I am a consultant for several TPI fitness professionals and gym owners and the number one challenge they struggle with is how to set up their TPI fitness business model. While there are several ways to do this, these are the three ways my gyms have experienced success with our TPI golf fitness business.
1) Create a one-stop TPI facility
Years ago, I partnered with a TPI golf professional and a TPI medical professional to open a facility that is a one-stop shop for all things TPI. Golfers can come in and get swing instruction, fitness instruction, and medical treatments all in one facility. This model has been very successful because it creates a natural referral source among the three entities. It also allows for more collaboration and marketing among the three disciplines. We’ve found that the cleanest way to structure this kind of multi-business facility is for all three entities to maintain their own businesses/LLCs, and then form one joint LLC for paying rent and shared expenses. This keeps the revenue separate and makes it easier to organize each business. Please contact me directly if you’d like a more detailed outline of this process.
2) Include TPI training as a supplement to your existing fitness business
At our original gym, which has been open for six years, our primary focus is on traditional fitness, and we offer TPI golf fitness as a specialized service. We’ve found that this strategy creates the best profit margins because it expands and diversifies our clientele - currently, about 30% of our members our golfers. And, by offering both fitness and TPI services, we can market to the average fitness clientele base and promote our golf fitness brand. It also prevents us from being labeled as a “golf-only” fitness facility.
If you choose to offer this hybrid service, I highly recommend structuring your fitness programs around small group training. I have always been an advocate of the small group training model versus the large group/class model, and I believe it is the reason I was able to stay in business during the forced COVID closures this past year. These are the reasons I believe the semi-private model is superior:
● The client attrition rate with semi-private training is typically 3% versus 10% with the large group model because members get more specialized training and more focused attention.
● You can capitalize on the monthly average client spend in the semi-private model, which means you will not need as many total members to meet your profit margin goals.
● Most new gym franchises that have opened over the last few years focus on large group training models and it’s becoming a crowded space.
The large group training model will also be the last model to return to “normal” after the pandemic. It will be some time before you can have 30 people in a class again and some people may never feel comfortable returning to large group training. For instance, when my gyms were able to re-open in June 2020, we saw a huge surge in new clients who did not feel safe in the large group model anymore and were willing to pay more for a smaller semi-private workouts.
3) Treat remote/online programs as an enhancement, not a primary or exclusive offering
While some golf fitness businesses have experienced success going exclusively virtual, I personally would not recommend building an online-only golf fitness business for a couple reasons. The online space is very crowded so it can be
difficult to stand out, and people tend to get bored with online training often jumping between programs which makes retention tough.
Instead, we have found success using online training to enhance our current in person offerings like providing online mobility and nutrition sessions for our members. We’ve also experienced remote training success through partnerships with area country clubs, where we provide monthly in-person TPI screens for their members. Because many of these golf clubs are located too far from our gyms for the golfers to come in and do regular in-person training, we offer a remote training option. This involves sending them monthly TPI programs they can do on their own and then we monitor their progress via an app. We’ve been doing these country club partnerships for over two years now with several different area clubs and it’s provided a successful new source of revenue.
While most of us get into the fitness industry to help others, it’s ok to have financial and business goals in place too. Because if you’re not able to stay in business, you can’t help people through your business. With the right business model in place, you can do both.