Latest / Gym Business Coach Podcast / How to Grow Your Gym During the Holiday Slowdown

Transcript

How to Grow Your Gym During the Holiday Slowdown · Gym Business Coach Podcast

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: All right, welcome back to another episode of the built-a-girl podcast.
• 0:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna be your host today, Randy Inkston joined with Mr. Zach Colombia What's up everybody?
• 0:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, thanks for having me.
• 0:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, I'm glad you're here
• 0:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: for those joining on YouTube.
• 0:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, you do see something a little bit different.
• 0:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're we're in our new studio.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're working on, um, we've got a lot to reveal here.
• 0:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Tim's been kind of alluding to some of the changes you got as going to see in here coming down the pipeline, but we're going to get into it for today.
• 0:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: So on today's that for today's episode, we've got a great concept, a great great topic here.
• 0:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Very timely for this time of year.
• 0:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: something that we know about fitness.
• 0:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Between the rest of November here and into December traditionally your training, the number of sessions you're conducting usually slows down a little bit, right?
• 0:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Your clients are traveling.
• 0:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's been a time with family, the holiday season, but new business also slows down.
• 1:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's not usually a time of year where we receive
• 1:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: However, we do know that traditionally come the new year, it is gangbusters for a lot of gyms, right?
• 1:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: We know that traditionally February and March are traditionally larger months for new business, but what does that mean for you and your business right now?
• 1:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: One of the things that we wanted to share with you guys is when you don't have your current clients,
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: at the same rate in front of you.
• 1:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when you don't have new business taking place, the new opportunities, new consultations sales taking place, it provides you with the opportunity to work on the business.
• 1:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so for today, we want to share a couple of things that you can focus on between now and let's say, you know, middle of January, early February that can help shape the direction for 2026.
• 1:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Before we were talking about what some of those things are, why don't you take the first shot at it and just kind of discuss what you believe Jim owner should be focused on between now and that new year's rush.
• 2:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, well, I think we all know that frequency is kind of like our key performance indicator for retention, the less somebody's in our facility, the harder it is to deliver value for them, right?
• 2:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so this time a year when they start traveling, they lose momentum, it's really difficult for us
• 2:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: reinforce the value that we deliver for them, and only that it becomes very easy for your competitors to offer a new opportunity or a new solution or something they haven't tried before.
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: And in our industry, there's really this climate of like fronted and forgotten to some degree.
• 3:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's, you know, the focus is so much on the front end.
• 3:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then we typically do not treat, we don't put the same effort into our existing clients that have been with us as we do into acquiring new clients.
• 3:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so we always focus on the front end and a lot of times we just forget our clients that have been paying us for year or two years or five years or whatever it is.
• 3:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so there's this interesting kind of dynamic
• 3:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: People may not necessarily stop working out or quit working out all together, but in January, they, at the end of the year, they canceled their membership, and then they go somewhere else.
• 3:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: And there's this movement, and it could be like a merry-go-round where it's like, hey, you know, you're going to get some of that gem's clients, and they're going to get some of your clients.
• 3:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: And you know, it's just going to be like a musical chairs thing.
• 3:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so the question is like, well, how do we, what do we do now to to prevent that from happening?
• 4:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: And yeah, this time of year, if your clients are traveling and not really as focused on working out at least a lot of them aren't to then your perspective members are not focused on working out and they're traveling and they're busy and they're thinking, yeah, I'll start that in the new year, right?
• 4:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so right now, the focus really, I don't want to say, should shift because you don't want to stop marketing, but
• 4:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: really we should prioritize how do we keep our existing numbers retention retention and so how do we pour into them during this time of year when we're probably not doing as many consultations that type of thing internal challenge is a great way to do it you could do
• 4:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: a project hold or a project zero where, you know, we know the, I think average weight gain for somebody between Thanksgiving and New Year's is like eight pounds or 10 pounds, like that year different numbers.
• 5:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: So project zero is like, hey, we're going to have you come in, we're going to weigh you.
• 5:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then we're going to do a way out in the goal is like, you,
• 5:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, that's your own, which, you know, they could gain fat and lose muscle if they're not working out, but you want to kind of bake in different components of the challenge to keep them on track.
• 5:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: We've done the 12 days of fitness before, which is just like a bingo card in each day.
• 5:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: They have specific fitness tasks, tasks they have to accomplish.
• 5:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: holiday hold on this kind of like a project zero just different name.
• 5:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: But all of the challenges really are designed to have, you know, almost like a bingo board or candy land where it's like they have to accomplish certain things that you know we're going to keep momentum.
