How to grow your gym business: 13 ideas

Want to know how to grow your gym business? Get 13 ideas to help you expand and scale profitably. Plus, find out how to identify the right time to grow and set yourself up for success with the right tech.

Does your gym business plan for 2025 include expanding and scaling up your business? The fitness & wellbeing industry is an exciting place to be right now. So, it could be just the right time to grow your gym business.

Every business is different. So, exactly when you need to get serious about growth will depend on your individual business. And how you’ll go about growing will be different too.

One thing’s for sure, you’re in the right place to start working out what’s right for your business! We’re here to help with everything you need to get started:

Common signs it’s time to grow your gym

Most gym and fitness club businesses are continuously growing in some way. But, there are times when it’s right to get serious about scaling up your business.

These are some common signs that you should put together a plan to grow your fitness business:

13 ways to grow your fitness business

So, how can you grow your gym business? There are loads of ways to grow.

Exactly how you decide to go about scaling up your business will depend on:

Check out these ideas to inspire your growth and expansion plans:

1. Expand in your existing location

When thinking about expanding, gym operators often automatically think about opening in a new location. Yet, that’s not always the only way to grow.

Start by considering if there’s room for growth in your existing location or locations. If demand is still growing steadily and your premises allow it you could:

2. Open in a new location

Reached the potential of your existing location (or locations)? Then you may look to grow by opening a new location. That could be one nearby or in a totally new area.

The location you choose can make or break how successful your expansion is. How do you find the best location for a gym? Start by thoroughly exploring whether demand is there for the taking.

Find out more about choosing the right location when opening a gym.

3. Buy an existing fitness business

Another way to grow your fitness business is to buy an existing gym or fitness club.

Existing members. A ready-made team. A recognisable brand. There can be many potential benefits to buying an existing gym.

To find a business that’s for sale:

If you go down this route, it’s important to do thorough due diligence. And really dig deep to understand the business – it’s services, financials, members, and staff.

4. Explore opportunities for digital growth

Grow your revenue by adding new digital fitness services. Examples include:

Digital fitness options like these offer many benefits to members –

And they can help you grow retention and even introduce new revenue streams.

5. Invest in marketing

When you’re looking to grow your business and win new members, investing in marketing is a must.

A carefully thought-out gym marketing strategy will help you attract new members and keep current ones too. Think about your audience and what you want to achieve (your goals). Develop a plan that includes a mix of activity online and offline.

Want to ramp up your marketing efforts? Check out these helpful resources:

6. Automate what you can

When you’re running a gym business there’s a lot to do. Keeping on top of and completing everything that needs doing can become overwhelming. And that makes growth challenging.

Thankfully, tech is there to help. A gym automation system will take away many repetitive, time-consuming tasks. Improving efficiency and freeing resources to invest into revenue-generating activities. So, you’re free to grow and scale faster.

7 ways to fuel growth with gym automation

Go deeper

Find out where to start with automation. And see how you can take advantage of it.

Dive in now

 7. Partner with local businesses

Gyms of all shapes and sizes play an important role in the communities they serve. Partnering with local businesses and other organisations can help you achieve your growth goals.

Reciprocal discounts. Sponsorships. Giveaways. There are many ways you can create partnerships that:

8. Offer something new

In life, to grow sometimes you need to try something new. And the same can be true in business too! Introducing new classes, activities, services, and products, can help you reach new people. And increase revenue too!

Look at what’s happening elsewhere in the market. For example, Reformer Pilates has grown in popularity in New Zealand with Google Trends data showing a recent peak in interest:

Couple trends with your target audience to offer something new. Using the same example, if you have studio space or an under used area, you could create a Pilates studio and offer classes and courses.

9. Improve your retention rates

Never underestimate the importance of member retention when looking for growth opportunities.

Increasing retention rates by 5% can increase profits by 25-95%. Pretty impressive right? When more members stay with you for longer, you’ll see a higher member life time value (LTV). And you’ll need to sign up fewer new members to achieve growth.

