Skip to main content
All Posts By

Ene Corral

I am a marketing and business development professional with experience in delivering successful marketing strategies for client acquisition and retention. I have a passion for building engaged communities across different channels working with partners to amplify messaging. Ene's focus at Gymcatch is on growing and maximising strategic partnerships through business collaboration.

Dec 05
Love0

How automation can save fitness professionals time and energy

By Fitness business management archives and news, Fitness industry archives and news, Fitness marketing and social archives and news, Uncategorized

If you’re a fitness professional or group instructor, you likely entered the industry due to your passion for helping people, not spending hours tracking attendance on spreadsheets. Managing bookings, chasing payments, filling last-minute cancellations, and keeping clients informed can quickly take over your day-to-day routine.

Fear not, however, help is at hand! Automation can be your friend –  by  streamlining repetitive tasks, automation tools can help free up your time, reduce stress, and ensure that your business runs smoothly. 

In this article we explore how fitness professionals are saving 28 hours a month (based on a survey of over 300 customers run by Gymcatch in November 2024) by automating their bookings, payments, waitlists, notifications and more. 

Automated bookings: eliminating manual scheduling 

Manual scheduling your customers into a class or session can be one of the most time-consuming parts of running your fitness business. Communicating with clients, managing bookings, and confirming class spots, can easily become overwhelming as your client list grows. Here we list a few of the  many benefits of automating your bookings:

    • Streamlined scheduling: Automation means clients can book directly through a booking system, with instant confirmation. No more back and forth emails or messages.
    • Improved client experience: Giving clients control over their own bookings creates a better experience for them while freeing up your time, making them more likely to book and commit. Clients are more likely to show up when they’ve chosen and confirmed their spot themselves.
    • Booking flexibility: An automated booking system allows for recurring bookings, last-minute registrations and puts cancellations (and their credit backs or not) in your complete control
    • Easy information gathering: Get the information for waivers and contact details upfront at first booking or when you update your requirements.

Gymcatch’s features allow you to customise all of the above and more.

The value of automated waitlists

No-shows and last-minute cancellations can be both frustrating and costly, but by implementing waitlists, you ensure that even if someone cancels, another client can take their spot.

  • Fill gaps in your class: a waitlist feature in your booking system will notify clients when a spot becomes available. This ensures classes remain full and you don’t lose out on revenue.
  • Stay organized: You no longer need to manually track who’s next in line or send messages to clients about cancellations. A waitlist feature will automate this for you.

Gymcatch offers an automated waitlist feature that notifies clients when spaces open up, keeping classes full and maximising your potential earnings.

Simplify payments with automation

Chasing payments can be very stressful and take up time. However, with an automated payment system, where payment is taken at time of booking you can ensure your income is secure and consistent without the hassle.

    • Upfront payments: Clients pay at the time of booking, whether it’s for individual classes, memberships, or packages.
    • No more late payments: Automation takes care of all payments, so you never have to worry about chasing your clients for unpaid classes or sessions.
    • Flexible options: From pay-as-you-go to memberships, automation lets you offer a variety of payment methods without you having to manually keep a tally.
    • Catering for the outlier: And if someone really doesn’t want to book themselves, you can still decide to handle this quickly and easily for them, or enable a ‘pay on the door’ booking option.

By using Gymcatch, you can integrate secure payment solutions directly into your booking system, making the process easy for both you and your clients.

Keeping clients informed with notifications

Whether it’s confirming a spot in a class, reminding clients about upcoming sessions, or notifying them about changes, manual communication can drain your time and energy. Automation can transform how you communicate with your clients. 

  • Instant booking confirmations: Clients receive confirmation of their booking and payment straight away, giving them peace of mind.
  • Customisable notifications: Adjust notifications to fit your clients’ communication preferences.

Gymcatch’s notification features let you focus on delivering a great class, while clients stay informed.

Automation doesn’t have to break the bank

One of the best things about automation is that it doesn’t now have to be expensive. Gymcatch is designed specifically as an affordable solution for the fitness and wellness market. Starting at just £12.75/month (USD $18/ EUR €14), Gymcatch makes automation an accessible solution for group instructors and small businesses.
By automating bookings, payments, waitlists, and notifications, you can reduce stress, and focus on delivering great sessions and classes to your clients. Whether you’re running group classes, one-on-one personal training, or workshops, automation tools can make your business run more efficiently.

Gymcatch is one example of a booking system that brings all of these features together in one affordable solution. But whatever tools you choose, embracing automation can help you grow your fitness business while giving you more time to focus on what you love.

If admin tasks are eating up your time and you’re ready to reclaim 28* hours a month, it’s time to see how automation can transform your workflow. Discover how booking software like Gymcatch can simplify your life and help you focus on what matters most!

Find out more how Gymcatch can help you automate your business. 

(based on a survey of over 300 customers run by Gymcatch in November 2024)*

Nov 08
Love0

Get 2024 ready – Work smarter, save money and grow your business with Gymcatch

By Fitness industry archives and news, Fitness marketing and social archives and news

Post-pandemic there’s been a lot to deal with – changed customer habits, rampant inflation and the resultant cost of living pressures.  For many, it’s been firefighting, but now nearing the New Year it’s a great time to look forward, and reassess your plans, processes and business model to ensure you’re set up for a banner year.

