You’ve hung in there during these challenging times, and you deserve to be well compensated. We’ve got five simple hacks that will help you maximize your revenue by closing the door on common money-losing gaps in your class management system.
By making the most of your Punchpass fitness business software, you can eliminate common mistakes that cause studios to unnecessarily lose money and leave owners with the unsavory burden of chasing lost dollars.
1. Add a Booking Agreement
This is a must for ensuring that every student who signs up for class knows exactly what terms they are agreeing to upfront. Your Punchpass fitness business software includes a handy feature for displaying a booking agreement right underneath the button your customers will click to reserve their spot in class.
For in-person classes, this is a great place to inform students that by booking into the class, they agree to your COVID-19 health and safety rules.
For all classes where you have a late-cancellation policy, waitlist or other conditions, this is where you clearly state the policy. For example: by reserving a spot in class, you agree to cancel, if necessary, at least 48 hours before class starts or you will be charged as a no-show.
2. Eliminate Unpaid Visits
Make sure that all students who reserve spots in your classes have paid for the class. You can enable this feature on a class-by-class basis by requiring each customer to have a pass before they book. Pro tip: for trusted, long-time customers, you can waive this requirement by setting them up in their customer profile as a client with “Trusted Access.”
If someone shows up for class and they haven’t paid in advance? That’s no problem. You can sell them a pass while you’re taking attendance — Punchpass makes it super obvious as you go, and you can process their pass sale without missing a beat during attendance-taking.
What if a client forgot to pay for yesterday’s attendance? It’s easy to see that on your “attendances with no pass” report so you can follow up. Better yet, the next time they buy a pass from you, the system lets you assign past attendances to the new pass super easily.
3. Implement and Enforce a Customer-Friendly No Show Policy
This is critically important now that most fitness studios are operating at limited capacity. You want to avoid empty spots in those coveted in-person classes. Plus, to offer stellar customer service, you want to make sure that you students know they’ll never lose out on a class spot because someone else failed to show up.
You’ll want to establish the time window in which a student is no longer able to cancel a class reservation, or fail to show up for a class, without paying. Then if someone doesn’t show up, you can mark them as a no-show so their pass is debited.
4. Set Up an Automated Waitlist
Waitlists let you fill every spot you’ve got available so you can efficiently fill up the room without handling a million calls, texts and emails.
When a student goes to register online for a class, if the class is full (according to the class limit you’ve defined), Punchpass will show them a message saying that the class is currently full, and offer them the opportunity to join a waitlist. You automatically get a message when a waitlist is created and students are signing up for it.
If a spot opens up in the class, the students on the waitlist are automatically emailed and can opt to reserve the available spot.
5. Actively Reach Out to Pass Holders with 2 Visits Remaining
Punchpass automatically emails pass holders when their pass gets down to 2 visits remaining (or will expire in a week), but your added outreach can goes a long way right now.
Customers who are used to having you or your staff renew their passes in-person may procrastinate or be uncomfortable going online to purchase a new pass.
You can regularly run a report in Punchpass to find out which class pass holders are low on classes. Then schedule time weekly to make phone calls and offer to help the student renew their pass.
By reaching out, you also have the opportunity to stay top-of-mind for them, get them excited about new classes and programs, and help them find ways to stay engaged with your business, whether it’s online or in person.
By using these tips, you’ll stay ahead of your competition in the best way possible: by showing your best customers that you care about them, and go out of your way to make their experience with you fun and easy.
