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Yes, you can build the business you want, impact your community and bring revenue into your business. You just need the right strategies, support and focus.
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Now, I don't have to tell you.
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That surrounding yourself with a group of like minded and success minded people is only going to move your business forward. And that's what you get inside my Thrive membership. Inside you get access to weekly live Q and A calls, industry specific business training, accountability and resources that will bring ease and give you back time. This group, part mentorship, part coaching, part mastermind, will keep you focused on what matters. So what does matter? Well, your business, getting a steady stream of new clients and being able to seamlessly retain your existing clientele and building those systems that allow you to take time out of your business. Head to spring3.com thrive to find out more and join an upcoming interest call with me now. Here's this week's episode of the Pilates Business Podcast.
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Have you ever felt that no matter how hard you work, clients just seem to slip away? Well, what I found over time is that there are really three three big reasons why studios lose clients. And they might not be what you think. So in today's episode, I'm digging into those top three reasons that cause clients to leave and of course, what you can do to keep them coming back. If you're sick of seeing Churn and you want to instead build a loyal community of clients, you won't want to miss this episode.
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Well, hi there. I'm Sarah Glanfield. I'm a business and marketing strategist just for boutique fitness studio owners like you. If you're ready to be inspired and make a bigger impact, you're in the right place.
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All you need are a few key.
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Strategies, the right mindset, and some support along the way. Join me as I share the real life insights that will help you grow a sustainable and profitable studio.
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This is the Pilates Business Podcast. Well, hey there and welcome back to the Pilates Business Podcast. I'm your host, Saran Blanfield. I'm the founder of Spring3 Studio Business Consulting. I've been in the business for, oh my goodness, far too long probably, but I've been consulting for well over a decade. And so when I think I say, or when I say I think I've seen it all, um, I really do feel like I have. I've seen this industry evolve and shift and change and grow in so many different ways. And so I am here to share with you some of the insights, strategies and practical advice for studio owners just like you who want to build and grow a profitable and sustainable business in a way that feels good and fulfilling. Now, when it comes to growing a boutique fitness studio business in the world that we are in today, we do need to have a little bit of sophistication in the way that we manage and build and grow our businesses. And we really need to educate ourselves on what is working now, because what's working today, let me tell you, is very different to what we saw working two, three, four years ago, and definitely totally different to what we saw working, working eight or 10 years ago. And when it comes to this industry in particular, we want to be smart about what's working for our industry. And so sometimes we, I find that folks take advice and guidance from people who aren't that familiar with the way that this business works, with the way that this industry works, with the ways that our clients work. And so we want to be smart about who we're taking advice from and perhaps put things through a little bit of a filter. And that's probably why you're here, because you know that when you listen to me, to share with you what I know about growing a studio business, I'm doing it from a place of seeing it firsthand every single day of the week. And when it comes to growing your business and when we're thinking about growing, I mean, we are growing our profit, we're growing revenue, but also improving operations. Right. And when it comes to building and growing a business, and especially our business, it's about evolving what we're doing and perhaps refining what we already have. And so any sort of growth for your boutique business is probably going to come in the form of an increased level of interaction with your clients or an increased number of clients. And so when it comes to growing a larger client base, which is always a good thing to have, we want to make sure that we're focused quite heavily on retention. And what we know from tracking the numbers and tracking the data and just from broadcast running a business that is easy to run is that it's really much easier and far less expensive to retain clients than it is to go out and find new ones. Right. But so often what we see is that many studio owners struggle to keep their members long term. In fact, I did a very quick kind of survey recently, and the sort of expectation amongst studio owners of how long their clients stayed really varied from anything from two to three months to four to five years. And it really depends on, I think, a lot of way your focus is and the way that you've built your business model. And from my perspective, when I want to help studio owners like you to grow your business and to be profitable and sustainable in that profitability, it's