In this blog, we explore how Gymcatch can help – whether you’ve an existing booking system or not.

Save money

Our sector is different.  At the end of the month, what’s left in the bank is invariably our business owner’s salary, so costs matter in a way they don’t for many decision-makers in other industries.

At Gymcatch we’re on a mission to provide industry-specific software at a price that everyone can afford.  We are proud to be the best value offering on the market.  As you review your costs, we suggest:

  • If you have a booking system, check out our pricing page to see how we compare and ask us any questions to see if we can save you money.
  • If you don’t have a system, jot down how much time you spend a week on managing your bookings / chasing payments as well as estimating how much you might lose from missing payments, no shows or refunds (which can all be automated!). Even without the saved lost revenue, if you assign even minimum wage to your time, we’re confident Gymcatch will more than pay for itself.

Review your business model

It’s a great time to review your business model, and think about whether it’s meeting your customers’ needs, maximising your revenue opportunity and, indeed, if your booking system can grow with you.

A few well-known ideas would include:

  • Offering class packs to improve cash flow.
  • Adding courses/blocks to generate new sources of revenue.
  • Add memberships to smooth cash flow and improve retention.

Lesser known, but an increasingly popular trend is to differentiate client packages by providing priority session access. As with live streaming or adding on-demand resources, gating who can see what and when can be a great way to add chargeable value without having to work harder or increase your costs.

Reviewing who and what permissions you give to any team members can also be a super way to save time and delegate some of your day-to-day.

Improve conversions and reduce lost revenue

We know that a good percentage of the industry still operate manually, using email/text and pen and paper (or spreadsheets),  so it’s worth repeating a long held rationale for going digital – if a customer can’t book immediately, or has to wait for a reply, you’re dramatically increasing the chances that they lose the buying intent to commit or arrange something else for the scheduled time.

By adding digital bookings that can be booked at any time of the day and anywhere you increase you can notably increase your conversion rates.  Similarly, it’s important customers can do that easily, but also in the format they’re used to. If customers are used to running their life through apps on their phone, they expect to have the ability to do that with their fitness provider.

Automating wait lists and credit backs in line with your cancellation policy are other ways a quality booking system can help you improve booking conversions and avoid unnecessarily lost revenue.

Make referrals easy

If you’re like us here at Gymcatch, most of your customers come from referrals.  Making it easy for customers to share details about a session and the link to book on makes good business sense – if you don’t have a digital presence, you’re adding extra steps and hassle to a potential referrer.

We’re focused on helping business owners to streamline their workflows, save time and grow their business. Please get in touch via our live chat (icon bottom right) or book a free consultation if you’d like to talk through how we can help.

May 05
Love0

How to become a Zumba instructor

By Dance

Are you passionate about dancing? Do you enjoy motivating others? And does the freedom of working for yourself appeal to you? Well, then you have probably considered becoming a dance instructor of some kind. Perhaps you’d enjoy the dazzling workout style that is inspired by a variety of Latin American dance techniques? We are, of course, talking about Zumba.

If you’d  consider (if you haven’t already) becoming a dance instructor of some kind -why not teach one of the most in-demand dance classes out there? This Latin American dance is now a fan-favourite class across the world. We are of course talking about Zumba.

Zumba dancing is one of the most popular forms of dancing exercise today. In fact, about 15 million people take Zumba classes weekly. This high energy workout features high and low intensity intervals to improve fitness, enhance balance and enhance agility – and is perfect for anyone who is interested in turning their dance and fitness passions into a career.

As a Zumba instructor, your responsibility and duties include providing your class with fun, safe, high-energy workouts. You should be able to provide step-by-step classes for beginners as well as more advanced classes for experienced students. A great Zumba instructor has the ability  to help students reach their fitness goals effectively and safely in a fun and exciting environment. But it’s not all smiles and steps – you will also have to educate yourself and your students how to work out with proper form in order to prevent injury – and you will also have to have a strong business plan to guide you on the path to zumba instructor success.

How to become a successful Zumba instructor

The route to  certifications is through a variety of Zumba academies or Zumba instructor networks. 

Do your research and find a legitimate academy or training facility that is able to teach you everything from basic steps to advanced technique. Another aspect to consider is gaining a CPR certification. Yournetwork can also likely assist in working  with local fitness centres to find the best Zumba instructor opportunities for you.

Once you have become certified it’s time to learn the ins and outs of the fitness industry and put together a strong business plan to help you flourish in your chosen career path.

Building a career as a Zumba instructor

To build a successful career as a Zumba instructor you’ll need to build your very own business plan. Your business plan needs to lay the foundation for your successful career and should scale with your business as it grows. Whether you plan on doing classes at different gyms or you choose to launch or rent your own studio, your business plan needs to highlight everything you want to achieve and help guide you on that path to success.

1. Write out your mission statement

Before you dive right into the details of your business and your projections, highlight the basic information about your business goals. This is where you will outline your objectives and core values that will set the tone and focus for the rest of your Zumba instructor career plans. In this section of your business plan, write out a clearly defined mission statement that explains why you want to take on this role. Think about what you will offer your students and community and explain how you will proudly deliver on your promises.

