The Fit to Grit Cast
Fit to Grit is an audio/video/newsletter hybrid featuring in-depth conversations with leadership within the athletic space. Guests range from top executives within the athletic space to professionals in adjacent industries with a proven track record of success working in the athletic industry.
We explore visionary ideas and practical strategies driving the industry forward, covering areas such as marketing, finance, branding, equipment, product development, biz dev, and more. Join us as we share actionable insights and real-world experiences while embodying the "fit to grit" spirit.
The Fit to Grit Cast
Website Pricing Secrets That Boost Studio Growth
Did you know that fitness studios showcasing strategic pricing on their websites experience 25% higher client inquiries and acquisition? This striking statistic from MindBody research contradicts the common practice among studio owners who deliberately hide their pricing information online.
The reluctance to display pricing typically stems from three main concerns: competitors stealing your pricing structure, potential clients being deterred by prices before calling, or overwhelming prospects with too much information. However, these fears can be addressed through smart pricing display strategies. Using "starting at" or "as low as" pricing models provides basic transparency while protecting your complete pricing details for sales conversations.
Today's fitness consumer follows a predictable journey before committing to a studio. They'll encounter your business through an ad or referral, check your Google Business profile, then visit your website to validate their interest. Each step builds crucial trust, with transparent pricing serving as a key element in this process. Rather than scaring away potential clients, clear pricing actually qualifies your leads, filtering out those who can't afford your services and saving you countless hours on calls with prospects who won't convert.
Your website isn't just another marketing checkbox—it's the hub of your business presence that you actually own. Unlike social media platforms where access can be compromised, your website provides a consistent resource for showcasing your studio's unique value. When potential clients can easily find information about your classes, trainers, and basic pricing structure, they arrive at sales conversations better prepared and more likely to commit.
Ready to transform your studio's lead generation through strategic pricing? Consider seasonal adjustments, simplify your pricing display, and focus on building that journey of trust from awareness to inquiry. The studios seeing sustainable growth aren't hiding their value—they're proudly displaying it to attract the right members who appreciate what they offer.
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And this is a crazy statistic, because most of the studios that I talk to you go to their website and they don't put any pricing. No, they don't even look at their website. It's a blah, it's a blah. Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of the Fit to Crit Cast. I'm your host, zach Coleman, and we're going to kind of go off of last week's topic of pricing and we're going to kind of go a little bit deeper into something that we do on a normal basis Website pricing. What are some of the website secrets? When and how should you show your pricing to really start boosting that sustainable growth for your fitness studio? There's actually a report out by MindBody that showcases that studios that strategically price their studio on their website receive a 25% higher client inquiry and acquisition. I mean, that's crazy, right, 25%? And this is a crazy statistic, because most of the studios that I talk to you go to their website and they don't put any pricing. They don't even look at their website. It's a blah, it's a blah. And I'm not saying that a website's the only way that you're going to perform, and I'm not saying AI. We're looking in the future, but everyone just assumes that websites are dead, when in reality, in today's environment, websites are probably going to be your second or third trust touchpoint for someone wanting to come to you and know if you're going to fit within their community and their values, right. So let's kind of talk about that today. Hey, everyone, hold on a second. I have to tell you guys something very exciting. We just developed a new plugin made for you and your multi-studio website. This multi-studio website plugin really adapts all of your offers, trainers, calendars into one seemingly easy to use front end experience for new members thinking about joining your fitness studio. So if you want to get more quality leads and you're looking to just really save on cost with all of these website updates on a constant basis, head over to Gymmark right now and either sign up with us, get the plugin for free and or have your web developer or manager purchase the plugin on the side and you can utilize it for your website. Again, head over to Gymmark now. Take advantage of that plugin. V1 is out now.
Speaker 1:So one huge question that I see fitness studios really facing is whether or not they should start listing their pricing on their website. Many studio owners hide this and just hope for really just lazy client acquisition. I don't know what happened to this industry, but it drives me crazy. But it's just like get us 100 leads tomorrow because they think that getting them 100 leads without showing any clear information. It's like they're being lazy and so they're getting lazy clients in return. It's like they're being lazy and so they're getting lazy clients in return. It's really what it comes down to. They're getting lazy inquiries because they're being lazy about their marketing and their communication.
