Are you mastering these 5 areas of your business?

Owning a gym is a labor of love. Many owners have no support staff and operate their studio completely on their own. Some of these even have a day job that helps fuel their gym passion.

Many of these owners might get up at 4:30 AM to coach, spend a full day at the office, and then return to the gym in the evening to coach again. By the time they’re done supporting the developing community at their gym (not to mention cleaning it), they go home, eat, and sit down at a computer to tackle the less glamorous, administrative parts of owning a business: responding to countless emails, changing client requests in their gym management system, making schedule changes, planning for the next round of classes—the list is endless. No single task is difficult, but together, they take time. And that’s when it’s easy to slip.

Although each gym is different, a few problems show up often. To evaluate the state of your business, ask yourself these questions:

1. How quickly do you respond to clients and prospects?

Don’t make your clients wait when they’re looking for info from you. A quick response sets you apart. Are you able to respond to clients’ questions within 24 hours? If you let the email sit in your inbox, you run the risk of losing prospects and making current clients feel like they need to take a number. That doesn’t build loyalty.

2. How personalized is your communication with your clients?

Nobody likes the template reply, but sometimes that’s what it takes to respond to a lot of people quickly. Even so, your communications are the voice of your brand and should always have a personalized feel.

3. Do you have a centralized client management system and one that works for YOU?

Implementing a comprehensive business management system, like Pike13—one that handles every aspect of your business, including billing, scheduling, classes, attendance, and reporting—is crucial. Does it cover all your needs? It needs to come as close as possible.

4. Do you feel uncomfortable speaking with people about billing issues?

Talking about money makes most people uncomfortable. The fitness industry is a very personal one—we get close to our clients, and it’s often difficult to remember that they’re paying clients when we also sometimes serve as their therapist. Billing issues should be handled immediately and discretely.

5. Is your gym growing? Is it shrinking? Where is it thriving, and where is it struggling?

Gyms commonly struggle with looking at and analyzing their reporting systems. Some owners think they have an exact idea of what is going on at all times but are missing the boat because they aren’t seeing the full picture or are focusing on the wrong things. Others haven’t a clue what the heck a P&L even is, outside of the fact that their accountant asks for it!

After taking stock of these issues, you could manage their resolution yourself, you could find a trusted member of your team to do it, or you could ask Zenbo.

As an extension of your business, Zenbo can handle the administrative items that don’t excite you, yet nevertheless need to get done. We respond to prospects and client inquiries, help set up or migrate to a business management solution like Pike13, help enforce company policies, handle billing and membership issues, and even provide you with a regular snapshot of your business’s progress relative to goals for retail, seminars, classes, membership numbers, and so on.

At Zenbo we pride ourselves on giving sanity and a “real life” back to gym owners. Our California-based team has helped many clients expand and organize their own small businesses and, more importantly, gain peace of mind knowing that a service-oriented team has their backs as a partner working for their success.