Describe your company

Now it’s time to expand on your mission statement with the facts. In this section of your business plan you can dive into details about how you will contribute to the zumba and fitness industry on a local level and what sets you apart from your competitors. Expand on your professional experience and what makes you unique in your offering.

2. Analyse the market

When planning your Zumba instructor career path and putting together your business plan, you’ll also need to do some research. A good business plan should include a competitive analysis that is able to explain how your Zumba classes stack up against your competitors in the area. In order to do this successfully, you need to understand your target audience and be honest with yourself about any potential challenges – and how you can overcome them. It is important that you consider a creative selling point for your Zumba class.

Products and Services

In this section of your business plan you will decide what products and services you want to offer your clients.. Do you want to do in-person classes or online classes – or would you like to offer both? Do you want to work from home, in a gym or start your own studio?

Outline the different types of classes you plan to offer and how long each class will be and how you plan to divide them by level of experience. Provide information about the unique aspects of your classes and explain how your studio or classes stand out from the rest.

3. Management and organisation

You need to consider the best course of action when it comes to running your Zumba business. This means that you need to take bookings, classes, payments and scheduling into account. The good news is that we live in the digital age and you don’t have to do anything manually anymore. This means your time can be spent actively growing your business as opposed to running repetitive day to day tasks behind the scenes.

Gymcatch offers a complete and cost-effective  Zumba studio software platform that allows clients to browse, book and pay for classes in a single location. This platform also allows you to upload, manage and update your schedule anywhere and at any time. By investing in a Zumba class management tool no matter the size of your business, everything you need to run a successful business will be at your fingertips. 

Gymcatch also believes that great Zumba class management software shouldn’t break the bank and the platform offers a free monthto get you on your feet. Post the free month, you’ll also only be billed on a rolling, monthly basis. Gymcatch also doesn’t increase costs with usage and sticks to a simple price plan where you are billed for the base plan and then only the features that you choose to suit your needs. This means the platform is able to grow as your business grows – saving you time and money on the path to Zumba instructor success.

4. Workout your financial projections

In this part of your business plan you need to lay out your Zumba class costs and revenues. You need to lay out whether you have the money to start things up or if you require investment or a loan. Be very clear about how you plan to launch your business. Know what costs will be involved and consider any studio expenses, software or salaries.

You need to also explain how you will be charging your students. Don’t leave anything out when it comes to this section – it’s important to be realistic and understand what you can expect on a monthly, quarterly and yearly basis. 

Remember that this section – like the rest of the business plan – will change as you grow and learn. Nothing is set in stone.

In summary

While it may feel overwhelming, any fitness or dance studio owner or instructor knows that a strong business plan and the right management tools are vital for success. Creating this step-by-step can put you on a path to success.

Management technology and booking software can play an important role in the running of any modern business. An easy-to-use, scalable and cost-effective booking management software system is vital for any fitness instructor and Gymcatch offers the ideal solution. 

Get started with Gymcatch today.

May 05
Love0

How to create a successful personal trainer business plan

By Fitness business management archives and news

How to start your own business as a personal trainer

Looking to start a personal training business? Begin with a business plan.

Every business owner, no matter the business size or sector, requires a strategic and growth-focused business plan. Personal trainers, whether self employed or working for a gym, require a business plan to help set them on the path to success. A personal training business plan should effectively guide you through each stage of your business, offering structure and management while identifying and optimising growth opportunities along the way. Consider your personal trainer business plan as a living and evolving project for your business, one that can develop with you as you grow and one that can evolve when opportunities for even greater growth arise.

A well thought out personal training business plan will help you take a step back and think objectively about the key elements of your personal training vision and mission, and inform your decision making as you move forward. In this article, we take you through the ins and outs of creating a successful personal trainer business plan. Any person who makes a living or is seeking to make a living as a personal trainer requires a business plan. Even if you are still employed by a gym – it’s never too early to consider your future trajectory.

A personal trainer business plan refers to a written description regarding the future of your personal training business. It should be designed to guide every aspect of your business, from products and service to people, location, costs and income. Your business plan should be able to articulate what you do, why you are doing it and how you plan on reaching your goals. Depending on your needs and goals, you may be able to use your business plan to impress potential investors, attract customers and employees or deal with suppliers. 

A business plan is usually 10 – 20 pages, however there is a lot of room for variation and it depends on your goals. Now that we have a greater understanding of what and why you need a business plan – let’s take a look at how you can start creating one.

How to start a personal training business plan

1. Write your mission statement

Your mission statement is 2 to 3 sentences that explain what your personal training business aims to do and why. The “why” part of your personal training business statement is vital as it’s what differentiates you  from the competition. 

Focus on 2 things in this part of your mission statement:

  1. Your core values 
  2. Your philosophy regarding personal training

Your core values outline your beliefs and who you are, while your philosophy should highlight your belief system regarding personal training. 

In order to substantiate this section, ask yourself why training is important to you, and why your target clientele will benefit from your offering. By answering these questions, you will be able to convey the value you offer clients. Learn more about how to identify your personal training niche in our article, here.

2. Assess the industry and your competitors

Before you are able to figure out where you fit in within the personal training and fitness industry itself, you need to understand what the industry looks like. This requires research and it is important to late a look at the relevant markets:

  • Local market
  • National market

In order to fully understand what these markets look like at the moment, research  the personal trainers and gyms in your local area. Even visit a few and talk to any friends you have within the industry to gain their insight. By understanding the industry on a larger scale you will be able to pinpoint what gaps you can fill or what processes you can optimise across your business. An honest assessment of yourself will help you find the answers.

