Alternative Revenue Streams For The Good Of The Team
Monthly memberships revenue is the engine that puts you in business and keeps you going. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t do better and deliver more value to your clients by adding alternate revenue streams to your income.
In fact, finding the premium products and services are the sauces that take you beyond just being in business and into the realm of financial success.
Even so, the winds of fortune are fickle, that’s a saying or something, and, from the experiences I’ve witnessed, I’d say that it’s a fact; everything can go away in a minute.
The riskiness of being a business is the reason that you have to work so hard. It’s also the reason you need to swing for the bleachers and relentlessly seek opportunities to get ahead.
Diversify The Options For Members
Work with independent trainers to bring in client programming that you don’t currently provide. Trainers who have been freelancing or working from spaces they rent by the hour will be grateful for the chance to collaborate and use your gym management software system.
Another way to diversify your membership options might be to review your service levels. Perhaps shorter classes or off-peak only memberships will bring in extra revenue during the quiet times.
Delegate The Drudge Work
If owning a small gym business has meant being the boss who wears all the hats find a way to hand out the routine and repetitive tasks to subordinates. It may be time to hire a front desk rep or a back office assistant to do the calling or the bookkeeping.
Another point would be a sales manager who gets a commission when they earn, by producing results. Hand out the monotonous tasks and learn to let go of your micromanaging bad habits and it will help you to find some of the time you’ve lost. The fewer hats you wear, the better job you do with the ones that drive the business.
Nutrition And Diet Consulting
If you have team members who’ve studied nutrition as part of their certifications, start employing them more efficiently by offering other alternative revenue streams such as diet and nutrition advice as part of your services and client programming. People are hungry for information and guidance on such topics.
Merchandising And Supplementation
If your gym doesn’t have a small merchandise retail operation yet, set one up at the front desk or in the foyer of your club. There are branded nutrition products at a wide range of price points.
While supplements may generate income, it could be the convenience items that do the heavy lifting. You can sell small things like batteries, combination locks, and lifting gloves at a high mark up.
Start Your Own Fitness Brand
You can also find white label suppliers for nutritional products and supplements that will put your brand on their products at the factory. If you’re going to promote products that improve the health and wellbeing of your members, why not have your label on it too?
Extend Your Branded Sales Into E-commence
If your branded products prove to be a hit in the club, why not offer them to a broader market. The secret power of e-commerce is that white label manufacturers will drop-ship products directly to customers who order online. You provide the marketing and image, and the factory will do the rest of the work for you.
Digital Information Products
Have you written down your programs, your nutrition plans, or your secrets to fitness business success? Different audiences would love to hear authentic advice and tips about particular topics.
You don’t have to start from zero with info products; you can use affiliate sales services such as Commission Junction or release your pamphlets as Kindle-formatted e-books on Amazon. These markets are global so even obscure topics can find niche audiences.
Leverage Your Success And Coach Gym Startups
Did you learn everything the hard way? Or perhaps you have years of experience in fitness club management. Offer your expertise as a consulting service and get paid to tell other new gym owners how to avoid the pitfalls and succeed in the business.
Franchise Your Booming Brand
Success breeds success. Once you’ve proven your products and services, you can duplicate your success by selling franchise opportunities under your brand. Bringing in outside gyms was the key to many of the big box corporate brands.
If your brand has a following and two or three branches in your local community, you can spread to other regions quite quickly if you can produce the package that helps others replicate your success.
Leverage All The Alternate Revenue Streams You Can
The swing-for-the-bleachers mentality occasionally pays off spectacularly. The income from your successes may be trickles or a flood that takes your business in an entirely different direction. The more alternate revenue stream ideas you try, the better your results will be.
Bibliography
Fagan, Lawrence. Ease Your Gym Management Burden By Learning How To Delegate. August 18, 2015. https://blog.gyminsight.com/3428-ease-your-gym-management-burden-by-learning-how-to-delegate/ (accessed November 14, 2017).
-. Is Client Programming Part Of Your Fitness Value Proposition?. November 8, 2017. https://blog.gyminsight.com/4730-is-client-programming-part-of-your-fitness-value-proposition/ (accessed November 14, 2017).
Small Group Training Blog. Adding Additional Revenue Streams to Your Fitness Business. https://smartgrouptraining.com/adding-additional-revenue-streams-to-your-fitness-business/ (accessed November 14, 2017).