There are lots of ways to increase gym membership sales, but only a few that produce immediate results. Most require some groundwork and patience that pays off over a few months. But what if you need to boost sales right now?
If you’ve got monthly sales targets to hit or need to improve cash flow, then this article is for you. We share proven strategies to improve fitness club revenue that produce fast results.
In this article – learn how to increase gym membership sales quickly and instantly boost revenue.
We’re a specialist fitness marketing agency with 15+ years of industry experience, so we know first-hand what works (and what doesn’t!). We’ve helped gyms, fitness studios, and personal trainers to successfully promote their businesses, so our sales and marketing strategies are tried and tested.
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Generate a steady stream of leads, sales, and revenue for your gym, fitness studio, or personal training business.
Here are 5 fast and easy ways to improve gym sales and ensure you hit your target this month…
- Run a time-limited promotion
- Drive leads with Google Ads
- Improve your objection-handling skills
- Use anchor pricing to boost conversions
- Upsell extras to increase revenue
Let’s look at each of these ideas in more detail…
1 – Run a Time-Limited Promotion
Running a promotion is the go-to tactic for businesses that want quick sales. This is because it works – you’ll see an instant boost in revenue which can help you hit short-term targets.
The downside is that the bump is temporary so this isn’t a long-term solution to increasing revenue. Keep reading for ideas that’ll improve your sales consistently. But this is a quick and easy way to sell more memberships so it’s always worth considering.
The key to a successful gym promo is to have a compelling offer and a clear deadline.
The fact it’s time-limited is what creates urgency and drives people to buy immediately (instead of hesitating). Customers don’t want to miss out so they’ll take action before the promotion ends.
Many fitness clubs run promos that involve price discounts but this can eat into your revenue. A more effective option is to offer something extra like a bonus product and service. For example, offer running coaching or a nutritional program to anyone who joins this month.
You might also like… 22 Ways To Boost Gym Revenue & Profitability.
Learn which fitness marketing strategies produce the best results (so you can focus on what actually works).
2 – Drive Sales Leads with Google Ads
Another way to increase gym sales is to generate more leads. The more people who enquire, the greater the number who’ll convert into paying members.
Google Ads is an effective way to do this for just pennies per customer. It’s one of the best marketing approaches for gyms to use. You can target local people within 15 minutes of your gym’s location who are searching for fitness. This means you get great quality leads since they’re already looking for what you offer.
The key to making pay-per-click advertising work is having a smooth lead capture process. Drive prospects to a webpage where they can book a visit or sign-up immediately. You’ll be surprised just how many people prefer the ease of online booking over a consultation call.
It’s also vital to have a follow-up process for turning inquiries into sales. If you’re not confident that your membership sales team can convert prospects then spend some time training them. This will ensure you’re not spending money on leads that are wasted.
You might also like… Google Ads for Personal Trainers & Create a Sales Funnel for your Gym.
3 – Improve Your Objection Handling Skills
Another way to increase gym membership sales is to convert a greater percentage of inquiries into customers. You don’t need to generate more leads for this one, just improve your sales skills. The quickest way to do this is by getting better at handling objections.
Customers will typically have reservations – most often around price or lack of time. This is perfectly normal and doesn’t need to be awkward or involve a hard-sell technique. We’ve found that the simple ‘feel-felt-found’ method is more than enough to change people’s minds.
The method enables you to acknowledge their concern, provide a counter-argument, and back it up with proof. It’s a really easy and effective way to address objections and convert more people into members.
Learn more about addressing sales objections (with ready-made scripts and cheat sheets).
Learn which fitness marketing strategies produce the best results (so you can focus on what actually works).
4 – Use Anchor Pricing to Boost Conversions
Do you use anchor pricing when presenting different membership options? If not, you’re missing a trick that can turbocharge your conversions.
Anchoring involves showing customers a selection of price options (e.g. basic, medium, and premium). By displaying a more expensive price next to the others, the cheaper ones seem better value. This have been shown to boost conversions – the majority of people will always pick the middle option.
This video explains it in more detail…
So, by simply displaying 3 pricing options instead of just one, you’ll increase your conversions and sales revenue.
You might also like… Gym Pricing Strategies – An Introductory Guide.
5 – Upsell Extras to Increase Sales Revenue
The ideas above all focus on selling more gym memberships but this one is a little different. It’s about increasing the money generated per customer rather than the quantity. This will boost both sales revenue and profitability so it’s worth using in combination with the other strategies.
What’s your gym’s equivalent to ‘do you want fries with that’? Think about which additional products or services would be useful to a new joiner. It might be a block of personal training sessions, healthy eating workshops, or access to a running coach.
Offer this as an extra when they sign up. The timing might sound counter-intuitive but it’s actually proven to be highly effective. There’s never a better time to ask than when they already have their credit card out!
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Bonus Tip – Don’t Forget Retention
In terms of ideas to increase gym memberships, retention might seem a bit left-field. But we thought this was worth mentioning since it’s easy to lose sight of existing members. And it’s MUCH easier to generate revenue from loyal customers than it is to find new ones.
It’s also cheaper – it costs 5-8x more to acquire a new member than it does to retain a current one. So it really does pay to focus your efforts on retaining current members!
You might also like.. Retention strategies that actually work for gyms & health clubs.
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Fitness Marketing Resource Library
Generate a steady stream of leads, sales, and revenue for your gym, fitness studio, or personal training business.