3. Technology to grow your personal training business

When it comes to assessing your competition and assessing how to promote your business, closely evaluate what technology you can use to assist you meet your goals. For example: what personal training booking system processes are being used to make things easier for clients, trainers and gyms. Find a booking system that is able to make your processes as smooth as possible, ensuring you are able to manage your business in the most efficient and streamlined way. 

Personal training booking software and customer management solutions can give your business an  advantage, placing your entire booking process, from calendars and classes to payments and management, in a single location. This kind of  attention to detail will make converting prospects to  clients easier and ensuring you present a high degree of professionalism at all times.. 

Gymcatch can assist here, offering industry-leading  personal trainer business management software. The software enables personal training business owners to save time, increase revenue, and give great service to customers, offering a place to plan and manage sessions, automate bookings, design and sell packages, and embed booking capabilities into business websites. Learn more about how Gymcatch can help streamline your personal training business and add to your business plan, here.

4. Explain revenue streams

Begin mapping out your income sources and see how they will or won’t work. Ask yourself how you are going to deliver your service? Are you going to train your clients one-on-one, offer group classes – or both? Will you do smaller group sessions at your local gym or will you focus on online training? 

It’s important to remember that you don’t have to addeverything as some of the most successful businesses only offer 1 or 2 services – don’t feel pressured to add more. Sometimes less is more – and more doable. You can always add classes and services as you grow – and that is the magic of a business plan, it can grow with you.

5. Outline Operating Costs

Write down all the expenses you will need in order to run your business successfully. This includes everything from rent, equipment and insurance to personal training booking software and administrative fees. Add all of this up, get your operating costs together and work out the minimum income you will need in order for your business to exist.

Then it’s time for revenue projections. Put together a high-low chart that comes with a column that outlines worst case scenario and best case scenario. If you are comfortable with both those results then you can move forward. If you aren’t – get back to strategizing expenses and pricing until you are.

6. Create a Marketing and Sales Plan

Begin by assessing your skills, talents and strengths and decide on what you can work on yourself – be this social media videos or content creation. Understand what tools you will need to make your marketing and sales plan run smoothly – and focus on building a network around your plan. Once this is done, create a plan that you are able to take action and define how often you will deploy your resources. A video once a month? A post every day? 

Learn more about how you can attract and reach personal training clients in our article, here.

Over time you will be able to refine this section as you learn what works and what needs improvement.

In summary

A business plan is never truly finished, it is an ever evolving document that scales as you grow. Everytime your business shifts in a new direction, your finances and technology will change alongside. Everytime there is a change, take a look at amending your business plan to suit your growth. 

Technology plays a crucial role in the running of any business today – and personal training is no different. A powerful, easy-to-use and cost-effective booking management software is vital for any personal training business and Gymcatch offers the ideal solution. The software is also designed to scale with your business as it grows and is a perfect way to begin managing and planning your business. 

Get started with Gymcatch today.

May 05
Love0

How to become a yoga instructor

By Yoga

Are you passionate about yoga? Do you enjoy inspiring others? Does the freedom of managing your own business appeal to you? If you answered yes to all of the above, you have probably considered becoming a yoga instructor and taking your enthusiasm for body and mind to the next level (and if you haven’t, maybe you should). 

A yoga instructor’s role is to guide students through the practice of yoga, teaching them the correct form and directing them through a variety of poses. As a yoga instructor, you may also offer your students additional guidance in areas like meditation, yoga philosophy and deep breathing techniques. You can also choose to teach group classes, one-on-one training sessions or workshops. Whatever path you choose, there are a variety of requirements you need to consider.  A few common job requirements include:

  • Completing a training course with a registered yoga school
  • Becoming a registered yoga instructor
  • Obtaining a CPR certification
  • Understanding of various yoga techniques such as mindful meditation skills

However, having the above skills doesn’t necessarily mean you can simply start a yoga instructor practice. You need to put together a plan of action that directs you on the path to success.

In this plan you need to define your goals, understand your target clients and create a streamlined business that delivers a return on your investment.

Business plan to become a yoga instructor

Business plans are like road maps. It’s possible to travel without one, but the chances of getting lost along the way significantly increase. 

Anyone who wants to start a business, no matter what type of industry, should always put together their very own road map or business plan. Taking the time to create a  comprehensive yoga instructor business plan will help make your dreams a reality.

In this article, we take a look at how to put together the ultimate yoga instructor business plan to give you the best possible chance of success.

1. Start with an executive summary

This part of your business plan sums up your mission and vision and explains your unique selling proposition or what makes your yoga instructor services different from the competition. 

Your mission statement should consist of a few sentences on why you have decided to become a yoga instructor, what your yoga service offers, who your clientele are and how you are able to help them. Your unique selling proposition outlines what makes your service different – and how you can help your clients. This doesn’t have to be something groundbreaking. It can highlight your personal journey and what you can offer those who seek motivation and encouragement in their fitness journey.