• 5:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: So the challenge is a one thing and, you know, if somebody's planning on traveling, are they going to participate in that?
• 6:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: maybe maybe not, right, it depends on how you position it and try to get people in.
• 6:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: But just like check-ins is huge.
• 6:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: Have touch points with all of your members instead of spending an hour doing a consultation with a new person.
• 6:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, spending an hour doing a check-in with three or four of your clients that down with them, talk to them about the future, about the next year, what their goals are, what their intentions are, like, just have that personal connection with them, so that they don't feel like, oh, man, things are going to...
• 6:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, like this, the gym has forgotten about me and I forgot about it.
• 6:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: And now this other program looks more enticing.
• 6:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 6:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, we usually try to get some sort of like new toys or equipment or something that we put in the gym towards the end of the year.
• 6:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: If you're trying to, you know, if you need to write some something that's in the chat, or do some tax write offs.
• 7:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, it's a great time to, you know, fork over a chunk of cash.
• 7:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: And at the end of the year, and then that helps kind of create this like momentum and there's some novelty there and so the members can reengage that way and then anything with your program, you know that you could that you could adjust or you could.
• 7:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: Speak to is like, hey, coming in the new year, here are the things that our work cited about that we're going to be bringing in.
• 7:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it's just enough to just let that member kind of not be curious or enticed by some other competitors program.
• 7:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: yes speaking to that right i mean if you look i'm sure a lot of you listening right if you were to look at the time that when what part of the year a good majority of your your client start a program january because it's the new years new resolution that type of mentality a lot of people start their fitness journeys in january right so maybe they wrote out maybe it wasn't with your gym maybe they started their
• 8:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: journey years ago, but cyclically every year, January, they're up for renewal, right?
• 8:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, we've shared before, right?
• 8:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Your, the marketplace is saturated with offers through January.
• 8:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Everybody's going for the new business.
• 8:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so to that's point, if you're not doing everything you can to keep and retain the people that you have,
• 8:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: they are being slapped in the face with offers and enticed by every other business to come give it a try somewhere else.
• 8:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so the Ole Miss is on you to keep those people happy.
• 8:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: And one, a lot of the things that you shared and I think it's really big for retention is not just delivering a result, but showing clients you care.
• 8:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 8:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's a big part, right?
• 8:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're not just a number.
• 8:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: I do agree like the industry has such a strong
• 9:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: push to new business that it does become that revolving door right you've got a marketing and sales business you deliver a fitness on the back end but the fitness becomes a secondary to having to market and put somebody else in the business and so it reminds me of the conversation we have a Joey Coleman.
• 9:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: you know, a few months back right where his whole premise is how to keep customers and keep them in the door.
• 9:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, he shared a lot of statistics when it comes to the value that pouring into your current clients actually brings versus focusing on that new front end revenue.
• 9:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if we can keep and retain clients, that's the name of the game, right?
• 9:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: So if you've got retention issues, obviously, I think this is one of those times of year where you can really double
• 9:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 9:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: And in our industry a lot of times, you come from a place of fear, you know, the gym is acting in a weakened position, not an authoritative position.
• 10:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so you might have a member that came in and they signed up in January with you and over the course of the last 60 days like you haven't really seen much of that person.
• 10:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so a lot of times the position the gym will take is.
• 10:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, maybe they just forgot about us.
• 10:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: And we'll just like they haven't.
• 10:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: We've reached out.
• 10:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: We have tried to get them to come in.
• 10:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: We've done our part, and now we just need to go silent.
• 10:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: And hope that we can continue building them as long as possible until they remember to let you know.
• 10:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then cancel.
• 10:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm sure everybody listening has done that.
• 10:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: We've done that.
• 10:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: I've done that.
• 10:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: We all, like, if you've done it, you know, it doesn't work out well, because because then that person is coming back to you for a refund or, you know, that you have a 30 day cancellation policy and they reach out and they're like, well, you know, I haven't been there in three months.
• 11:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I shouldn't have to stick to a 30 day window or whatever you guys know how how I can.
• 11:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: How it takes out.
• 11:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: So instead of us,
• 11:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: Instead of us just trying to like hide essentially, uh, when I've found as much more effective, you're going to lose anyway.
• 11:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're going to lose out anyway if you if you do nothing.
• 11:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so it's much better for you to just address the elephant in the room and reach out to that person and say, hey, listen, like you started with us.
• 11:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: You had really good momentum.
• 11:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: You were doing great.
• 11:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: You fell off.
• 11:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not sure exactly what happened.
• 11:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know if there's something we could have done differently.