going to be all about retaining members. And so we're very focused on lead generation, of course, but retention really is the name of the game because you're putting in the work early on to build those relationships. And I get how frustrating it might be if you start to see people falling off the schedule. Right. And so we want to focus on what helps people to stick around, why people might leave, why studio owners might lose clients. And you will find that some studios, so some clients will leave your studio. Of course, they might move, they might have other things happening in their lives. That's of course common and typical. But we want to make sure that we are absolutely, we have a sort of a safety net which captures all of those possible people who are kind of on the fence and make sure that we perhaps keep them as active and engaged in our business as possible. And so we want to make sure that we're aware as studio owners, as business owners of the key reasons why many clients leave the studios that they are a member of or perhaps don't stick around for as long as we would like. So I've got three specific reasons I'm going to share with you today, and number one, I think is the top reason and the reason that that or the, the reason that I see most often clients leave. And also I think it's the easiest one to fix, quite honestly. So the first reason that studios lose clients is a lack of consistent, clear communication and a lack of connection. Most people crave some level of connection. And in a boutique fitness studio business like yours, where people are seeking community, they're seeking a sense of belonging, they're not just coming for the workout, they're also coming for the experience. And when a client just feels like a number or, or another number, then they're less likely to stay. So we want to make sure that when we are delivering an exceptional experience for your clients, that we are really giving them that top notch customer service. We want to make sure that we know their names, that we know what's happening in their lives, their preferences, and we know that when we reach out to people to follow up or check in with them, we know where they're at in this sort of stage of life and what else might be going on for them. These small touches may sound like very tiny, teeny things that don't matter so much, but the reality is that they do make A huge difference. And in the world that we're in today, there is a serious amount of tools at your fingertips, different types of tools that you can use to make sure that you are sending perhaps some follow up, check in, text message emails and so on. And you can truly sort of track the engagement of your clients over time and get a really good picture of what, where they're at and what's happening for them. The studios that I see with the highest retention rates are those who make client relationships a top priority. They know who their VIP clients are, they're actively engaged with them, they have strong connection to them, and those tend to be the clients that also bring you the best referrals. Right. So you want to make sure that the, the only communication that your clients are getting from you are those sort of class reminders that we is probably not what I would describe as a communication tool. I would love to see you make sure that you are delivering very high quality content to your members on a very consistent basis. And this means we want to make sure we're not just pitching and selling to them and promoting things all the time, but we are also showcasing our brand, our expertise and all of the amazingness that happens in your studio because that is what really helps to build that deeper connection. Okay. So you really want to make sure that you are treating your clients like gold and that they really truly feel that they are getting a top notch experience. So communication, consistent communication and looking for ways to connect deeply with your clients is, is the simplest and most and I think easiest and lowest cost way to really help to retain your clients. And when I see that is not the case, that is often when I do see this high level of member churn. The second reason that clients leave studios is because they don't really feel like it's working. And so I have to share with you something that I think is quite powerful that we kind of know already, but we really don't talk about very often, which is the fact that sometimes it can take time to see and feel a difference in ourselves when we are undertaking a new, new movement practice. So if your goal is to build strength, that doesn't happen in one session, that doesn't even happen in a week or two weeks, or even three weeks or even three months sometimes. And so when your clients come into the studio and they're looking for something in particular, that is going to take a bit of time to get to. I know that you know that we've been doing this a long time and we're probably willing to sort of stay the course, to stick it out, because we know that ultimately it's going to work and it's going to be great. But a lot of folks don't have that same sort of level of awareness for what's possible or necessarily even have that same level of determination and persistence that you and I might have. Right. And so many folks feel that without a sense of achievement, they might feel like they're kind of stagnant, that they're not making progress, that maybe they even feel like they're not getting challenged or things might be too hard or too easy. And it's such a challenge to get for us as teachers and studio owners to sort of get that balance right. But this is often what leads