Retention in 24/7 Access Gyms: Top Gym Owner's Tactics

How do you acquire and retain hundreds of clients at a 24 7 gym? You'll find out today on this episode of Run a Profitable Gym. I'm Mike Workin . Every month I review leaderboards for Gym Metrics . I talk to someone who made the leaderboard and then I ask them to share their secrets with you. I'm literally giving away the cheat codes for gym ownership every month. Now please subscribe so you don't miss any of that because I want you to run a successful gym too .

Here. Thank you so much.

I wanna ask you this, we often don't talk to people who run predominantly 24 7 access gyms. I know you're doing some coaching on the side, but I understand that's kind of the business model. Give me the one minute , like the 62nd summary. What do you do at your gym? What's your market? What do you sell? Who

Are you? Yeah, so Complete Physique is a small town , um, health and wellness center. We have a full access gym and we also offer personal training, nutrition and hypnotherapy. Oh , cool . So , yeah, so that's pretty exciting to be able to offer the hypnotherapy as well. Cause we don't really see that anywhere else. Um, 80% , almost 80% of our members are senior citizens.

Oh , that's a

Good one. Yeah, we're a retirement community, so we have a lot of senior citizens.

Okay . So that's really interesting. And do you happen to know, like do you have a breakdown or percentage? How many of your , uh, members are just come for access and how many of them go for coaching and nutrition and more of the coaching services?

I would say most of them come for access. Ok . Um , we're kinda changing that , you know, this year we're kinda changing that a little bit and , and we've included some group training. So we've got a group going right now. We're trying to get a second group going for that . So just to bring in more members for that , uh, one-on-one or even, you know, groups of three to five.

Okay , I like it. So we have the basics of what you do there. Now we're gonna find out how you manage to do it so well to earn a spot at the leaderboard. So talk to me about like client, huge client counts. You can't have a client count, you know, of and the hundreds of members without acquiring members and retaining them. But tell me first of what , how you acquire these people. Like what brings your members in the door?

So with us being a small town, we have um, several Facebook groups in the town. So we, we use those platforms for advertising. Um, so just being able to advertise the right way to, to bring people in the door that has helped. Um, also word of mouth, you know, with us being a small town, if somebody enjoys something that's happening, they're gonna go tell everybody at the grocery store and the vintage store and all the places around town. So word of mouth is awesome.

Okay . So it's a two-pronged strategy mostly where you're doing some Facebook ads and you're putting some dollars behind that and then you're doing what we often call a two brain affinity marketing, where you're using your current satisfied clients to find more of them . Is that right?

Yep . Correct.

Okay . So I like that approach and there are gems that use that approach in varying ratios with more advertising or more referrals. The one thing I'll remind you of listeners, referrals is not a passive process. You have to make it happen or it won't happen. Okay . Now, so this, this is an interesting one. What, I saw this on your website, but I want you to tell me about it . How do you get these people? Like what is the onboarding process at your gym and how does that affect retention?

Of. Yeah, so we start with a no sweat intro , which is 10 to 15 minutes that we spend with our clients. We get to know them , um, you know, first of all we give them a tour of the facility mm-hmm , find out what their goals are, kind of get to know them a little bit. And then , um, what I think is most important is we introduce them to other members that might be there working out at the time and we introduce them to other staff that might be there during that time .

Now that's in an Access gym, right? Like that's even for your access members? Yes. See now it's interesting cuz every gym that I signed up to , uh, I didn't sign up to any 24 sevens by , when was it ? Lots of access gyms when I signed up, they said, there's your membership card, there's the stuff, and that was it. Right . I didn't meet anybody. You put on your headphones for the most part. You do your pec deck in the corner and you ignore everyone else and try to look cool. Right.

I think that's kinda what I noticed. Um, I used to teach, we have a senior fitness class that is all 65 and older. I used to teach that class, now we have others teaching it. Um , and that's kinda what I noticed from that class was they wanted five or 10 minutes before class started to do their social time mm-hmm . and then after class on Fridays, they all go to coffee together. So after seeing that for a couple of months, I decided, you know, to incorporate that for all of our members.

Comfortable. See , you've hit on a couple things there . You've got, you know, your target market obviously really well and you wanna provide the things that they want. And then the other thing is that you, you retention is clearly related to your service, your business, but it also is that third prong is kind of other clients and other people. So if they can make connections inside your business and have workout buddies, I imagine that helps retention too.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah . Now for group or um , uh, your access clients, do they go through any sort of on-ramp or intake process after that consultation?

So a lot of them sign up for either nutrition or one-on-one training. I have a few clients who I do one-on-one training with and they're also in the group training. So a lot of them, most of them actually start out with the access membership. Mm-hmm. , um, so far we haven't really had success with the on-ramp. Um, so we just have them start out with the access membership.