• 11:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: Or if it's just like time, chance, and circumstance with you.
• 11:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: But we don't want you to stop.
• 12:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: We like having you as part of our community.
• 12:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: What do you say like, we start fresh in January?
• 12:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: Because that's probably what that person's already thinking, but they're going to do with somebody else.
• 12:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: There you go.
• 12:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so just be the person or the facility, the organization that they're going to rest that they're going to start with.
• 12:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: Instead of letting them turn, try to come up with a game plan to reactivate them, re-engage them,
• 12:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: starting when, you know, the time frame is going to work for them.
• 12:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: So that's, don't let them just, don't, don't just hide from them and then let the journey that happen.
• 12:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: You have nothing to lose because they're going to get to the end of their contract or, you know, it's going to come to December 31st or whatever and they're going to cancel anyway.
• 12:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: So you might as well like get ahead of it.
• 12:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: put some effort in when you when you have the opportunity, right?
• 12:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 12:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, you know, one of our, sorry, jump in, but Casey Walshack, one of our circle members, um, he says, you know, I don't make my money when when somebody comes in and signs up, I make my money when they come in and they want to quit and I keep them.
• 13:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: There you go.
• 13:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's where the money's earned.
• 13:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 13:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: And that's exactly how you should look at it.
• 13:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: I like that.
• 13:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: I like that.
• 13:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: I like that.
• 13:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, obviously, retention is a big one, but there's a number of things that Jim owners could be working on while they have a little bit additional bandwidth, right?
• 13:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think with, in the same scope as retention, right, is knowing your numbers is being clear on where revenue is coming from, where revenue is going, that type of thing.
• 13:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: But outside of that, one of the things that we talk about a lot is you have to be best in class.
• 13:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: You have to be provide, you have to provide something that's unique, you have to be
• 13:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: a differentiator in the marketplace, if you do want to just win and win for the long haul.
• 13:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: When it comes to more of a programming standpoint, more of a delivery standpoint, obviously we have SPP, some of my private pro, which handles our delivery of our semi-private programming at scale, maybe with that or around that, what are other things
• 14:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: that may not change the trajectory of the rest of this year, but will change what you can accomplish in 2026.
• 14:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: What do you feel is like some of the most impactful changes or additions
• 14:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: optimizations, a gym could do to their programming or to their delivery that can really set themselves up.
• 14:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, number one is just like the same way that you're now pouring into your clients, you should be pouring into your team.
• 14:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, and so it's like, well, now if I'm not as focused on the front end because that slowed down a little bit, that gives me more capacity to focus on my current clients.
• 14:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: But also like, is there anything that you've been neglecting with
• 14:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: a lot of, this is a horrible time of year to hire, sure.
• 14:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: So the same way that clients are looking or prospective members are traveling and they're busy and all that, a lot of employees are like, hey, I'm going to, you know, get my year and bonus, or I'm going to hang out and then I'll start looking for a job in the new year, whatever.
• 15:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so this, this same timeframe can be a,
• 15:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: a really important time for you to pour into your team, to have sit down with each member of your team individually, and ask them, what do you want to do more of?
• 15:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, what is your trajectory look like?
• 15:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: here what kind of plan do we need to put in place for you for this upcoming year for you to develop and get to the next level and you know understand what's important to each one of our coaches and so that would be number one right number two you know you you mentioned some
• 16:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: Whether using it or not using it, the way we do our programming is we have a 13 week macro cycle, essentially.
• 16:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so it's on we start the macro cycle,
• 16:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: first week of January.
• 16:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: And we have an integration phase.
• 16:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: So integration is like a a strength, the hypertrophy and endurance, like combination.
• 16:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we do integration and then we do four weeks of hypertrophy, integration, four weeks of strength, integration, two weeks of endurance, and then that's the cycle and we repeat it.
• 16:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: Every integration phase, we are reaching out to our members, we're doing check-ins with them, movement screenings and body scans, reviewing their progress, their weight history, all that.
• 16:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: But we know like that's 13 weeks.
• 17:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: Every time we transition phases, we send out emails and communication to our members.
• 17:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: Hey, this week at Legacy, we're heading into the strength phase.
• 17:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: Here's what the strength phase is.
• 17:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: Here's why we do it.
• 17:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: And here's what you can do to get the most out of it.
• 17:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we build automation around our macro cycle, around our phases of training.
• 17:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then when we get through one quarter, we're just gonna repeat that programming over and over and over again.
• 17:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it's a specific designated system that literally is going to require zero thought on our part.
• 17:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: It becomes a journey for the client.
• 17:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's a short-term 90-day cycle.