Speaker 1:Go back and watch our last episode on pricing pitfalls. You can view that right up here if you want to watch that video. But in regards to pricing on your website, it's crazy to me, right? I'm kind of in a different story. If you go back to that last video that I just mentioned, you'll see that I talk about volume versus value base. I really do think studios are in this special format. Especially boutique studios are in this format of. They can have a pretty good offer and a pretty good price, because people want experiences in today's day and age.
Speaker 1:Ai has done the exact opposite of what everyone thought it was going to do. They all think Amazon's going to take over the world. They all think Amazon's the you know, retail's dead. And, yeah, retail's taken quite a bit of hit. Studios have taken quite a bit of hit because of online YouTube channels and training and stuff. But now, with more people working at home, more people want to get out and the studio is your experience. That's where they're going to build their community, and so let's talk about how websites really affect that right.
Speaker 1:So last year I took a trip with my wife. We went to this place called shields I don't know if you've ever heard of shields. It took over a part of the mall. It took over an old Dillard's in the mall because the Dillard's were starting to go away because of the retail issue. But it was a whole experience in there. We went in there. We you know they had a huge fish tank. They had all different types of retail sections for all different kinds of sports and athletic wear and they were pricey and they had a restaurant. They wanted you in there all day is really what it came down to, and I'm not saying studios want you in there all day, but what I am saying is it's the experience that made us want to continue to go back and go there.
Speaker 1:We buy something because we're there. I don't want to buy something on Amazon because I can't try it on. I'm not having a good experience with my family. It's just an easy, quick transaction and that's made Easy. Quick transactions are made for volume plays. I'm sorry, but people are willing to take a risk on $50 a month without talking to a human being. They are $200 to $300, are not, and so, depending on your pricing model, you need to pay attention to how you're showing your pricing.
Speaker 1:And the reason I bring that up and that story up is because now let's look at the pros and cons putting on your website. So a couple cons here, a couple cons of displaying your pricing on your website Competitors could steal it. Competitors can steal your pricing. There's a way around that that someone will see your price and then they won't call you. There's a way around that, and actually that's a vetting process. Number three a con of not putting your information on your website. You have too much and it's cluttered and maybe you're afraid that you're overburdening them. There's a way around that. So let's talk about some of those pros from those cons. Right, a pro, going back to the same order I said before, a pro to showing your pricing on your website is one.
Speaker 1:When we talk about competitors, if you simplify your pricing. You give a very vague back to what you've said in the last video. But if you not a vague, a strategic way of showing your prices. So, for instance, if you say again back to my last video, if you want to watch it, go up there. If you talk about price as low as $90, you're not giving away the wheel here. Let your sales reps and your trainers convince you once they actually get you in the door and on the call to give you the other options, give you as low as $90. Oh, but that's with the 12 month commitment, right. Your competitors won't know that they would have to go shop you to understand what your prices are or to go in and do that. So that's the way around that.
Speaker 1:Another pro we talked about your pricing being you're afraid of not getting customers right. Well, I'll be real with you. If you're pricing yourself between $125 to, I'll even say $400, $500 a month, you're in this middle ground. You're not volume, you're not value. So value it's hard to show really high prices unless you're like selling appliances, right, where people know it's a higher price. But then that one comes with even ways that they can strategically have you come in and buy stuff. So low prices.
Speaker 1:Products show pricing all the time, low product pricing anything under a certain amount, even $1,000. But that's a one time purchase, right, so it's lower. So that's a volume based. That's why they show pricing. So you're kind of in the middle. You're kind of showing a 125 to $400 package. You're showcasing it online, what that's doing right there. Especially if you simplify and you can kind of find a way to strategically place your pricing on as low as type situations, then, one, you can change the rest of your pricing in a positive way internally without affecting the actual website when you go through pricing again. But two, you're going to weed out all those people that aren't willing to pay $93.
Speaker 1:Well, zach, we barely get. We get five people a month to showcase through that website sort of lead gen perspective. We get everyone through other means or walk-ins. Well, I get that. That means you need to work a little bit more on your visibility and that's a marketing clip. I'm sorry, but what you need to really focus on is understanding that when you think about conversion rate, everyone's fearful over this 20%. But there's so many good studios that work with.
