Recently I was thinking about the current financial success of my gym, and I was reflecting on exactly how I got to this point.  This particular gym recently turned 5 years old, and I learned so much in that 5 years that applies not only to the gym business, but also to business in general.  So I decided I’d take some time to discuss one of the major points I learned that I hope will help you achieve success in your business.  And if nothing else, putting them down in writing will help to remind myself what I learned – in the hopes of being able to apply my knowledge to future business endeavors.

So here it is – LISTEN!  By far the biggest lesson I learned is to listen to your customers (or in my case – my prospective customers).  Back when I opened the gym 5 years ago, while we were under construction, I was encouraged by how many people stopped by to see what was going on.  We had put signs around town saying “24/7 Gym Coming Soon!”, and it got people’s attention.  But there were 2 things that I began to see that I should have paid closer attention to.  Number 1 – I couldn’t believe how many big guys were stopping by and asking about our free weight area – how big was it going to be, would it include this or that type of equipment, what weight would the dumbbells go up to, and so on.  Number 2 – Nearly everyone that stopped by, emailed, and called asked “How does it cost to join?”.  So these were 2 very clear bits of information that were being delivered up on a silver platter … that I needed to have a great free weight area, and that I needed to be priced competitively.  So here’s the problem … I wasn’t listening!

You see, I had already started and run a successful fitness center in a nearby town.  It had struggled in the beginning, but ultimately, by the time I opened the new gym, my other gym was 10 years old and profitable.  And I figured to myself “I know how to do this now!”.  So when I opened gym #2, I had a plan right from the start to make it a carbon copy of my first gym.  And what that meant was that we were going after the higher end of the market – people who were not so price conscious (in fact our gym was at least double the price of most of the gyms in the nearby city of Syracuse).  To generalize, the members of gym #1 were working professionals – average age was 40+.  They were willing to pay a higher price to belong to a bit more exclusive gym, and they weren’t so concerned with free weights – to them it was all about cardio, circuit equipment, and personal training / nutrition.

So when I opened gym #2, in my head, I knew what people wanted in a gym.  After all – we are told we need to create a business plan before we open a business, and that means we have had to sit down and visualize what our business is going to look like.  So I already had it all figured out!  I heard an interesting quote from a business person “Business plans are absolutely essential and absolutely worthless”.  But that’s a subject for another post!  The point here is that I thought I knew what people wanted, but I was wrong – and worse yet, I wasn’t listening!

Fast forward 5 years – I now have a gym that really is what the people in that market want!  Yes it took me 5 years to get here!  Yes, I had to expand my free weight area and drop my price in half to get the membership base I now have.  In fact, in order to undo the wrong message that we had sent when we first opened, I even changed the name of the gym to differentiate it from our other gym (which by the way is still doing well).

So after 5 years I now have the gym that my customers (members) were asking for.  It only took me 5 years to hear them!  What have your customers, members, or clients been trying to tell you?  Have you been listening – or do you think you have it all figured out?  Not listening is a mistake that could be fatal to your business!