• 17:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it's a sprint, they can wrap a client, can wrap their head around these 90 days.
• 17:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's evergreen because we repeat it.
• 17:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: There's accountability check-ins, built-in.
• 18:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: There's progress in momentum, built-in to this.
• 18:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're speaking to our product.
• 18:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we're getting our client focused on the product.
• 18:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're taking them through this journey.
• 18:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: for the whole entire year and it literally requires zero effort on our part.
• 18:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it's like think about the hours.
• 18:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: spent, you know, for your staff programming or for you building programs or assigning programs to your clients or, you know, you try to come up with different themes or phases or whatever, when that's going to take zero capacity, you know, for us or for a gym that's using some
• 18:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: Sure, we can selfishly plug that, but like, what does that do for the gym to go say, you buying your time back?
• 18:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're buying your time back.
• 18:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not paying a coach to program.
• 18:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, if you're not paying a coach to program because the programming is you build it once and then it's on repeat.
• 19:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: What can you pay that reallocate that time for the coach to do?
• 19:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: Check in with clients.
• 19:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: developing relationships, whatever, there's a million different things, and so we can become a lot more efficient and put the systems in place now that are going to make us more profitable that are going that's going to help us with retention.
• 19:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: There's so many things, and so
• 19:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm so often in this industry and we talk to so many jim owners and they're thinking is just so reactive, sure, because it's like, what do I have to do to make payroll this month?
• 19:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: I got to go sell whatever $10,000 worth of paid in full member ships.
• 19:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: And when that's your focus, you never get out of that business cycle, right?
• 20:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so it's like,
• 20:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: take a step back and let's build some systems, minimal viable systems in place in VPS in place.
• 20:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: So that everything operates smoothly and we're buying our time so that then we can work on the business and be stuck in this vicious cycle.
• 20:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, so many things.
• 20:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no, and I like that.
• 20:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's putting you as the business owner back in the driver's seat, right?
• 20:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: You nailed it when you said we're reactive instead of proactive.
• 20:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that this is probably the biggest, the big takeaway from this episode is like, what can we do between now and when we know people are gonna walk through the front door, looking for a new gym type of thing, that can set your entire year up for success.
• 20:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: And there was a great quote, I don't remember who said it.
• 20:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: They said, somebody that we were working with said, you don't repair car while driving it, right?
• 21:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when you're doing 50 miles an hour and you're serving all your clients, you got consultations booked, you know, you leave the work on the business to whatever the scraps that are left over, right?
• 21:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: And right now, you know, you have a little bit more time and opportunity to really focus on that.
• 21:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I think the big takeaway for this episode is like, what are you gonna do for your business?
• 21:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: that you have the time you have the capacity right now.
• 21:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: But if you blink, it's gone.
• 21:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, to mean January is coming fast.
• 21:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: February will be here like it's tomorrow.
• 21:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're going to be busy with the new business that's coming in then.
• 21:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: What can you focus on in your business?
• 21:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I would say, maybe start with like an audit of the business, right?
• 21:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: What happened this year where you feel like there was more opportunity that you just didn't capitalize on?
• 21:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: or you've identified issues or problems with the business, or maybe that necessarily a problem, but something that you can optimize tweak, fine-tune, make better to the point where you mentioned, you know, look, we talked about programming, and that's such a big component.
• 22:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think more often than not, one of the things that Jim owners hold on to is the programming.
• 22:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: without you, if they're not, they don't have a system in place, they're still doing a lot of the programming themselves because they believe that that's the so much of keeping somebody in business, right?
• 22:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: We put all of our emphasis on the workout, but the workout is part of that.
• 22:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's probably the leading factor of the client experience, but it's still only part of the client experience, right?
• 22:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: What are some of the other things that,
• 22:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have in place, you kind of touch on some of them, right?
• 22:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: The accountability check-ins, the education or the communication that goes into it.
• 22:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: All of that stuff impacts the client experience.
• 22:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Would you agree?
• 22:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah.
• 22:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, all of it.
• 22:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: One thing, we had a meeting yesterday at the staff at the coaches, and I was like, hey, guys, in another,
• 23:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: between now and then to the year thing, you know, people be traveling, it'll be a little bit slower.
• 23:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: Come the first or second week of January for the next, you know, five months essentially, you're going to have six, five, six people every single hour.
• 23:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're going to be basically a capacity for seven hour straight on the training floor.
• 23:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: What can you do right now to take the clients that are here that are consistent over-train them, essentially, over-coach them so that when it does get crazy, that client's form is perfect.
• 23:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: They know what they're doing.
