Jack Ogilvie
Co-founder · Systems and growth
Built the systems that let a small regional team personally manage over 1,000 members.
YOU SELL THE SAME THING AS EVERYONE ELSE
Walk into most gyms and the product is a swipe card. Access to the equipment, 24 hours a day. A member can get that anywhere, and the big chains will always sell it cheaper than you can.
So the only lever left is price. You drop yours, they drop theirs, and you end up working 70 hour weeks for less than your trainers take home.
A gym with one price can only compete by being cheap.
Think of a restaurant that only sells a seat at the table. Nobody pays for the seat. They pay for the meal. In a gym, the meal is the coaching: a plan written for that person, and someone who notices when they miss a week.
WHY MEMBERS QUIT
New members always show up. It is the plan, the structure and the accountability that keep them showing up. Take those away and the chain breaks:
- A personalised program gets a member through a successful 12 week phase
- A successful phase makes a member who keeps visiting
- A member who visits follows the plan and progresses
- That member gets results, and a member with results does not cancel
Break any link and they drift. Nobody noticed they missed a fortnight, so they stop coming. Then the direct debit is the only thing reminding them you exist, and they cancel it.
The trap that catches service gyms too: free sessions and free scans in volume, with nothing paid after. If the only thing you sell is free, you may as well be one of the chains.
THE 3 NUMBERS TO KNOW EVERY WEEK
Everything else is noise until these 3 are healthy.
1
MEMBERS
How many people are actually being debited this week.
2
VISITATION RATE
The share who came in over the last 30 days. The standard is 80%. Use 30 days, not 7: one school holiday flips a 7 day number.
3
APPOINTMENTS
Consults, scans and coaching sessions booked. If it is 0, you are an access gym whether you meant to be or not.
Read a thin week as a rate, not a count. 1 enquiry and 0 sign-ups is not a quiet week. It is 100% of that week's sign-ups missed.
WHAT WE SELL INSTEAD
Our gym sells 3 memberships, not 1. The cheapest is floor access. The 2 above it include a personalised 12 week program, a scan to measure it, and a coach who checks in every week or 2.
At a service-based gym, 90% of members choose a coached membership over floor access. They pay more, they get results, and they stay.
Structure + accountability = results.
THE FIRST FIX, AND IT STARTS MONDAY
This one costs nothing and needs no new software.
Every Monday, 2 hours. Work through your client list. For each person, 3 questions:
- Are they following their program?
- Which classes are they turning up to?
- Are their next sessions booked?
Then send a voice note, not a text. Your voice is the thing a member cannot get from an app. Every member, every 7 to 14 days, before they drop off rather than after.
WHAT ONE SOUNDS LIKE
"Hey Sam, saw you got 3 sessions in last week, nice work. Your next program block starts Monday. Want me to book your coaching session for it now?"
We do this by hand at 1,000 members. The trick is not effort, it is the list: knowing who is slipping before they know it themselves.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE AFTER 13 YEARS
1,000+members
90%on a coached membership
4.9from 350+ Google reviews
25,000people in our town
Every number here is from our own gym, Next Level Echuca Moama, on the Victoria and New South Wales border. Not a capital city. If it works here, it works in your market.
QUESTIONS OWNERS ASK US
Do I have to raise my prices to grow?
Not first. First, sell something more than access. A coached membership above your current one gives members a reason to pay more, and gives you something the chains cannot copy.
Isn't checking in on every member too much work at 300 members?
It is 2 hours on a Monday if your list is sorted by who is slipping. Without the list you are guessing, and that is what takes all day. Sorting the list is what software is for. The check-in stays human.
Should I run a free 7 day trial to get people in?
No. You cannot trial a premium service, and a free week attracts the people who were only ever going to pay the cheapest price. Offer no lock-in and skip the joining fee for anyone who signs up online instead.
My town is small. Does this still work?
Ours is 25,000 people and the gym has over 1,000 members. A service gym grows on word of mouth and results, and both travel faster in a small town.