How To Get More Members Without Need A Marketing Budget
No Marketing Budget? No Problem! The Secret Of Successful Gym Owners.
Ever wondered how to get more clients without breaking the bank? Or how to make your gym stand out in a crowded market?
Well, today’s your lucky day! We’re diving deep into the magic how you can get more members for FREE… And trust us, it’s a game-changer!
Let’s go through this nice and quickly for you in an easy WHY, WHAT, and HOW structure. Why is this important if you want your gym to be financially successful, What you need to avoid and How you can make this change tomorrow and fill your gym in the next 90 days.
1. Why is this important to know as a Gym Owner?
Imagine a world where you don’t need a big marketing budget.
A world where your members help you grow your gym. Sounds dreamy, right?
That’s what this approach to getting more members is all about. It’s a smart way to get more members without hurting your cash flow.
I used to think that cheap offer were the key to get people in the door. Offers like $49 for 21 days, $7 for days or Free weeks, commonly referred to as Low Barrier Offers (LBO)
From a marketing perspective it seemed to work, we always got plenty of leads. From a business perspective it meant we had to spend money on ads, sales, and delivering this services with only a small number converting and staying as long term members.
The reality was when we did the numbers it took at least 2 month to make back the money we had spend and make a profit. Taking cash out of the business, making it more difficult to this with enough volume or for long enough that the gym could grow fast enough.
The result? A lot of money spent on ads, less cash in the business, and leads that were less committed because they were use to paying so little.
2. The Secret Sauce: High Ticket Front End Product
The idea to turn this around was simple.
That hard part was changing our beliefs on if it was possible, turns out we were getting in our own way with limiting beliefs
Instead of selling Low Barrier Offers (LBO’s) or regular gym memberships, we offered something unique and irresistible. This could be a special training program or a limited-time package. The key is to make more money from these front-end sales than you spend on ads. This way, you’ll always have cash flowing in! 💰
For example: Let’s say you spend $100 on ads every day. From those ads, you get 10 leads. Out of those 10 leads, 3 people buy your special offer for $600 each. So, you make $1800 in sales. See the magic? You spent $100 and made $1800!
Now what can you offer for $600?
We have tested this across the country, in different regions, demographics, and socio-economic areas and it always works.
Our favourite $600 offer is a 6 Week Challenge (call it what you want, it is just 42 days or 6 Weeks long program). The program includes the regular class access, a nutrition program, and the accountability from the coaches to keep them consistent.
Simple.
3. Why This Works for Gym Owners
Big gyms have tons of money to spend on ads. But most local gym owners don’t have that luxury.
With High-Ticket Front End Offers, like 6 week program, you can compete with the big guys without going broke. Plus, you’ll have more money to run your gym smoothly.
Better yet, common practice these days is to run Free trials or LBO’s. Everyone is doing it, therefore if you do it you do not stand out from competitors. Instead set programs work by providing new members with a lot more value rather than competing on price.
LBOs have most gyms literally racing to zero.
Here is where it get’s weird…
In my experience it is actually just as easy to get leads to signup for a 6 week $600 program as it is to get them to signup to a LBO. Crazy I know, but for some reason the whole concept of a fixed-term program is more compelling. They can make the committment to themselves to do the work for that period of time.
What gets better is that these members are used to paying a premium for the program. They are more likely to get results quickly, because of the added nutrition and accountability. These quick wins make it more likely for the new members to want to continue to get results…I call that a win-win.
4. The Power of Irresistible Offers
To make this work, you need an offer that’s too good to resist.
Think about what your leads really want. In the package, as already mentioned, we provide them with access to classes (Fitness), education or meals plan (nutrition), and support in staying consistent with the fitness and nutrition (accountability).
But is that irresistable from the leads points of view?…no quite, let me show you how we make it a more compelling offer.
Next we need to add a reason for a the leads to act now, afterall why not do it next week, next month or when they’re less busy? To overcome this thinking we create urgency. Urgency creates the internal desire for the leads to act now so they don’t miss out. How do we do this? We run these programs so that they start on the next Monday. This way we can communicate with the leads “the next cohort starts on monday if you want a place“.
This works well for two reasons, one for them and one for us. See almost everyone, including you and me, don’t like the idea of making a bad decision. In order to avoid this we tend just to make no decision at all. This urgency is good for them have a reasons to take action now, it helps them get over that fear and just put off making a decision. It is good for us because starting cohorts consistently each and every monday makes it operational a lot less challenging.
We have given them a reason to act now, but is that enough?
Unfortunately not always, still many leads will need more persuasion to make a decision that is right for them. For this we include a mixture of social proof, showing others are interested in this offer because it is so good, and scarcity, that there are only limited spots left. We doing this by letting them know that x spots left. In my experience have 5 spots a week a more than enough, to keep the experience amazing and give you and your trainers the chance to build great relationships with new members.
Whats next? Is it irresistable yet?….almost.
“But what if I don’t get results?” This is the thoughts that exist in the mind of the lead. They think this sounds amazing, I want a spot and don’t want to miss the opportunity to get fitter and healthier….But, “what if I don’t get results?” To overcome this we offer a guarantee. Guarantees can be done in lots of different ways, for the 6 week program I recommend a simple “at the end of the 6 weeks if you aren’t happy with the results then we will give you your money back“. This will overcome a lot of fear and realistically almost no-one will ever ask for their money back, in fact most don’t even remember it 5 minutes after the call…
Now that is an offer that is hard to say no to…am I right?
5. The Best Part? No More Marketing Budget Worries!
Once you’ve got this system in place, you won’t need to worry about your marketing budget. Why?
Because your sales are financing your growth. It’s like the members are giving you a thumbs up and saying, “Keep going! We love what you’re doing!” 👍
It is hard to explain how crazy this is for the average busines…
To be able to attract new customers at no cost, before they have started paying membership…it is literally a game changer that 1,000s of businesses would dream of.
6. A Real-Life Success Stories
I get it, I was the same when I first started doing this. It sounds too good to be true.
Don’t get me wrong, it does take work. You do have to follow up on leads, get them sold and keep them on track.
In my mind a small price to pay for solving the member acquisition for your gym…
Here are two happy gym owners…Could I show more, yes. But this isn’t a sales pitch. It is an educational piece.
7. How to Get Started?
If you’re excited to try out high-ticket upfront programs, here’s a quick recap:
- Create a high-ticket front-end product.
- Make sure you earn more from sales than you spend on ads.
- Offer something unique and irresistible.
- Watch your gym grow without spending a fortune on marketing!
What do you do next? Check out the FREE resources to help you get started.
1. RUN FACEBOOK & INSTAGRAM ADS: Use our free course showing how to run profitable ads for your gym.
2. SELL LIKE A PRO: Use this resource to close more leads onto programs.