• 23:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like they're so dialed and they know the exercises.
• 23:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like you've coached them so well that they take up minimal amount of your time on the training floor.
• 23:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: freeing you up to then spend more time with people that are newer or weren't here as often or whatever and so it's an investment into, you know, into the future and so that it positively impacts the overall experience for all of our clients collectively.
• 24:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: So parallel that, you know, to now with the gym owner, same exact thing, like what things can you put into the business, what things can you invest in now, what systems, what processes can you put in place so that when you are really busy, it doesn't impact the experience.
• 24:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: And you guys probably know, and I was talking to Joe Lee, who is now doing a lot of our consultations here, and taking a lot of my responsibilities, like fitness director responsibilities.
• 24:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: And we had a little bit busier month with sales consults, and I was like, hey, just so you know, like you're going to have an amazing conversation with that person.
• 24:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: with somebody sitting across from home, you're going to connect with them and then they're going to the next time you see them, you're not going to remember their name.
• 25:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: And she said, and she was like, ah, no, and then we were halfway through November and she's like, yeah, you're right.
• 25:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like, I don't even, like, I thought, I saw that person and I just blanked on who they were.
• 25:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I remember the conversation, but I couldn't even remember their name, you know?
• 25:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it's because like, we're having so many conversations, so many people.
• 25:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, there's gonna be a time for you as a business owner, like, you're gonna have those months where it's like, man, crushing it, and I signed up 30 people this month.
• 25:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: And you can't remember anybody, well, what systems are in place so that you can keep those people?
• 25:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: Because it cost us here $450, $500 to acquire a client.
• 25:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we're already, you know, negative in the whole.
• 25:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: If we're lucky, we're like it, one row as so in the first month, we're going to break even.
• 25:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: But with that person coming in, if they don't stick,
• 26:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: We lost money on that acquisition.
• 26:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so the worst thing that you can do is not have the systems in place, spend all this money on marketing to acquire new customers and then have them stay with you to a point where you don't even break even on that acquisition.
• 26:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like,
• 26:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not going to be a businessman.
• 26:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not going to be a businessman.
• 26:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not going to be a businessman.
• 26:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not going to be a businessman.
• 26:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not going to be a businessman.
• 26:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not going to be a businessman.
• 26:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not going to be a businessman.
• 26:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not going to be a businessman.
• 26:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not going to be a businessman.
• 26:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not going to be a businessman.
• 26:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not going to be a businessman.
• 26:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not going to be a businessman.
• 26:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not going to be a businessman.
• 26:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not going to be a businessman.
• 26:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not going to be a businessman.
• 26:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not going to be a businessman.
• 26:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not going to be a businessman.
• 26:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not going to be a businessman.
• 26:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not going to be a businessman.
• 26:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not going to be a businessman.
• 26:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're not
• 26:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: But then how horrible does it feel when you have five cancellations come through in a week and, you know, it's way worse than the good dopamine filling of sign in them up.
• 26:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: And you don't want to be on that roller coaster as a gym owner.
• 27:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: So you have to think about like, okay, I got to do the the hard not sexy part now and put the systems in place.
• 27:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: Perfect.
• 27:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I think that nails it.
• 27:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, the ultimate takeaway right is is focusing on what you can do in the business right now to both keep and retain clients optimize fine tune tweak improve the business for the year list that's coming, but do it now do it now right turn around left you listen to this episode.
• 27:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: you know, find some time to review this year.
• 27:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: I would look at your systems that you haven't placed.
• 27:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: I would look at opportunity where where do we feel we can increase our client experience?
• 27:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: We can become that one of one in our marketplace.
• 27:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, we work with a lot of gyms that are transitioning away from group and into semi-private, right?
• 27:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is this the time where you, you know, everybody's busy and we'd never have the time, right?
• 27:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: But if you do have the time right now, maybe right now is the right time to look.
• 28:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: at the business and consider making more substantial changes that the rest of the year just doesn't provide the opportunity for, right?
• 28:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so that's our takeaway for today.
• 28:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Use it, look at the business, decide on what changes you can make, implement those changes before that rush of the new year comes into place.
• 28:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: But that's all we have for you on this episode.
• 28:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Keep changing lives.
• 28:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll see you in the next one.
• 28:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: All right, thanks for listening to another episode of the Built Girl podcast.
• 28:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you want more help growing your business, join our free Facebook group, profit accelerator, helping training gyms grow to $30,000 a month and beyond.
• 28:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: We'd love to see you there.
• 28:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: Go check out the show notes for the link and keep building something great, and we'll see you in the next episode.