Inside Health Club

Thursday, 10 July 2025

“Personal Training Is a Spectator Sport” — Why Visibility, Culture, and Leadership Drive PT Sales and Member Experience

I remember watching a brilliant trainer and friend, Steve Harrison, tell a room full of personal trainers, “Personal training is a spectator sport.” At first it drew a few laughs, but what he said next hit the room like a truth bomb. “You think you're just training the person in front of you. But you're not. You're training them in front of an audience. And the rest of the gym is always watching.”

It’s one of the most overlooked facts in the gym business—yet one of the most important. Because in any well-run facility, every session, every conversation, every gesture is an opportunity to show what your club is all about. Whether it's a PT pushing a client to hit their PB, a receptionist who remembers someone’s name, or an instructor high-fiving a class participant, people are noticing. And what they see shapes how they feel about your brand.

In behavioural psychology, this is backed by what’s known as social proof. It’s the idea that people look to others to decide what’s right, safe, effective, or desirable—especially in environments where they’re not fully confident. This is deeply relevant in fitness, where new members often feel uncertain or intimidated. They're constantly watching for cues: who looks like they know what they’re doing? Who’s helping others? Who seems professional, trusted, warm?

Add in observational learning, a theory popularised by Albert Bandura, and you get the full picture: people learn how to behave by watching others. They don’t just learn what to do—they learn who to trust. So when a member sees a PT actively engaged with a client—correcting technique, giving encouragement, celebrating progress—they don’t just see a trainer doing their job. They see someone they might want to work with.

That’s why visibility matters so much. Not visibility in the marketing sense—but in the real, human sense. Being present. Being consistent. Being switched on.

Yet here’s the issue. In many clubs, visibility is optional. It’s encouraged, not expected. And that’s where we’re going wrong. If you want your PT team to grow their client base, it cannot be acceptable for them to disappear into offices, scroll through phones behind reception, or "kill time" between sessions with headphones in.

Presence on the gym floor should be a non-negotiable standard. Not for the sake of control or image—but because it directly influences how people perceive the service you offer. Members don’t often make decisions based on a flyer or poster. They make decisions based on what they see, day in and day out, on that gym floor. If your PTs are visible, engaged, and supportive—even when they’re not being paid for that specific moment—they’re building trust with every set and every conversation.

For club owners, this is more than a nice-to-have. It's a revenue-driving strategy. Clubs where PTs are actively present and engaging with members consistently outperform those where trainers disappear between sessions. You don't need to run endless promotions or slash prices if your team is visibly adding value every day. People invest in what they trust, and trust is built by proximity and behaviour—not by marketing copy.

The same principle extends beyond PTs. Reception teams, class instructors, managers—they're all on stage the moment they walk through the door. If a member is greeted by name, made to feel seen, or casually congratulated on their recent progress, that’s a retention moment. And over time, those moments compound.

But—and this is crucial—it has to be led from the top. You can’t expect your staff to be visible and connected if your managers are locked in offices at peak times. Leadership, especially in hospitality-driven industries like ours, is visible. Look at the best hotel managers—they’re in the lobby during check-in, greeting guests, solving problems in real time. That’s the level of ownership we need in gyms too. Lead by example. Walk the floor. Speak to members. Interact with your team. Make it the norm, not the exception.

Training your team to embrace visibility isn't about forcing fake conversations or unnatural sales techniques. It's about helping them understand the value of consistent interaction. A quick “Nice effort on that set,” or “You’re getting stronger every week,” said genuinely, builds more goodwill than any paid ad campaign. These interactions aren’t filler—they’re foundational. They create emotional connection, the thing that keeps members loyal and opens the door for upsells like PT, small group training, or nutrition support.

Of course, none of this means your team should be performing or showboating. It's not about being loud or gimmicky. It’s about being engaged. It’s about recognising that every client interaction—whether paid or unpaid—is a window into what your business really offers.

There’s a commercial impact to all of this. Members who interact meaningfully with staff are significantly more likely to convert to paid services. They’re also more likely to stay longer, refer friends, and leave better reviews. It’s not just good culture—it’s good business.

So, if you're a PT, remember: people are watching. If you’re a manager, ask yourself—what example are you setting? And if you're a club owner, be honest—does your current culture reward presence, or tolerate absence?

Steve was right. Personal training is a spectator sport. And so is everything else in your club. So make sure the show you’re putting on is one worth paying for.

Sunday, 6 July 2025

It’s Time for New Leadership in the Fitness Industry – Or We’ll Miss This Moment Again

It’s Time for New Leadership in the Fitness Industry – Or We’ll Miss This Moment Again

For as long as I’ve been in this industry, I’ve seen strategies come and go. Big visions, government-backed initiatives, and policy documents promising to get the nation moving, tackle inactivity, and make fitness part of the national health solution. Yet here we are — decades later — still having the same conversation.

Now, with the announcement of the government’s new 10-year plan, we’re being presented with another chance. But if we allow the same structures, the same organisations, and the same people to lead the charge, I fear we’ll end up in exactly the same place: full of potential, but with very little delivered.

