested in their well-being, which can be a huge setback. 

So, they need someone to provide the support… 

And that someone is you. 

Position yourself as a lifesaver. You can help your members become healthier, lose weight, gain muscle, or achieve any other goal. 

Once the conversation takes this direction, you’ve moved past the price and are now focused on the outcomes your prospect is looking for. They’ll realise your mission is to help them and not take their money. 

Such wholesome interaction is conducive to faster studio growth. 

Mistake #3. Not Converting at the Studio

Making sales calls isn’t the only way to get more members. Nevertheless, most studio owners only rely on this method to seal the deal. 

This is the wrong approach. 

Yes, making sales calls should be a big part of your sales strategy, but it shouldn’t be the only part. You should also convert at the studio. 

In fact, getting new members might be even easier on the floor. 

Think about it.

If someone walks into your studio because it’s an open week or you’ve set up an appointment, it means they’re interested in your services.

They think your studio might be perfect for them. But you’ll still need to convince them of that.

Not trying to convert is a wasted opportunity, which is one of the reasons most studios don’t grow fast enough. 

See, prospects enter their studio, but they let these prospects leave without attempting to sell. They’re reluctant to propose despite doing the hard work of getting prospects to visit their place. 

Here’s the thing:

Clients perceive their hesitance and lack of confidence, so they leave. 

This hesitation usually happens because selling is a weak spot for many studio owners. And they naturally avoid what they’re not good at. Also, they never address the issue and improve their skills, which makes them lose numerous members. 

Some owners also depend on their talent only. Talent may indeed deliver some success, but it’s not sustainable for long-term growth. 

The only way to overcome this obstacle is to invest in proper training. 

As you learn more about the sales process, you’ll know what you need to say at any given moment once your prospect enters your studio. 

Additionally, you shouldn’t be the only one who can make sales. 

You should have at least one or two converters on the team who are confident enough to sell on the floor. This way, you’ll always be ready to convert. 

Set Your Studio Up for Success

Mistakes can happen to anyone. However, you can’t ignore them and leave the growth of your studio to chance. 

Whether you’ve adopted wrong beliefs, treated your new members as trialers, or failed to convert at the studio, tackle the issue head-on. 

An optimised sales strategy and improved client interaction can make your membership go through the roof. And, of course, getting some guidance always helps.

Categories
Sales Top Stories

Increase Your Pickup Rate to Increase Your Studio’s Sales – The 6 Tips You Need to Know

Your studio looks amazing.

You’ve developed a polished retention strategy that you feel is effective. 

So, you’re ready to reap the rewards of your hard work. And you’re expecting hundreds of people to line up for your studio. 

However…

Your enthusiasm becomes short-lived because a huge problem soon arises:

Potential members aren’t interested to pickup the phone! 

You’ve generated a large number of leads, but there’s no way to convert them because you can’t even talk to them. 

Now, you may decide to do nothing about this issue and wait for it to resolve itself. 

But if you sit idle and fail to change your strategies… you’ll only waste time and money. Worse, you risk losing your clients to another studio and killing your chances of taking off. 

Unfortunately, there isn’t a magic wand that will make your prospects pick up the phone. You need to make it happen, and this article will help you do so. 

We’ll list six tips to help you get people on the phone and boost your pickup rate.

The 6 Tips to Increase Your Pickup Rate

Tip #1. Don’t Use Certain Words

The first step to improving your phone pickup rate is to adopt a different mindset. More specifically, you want to stop using certain words, such as “no one’s picking up.” 

What do I mean?

The situation might not be great, but there’s no reason to discourage yourself further. 

In fact, many studio owners think that no one’s picking up after dialling just one or two numbers. They set unrealistic expectations, hoping that each potential client will answer their call. 

But unless you’re doing 10 to 12 follow-ups per lead, stop thinking all your clients are refusing to answer you. 

The problem may lie in just one or two prospects. 

Tip #2. Do More Follow-Ups 

As previously discussed, doing more follow-ups is essential to converting your prospects. Lead generation keeps your sales funnel in motion, but your efforts will be in vain if you can’t convert them. 

But you can’t expect to land prospects with just one follow-up. In many cases, you’ll need to do at least two to three follow-ups to get your prospect to join your studio. 

Some prospects don’t require much convincing, allowing you to seal the deal after the initial contact. But keep in mind that these people already know their fitness goals and how your studio can help them achieve them. 

Such prospects are extremely rare. 

In fact, you’re much more likely to encounter prospects who require two to three follow-ups. 

Of course, getting them on board requires patience. But you also need to overcome your fear of rejection. 

You might think your prospects are indifferent to your studio, but that may not be the case at all. They could simply be waiting for you to make the first move and address certain pain points. 

If so, being persistent with your follow-ups will let you sell your studio’s services and convince them that yours is the right studio for them. 

Tip #3. Switching Phone Numbers 

Another thing you can try to improve your lead conversion is to use a different phone number. By this, I mean if your primary number is receiving no attention, switch to your secondary number. 

This tactic can work great with many potential members, especially those who are hesitant to join a studio. They don’t know who you are yet, which is why they’re timid and reluctant to answer your calls. 

But as previously discussed, persistence pays off. 

Using a different phone number ties perfectly into this point. Since they don’t know that it’s you calling using your secondary number, chances are they’re more likely to pick up.

Tip #4. Do the Double Tap

Don’t feel disheartened if your prospect doesn’t answer the first time. I know many studio owners call it quits at this point, but that’s not what you should do. 

Instead, do the double tap – redial your potential client’s number immediately after your first attempt. 

It’s because they might not have heard your first call or think you got the wrong number. But once they see you’re redialing, they’ll be more likely to pick up the phone. 

Now, the double tap strategy doesn’t hold for phone pickup only. It also applies to other types of communication. 

For example, if your prospect doesn’t respond to your initial email, follow it up with another message. This increases the chances of a response. 

Tip #5. Don’t Call at Your Convenience

One of the biggest mistakes studio owners make is calling at their convenience. That is, they dial their prospect’s numbers at the same time every day because it’s convenient for them. 

For example, you might call in-between doing some pickups or after lunch. You might have free time at this point, so you decide to ring your potential client up. 

It’s convenient for you…

But is it convenient for your prospects?

The easiest solution to this problem is to call your prospects at a different time. This way, you’ll rule out the possibility that they’re too busy to answer you. 

Tip #6. Identify and Use the Ideal Time Slots 

Identifying the ideal time slots to call is directly connected to the previous point. These windows have to do with when your prospects are more likely to pick up the phone. 

Here are the three best time slots for dialling your prospect’s number: 

  • Five minutes after the initial lead drop 
  • Between 9 and 11 AM
  • Between 4:30 and 6:30 AM (after work hours) 

The first option might be your best bet since this is when the lead is still fresh. At that point, the prospect expects you to reach out, so use this opportunity while it’s open. 

Adopt the Winner’s Mindset

The best studio owners are resolute. 

Their pickup rate might not have been great when they first launched their studio, but this didn’t discourage them. Instead, they identified and solved the issue to improve their lead conversion. 

You can do the same with these tips. 

The key thing to remember is to not be discouraged by a few unanswered phone calls. Redialing your prospects and doing several follow-ups usually do the trick. 

If not, understand that your customers are busy and choose a better time slot. You’ll be surprised by the improvements to your pickup rate.