2. Put together a market and customer analysis

This is where some strategy and numbers come into play. It’s important to consider these early in your business plan as they inform much of your wider strategy. Your market analysts should include an industry description that covers trends and growth rates, analyses your competitors and emphasises how you can stand out in a competitive market. You also need to research what your clients and target market are looking for in a yoga instructor or yoga studio – this can help you identify your specific niche and mould your business plan to a greater degree. 

This may seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Google is your best friend when it comes to discovering market trends. You can also speak to other yoga enthusiasts and get their insight into what they believe the industry is missing – helping you further identify a gap you may be able to fill.

3. Identify your specific yoga services and products

This is the fun part! There are many different kinds of yoga instructors and yoga studios e. Some yoga teachers will cater their classes to specific groups or specific yoga practices while others prefer private one-on-one classes. You may also choose to offer your yoga services to a specific group, for example, some yoga instructors work with professional athletes and may offer a service directly aimed to improve athletic ability. 

Write a full description of what you want to offer your students, what kinds of yoga practices you will provide, your classes and of course, your prices per class.

4. Put together a SWOT analysis

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. By putting together a SWOT analysis before building your brand, you will be able to foresee any potential issues, strategise mitigations plans and brainstorm success. With a clear SWOT analysis, you are able to build on what you do well, address what it is you may be lacking, seize opportunities and minimise risk. 

5. Sales and marketing plan

You don’t have to become a social media influencer to have a successful yoga instructor business. But you will need to focus on a marketing and sales strategy in order to promote your business and attract your target customers. =

Your marketing strategy will get you to your target audience and pique their interest while your sales strategy should be about converting your audience into customers. The Gymcatch booking system gives you your own digital presence across web, iOS and Android, and can connect directly to your social media and embed into a website (important parts of any marketing strategy),converting leads into clients by allowing them to sign up for a class directly through your social media or website. Streamlined conversion at its finest!

6. Technology, management and organisation

Now it’s time to outline your technology and put together a strategy to streamline all your processes. Having the skill to be a great yoga instructor is one thing – having the ability to successfully manage a growing yoga instructor career is another. Managing a business can quickly become overwhelming when you consider scheduling, classes, invoicing, payments and class bookings. We live in the digital age and because of this, you don’t have to stress about the repetitive tasks of running a business. 

Gymcatch is a booking system and yoga management software that offers scheduling for yoga classes and appointments. Whether you plan on being an independent instructor or putting together a chain of studios, Gymcatch has all the tools you need from a yoga booking system at a low fixed price.

Gymcatch allows you to conveniently and cost effectively professionally manage your schedule, bookings, payments and customers with our yoga booking system designed to make life easy for you and your clients. Our courses, or blocks, feature is specifically designed for the yoga sector, enabling block booking, swaps and more. Whatever your business model, Gymcatch has a payment and booking structure to suit your needs.

Sign up for a yoga booking system today

Interested in launching your career as a yoga instructor?
Launching your own yoga studio?
Or simply want to optimise your current yoga business?

Gymcatch is the complete software management solution for your yoga business providing a powerful, easy-to-use, booking software that you can customise to your brand. We work with thousands of 1-2-1 coaches, trainers, instructors, gyms and studios to save them time, money and increase revenue

Get started with Gymcatch today!

Sep 28
Love0

ASFA® and Gymcatch announce strategic partnership

By Fitness business management archives and news, Fitness industry archives and news

The American Sports and Fitness Association® is pleased to announce its new partnership with Gymcatch. By providing great value gym booking software and customer management software for fitness and wellness businesses, ASFA® recognizes Gymcatch’s commitment to making participation easier for all.

As a leading Personal Trainer & Fitness Certification provider, ASFA® recognizes and appreciates the need for companies like Gymcatch who create easy-to-use, affordable tools that help our customers manage their businesses, enabling them to do more of what they do best: bring exercise to their community.  We are delighted to offer our community 20% off their first 12 months on the service with code ASFA20. You can find out more about the service and register here.

Additionally, we are excited to proudly display Gymcatch’s logo on ASFA’s Partner Page with other leaders in the industry such as MyCPR NOW™ – the leading online CPR and First Aid Certification provider, Human Kinetics – the leader in fitness texts and manuals provider, Berxi – a Berkshire Hathaway company and more than 100 gym chains and fitness institutions.

For more information on Gymcatch fitness and wellness booking software and how it can help your business get in touch to book a demo or start a free month.

 

Jul 07
Love0
Image for What's important in your cancellation policy?

What’s important in your cancellation policy?

By Fitness business management archives and news, Gym and studios, HIIT and group, Pilates, Yoga

If you have been receiving too many ‘I’m sorry I won’t be able to make it today at the very last minute, is time to set a cancellation policy and start protecting your income. Make this task item number one on your to-do list and keep on reading.

“There’s nothing worse than a cancellation” is a phrase we hear quite often at Gymcatch. Although it’s not quite true. Worse than cancellations are last-minute cancellations, and worse still, a no-show.

We’ve all been in that situation where you have prepared for a training session or class and a client cancels at the very last minute. Handling late cancellations and no-shows can be very difficult for your business, eat away precious income and waste the opportunity to get a new face or different client into the session.