I have a suspicion that we probably need to do a whole show on hypnotherapy, but can you give me like the 32nd rundown of what that is?

Absolutely. So hypnotherapy is , um, putting a client in a relaxed state , um, and you give suggestions to their subconscious mind. Um , nothing is, nothing is going to allow them , um, to do anything subconsciously that they don't wanna do. So it just gives them suggestions to reframe things like past trauma for instance. Um, maybe they have a fear about something that has because of something that has happened to them. So hypnotherapy can reframe that so that they feel differently about it.

That is a unique skillset you've got there and I think, like I said, we might have to dig into that in a different episode, but that's very cool. And now I'll, I'll hire you after the show to help me out with uh , my worries about being a good podcast host. Oh, there you go , , talk to me. We know that traditional gyms and, you know, access gyms and things like that often have an in a lot of people churning in and out because it's there .

Absolutely. So one of the things that I think is extremely important is I tell my my members upfront that, Hey, I'm here for you. I'm here to support you. Whatever you need, you know, my number's on the building, here's my card, give me a call, text me anytime . Um, so if there's ever any complaints, we don't get many, but occasionally , um, I, I get right on it and I resolve it immediately so that we don't have people who don't feel welcome coming here.

So do you, you said, you mentioned you have staff. Are you by default client success manager then when people know that there's an issue or if they wanna talk, they go right to you? Or do you have other people that help you out with that?

So I do have a client success manager. She's still in training. Mm-hmm . . So that's really, really new. Um, she's been a member of the gym as well for quite some time. So if she's here, people will go to her. Um, and then she passes on to me. A lot of times I just get, get a phone call or a text message. So , um, my, my members who know me well , um, who've been coming for quite a while, they still will come to me.

Ok . So it's , it's a role that you, I guess just to quote Chris Cooper, you're, you've done the role, you're leaving some deep , deep footprints and you're gonna pass that off to someone else who can do it to your standards.

Exactly.

Yeah. And then what's, what will you devote that time to once that is off your plate?

So I , um, I raised my grandson who is a special needs kiddo. He has autism , he's nonverbal . Um , so I just wanna be there to devote more time to him . That's my number one . Yeah .

Okay . So the , that's the idea, Jim wonders if you can get rid of things from your plate and create a business where it runs itself, you can start devoting that time to other things like family or whatever else you wanna do, which is a really cool thing. Talk to me about some of the essentials, again, of holding on to people in this facility. So you mentioned the intake process where you set people up and connect them and so forth. How do you stop people from running out of intake facilities?

So I try to do some type of event or challenge or create a new program about every three months. And I'm, I'm always , uh, posting things on our Facebook. We have a private Facebook group and then we have a Facebook page and I will share those things to the community Facebook pages as well. So always just letting people know, Hey, we have this going on and we have this new program. And just so that they don't get bored with things, they can move on to something different.

Whenever I was in one of these gyms, I never had a private Facebook group and I never knew what was really going on. I might see something on a billboard or not a billboard , um, blood board , but I never actually like, had this personalized group. And there certainly weren't local or like regular events. Tell me about some of the events that you run. Like what kind of quarterly things are on your calendar to keep members engaged?

So , um, in January we did a challenge, it was a circuit challenge , uh, with our senior citizens, which is awesome to see, you know, people in their seventies doing circuits. And , um, this weekend we are doing a , uh, a 5K run walk bike for autism awareness , um, April's Autism Awareness Month. And uh , so that's obviously really, really important to me. Um, so we are doing that at our , um, our marina area. So it's on the water and we've got quite a few members signed up for that.

And you make a point of actually putting this stuff on your calendar ahead of time. How far in advance do you plan these things?

Um, I try to do at least a couple of months. Sometimes it's just a month ahead.

The reason I ask is because Chris Cooper just wrote a series on special events and he's recommending that Jims use about four a year. And not necessarily stuff that they host, but like you said, events in the community as well where you can link up and partner with them . And the benefit there is that a , you don't have to do all your organization work, which is can be a lot in a lot of cases. The other thing though is it gives your members something to look forward to.

Absolutely. Yeah. And I think the other thing that helps is checking in with them . You know, when I , you know, when I come in, I, I always make it a point to say hello to everybody that's here , um, so that they feel that they can come to me, you know, when they're ready to move on to something else. And, you know, probably every couple of weeks I'll say, Hey, how are things going? You know, do you, do you feel like everything's going good with your workouts?