When you’re looking to increase retention rates, the key place to start is by looking at visits. If you can get members visiting regularly on a consistent basis, they’re less likely to cancel.

Strategies to increase retention

Go deeper

Get practical ideas to help you increase retention rates.

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10. Look at how you communicate

For gyms, email marketing is a cost-effective way to engage prospects and members. Increased engagement can have a positive impact on growth.

Use the gym marketing automation tools within your software to send out personalised, targeted emails (and text messages too!).

As well as sending one-off messages, create automated journeys for prospects and members. Send the right message at the right time based on set criteria and triggers.

11. Provide regular training for your team

Your team is an essential part of your business. Their skills and the level of service they deliver to your members will impact your ability to grow.

Likewise, if you struggle to keep team members, you’ll be stuck in a time-consuming and costly recruitment cycle.

Invest in the success of your team and your business with regular training:

Showing your staff that you support their development and career goals will encourage them to stick with you. And it’ll positively improve your member experience. Both can make it easier to chase your growth goals.

12. Review your membership options and pricing

When was the last time you reviewed your membership options and pricing? If it’s been a minute, then it might be time to review your offering.

The right mix of membership packages, access options, and prices, will help you attract and retain members. Consider if you need to add new packages, cut options that aren’t popular, or adjust pricing.

Sell the value of a membership

Go deeper

Shift from selling on price, to selling on value, and charge what you deserve for memberships.

Learn more & take the leap

13. Upsell services & bolt-ons

Finally, to grow your gym business, look at ways you can get creative and sell more to your members. There’s lots you could do. A key area to look at is personal training.

Encouraging more members to invest in regular personal training sessions can both:

When upselling personal training:

Set your fitness business up to scale

If you want to grow your fitness business, investing in the right gym management technology is vital.

It will help you automate manual tasks to save time. And provide the kind of experiences that delight members. Plus, as your business grows and changes, the right software will adapt with you.

These are just some of the ways that gym management software can help fuel your growth plans:

Reduce operational costs

Automate many of the day-to-day admin tasks that you and your team need to do to keep your business running smoothly. Save time. Avoid human error. And let your team focus on more rewarding activities that positively impact revenue.

Reliably collect membership payments

Managing member billing can really slow you down. An all-in-one gym management solution with embedded payments will cut the effort needed.

Info in your gym CRM will always be up-to-date and accurate. Fuelling better member experiences and improved access control.

And chasing failed payments becomes less hassle. That’s all thanks to automated follow-ups and a support team available to help your members.

Better member experiences

Create a lasting impression with personalised communications automatically sent out. Always at just the right time using the marketing automation features within your software.

Run refer-a-friend promotions. So, you can take advantage of word of mouth marketing to fuel growth. And put members in control of their experience with handy self-service tools and an easy-to-use app.

Sell more memberships

In-built prospecting tools help you and your sales team keep on top of sales tasks. And nurture leads through to the point of sale effectively.

Plus, online joining tools will integrate seamlessly into your website. So, new members can sign up at anytime and anywhere. The result? More new members!

Make timely, informed decisions faster

Get handy dashboards and detailed reports. So, you can quickly access valuable insights into what is and isn’t working across your business. Take action fast and optimise the way you run your business to target growth.

People-first support

When choosing software, it’s important to consider the partner as well as the solution.

Look for a software partner, like Xplor Gym, with an experienced UK-based team on hand. Passionate about helping gyms and fitness clubs like yours, you’ll get proactive support as you scale from people who genuinely care.

The wrap up…

Everything is running smoothly. You’re oversubscribed. Revenue is strong. There’s a growth opportunity to chase. These are all common signs that it’s time to get serious about scaling up your business.

Exactly what it takes to grow your gym will come down to the unique needs of your business. Ways to grow a fitness business include:

Investing in the right gym management tech can help you scale your business with ease. From automating boring tasks to powering exceptional member experiences, tech from a supportive partner will let you grow and do business your way.

Ready to grow your fitness business? Set your business up for success with software that can keep up with your plans – now and into the future. See what Xplor Gym can do for your business.

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