Want to dramatically increase the lifetime value (retention) of your fitness studio members? Frank Nash is the expert! Frank owns Stronger Personal Training and their mission? Simple: Be stronger today than you were yesterday… in every aspect of life.
Increase Retention With A Powerful Mission
Frank’s been in the fitness industry for 20 years, “I’m like most fitness studio owners. I started at a big box gym, Gold’s Gym, as a personal trainer and wanted to branch out on my own,” he says. But, Frank didn’t just open a studio and BOOM! SUCCESS! Nope…
“I opened ‘Platinum Performance’ because ‘Platinum’ is better than ‘Gold’ but no one cared,” Frank tells me, laughing, “Then I opened ‘Frank’s Training’ because I was a young narcissist.” It wasn’t until Frank did two incredibly important things that Stronger Personal Training was born:
- Put Members FIRST
- Make It A Unique EXPERIENCE
With Stronger PT, Frank earns 6.5X more profit than the average fitness studio and his members have a 2.5X longer retention rate. Which is insane! So, how does he do it?
You Have To Earn More To Spend More
“Marketing works,” Frank says. But, of course, as I’ve been saying, if you spend more money than your competition on marketing, you’re going to crush them. Frank agrees, but how do you dedicate more money to marketing? You make your current members worth more.
Current members are the bread and butter of your fitness studio so, ultimately, you need to super-serve them. “You have to care about them. And, you have to care about their results. They need to become your friends,” Frank says.
Frank’s Initiation Process Leads To Longer Retention
Before ever doing a workout with a potential member, Frank Nash and his team at Stronger PT simply sit down with prospects or leads and get to know them. Seriously, that’s it. They just chat for 30-45 minutes. Then…
Before their next appointment, where the workout happens, the trainer or Frank himself is texting them about their discussion and the custom workout Stronger’s crafting for them. “You feel obligated to come back. After all, you’ve gotten to know us and we’re taking the time to put together something special specifically for you,” he tells me.
Stop Automating Everything
“When it comes to Retention, we have to get back to basics. Which is, give more of you to your members. People need to be braver in their marketing and their experience… what’s different about you beyond your workout? What’s the EXPERIENCE?” Frank says.
At Stronger, Frank and his team have a process, but it’s not automated. You’re paying good money to be there and they make sure you’re getting human interaction and contact. They don’t send you automated texts, they personally text you. Or, they don’t deploy automated calls, they call you. People don’t have generic video texts, they send one on the spot.
“This is a real community they’re part of and it’s life-changing. Why would I leave something like that to automation? For efficiency? My community is more important,” he says.
Stronger By The Profit And Retention Numbers
The Average Studio’s Member-by-Member Profit: $350
Frank Nash & Stronger’s Member-by-Member Profit: $2,300
+6.5X
The Average Studio’s Membership Length: 7 Months
Frank Nash & Stronger’s Membership Length: 18 Months
+2.5X
“You should offer your members what you want for yourself… don’t leave that advice up to some kid at GNC,” he says. In other words, you have to be willing to push, promote, and sell your in-studio products.
Stronger sells t-shirts, supplements, and water at a rate other studios aren’t competing with. Many studios feel it’s tacky to sell those things to members who are already paying membership fees to get their butts kicked, but as Frank puts it, “they trust you and your advice, do right by them! If you’re worried about that, then make sure you’re selling things you believe in.”
Retain Members & Avoid Cancellations
Frank believes the goal isn’t just to attain new members but to stay consistent in building your relationships with current members and helping them reach their goals. He and his team keep up with members and remember details about their lives, How’s training your new puppy going? Or Since your Mom’s in town, you should bring her in so she can see how hard you’re working. As Frank says…
“When you build a true, genuine community within your studio, there are no other studios in existence to them. It doesn’t matter if some studio down the street offers a FREE ‘whatever,’ your members aren’t even curious because they’re already happy… they’re already home.”
A bonus to getting to know your members before they ever do a workout and engaging them within your studio’s community is it helps you avoid cancellations. “The truth is, no one wants to be a quitter,” Frank says. Which is why, what Frank does is, he calls them and reminds them of their goal and why they joined in the first place.
In this episode, Frank and I role-play his process for preventing cancellations and how it has dramatically helped his overall retention numbers. I really REALLY enjoyed interviewing him.
This GSD Show RAW #8 Episode with Frank Nash is incredible and must-see.
What You’ll Learn
- How to dramatically increase your member’s lifetime value
- Why and How to sell more than just memberships
- Creating an experience matters more than what’s unique about your workout
- No one wants to be a quitter: How to prevent member cancellations
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