Goal review sessions. Now we know in coaching gyms they happen a lot. Do you do that in, in Access gym or are you planning on doing something like

That? So I do goal reviews, specific goal reviews with my one-on-one training clients and my , um, my group clients. Mm-hmm. . Um, so as far as just the access members, I don't necessarily schedule the goal reviews, but I do check in with them periodically just to say, Hey, how are things going? You know, are you getting everything you need? Fitness wise and nutrition? And

It's an interesting question because we know, like say in , in a model of like 150 coaching clients at a high value goal, reviews are a little bit easier to do, but if you've got hundreds and hundreds of clients in an access gym, it's a little bit of a different story . So I've never run into this before, so that's why I'm kind of asking about this. Could you see a scenario where an out an official goal review session would work for access clients ?

I think it would be difficult with as many , uh, members as we have right now. We're at , um, over 360 members right now. So I think it would be difficult. Um, so I just kind of let them come to me. Mm-hmm . That's why I check in periodically and, and I always tell them , Hey, if you feel like you need something different, just let me know. And, and you know, always let them know again, reminding them of what we have available for them .

Yeah. And I think, like when I worked in commercial gym, this is years ago now, but I , when I did, I don't think it would've been feasible for the staffing levels to manage goal reviews with that, with all those people. But you still obviously at that gym when I was at, people bled out very quickly because they'd show up in January. Like I said, they'd be gone by March. Yeah . And so that was a big problem there.

Those are, yeah. Um, I think that that's definitely what has worked. I'm noticing a difference, especially over the last year with , um, you know, come March, February, March, we aren't having a lot of people dropping off. Ooh ,

That's a big deal.

Yeah . Even yes. And even summer, you know, it used to be everybody wants to be outside in the summer, so we would lose people. We haven't had that happen the last couple of years. So,

So what changed? Why , why over the last couple years? Can you put your finger on anything?

I just, I really think people feel comfortable. I think that's the biggest thing is people feel comfortable when we let them know upfront , Hey, I'm here for you. Um, they know that when they call me with a complaint, it's gonna get taken care of. And I think that is huge. And then the other thing that I think is important too is we , um, have placed a no bullying policy. And we've only had this happen once or twice , um, in the last seven years that I've owned this Jim.

So what's the vibe, if I walk into your gym right now, what is the vibe? And I mean, like again, back in the day when I went in it was like the bodybuilder over there at the headphones on and this person over there on the cardio machine and kind of just these like very fractured groups, maybe a couple of training partners, but mostly individual stuff. What is the vibe if I walk in, what do I see in your Jim ?

So the vibe coming in here is, this is home. Like, it is like a second home to people, you know, everybody says hello to each other. You know , even when I come in, it's good morning Dixie, and I'm onto the next person on the treadmill. Good morning Dixie. And it's just, it's very family-Like , it's very comfortable. It's very positive and bright and I love it. And you know, and this is what I want for all of my members to feel as well. And I think they, do

You see your members actually kind of connecting with each other to train and keep each other cattle ? And I don't mean like in a structured sense where you have groups, but like, do, do these friendships and training partnerships grow up organically because you've created this community feel?

Absolutely, yes .

That's cool.

Yes, I have , um, I will, will see members when I'm training somebody one-on-one, I'll see other members helping each other. It's, it's really cool.

Do you have, I could see this happening say in the seniors community because a little bit different, but do you have younger members and does it happen there too? Like what is, what's, is there a younger demographic in your gym as well?

There is. Um, so we, we allow , um, kiddos un excuse me, supervised from age 11 to 16. Once they're 16 they can be unsupervised. Mm-hmm . , we do have probably a handful of high school students that come in. Um, you know, and, and they're fully aware too of being respectful mm-hmm . , especially with their music, you know , around the older population.

. No, I'm just curious. Like , and the reason I ask is because when I had a seniors group at my gym and it was a small group training with like, you know , 10 to 12 people Yeah . They were very tightly knit . Mm-hmm . , but , and I'm , and I could see, so I could see that vibe transferring over into an access facility where people are coming and they really kind of look at it as social time plus workout time.

I think , um, the , it's a little bit different. You know, we do have people in their, you know, twenties to forties as well. Um, I would say that group is a little bit different. Um mm-hmm . , a lot of times they're the ones with their headphones and just kind of doing their workout , but they will get involved in conversations. Um, they are friendly , um, you know, to the, the rest of the population in here as well. So I would say , um, not as many, but there are a few that still do.

Yeah. And that's not a fault for them because in a 24 7 access gym, some people just wanna do that and that's what they're there for. I'm gonna work out at 2:00 AM at the end of my shift and I'm just gonna get my stuff done and go home. That's, that's totally cool. I'm just curious about this because you have such an interesting kind of unique situation and I'm curious what other gym owners like this, like this can learn with your younger demographic.

