How to Make Your Gym Business More Profitable in 2024

Whether you’ve recently opened your gym, or you’re a seasoned veteran, there’s no better time to look at your revenue streams and ask yourself how to make your gym business more profitable in 2024. In this article, we’ll walk you through 10 easy-to-implement action steps you can take to start increasing your revenue streams today. Here’s what we’ll be covering if you want to skip ahead. 

1. Work to retain your current members

As you likely already know, it’s easier and cheaper to retain your current members than to acquire new ones. So be sure to do everything within your power to keep your current clientele happy. Some of the ways you can do this are to offer excellent customer service, have modern quality equipment, and a clean and inviting facility. This will ensure your gym is the type of environment your want to frequent. 

Another great way to keep members happy is to offer loyalty rewards and special promotions to encourage them to stay. This could include offering special loyalty rewards to members who have been with your gym for a while. Or offering loyal members discounts on new classes, free classes, renewals or any other perk you can think of. Incentives show your members that you appreciate their loyalty and encourages them to continue their membership to receive the perks they’ve come to enjoy. 

2. Creating a winning referral program

A strong referral program is a great way to quickly increase your profits. One of the reasons they’re so powerful is that word of mouth is one of the best forms of free advertising. People who are referred to your gym by happy family members or friends are much more likely to sign up for a membership than a potential customer coming to you from a Google search or an advertisement. 

 To implement a referral program, you can offer incentives like discounts, free classes, or other perks to members who refer new customers. You can also promote the program through email, social media, and other marketing channels. By encouraging members to refer their friends and family members, you can increase your gym’s profitability and build a loyal customer base.

3. Create a sales funnel and attract new members

Like any business, attracting new clients is an important part of increasing your gym’s profits. So take the time to create a sales funnel that helps you capture emails and market to potential new clients.

One way to entice new members to join through your marketing is to offer special promotions or discounts at certain times of the year when the demand for fitness is high, for example, after New Year’s when people are making resolutions to improve their health.

Another way to attract new members is to offer specialized classes like yoga, Pilates, or HIIT to bring members who are interested in these types of workouts to your facility. By offering specialty classes, you can appeal to a brand new target market that you may not otherwise have been able to reach and increase your profits at the same time.

Finally, another way to attract new members is to use paid ad campaigns on social or on Google Ads to try and reach a segment of people who are interested in purchasing a gym membership.

4. Offer additional services

Another way to increase your profits is to add new revenue streams to your facility. For example, you could consider adding new services such as personal training, group fitness classes, nutritional coaching, or wellness programs as add-ons to your memberships. Not only does adding these additional services allow you to increase your profits, it also helps you improve member satisfaction.

5. Optimize your pricing

From time to time, it’s important to ask yourself if you’re charging what your services are worth. That’s why a regular yearly review of your pricing strategy is important. During your review, be sure to look at your pricing compared to the competition. Ask yourself whether your prices are competitive and consider raising them based on current demand and member feedback. Be sure to take the time to look at whether offering tiered pricing is an option. By offering different levels of access to additional services, you can easily increase your overall revenue and profits.

6. Manage expenses

An important part of increasing your profits is to manage your expenses and identify areas where you can cut costs. For example, consider negotiating better deals with suppliers or switching to more energy-efficient equipment. 

Another way to manage your expenses is to implement a combination of technology and customer service to recover declined payments and instantly add revenue back into your business. By managing your expenses and analyzing unnecessarily lost revenue, you can help improve profitability without compromising on the quality of your gym.

7. Host events and workshops

Hosting special events and workshops is a great way to increase your profits through new revenue channels. For example, you can host a variety of events such as fitness challenges, nutrition workshops, group workouts, or charity events. You can also partner with local businesses or organizations to offer specialized events that appeal to a wider audience. By hosting events and workshops, you can enhance the member experience, increase revenue, and build a loyal customer base for your gym. There’s really nothing to lose!

8. Sell merchandise

Selling merchandise at your gym is a no-brainer when it comes to increasing your overall profits. You can offer members a variety of options such as t-shirts, water bottles, gym bags, or supplements. You can also create limited edition items to encourage members to make a purchase. Additionally, you can promote your merchandise through social media, email marketing, or in-person at your gym. By selling merchandise, you can increase revenue, build your brand reputation, enhance member engagement and grow your profits all at the same time.

9. Offer paid trials

This next suggestion is controversial, but a good way to increase profits is by ditching the free trials and offering paid trials at your gym instead. One of the reasons for this is that you will automatically attract more qualified leads with a higher chance of purchasing after the trial. You can set up your paid trial however you’d like, for example, as a one-week, a two-week, or a month-long trial. 

You can also offer specialized trials such as a yoga-only trial or a personal training trial etc. By offering paid trials, you’ll attract new customers and increase the conversion rates of your trials.

10. Leverage technology

Consider investing in technology like Glofox  that can improve member experience and streamline your operations. Glofox’s fully customisable app has been developed to optimise the member experience, enabling them to easily buy memberships, make payments and book into classes.

Our gym management software makes it easy to Create and manage custom membership plans, take payments, schedule classes, manage member relationships and more. By leveraging technology you can save yourself costs and time ultimately increasing your gym business profits as a result. 

If you’re ready to take your business and profits to the next level this year, book your free demo and get started.