The Profitable Way To Introduce New Equipment Or Services To Your Gym Facility
As a facility owner, you know that success lies in knowing what your members want and giving it to them. But it’s not always straightforward. How can you balance expenditure on new investments with recouping costs? How long will a new offer take to be profitable?
Expanding your services and adding new kit can breathe new life into your facility, attracting new members and making existing ones feel valued. Let’s look at how to go about it.
How to add new services to your fitness facility
Before you shell out on new classes, coaches or offers, identify what your members want (and what fits your brand). You could do this via email surveys, social media polls, or good old-fashioned face-to-face chats.
Group ex classes
You could offer a new type of class, or a new duration or format of an existing class.
PT or coaching
You could offer 1-on-1 or small group PT, or skills/technique coaching.
Add-on services
How about working with another person to offer nutrition support, healthy eating workshops, stress management support or whatever your members need.
Ask all new instructors, coaches, or external experts to promote the new service on their own social media, making it very clear that it’s happening at your facility.
Let new classes run for at least a month before assessing how popular and profitable they are. It takes time for people to warm up to new ideas, and even longer for them to juggle their routines to attend different sessions. If the class isn’t making a loss, keep it – and keep promoting it.
Want to introduce new services or products through affiliation? Check out our blog Benefits And Potential Pitfalls Of Affiliating Your Fitness Business.
How to add new equipment to your fitness facility
Equipment can be a significant investment, especially if we’re talking a large bit of kit or a body composition scanner. A few questions will help you make the most budget-friendly decisions.
- Does my membership really want this kit, will they use it, will it make a significant difference to their training experience?
- For add-on services (like InBody or Tanita), what’s the cost-per-use, should I charge members to use it or roll it into a new membership tier, how long will it take to pay for itself?
- Will this equipment set you apart from local competitors, can it be used as a USP in your marketing?
- Be honest, is this kit something your members want or something you want for your own training or for the kudos?
Promote new fitness services to new and existing members
Deciding what to introduce is one thing. The next important step is getting people to use it. Create a buzz, let people know the new kit is coming (or new service is starting), and give them all the reasons to get booked on.
- Use your social media to share images, video, tips, and benefits so members get excited before it’s even launched. Show BTS of delivery, installs, studio set up and anything else that will create a buzz.
- Ask members to share their experience of using the kit or doing the class, either on your socials or via word of mouth.
- Talk about it in your email marketing (you are doing email marketing, aren’t you?) Tell people it’s coming, explain why, give them reasons to use it, then keep promoting it.
- Add new classes at a sensible time slot, and consider how it works with other classes (a new yoga class after a HIIT class, for example).
- Set up demos and taster sessions so people can try it out – there’s nothing like in-person experience to get people interested.
Gym equipment – to lease or to buy?
With more expensive bits of kit, you might ne weighing up the pros and cons of leasing vs outright purchase. Leasing equipment can be cost-effective in the short term and often includes after-sales care that covers damage and wear and tear. You may also have access to upgrades by using a leasing option.
Purchasing gives you full ownership, and might be more cost-effective in the long term, but you’ll miss out on any servicing or after-sales options.
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