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Dec 05
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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 27
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What is slow living?

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

Slowing down to grow; how placing greater value on time can help personal balance whilst driving business efficiencies.

Pre-covid ‘hustle’ culture was at an all time high where late night and caffeine-fueled mornings with work were often prioritised over social events, family and our own mental and physical wellbeing. Not only was this accepted, it was often celebrated. 

Post covid we’ve seen a cultural shift, with a growing promotion that work/life balance is not only important but sacrosanct. This topic has been captured in over 260,000 related posts on TikTok and recent resistance to the removal of work from home or hybrid working options at large corporations also reflects this new normal.

What does slow living mean?

The concept of slow living is where you decide to live a more balanced, meaningful life through slowing things down and appreciating both the world around you and what you have. Whether that is having a slower morning to ease you into the working day rather than getting up, downing a coffee and running out the door or restructuring your business to allow for more time to be present. The balance is not just around what you spend your time on, but also how, with the idea that if you’re more present at work or at home, you’ll ultimately be more productive too.

So why am I writing about this?

Well, this evolved understanding of time’s value, makes investing in solutions and processes that save it all the more valuable. A little upfront work can create huge time savings over weeks, months and years. Automating as much as you can in your business can not only free up precious time in your day, but also in your mind, allowing you to focus on what really matters to you.

Saving time through automation is at the heart of what we do at Gymcatch, and there’s some very specific ways we can help:

Receive bookings anywhere, anytime

Removing the admin from receiving bookings is the first port of call for automating your business. Empower your customers to book their own sessions on Gymcatch without needing to contact you allowing them to instantly receive confirmation that their space has been reserved no matter what time of day it is or what you’re doing.

Payment on booking

Do you ever feel like you’re constantly sending out invoices and chasing payments? Receiving payment on booking avoids the need to keep logging into your accounting software, manually sending out invoices and having that awkward conversation when a customer is late paying. 

Simply create a Stripe account, connect it to your Gymcatch account and start receiving payment on booking – It’s that easy to start securing revenue, reducing no shows since customers have paid in advance and reducing admin time!

Collect customer information on first booking

We’ve all been there, manually sending out waivers or questionnaires, waiting for customers to complete them and then having piles of paperwork to store. With Gymcatch, you can enable our Participation information bolt-on feature so that customers are asked to complete all the necessary forms before they are able to book and pay for their first class with you. 

No more chasing customers to complete their forms and no more drowning in paperwork – Win win!

Automated waitlists

No more back and forth confirming if someone’s on or off a waitlist. Our automated waitlists feature is not only included within our base plan, but also allows you to keep your sessions fully booked without the need to lift a finger.

If a customer cancels their space on a fully booked session, those customers who are on the waitlist will automatically be notified via email that a space has become available and then it’s first come first serve as to who books and pays for this space first.

Auto-refund 

You can save hours each week by having a well-defined cancellation policy that your clients understand and have agreed to so that you can avoid last minute cancellations, refunds or reschedules. 

Automating refund credits with Gymcatch’s Auto-refund bolt-on feature is also a great way to allow clients to reschedule their sessions if cancelled in line with your cancellation policy and keep the money in the business without you ever having to get involved. Reducing those awkward conversations, reducing admin and reducing stress. 

If you’re wanting to adopt a slower approach to life as a fitness professional without sacrificing your business’ success, then introducing a booking and management software to automate as many processes as you can is a decision you’ve probably been toying with. Let us help you make an informed decision, book a call with us here or register your Gymcatch business account today!

May 25
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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.

Feb 01
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How to become a fitness instructor

By Uncategorized

A fitness instructor teaches, guides, and encourages groups or individuals during activities and exercise routines. Most of the time, fitness instructors teach clients how to execute exercises and monitor their progress. They also help clients reach their fitness goals, provide them with information about lifestyle, manage their weight, and monitor their food intake. Good fitness will adjust fitness programs to ensure that clients reach their goals while maintaining safety regulations.

One of the first things you should do is determine what type of fitness instructor you want to become. Below are the common types of fitness instructors;

  • Personal trainer – here, you will be dealing with individual clients or families. As a fitness instructor, you may have to travel to your client’s homes and work around their schedules. Most of the time, you work with one client at a time. Therefore, you will have to tailor fitness programs for each client.
  • Group fitness instructor – here, you will be working with a group in a studio or outdoor setting. It involves the use of equipment. As a group fitness instructor, you can lead clients in exercises like Zumba, cycling, and dancing. You will also have to offer some specialized attention to each person in the group for better results.
  • Specialist instructor – here, you get to focus on a single discipline. For instance, you can master one type of workouts like yoga, pilates, or spin classes. Here, you will be working in a studio that specializes in a particular discipline. You will need special certification for your field of focus.
  • Health and wellness coach – here, you will focus on clients’ health, daily routines, eating habits, and making life changes for overall wellness. Your role will help clients get in shape, maintain healthy lifestyles, take care of their bodies and achieve all-around wellness.

When determining the type of fitness instructor you want to become, you need to examine each of the options carefully. That way, you can make an informed decision.

Find out the duties of a fitness instructor

After you have figured out what type of fitness instructor you want to be, the next thing you should do if you are looking to start a fitness training career is to research your would-be duties. Below are the primary responsibilities of a fitness instructor;

  • A fitness instructor’s main duty is to work with individuals or groups demonstrating exercise routines and activities. This also involves teaching participants how to avoid injuries while partaking in exercise routines.
  • As a fitness instructor, you will also have to provide your clients with instructions like breathing and using exercise equipment properly.
  • In a fitness class, music is just as important as the exercise routine and instructions. Therefore, another duty of a fitness instructor is to choose the best music selection for fitness sessions. The right choice of music will help the group or individual get energized and motivated.
  • If you are to work as a fitness instructor for individual clients, you will also have to offer one-on-one consultations. In such cases, you will have to work around your clients’ schedules.

With this information, you can go into the business fully aware of what is expected of you. This means that you will also get the chance to prepare for your duties before taking on clients.

Enroll in a training program

After you have all the necessary knowledge of the roles and duties, you may need some training so that you can provide the best services. The good thing about this career is that you do not need a college degree. You can become a fitness instructor by simply completing a non-degree college or certification program. Most of these courses cover the basics of fitness training like cycling, dancing, and strength training. This step is important whether you want to start your own business or get employed. Most employers prefer trainers with certification.

You can also go a step further and get a degree. With a degree in any health-related major, you will have better chances of getting employed in this field. If you decide to take this route, you can get a degree in exercise science, physical education, or behavioural health science, among other health-related areas. Note that you do not need to have this level of education. You can, most of the time, become a fitness instructor with a high school diploma or an associate. However, a degree will give you an edge in the competitive industry. It is also worth noting that the level of education you need depends on the type of fitness instructor you want to become. For instance, if you’re going to become a health and wellness coach, you may need a degree in nutrition, fitness, nursing, healthcare, or psychology. On the other hand, to become a personal trainer, you require a high school diploma and associate certificate.

Acquire the necessary certification

Note that certification is not mandatory. This is especially the case if you are looking to become a self-employed fitness instructor. However, while some employers may not care about certification, most of them prefer it. Before you look for a certificate, you need to check your laws to see which certification programs are credible. The internet is a great tool for this purpose.

Start practising

Once you have completed the steps mentioned above, you can go ahead and look for a job as a fitness instructor. You can also start your practice if that’s the route you wish to take. You can work at a gym, health club, or hospital.

If you decide to start a career as a fitness instructor, you may want to consider investing in a fitness management software like Gymcatch to manager your clients and payments.

© 2022 Gymcatch.

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