Here are the top six business reports your gym needs to be running to expand your growth potential
- Total Revenue Report
- End of Day Report
- Expiry Report
- New Member Report
- Class Attendance
- Dormant Report
What are gym reports and why do you need to run them?
When most people think of reports, they typically take a deep breath and prepare to stare at a meaningless page of integers.
Dive a little deeper though and you’ll find a world full of critical insights that leading fitness businesses rely upon.
Gym reports are basically a culmination of essential business data that can provide the information needed to optimise future business processes.
How do we know this?
Well, think of any large company… Google? Facebook?
What they all have in common is that they collect an unprecedented amount of data so they have an understanding of what they can do better. This is the single reason they have been able to grow as fast (And big) as they have.
See, data (And reports) are basically just a cheat sheet for your business. All the answers are there, you just need to find them.
The five most essential reports you can run at your fitness business, today.
Reports are a feature that should not be underestimated within your software system.
Why?
They deliver data driven insights into customer behaviours and can help predict future business performance.
As such, we have compiled a list of the most critical reports to run based on research conducted by some of the most successful gyms in the fitness industry.
Here’s what you need to know.
Total Revenue Report
One of the most essential (Though admittedly boring) reports you need to keep an eye on, falls in reference to business finances. Basically, money that comes in and money that goes out. We call these revenue reports.
Revenue reports can be run on a weekly, monthly or even yearly basis to compare and contrast. Some of the questions this report can answer for you is:
- What’s bringing in the most revenue every month?
- What’s bringing in the least revenue every month?
- Am I on track to meet the revenue projections?
- Has revenue increased or decreased since___?
This is important because it provides insights into the true growth drivers behind your business.
This enables you to identify opportunities for increasing revenue or implementing new streams and discover exactly what has impacted your income (It does this by breaking down the figures and analysing the data).
Utilise this information to eliminate unprofitable business processes and ensure you do not continue to spend money on strategies that are not working for your business.
The truth is, if you do not have a sound money management strategy, you may find it harder to grow your fitness business or identify where the holes are.
End of Day Report
An end-of-day report, also referred to as ‘closing report’, ‘X-Out’, or ‘Z-Read’, calculates and displays the POS activities (Transactions, refunds etc) for the current sales period.
When reporting on the payments received through the register that day, it assists with reconciling the cash drawer and ensuring no major financial errors have been made.
So, why would we want to run a closing report?
Well, on-top of tracking your sales efficiently, it can show what time of day the gym sells the most memberships and which products (Memberships) are your best sellers.
This kind of information could be critical to your decision making and business planning. For instance, it might highlight that extra staff should be rostered on during certain periods or that specific memberships might require some alteration as they are not selling.
An important thing to note is that depending on the gym software system you use, you may gain access to a range of different parameters that enable you to customise data output.
What does this mean for you?
Well, reporting requirements for each individual might be very different, right? You can imagine that a club manager might want a very detailed excel document, while a casual staff member seeks a simple ‘view’ summary that resembles a Z-Read report.
For example, the VIGYR Member System offers a variety of tailored reports which allow you to select specific factors such as by membership, by account, by product and many more.
These reports can be customised to suit your needs, ranging from very detailed outputs to quick summaries – it all depends on the information you are searching for.
If you haven’t already invested in a software system it really might be in your best interest to do so. Remember, your data is at the heart of your business!
Expiry Report
Ever wondered what one of the leading causes of low renewal rates are? Well, it often boils down to a failure in communication.
See, when you want someone to do something, sometimes the best thing to do is ask. This is why expiry reports are such an essential part of your fitness business.
They enable you to keep an eye on upcoming expiry members while also providing access to customer information needed during follow up stages.
What do you do with this information?
Try giving them a call and letting them know that they are due to expire, asking whether they would like to renew. This can not only increase your total sales but also provide a good overview to maximise your member management.
When trying to get the most out of your expiry report, you can use other functions within your gym software to maximise your results. For example, Automated SMS and Email can save your staff a great amount of time and ensure no members will slip through the cracks.
New Member Report
Anyone who works within the fitness industry would know that clubs are notorious for having a high member turnover. Now, this is to no fault of the business but simply part of the typical customer life-cycle.
As such, you can be sure to expect that new members will constantly be on the horizon. This is why new member reports can be so critical.
Why?
Well, this will allow you to track these numbers over a period of time and analyse any increases (or decreases) in memberships sold. Not only will this reduce any surprises for you in the future, but also let you know whether your member acquisition strategy might need some tweaking.
For example, if you notice that your online sign-up numbers are down compared to last year you may want to revisit your current strategy, see what has changed since, and where there are improvements to be made.
This could be as simple as reducing the effort that is required to sign-up online and creating a quick call to action. Encouraging members to act on their decision in that particular moment.
What you’ll find is that this will reduce the members time spent searching for information, and as we know every second counts…. literally.
This report can also be a great way to check what memberships were sold to members, enabling you to better optimise the sales process. Not only can this information tell you what your top selling memberships are but it can also tell you what products are performing the worst.
What makes these insights so valuable is their ability to help you understand the best way to move forward.
Do adjustments need to be made? Perhaps prices need altering? Maybe a little sales promotion could do some good?
Take advantage of your user data! You just might be surprised what it can do for you.
Class Attendance
A rising trend in the fitness industry has seen a rapid shift toward group-based exercise classes. In fact, over the last few years, group classes have ranked highly on the ASCMs Worldwide Study of Fitness Trends list.
As such, there is a distinct need to better optimise your group workouts if you’re wanting to capitilise on this enticing opportunity.
Sound difficult?
Well, it would be… If it weren’t for class attendance data found within the reporting suite of any leading gym software.
Depending on your gym software, these reports can pull information such as:
- Who attends your classes
- How often members attend your classes
- How many members booked/confirmed each class
- How many members did/did not show up
- How many members were wait-listed.
But what can we tell from this information?
A whole lot actually. In fact, you can use this to make informed decisions regarding your future schedule. Gain insights into bookings on particular days or class type, whether a certain staff member or time slot appears more popular to your members – use this information to drive more attendance.
For example, If you notice a decrease, you might want to send out a series of Email/SMS to previous attendees to encourage bookings.
As such, it is critical that your business analyse this information and create a popular class list for your clients, helping you stimulate member motivation, satisfaction and improve the overall customer experience.
Dormant Report
According to the Cambridge Dictionary dormant can be defined as something that is not active but has the ability to be active at a later time. But, what does that have to do with the fitness industry?
Well, your members can become dormant (Inactive) and stop visiting the gym for a period of time.
So why run a dormant report?
The key purpose is to catch those members who are not utilising the gym and to contact them. Remind your members that they have a gym membership they are paying for and should come enjoy the great benefits of having this. You could even offer a free meal plan or PT session to help stimulate some extra member motivation!
In fact, not only will this report increase member retention through consistent communication but can also reduce the chance of your members questioning their payments with the bank. Due to the consistent contact, they will be aware that they have a gym membership with your gym and will be less likely to be surprised by payments coming out of their account.
In the case that your member goes to query a payment anyway, you will have written proof of the frequent communication to remind them that the gym is there. As such, strengthening your position if you were to dispute the claim.
Looking to gain access to powerful reporting tools proven to build fitter businesses?
At the end of the day, you want to make your data work for you. It just so happens that the best way to do that is through the reporting feature within your gym management software.
Worried you’re not getting the right information or that your current software provider isn’t offering complete reporting flexibility?
Well, that’s why we created VIGYR. The best way to access insights that can help you build a fitter business.
We offer a reporting suite like no other with access to over 50 customisable reports to cater for every situation.