Speaker 1:I just met someone that you know I'm hoping to become very good friends with Mike Arce. He's part of Loud Rumor. We were talking a little bit about it. I was watching one of his videos and talking about it and he has people have a close rate of 80, 90%, and it comes down to their sales training, right, and so you can have these higher numbers when they get on a call. But how do you get them in the front door beforehand? How do you get them in there? And that's where you have to look at that trust factor and show click case and clear pricing on your website is probably your second or third touch point perspective, right, that builds trust. So that's why you're not getting people on calls is because you're not setting them through the common funnel of building trust.
Speaker 1:But you want to weed out those people that can't do your prices. Why? Because it's taking up all your time talking to people that aren't going to validate your service, or you're trying to sucker people into a challenge, thinking that that's going to get them to stay as a client, and what ends up happening? They leave in like a month or two because they weren't even ready anyways, and so utilizing your pricing is also a form of weeding out those people that aren't a good fit for your studio.
Speaker 1:If you're just starting out, of course, I would not take this in the perspective. If you're just starting out, figure out pricing, work at it, grow at it and then tailor it over time. But you do want to bring a little bit more volume at the beginning as you dictate your pricing. We have a client right now that's doing a great job. Like they understood the premise, they opened their gym, their studio, strong, they went right to marketing. They have an investment in marketing and three months in, they're already retailoring their packages to be able to focus a little bit more on operations and their trainers and how they're making their sales. So you have that.
Speaker 1:And so those are just pros and cons of website, of why you should showcase pricing on your website. I hope the pros outbeat those cons for you and if you have a web developer I highly recommend, or a designer, web design firm or whatever that's working on your website, I would highly recommend that you involve your pricing into your strategy, especially on first touch point, which is either an advertisement, retargeting ad. Second touch point, which is like a Google my Business type situation, getting intent and then they may search for you. And then third, which is your website, which is an or a landing page. I highly disregard landing pages for the fitness industry. I think this is an econ play, so I would only do a landing page if there's a certain type of campaign that you're really looking at. You don't need all these tripwire crap for a studio. We do a competitive campaign, for instance. If you wanna learn more about that, call us, but that's besides the point. Those are the pros and cons of displaying pricing on your website.
Speaker 1:Strategic timing when should you place certain pricing? When should you do certain things right? Less detail is usually better. Like I said, less detail is better. But you're going to have certain circumstances within your studio and you're going to start seeing, especially if you're beginning and if you're not, you understand this already. You're going to have different ebbs and flows to when people come to the studio. For instance, you have New Year's resolutions. You get a lot of people. That's a good time to start trying to get doing campaigns.
Speaker 1:You have summer, where people are leaving. If you live in a state where you have a lot of people that leave for the summer, like we do here in the hot Arizona area, you're going to have that stuff, and so you really have to pay attention to when do we showcase certain pricing Now on your website itself? I don't think this matters, but what you can do is you can have a special offer price structure that you change out every three months, like for summer birds or for this. You can, you can do a post about it, you can do Google my Business post, you can do a social media post, you know, and or you, strategically, you strategically fit those things in and so, not to get off topic here, you're going to have certain points, and so find those points in the year that like clockwork, and make sure that you set it in your schedule to either come up with a new campaign, um, change your pricing a little bit. I mean, we have one client that every year, like clockwork, once it gets wintertime he actually ups his prices because he knows there's not going to be as many people around and he needs to still bring in members, right? So that's something that you need to take into consideration is strategically timing when to showcase deals and when to showcase pricing. I think really is seasonal, and so you really, especially in this industry, need to focus your pricing around that. So here's a big one with building the sustainable model. So, if you don't know this, we have a webinar sustainable model that we're putting out right here and how studios can start building profitability off of the sustainability lead flow model. But if you're interested in that, of course, dm me. I'm always around. I'll get you into the next one.