to drop off. And we know that goals, movement, goals, and the reasons why people come to your studio is not a one size fits all, right? People come for different reasons. They're motivated by different things. So we want to make sure that whatever your wherever, whatever stage your client is at, whatever they're looking for, they feel like they're making progress. And so I think it's always really important to highlight what's possible to help them to set some goals for themselves, to set some milestones, or to track their own progress in whatever way feels good for them. And so we know that those milestone emails that tend to go out are quite powerful and very a fun celebration for your clients and yourselves. And, you know, sometimes we see those milestone emails go out or be set at incredibly high levels, and we don't often even share with our clients what those milestones are. And can you imagine if someone dropped off the schedule just before they hit their 50th class at 50, number 49? They didn't quite get there. And then if they knew that they were going to get an extra celebration at Class 50, they probably would have come to that 50th class. Right? So we want to make sure that we are not just celebrating their progress, but we are also incentivizing them and motivating them with that progress and setting those milestones with them. And so if you want to really overcome the second reason that many, many clients will leave a studio, because perhaps a lack of clear progress or a lack of a goal or a lack of sort of acknowledgement of the milestones, then you know how to turn that around. And it all comes down to that, that number one tip I just gave you, which is better communication and better connection. There's lots of different ways that you can showcase progress within the studio. Lots of ways you can celebrate your clients milestones, lots of very creative and fun ways that are very low cost but incredibly powerful. So be mindful of that as you're perhaps onboarding new clients, bringing new clients in. We want to make sure we're setting their expectations from a very early day. Okay. So the second reason why we see clients leaving studios is because they don't feel like they're making progress. So the question is, what can you do to make sure that they stay focused on their goals and that they keep showing up and moving forward? Okay, so reason number three. So this one is a bit more challenging for you as a business owner to really overcome, but I still think it's worth trying. Right? I always think it's worth trying. So the third reason why we see clients leave studios is because of something to do with the class quality or the schedule. So either there is perhaps an inconsistency in a class, in the quality of a class, or a scheduling issue of some sort. So perhaps there is a particular teacher that is excellent and they love going to that teacher's class, that teacher moved in the schedule to a different time, they can no longer make that time. And because of this inconsistency between different classes, they no longer want to keep coming back. That quality inconsistency truly is, I would call, the silent killer of your business. And while you, as perhaps maybe the longest standing teacher in your business, might offer a fabulous class, if the quality is not consistent across all of the classes and all of the classes that are taught at your studio, you will see huge swings in attendance levels between classes or even huge swings in how full a particular teacher's schedule is for one on one type sessions. And what happens when you see this inconsistency? Clients tend to lose faith. They tend to really be able to tell quickly the teachers that are good and the teachers that they are not so not as experienced or they tend to see the teacher that tend to recognize the difference in styles. And that's okay to have a difference in style. However, we want to make sure that that is highlighted in the scheduling that you are doing. So if you have a teacher who is super high energy, who is very, creates very challenging classes, then you want to make sure that when you are describing their classes, you are describing their classes with that in mind. And so your clients, when they see the schedule, are also able to sort of see what's the best fit for for them. Now generally, if you have an open level, say an open level reformer class, or an, or you have generally just one on one appointments. You want to make sure that there is sort of this minimum quality standard that you know all of your teachers will meet. And that really comes down to mentoring and training your team on the expectations and making sure that you're bringing everyone up to a minimum standard. Because we want to make sure that that client experience is predictable and is engaging and is not this sort of roller coaster of quality. So be mindful of that. It really does have a huge impact. And although it's one of the things that I think is happens in, I would say pretty much every studio that I studio owner has this problem at some point, we do want to address it. It is not often not addressed early enough or it's not addressed until there is a big problem or a bigger problem that is more challenging to solve. Like you perhaps wanting to cut a few days off of the schedule because you're tired and exhausted because you're wearing all the hats or you want to take some days off to focus on admin or marketing, right? Or maybe you just want to take a very well deserved vacation and you don't want to. You want to do that while being able to maintain the revenue levels in your business, which means you need to be able to pass off