Um, yeah, a little bit mm-hmm . and , and I think a lot of that has to do with that social aspect. You know, our older generation, they, they do this mostly. Number one, they wanna keep moving and number two, it is their social time. So I think , um, that the younger population, they get social time in other places, you know, most of them work, they still work, so, so it's a little bit different for them versus our 80% of the senior citizens.

So what would you say for the younger group, what would you say is your main retention tactic there? Do you have a , something that you do to keep those guys that are more likely to walk out?

Um, the events? Yeah . And , and again, just letting them know , um, you know, reminding them periodically, Hey, we've got this , this new program going on mm-hmm . . So anytime we have new programs , um, and I'm constantly creating programs this year, so anytime that happens , um, I let them know whether it's through Facebook or I'm walking in and I see somebody you know, who's, you know, just on the treadmill and they're chit-chatting, I'll say, Hey, hey, did you hear about our new program?

So Jim Owners , I'm gonna put a link in the show notes to Chris Cooper's series on how to make money at other people's events. It's really cool and it's four quarterly events that you can either host yourself or tack link up with someone else. This is a really cool way to get people fired up to train and stage at your gym, especially during down times . Chris has 'em spaced out about four times a year and it looks like this is working well for Dixie. So I'm gonna put a link in the show notes.

So with our building space, I, I believe there is a limit. Um , it does help that we are 24 hour . Jim , that definitely helps because they can spread out a little bit more. Mm-hmm . , like we, we have our current , um, local fire department as members and a lot of them are coming throughout the night. So that definitely helps. Um, I would say still in the current building that I'm in, we're about 3,200 square feet, so I probably wouldn't want more than about four 50 . Mm-hmm. .

If you hit that four 50 , would you do anything differently with retention? Was there anything that you'd add on or change?

I think I would keep everything the same. Mm-hmm . , um, I, I may be here a little bit more often as all . Sure . You know, just to make sure that people see a face and know that they're supported.

Last thing I'll ask you, your client success manager, you said she's in training or he's in training, I forget what you said.

She is in training. Okay . So she is learning to, you know, do the signups , uh, the NSIs and all of that.

So that, that was my question is what's she gonna be doing. And so the , you said she's gonna be doing the no sweat, interest free consultations, she'll be signing people up. What else will she do?

Um, she does a lot of the restocking. Mm-hmm . , um, she's, she's kind of that middle person for like phone calls. Um, she'll be doing scheduling eventually. Yep . Uh , for , we've only got one other trainer on board right now , um, looking for another, so she'll be scheduling for them eventually.

Would you ever have her, and this is just me kind of throwing things at the wall here, I'm curious, would you ever have her just randomly reach out to clients like say, you know, 30 a month, month and just say, Hey , how's it going? Is that something you'd ever consider?

Absolutely. Um, whether we send a card or just reaching out to clients, absolutely. I do run reports every month. Um, so we get lists of those clients who haven't been in in a while .

Uh , there's a big one.

Yeah. We do have like an automated , um, email that will go out to them like, Hey, how are things going? We haven't seen you in a while. Um, but eventually the goal is to have her kinda reach out to those people too in addition to that email just so it's more

Personal. Yeah . And that's something I was really curious about cuz again, that never happened at any gym that I worked at or trained at until I got into like the coaching gyms. And if you do that in access facility, I'm wondering if even just a small contact like contact like that, like a quarterly, hi, how are you? How's, how are you enjoying the gym? I wonder if that would measurably improve retention. You're tracking retention, right, right .

Yes.

Okay . So this is good cuz we can have revisit this conversation eventually and figure out , cause I would love to know what a client success manager does to the retention in an access gym, especially when it's 24 hours. So keep keep close numbers. Absolutely .

. Yeah, definitely.

All right Dixie, thanks so much. I love milking you for information here on , uh, like again, a thing that we don't often talk about, which is these 24 hour seven access gyms with coaching and hyp hypnotherapy. Did I get it right?

Yep .

Yeah. So there we go. That's a really cool service. Thanks so much for sharing your numbers. I really appreciate it . Congratulations on making the leaderboard.

Thank you so much. Thanks for inviting me here.

Well , is my pleasure. That was Dixie Burns and this is Run a Profitable. Jim , thanks for watching and listening. Please subscribe wherever you're at. And now here's Chris Cooper with a final message.

Hey, it's two brain founder of Chris Cooper. With a quick note , we created the Gym Owners United Facebook group to help you run a profitable gym. Thousands of gym owners, just like you have already joined in the group. We share sound advice about the business of fitness Every day I answer questions, I run free webinars and I give away all kinds of great resources to help you grow your gym. I'd love to have you in that group.