How to prepare your fitness business for the looming recession?

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If you own or manage a fitness business, you’re well aware of today’s economic climate. With the word ‘recession’ on many people’s lips, customers are tightening their budgets, and many are opting to cut non-essential costs such as gym memberships.

That’s why it’s so important that you consider how you can maintain the health of your business through the coming months.

While it’s a well-known fact that the fitness industry tends to suffer during a recession. But that doesn’t mean your gym business needs to take a hit, there are steps you can take to help mitigate the effects on your business. Here are some of our few suggestions:

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1. Minimize Your Overheads

Your client base may shrink during a recession, meaning you will have lesser revenues coming in. Therefore, you need to minimize your expenses as much as possible.

By minimizing your overheads and lowering expenses, you will be left with enough money to keep the core areas of your gym business running, in case a recession strikes.

When it comes to cutting back on overheads, you will need to consider the smaller expenses and the larger expenses. The lesser expenses include office supplies and subscriptions to magazines etc.

On the other hand, the larger expenses include the salary of the trainers and other staff as well as the rent of your gym premises and the utilities bill for your equipment.

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2. Automate Some Business Processes

The amount of staff you need to run your gym can be decreased with the use of automation. The consequences of the recession will also not be as severe when you are working with a smaller staff than a gym owner who is managing a larger staff.

Installing a platform for scheduling online classes is one of the ways you may automate your gym business. By implementing this platform in place, your gym customers will schedule or book the lessons on their own, decreasing the need for staff to assist these customers.

Automating the scheduling and booking process can also lower your monthly phone bill expenses. Additionally, automating the scheduling system will make it simpler and more convenient for your customers to sign up for classes.

This will improve the gym member experience and increase your retention rate which is much needed during an economic downturn.

Rezeve's all-in-one Fitness Software can help you automate your some of your fitness business process. Book a demo right now and enjoy 1-month free trial!

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3. Invest in Marketing

During a recession, most fitness businesses are reluctant to spend too much on marketing and advertising. In hindsight, this mindset doesn't make sense.

During a recession, consumer confidence is at an all-time low. You need to market and advertise your business more than ever in order to stay afloat, and be able to reach new customers.

This means that if you cut back on marketing and advertising, you're going to be hurting your gym business. Doing so will affect your business's ability to land new clients. Instead of cutting back, take this opportunity to double down on marketing and advertising.

By expanding your marketing and advertising, your fitness brand will remain visible during these tough economic times, thus helping to build consumer trust and confidence.

So, while you may lose some of your clients during a recession, strong marketing and advertising will help you to attract a couple of new clients, thus ensuring your business remains standing during the recession.

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4. Diversify Revenue Streams

Diversifying your revenue streams will go a long way toward helping your gym survive a recession. In any business, you should not rely on a single source of revenue. While it may feel uncomfortable or unfamiliar to you, diversifying your income streams will help to cushion your gym business if revenues from your primary source decline.

You can start to consider selling group exercise classes, personal training, personal training packages, and nutrition counseling services.

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5. Implement Flexible Pricing Plans

There’s a high chance that most of the new clients that you get during the recession will be unwilling to sign up for extended memberships. Furthermore, your existing clients may also be looking to downgrade their memberships, to minimize their expenses.

So, if your current memberships require clients to make long-term commitments, you should consider introducing tiered or flexible pricing plans. Introducing flexible pricing plans will allow everyone to choose a package they are most comfortable with, thus minimizing cancellations.

For instance, you can introduce pay-as-you train pricing or weekly memberships. Introducing these flexible pricing methods will prevent you from losing clients that don’t want to commit.

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6. Ensure Your Gym Members are Satisfied

In the event of an economic downturn, your existing gym members will be your most valuable asset.

As a result, you must ensure that you take good care of your existing clients or members by tracking their feedback, following up with them regularly, and responding to their concerns in a timely and professional manner. 

Rezeve provides a diverse set of data-driven insights and analytics, as well as advanced reporting features.

Recessions can happen at any time. And when they do, there’s no guarantee that your gym business will be recession-proof. But, by implementing the above tips, you will be increasing your revenue, and thereby your chances of your gym business surviving, during tough economic times.

Get your fitness business future-proofed with Rezeve! Hit us up for a demo today and enjoy a complimentary 1-month trial!

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