Speaker 1:For your website pricing really, at the end of the day, your website as a whole. You need to stop just looking at it as just a thing that you need. Your website's your hub, man. It's not a Facebook page. I knew someone that got all their business off of a Facebook group and then someone hacked their Facebook group and left and they went from 800 a year down to 200 and were struggling because they would have had to create a whole new Facebook page and spend years building it up, all because they got hacked and they couldn't get it back. So you have to think about that stuff. The beauty, the beauty with a website is that it's yours. It's it when you build it.
Speaker 1:Watch out for those developing companies that try to say, hey, you don't get to keep your website and, of course, pay them, but like your website should be something that you grow with and you're you grow with over the years as you continue to expand and grow. It's not just an item, it's your positioning statement. It's a place for someone to view all of your classes and the experience that they can get and be provided with before they come in. So visually, visually communicate that position, communicate that with your messaging and communicate that even with your verbal. When you're jumping on a call Someone's interested in a certain class, for instance, make sure you have all of your classes highlighted and your classes are transparent, even before sale. Now we could get into the gym management softwares and how they are. A horrible experience when you basically copy and paste over iframe is what we call it but copy and paste over their calendars, that doesn't do anything. You need to have something for more pre sale users. We're actually building a plugin right now made specifically for studios for this purpose.
Speaker 1:But you need to build a journey for it, and let me just give you a rough journey here so you can kind of understand this journey of trust that I'm telling you about. Let's say you have 50 members. We'll just do. To make it simple, let's say you strategically ask five of them for review every day. Those five reviews, they give you a review on Google. That's one building trust internally, post-sale, because they're thinking about you and they're giving you a review. You ask them to, hey, refer a friend. That friend, I promise you, even though he's referred by a friend, 90% of them are going to be like well, let me look them up.
Speaker 1:First, I want to get an idea of the look and feel and the experience. They're not saying this out loud, but this is what they're thinking. Let me make sure it's right for me. They'll go to Google. This is your first touch point. You know, first or second, or they've already seen an ad and they kind of understand. And they go to Google and they search you, they see your positioning, you're communicating who, who you are, your classes, your basic pricing on Google Business Profile and they're like oh, they see the reviews and I'm like you know this pricing may be. I just don't know yet. I'm afraid I'm. You know, $95 a month may be a lot For me. I'm still hesitant. I'm gonna go to their website. Go to their website. Their friend told them about John Doe, which is this great trainer. So they're program app, this time on Tuesdays. That fits perfectly with my schedule. So now you've already cut out a lot of their, their ifs, and then they're like you know I'll call them now. So leveraging the pricing in different touch points is really beneficial to making that sale. And so you want to reinforce your position as a studio via your website is kind of your resort for your hub to really bring people in.
Speaker 1:Don't, don't use it. You know, if you're one studio location, don't leverage it for blogging. Don't leverage it. You can do Facebook advertisement. I mean, we have partners that do Facebook advertisement, but don't overly rely on it. The cost per click is huge. You're not an e-commerce store, you're not a volume play, you don't have 50 locations, but really find a way to showcase pricing in that way. You can even, if you want to go even further on that that community which we'll talk about later in another episode go to events, create direct marketing.
Speaker 1:Pieces like these are good first starting and cheaper methods that you can do, where you can showcase that pricing effectively and hitting the right audience. 95 a month isn't that much, but you can look in your target area and be like I want a list of this area because I know that the housing income is, let's say, 100 a year and they're going to be able to afford a $95 a month package, or if it's 120 without a commitment, right? So look at things like that to really help define and make sure that pricing sticks. With strategic and transparent pricing you can see clearer expectations for, and set those clear expectations for your audience. Pre-sale is what I want you to be thinking here is pre-sale, and with that you'll get stronger inquiries because of those pros I talked about earlier. You'll start building a consistent lead flow that way, because now that you're utilizing a framework of organic and pricing models, you'll start to see a trend of how many people a month, no matter the season, are starting to come in and if you can start utilizing your pricing from that perspective, you'll start to see that sustainability.
Speaker 1:That's it for this episode. You know I'm your host, zach Coleman, the Fit to Grit cast. Thank you guys for sticking around. You know, again, subscribe, follow us, give us a review of this podcast if you feel like it's really helping you go through your day-to-day and learn new things. And, as always, we'll talk next week.