Cancellations and no-shows are out of your control but they are bad for business and bad for morale.   What you can do is two things:

1) encourage responsible behaviour of your client base so to minimise cancellations, maximise the notice they give you when they cancel and eradicate no-shows in all  but extreme cases; and

2) mitigate the financial risk of cancellations.

There is a stack of evidence and proven processes which tells us that you can stop cancellations blighting your business. You don’t need to accept a high drop out rate and you shouldn’t.

Take payment at the point of booking

Cancellation rates at businesses where the client pays at the point of booking are 40% lower than at businesses which operate a pay-on-the-door model.

It’s just a fact of human psychology that once a client has paid for something they are far less likely to not show up or cancel it. Some businesses don’t like taking online payments either for reasons of not wanting to pay the card fees or because of additional admin. All the data points to that being a false economy. What you lose in card fees you’ll make back several-fold in reduced and non-refunded, cancellations.

This helps both sides of the cancellation risk: taking payment in advance reduces the number of cancellations and having the client’s money puts you in control of whether your policies allow a refund in the circumstances.

Do I need to let clients cancel at all?

A cancellation is always better than a no-show (because you’ve got a chance of filling the space). Not giving a client the means of cancelling doesn’t stop them from cancelling, it just means they don’t turn up and you won’t know about it in advance.

This is where having a booking software that automates tasks for you, such as booking confirmation messages and reminders, can be very useful and help reduce your no-shows as well as save you time. If you take a proactive approach, you will help minimize no-shows.


Automation of waitlists and refunds

While you can reduce the number of no-shows and cancellations they can’t be eradicated. But encouraging clients to act responsibly and follow a clear process if they need to cancel maximises the chance of you not being out of pocket.

Making it simple to cancel (and receive a refund if it is due) incentivises clients to do this and give you maximum notice.

And for clients who want to take a cancelled space, an instant waitlist which converts to bookings and that is easy to use saves you the bother of phoning round to try and fill a spot.

Do I need a cancellation policy?

Yes, you do. Every business should have a cancellation policy that sets the boundaries of its services. You don’t need to be a lawyer or to copy someone else’s policy. It just needs to very simply and in plain language set the rules that clients need to know when they book.

With this clear, no-surprises, approach a cancellation policy’s role goes beyond protecting your income and also protects your relationship with your client as it stipulates how you work and what your working boundaries are. Most client-provider relationships that break down, do so because of a lack of communication.

Don’t be afraid of making the terms onerous. Strict cancellation policies will encourage good clients to book rather than put them off because it places real value on the place – it demonstrates scarcity and that the client is buying something in demand.

Setting the tone at the very start, for example at sign-up stage will help bring more commitment from the client too. This doesn’t mean that you can’t use your discretion when a client comes to you with some particularly difficult circumstances – you’ve always got that option.

What should I include in a cancellation policy?

  1. Contact information
    How to contact you or your gym or studio. If your client needs to contact you to cancel a session make sure you tell them the process for that. Do you want them to contact you directly, if so how. Or do they need to cancel their booking on your booking system?
  2. Cancellation without penalty?
    Are you going to allow clients to cancel and provide them with a refund, provided they give you sufficient notice?
    Not all businesses do this. Some say that once you’ve booked there are no refunds. Others will always provide a refund no matter when the cancellation comes in. Most businesses fall somewhere in the middle.The whole point of this is to maximise your chance of selling the space that the client is cancelling. If you’re a business with packed waitlists and are regularly over-subscribed and your services are easy to participate in at short notice you can afford to allow cancellations until relatively late. E.g. 48 or 24 hours before the start time.If your session is harder to fill, you don’t have a regular waitlist, or the class is difficult to participate in at short notice then you will probably want the place on sale for longer. E.g. 1 week.We find that cancellation policies which allow refunds up until a few hours before the class start time are counter-productive and see low levels of client uptake on the newly available and more frequent cancellations.at least 24 or 48 hours before. Some will even charge a penalty fee if the 24- or 48-hour timeframe has been breached. If your client has adhered to the timeframe, however, you can give them the option to book into the next session.
  3. Cash refunds or credit
    It’s important to state in your cancellation policy whether you will issue a monetary refund, allow to reschedule or even include a penalty fee.  Offering a refund in the form of a credit to book another session will usually be the better option.  It cheats the revenue in the business, is lighter on admin and acts as a better tool for retention.
  4. Agreement
    When a client makes a booking you’re entering a contract with them so you need to know that you’ve got their agreement. Make sure they read and understood both your cancellation and refund policies. Having your clients tick or sign in the agreement will save any misunderstandings as they’re in clear knowledge of how you operate.

Gymcatch helps you minimise the number of cancellations. Our online booking software and management system lets you set your cancellation policy to suit your business needs. You can choose to automatically credit customers with a class package that lets them book a replacement class if they give you enough notice. And although cancellations are inevitable and when this happens, our waitlist feature set allows you to fill up the cancelled space fast.

 

 

Jun 30
Love0
Image for Referrals blog post

How to create a referral programme

By Dance, Fitness marketing and social archives and news, Gym and studios, HIIT and group, Pilates, Yoga

A referral programme is a very cost-effective and low risk way to reward your loyal customers for recommending new ones. It’s a very powerful marketing tactic to get existing customers to talk about you and help you acquire new ones.