clients to other teachers. And so we don't want to wait till the last minute to fix this problem or to realize there is a problem. But I would recommend that you be mindful of this in your day to day. As you know, you kind of think about what might be next for you in your business. So be mindful of the quality and consistencies. Now when it comes to scheduling, this is always going to be a bit of a challenge. Right? There is certainly times of day that I love to work out that my favorite studio doesn't have class times available. This is part of life for sure. However, you do want to make sure that you are able to have your. You're being mindful of when your clients are looking to move their bodies. And what we've really seen since, since probably since 2020, since COVID and likely due to this huge flexibility many people now have in terms of their work schedules, is that we're seeing the times of day shift a little bit towards more earlier in the day movement practices versus sort of the what versus later in the day evening after work movement practices. And so I think that's just something to keep in mind. However, you're going to want to build a schedule around the your client base, not necessarily what you want them to do. What you think is right, what your teachers want to teach, or the times your teachers want to teach, or even the times that you want to teach. If you want full classes, you want to, you want to be building your schedule around when your clients want to move their bodies, okay? And so you want to make sure you're flexible with your schedule in terms of when you map out your schedule. Be mindful of when your clients most want to move their bodies, okay? If you're not sure about when that is, you probably can tell from the occupancy, the utilization, how full your classes are, which classes are most waitlisted, okay. And then if you have that, that probably will indicate to you where there might be opportunities to add some classes, okay? Now if you're thinking about expanding beyond that those time slots and are not sure which side of the time slots to go or whether to add classes at different times of day, then by all means I would encourage you to survey your clients to see if there is better is if there are times that work well they might be open to, to coming to the studio for, for an extra class each week, so on. So you want to make sure that when you are thinking about how you can perhaps refine and upgrade your studio as you head into 2025, then I would encourage you to be very mindful of that client experience and to make sure that it is consistent and predictable and engaging for your clients. So that means you want to make sure you have a, of a certain quality or standard that you know your classes are going to be or you know your sessions are going to be and then you're mindful of your availability to your clients. And I think this is something that is definitely a make or break. Once someone has experienced that with a studio, it's very challenging to perhaps win that client back. So just keep that in mind. So just a quick recap. The top three reasons why studio lose clients are first of all, a lack of communication. Truly it's, it really is that simple. Clients feel need to feel valued beyond the reformer, beyond the mat, right beyond the class. Second, clients may not be seeing or feeling progress. This is very normal. It's part of the process. You and I both know that. But we often we, we know is that a lot of people are not a lot of most. I should say actually it's a human bias means that we are more sort of in the present versus mindful of where we will be in a few weeks or a few months time. And so it's easy for us all to lose motivation and so finally, inconsistent class quality or scheduling issues, I would say, is one of the most frustrating reasons why studios lose clients. And although it is frustrating and perhaps possibly one of the more challenging to overcome, I do think it is well worth the effort for sure. And so I think that all of these problems can be fixed with a few small intentional changes. And if you can focus on building stronger connections, helping clients track their progress, recognize their own achievements, and fine tuning your overall client experience, you can truly build a community that is loyal, that is engaged, and that is excited to keep keep coming back. So my question for you today is which of these small changes will you make to strengthen your client relationships? It's all about not just knowing what to do, but actually taking the action. And that is where you'll start to really see the difference. So I hope this is helpful to you as you go about building your boutique fitness studio business. If you enjoyed this episode episode, I would be so appreciative if you could take a quick minute, go to wherever you're listening to this and rate and read this podcast. It would mean so much to me and will really help to get the podcast out there into our amazing community of studio owners who are all helping people move their bodies and become healthier and happier in our world.
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Did you love this episode of and want more? Head to spring3.com and check out my free resources that will help you run a profitable and fulfilling studio business. And before you go, one last reminder. There is no one way to do what you do, only your way. So whatever it is that you want to do, create or offer, you've got this.
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Thanks again for joining me today and.
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Have a wonderful rest of your day.