If you operate a gym, you already know that costs are rising and the market is forever becoming more crowded with new fitness offerings.  

Many operators are looking for ways to grow their revenue beyond traditional memberships while also increasing retention by expanding their services to be more in line with their members’ interests. 

For many ABC GymSales customers, this is why secondary sales are one of a few techniques playing an increasingly important role in their businesses.  

What are secondary sales? 

Secondary sales are revenue streams other than membership fees. Ideally, they’re sold to your customer base using your existing staff and sales process to minimize the cost of adding additional offerings.  

Classic examples of secondary sales include: 

  • Personal training 
  • Recovery sessions (ice bath, sauna, etc) 
  • Supplements 
  • Merchandise  
  • Fake tanning 

We’re also seeing gyms get creative with secondary sales like: 

  • Childcare  
  • Body scanning  
  • On-demand fitness content 
  • VR fitness classes  
  • Spa Services 

The best secondary sales for your gym depend on both your customer base and your position in the market. You shouldn’t try to offer a service that doesn’t match your brand, such as VR fitness classes if you have predominately older customers. You also shouldn’t try to monetize the basics like towel service if you pride yourself on white glove service.  

Sell more, maximize revenue 

The key to success with secondary sales is building a system that ensures your entire sales team is consistently offering these new services to members, while also carefully timing additional sales pitches to avoid overwhelming or intimidating anyone.  

We recommend waiting at least a few weeks before pitching most secondary sales to new members, except for services like personal training that may help them immediately get more value out of their membership.  

And for existing members, don’t try to pitch multiple secondary sales at once. Keep focused on offering them one additional service at a time so that they have a specific offer top of mind.  

Secondary sales can become a huge part of your revenue if implemented correctly, but they also have another big benefit: increased customer loyalty.  

Better retention, more loyalty   

According to IHRSA, higher secondary spend correlates directly to member retention. Members buying additional services feel a more personal level of connection to your gym and are more likely to stay members if more of their needs are being met.  

The sky is the limit in terms of how far you can take secondary sales. With the right offerings, you can be more than a place for your customers to exercise and become more of an integral part of their daily lifestyles. That’s where the big opportunity is.  

Implementing secondary sales with ABC GymSales 

ABC GymSales can help standardize a process for each secondary sale across your entire team or even multiple locations. For each secondary sale type, you can create a schedule of automated SMS and emails, as well as reminders for your team to perform manual tasks like follow-up phone calls.  

ABC GymSales also makes it easy to track a record of secondary sales for each customer, so that everyone on your sales team can see what a customer has already been offered, objections they may have had, and more.  

If you’re interested in learning more about how ABC GymSales help you grow your business with secondary sales, fill out the form below.