According to a Nielsen report 83% of people trust their friends’ opinions. Although an old cliché, people buy from people, and that’s because there is immediate confidence and credibility to their testimonial. Led by trust, these future customers have the potential to quickly convert.

In summary, these are the key benefits to a referral programme:

  • Turns customers into loyal ones
  • Helps you build on your testimonials
  • Expands your reach and awareness
  • Converts leads into customers faster

If you are now ready to set up your referral programme and are looking for ideas, this blog is for you, and to make it easy we’ve broken it down into a 4 step guide with inspirational ideas you may want to consider.

  1. Set the goal you want to achieve with your referral programme

    Before you get started, decide on what you want to achieve with your programme. You want this to be clear and measurable. Acquiring new customers may not be your goal or what you want by the end of it. Some businesses will be looking at increasing sales or loyalty to get more advocates and improve on retention. Once you have decided on your goal, think about how you will be measuring progress and what are your referral sources.

  2. Decide on your incentive or reward

    The most successful way to get this right is to encourage insight from your customers to determine what incentive or reward will motivate them. Non-cash incentives such as in-store credits or priority access boost customer retention and sales. You don’t want to spend endless hours tracking and calculating incentives manually. Instead automate as much of this work as possible to save yourself valuable time. Choosing a conversion event, for example, the reward is applicable once the customer has booked a class or session with you and made full payment. This will eliminate any doubts and set the boundaries for when claiming a reward.

  3. Decide on your advocates

    The most critical part of the programme is choosing customers that are as passionate as you are about what you do and know your brand. Share your mission with them and draw some parameters. Work out the tags or hashtags and key messages you want them sharing.Consider the following:
    Who do you want to target?
    What do you need them to do?
    How can they achieve this?

  4. Promote your referral programme

    Tell your customers about your programme, chances are they aren’t aware and/or need reminding. Your most loyal customers should be your first place to get started. These are people that love your classes or sessions and have probably already advocated your business more than once before. However, make it easy for your customers to share your services and get rewarded. Social media has become a popular channel to share information and get the word out, but it has to be a simple process for both the referrer and referee, or they will lose interest.

A referral programme creates a win-win situation for all. Your existing clients get rewarded, feel valued, and you get quality leads for new customers. The more customers you get to tell their friends about your classes or appointments the more opportunity for new business you create.

Need inspiration?
Take a look at what some brands are doing!

Uber
Uber’s referral programme has 2 parts. Uber gives drivers and riders a unique referral code to share with friends interested in creating a driver or rider account. When a referral is successful a payment reward is made.
In parallel, they run a user referral programme too that works very similarly. When a user shares their code with a friend and that friend signs up they both get their next trip for free.

Dropbox
Dropbox allows you to earn extra free storage space when you invite friends to try it out. Basic accounts get 500 MB per referral and can earn up to 16GB. Plus accounts get 1 GB and earn up to 32 GB per referral.

How do referrals work on Gymcatch?
There are many ways to use Gymcatch’s features to run a successful referral programme and reward your customers. Our Discount Codes bolt-on, for example, allows customers to invite their friends and family at a fixed amount or percentage off. This is great when wanting to encourage loyalty and improve retention.

You can also use bundles and make them available for purchase for a limited time and remove it from sale at the end of the offer period. These are included as part of the base plan and although mean a little more planning are very easy to set up.

Our own referral programme means customers get rewarded with 2 free months and receive a cash reward when referring a new business. The referred business gets an extra free month directly into their account when registering with us.

For more information on Gymcatch and how it can help your yoga, pilates, dance or personal training business. Get in contact to book a demo or start a free month.

Jun 13
Love0

Why is the right insurance policy essential?

By Uncategorised

Fitness Professionals Ltd (FitPro) gives us the lowdown on choosing insurance that’s right for you.

You have a brilliant booking system, cool client management software and the tools to save you time, increase your revenue and grow your community through Gymcatch. You’re on to a winner. But what happens if the old phrase ‘break a leg’ comes to fruition in one of your classes?

Insurance is an essential string to your bow as a fitness industry professional. It gives you peace of mind. It’s the reassurance that, if the worst were to happen, it is there to assist you and enable you to continue to deliver your classes and sessions.

It’s vitally important to select a highly reliable insurance policy that provides the depth of cover needed to enable you to deliver a range of activities and adapt to the changing demands of the fitness industry. You need to check that the insurance includes cover for the relevant fitness-related activities you’re undertaking, includes worldwide cover if you’re teaching overseas, and is through a reputable insurer.

At FitPro, we’ve been offering instructor public liability insurance protection for over 30 years. We’re continually reviewing our products to ensure they are in line with the needs of fitness industry professionals and the burgeoning industry trends.

Whether you are live-streaming from home, training clients via Zoom, delivering pre-programmed video content, working in gyms, studios and community facilities, working outdoors in parks, gardens and beaches, or mixing it up depending on the weather, the FitPro insurance scheme has you covered. We share tips, advice and information via our social media channels and blogs on an ongoing basis to keep our members up to date with new developments.

The FitPro Instructor Public and Teacher Liability insurance is designed for qualified fitness industry professionals who hold a supporting qualification in their area of instruction, and also for students who are working towards gaining an instructor qualification.

Teaching online

Since 2020, online training has been really big business and, at FitPro, we’re ready to support you with comprehensive insurance.

To be covered for online training, you must:

  • work within your area of knowledge and expertise, supported by a nationally accredited instructor qualification
  • pre-screen participants before each session
  • include a disclaimer
  • follow the appropriate health and safety guidelines
  • ensure that any children/minors participating are supervised throughout the online fitness session by an adult.

You can find out more about FitPro’s cover for online training here.

Suppose the worst happens?

Our customers know that, as long as they are insured with us, we are there to support them. FitPro is committed to providing the most comprehensive cover there is out there. Underwritten by Aviva, the FitPro insurance scheme gives you piece of mind – knowing that one of the UK’s largest insurers stands behind us.

Are you looking for insurance to work in the fitness industry?

See FitPro’s range of insurance schemes available here.

Alternatively, to find out more about FitPro’s insurance policies, speak to a member of our insurance team on 020 8586 8635 or via info@fitpro.com

For information on our fitness bootcamp booking software and how Gymcatch can help visit our business page.

 

 

 

May 25
Love0
Image for How to raise your prices blog post

How to communicate your price increase to your customers

By Fitness business management archives and news, Fitness marketing and social archives and news, Uncategorized

Raising the prices of services can be daunting. We worry that we might lose clients on price, that we make them angry, upset and disappointed at us. We also feel a duty of care toward clients and don’t want to raise prices when we might know they are already struggling. Sometimes, we can even question whether our services are worth the extra cost.

These are completely normal emotions and entirely empathetic response to a difficult situation.

But, and it is a big but, you are almost certainly going to have to raise your prices.

If you have been postponing it for a while, now is a good time to get into action and do it in the best way possible for you and your clients. So, take a deep breath, and let’s dive into the key steps to take to make the transition easier for you, and for your clients.

By how much do you need to increase your classes, and in what timeframe?

Has inflation already started to bite you and by how much? Add up the additional costs that you now incur. That’s the minimum amount you need to make up by increasing your prices just to keep your take-home revenue the same. So, if your bills have done up by £100 / month and your monthly revenue is £1000 / month, you need to raise your prices by 10%.

You might decide actually that you can make some efficiency savings in your business which save £50 a month so you can actually raise prices by 5%.  But the thing to watch out for is that inflation doesn’t stay still. Inflation might add another £50 to your overheads in 6 months’ time and now there’s no more efficiency savings to make so you need to raise your prices again.

And here is your first choice which is do you raise your prices in a big chunk in one go to future-proof your pricing and keep your prices flat for a decent amount of time? Or do you raise prices incrementally through the year a little at a time?

The answer is probably that if you sell in long-term increments (annual memberships for example) you will need to raise your prices in one big jump now. Whereas if you sell more on a pay-as-you-go, or in weekly or monthly increments, you have far more flexibility to increase prices gradually.

 1. Communicate your price increase

Raising your prices without giving much warning and without clarity can cause unnecessary friction. The key is to communicate any changes to your customers effectively and allow for some time to adjust to the changes. People will understand you have to put prices up but for them, it’s just another increase so however understanding it’s not what they want to hear. Be as transparent as possible and provide them with a timeline that gives them plenty of time. If it’s practical, let them know individually or in small groups and in person.

People will appreciate that you’ve spoken to them and not just assumed that the increase will be fine or not care if the increase is too much for them. Once your customers know you can make an announcement but most of your clients will already know and appreciate the advance warning.

 2. Add value, foster loyalty, and build a community spirit

Adding value to your fitness services will aid with customer retention and acquisition. In general, people are willing to pay more if they feel they are getting more value for money. This can be anything form the service you provide, to the speed of your responses, to any free resources you give away, to the private groups you form etc. Adding value can put you in a unique position and help you differentiate from your competitors. At the end of the day, only you know what you do and how you do it, so be brave and consider yourself an expert in the field by driving conversations.

Are there a few little things you can add to your service which don’t cost you much or anything at all, but that your clients will appreciate as their prices go up. Checking in with clients a bit more to make sure they’re enjoying themselves, additional positive feedback, run little competitions and hand out little prizes (just tokens and silly things – not flat-screen TVs). This is all part of creating a mindset with customers that your services aren’t just an expense every week or month. Your services are an essential part of their physical and social routine that is essential for their mental and physical health.  Do everything you can to ensure your service isn’t a nice to have, it’s essential. You may want to read our top 5 tips for creating value for your customers.

 3. Pricing trade-offs

It might be with your business, especially if you’re still seeing a drop in numbers from Covid, that revenue right now is tight. You might therefore want to consider killing two birds with one stone and offering a chance for customers to avoid price increases in return for buying upfront. For example, you could offer a 1 year or 6-month membership where the client pays in full and upfront but at your current price?

Now there’s a trade-off – your profit margin on that customer is less than it would be if they were paying that in instalments at the higher price. But, you’ve got the money in the bank now. If you’ve got clients that fit the profile that can pay upfront, then it might well suit both you and them.

If your customers have been with you for a while, it is likely they can anticipate a price increase. Fitness professionals approaching price raises with attention and communicating the change successfully will likely not risk the customer relationship.

For more information on Gymcatch and how it can help your yoga, pilates, dance or personal training business. Get in contact to book a demo or start a free month.

© 2022 Gymcatch.

Close Menu