The 10-year plan, formally known as the “National Physical Activity and Health Strategy,” aims to tackle the growing crisis of inactivity, rising obesity rates, mental health concerns, and chronic illness by embedding movement and physical activity into everyday life. It recognises the role that fitness, sport, wellness, and active communities must play in reducing pressure on the NHS and improving the health of the nation. It talks about prevention over cure. About reducing health inequalities. About changing behaviours and building a more resilient society. And on paper, it’s the kind of strategy our industry should be perfectly placed to deliver.

We are the ones who see people daily. Who support them through life’s challenges. Who provide the structure, encouragement, and community that drives long-term change. No other industry has our mix of reach, frequency, and behavioural influence. We are, arguably, the single most underutilised asset in the entire healthcare system.

But here's the problem: the government doesn’t fully trust us to deliver it.

Why? Because we don’t act like a unified sector. Because they see division, fragmentation, and a lack of consistent standards. Because every time they look to us for leadership, they get the same handful of organisations offering the same limited reach. Because for too long we’ve been inward-looking, protective of our corners, and unwilling to build something that represents all of us. And until we change that, we won’t be taken seriously as a national partner.

Let’s be brutally honest. UK Active, formerly the FIA, and CIMSPA have played their part — but they haven’t united the industry. In fact, in many ways, they’ve reinforced the divide. Independents feel underrepresented. Hotel and hospitality fitness barely features. The private sector is often treated like an afterthought. And public sector delivery, while important, hasn’t exactly set the benchmark for progress. If it was going to work, it would have by now. We’ve had enough pilot schemes. Enough consultations. Enough of the same voices saying the same things on the same stages.

What we need now is leadership that isn’t based on legacy. We need something new — an organisation, or at least a leadership group, that truly represents the whole sector. One that doesn’t default to the same public delivery mechanisms or assume that only the largest operators should have a voice. The fact is, the big names don’t always know best — and some of the most innovative, community-focused, and impactful work is happening in clubs that never get invited into these conversations.

This can’t be another public-sector-led plan. It hasn’t worked before, and there’s no evidence it’ll work now. We need a plan that includes everyone: public, private, independent, commercial, hotel-based, and wellness-focused. Yes, it’s more complex. But that’s the reality of the industry today. It’s diverse. It’s multi-faceted. And any policy that fails to acknowledge that is destined to under-deliver.

We also have to take a long, hard look at the idea of leadership in our industry. Who decides the agenda? Who gets to sit at the table? Because, frankly, it’s been the same people for the last 20 years. Many of them are good people. Some have great experience. But experience alone isn’t what we need now. We need innovation. We need people who understand today’s consumer, today’s economy, and today’s expectations. And we need to be brave enough to say that the people who brought us here might not be the people to take us forward.

Wellness is another area we need to get serious about. It’s not just a trendy word or a quick rebrand of what we already do. Wellness is its own discipline — and one that needs real experts to lead it. I’ve lost count of the number of operators now claiming to deliver “wellness” with no qualifications, no credibility, and no outcomes. If we’re going to make wellness part of the national conversation, then let’s bring in the people who specialise in it. Mental health professionals. Nutritionists. Recovery specialists. Sleep researchers. Let’s stop pretending we can be all things to all people and start collaborating properly.

It’s also time to stop begging the government for tax breaks and rate relief as our first response to every challenge. That’s not a strategy — it’s a symptom of our lack of confidence. What we should be doing is showing government how we solve their problems. How we can drive down NHS pressure. How we can reduce health inequality. How we can get people moving again in ways that schools, doctors, and public campaigns haven’t been able to. We need to position ourselves as partners, not petitioners.

This isn’t just a call for change. It’s a call to completely rethink how we lead, how we organise, and how we represent ourselves as a sector. If the government is serious about this 10-year plan, then we have to be serious too. That means looking at our own structures. Our own failings. Our own outdated assumptions.

Let’s stop dividing the industry. Let’s stop allowing a chosen few — who, in my opinion, have delivered very little of substance over the last two decades — to control the narrative. Let’s bring in new people. New energy. New ideas. Let’s build something that includes everyone and benefits everyone.

Because if we don’t, then we’ll waste this opportunity just like we’ve wasted the others.

And I’m not the only one who feels this way.

Many of the people I speak to — club owners, consultants, PTs, and wellness providers — all say the same thing behind closed doors: the current model doesn’t work. It doesn’t represent them. It doesn’t deliver for them. And it’s not going to suddenly change unless we make it change.

We need national campaigns that clubs can actually use — with support, resources, and proper backing. We need awareness drives that the government can co-brand and fund, like Change4Life once was. We need boards and committees that include real operators, not just corporate faces. We need governing bodies that give every club — especially independents — something of value. And we need national standards that are affordable, realistic, and supportive.

We don’t just need a plan. We need a system shift. A mindset shift. A structural shift.

We need leadership that reflects the industry we have — not the one we used to be.

If this 10-year plan is going to work, we can’t just dust off the same strategy, put a new logo on it, and expect different results.

It’s time for something new. And if we don’t act now, we may never get another chance.

Tuesday, 1 July 2025

Building Community in Your Gym: It Starts with Your Team, Not Your Equipment

Every gym wants to say they have a strong community.
But not every gym does.

Community isn’t something you add to your brand strategy or tick off with the occasional member social. It’s not built by slogans on a wall or even by a great class timetable. Community is built by people—and specifically, by your team.

The Foundation: A Team That Wants to Engage

If you want to build a thriving gym community, there’s one essential quality your team must have:
A genuine desire to interact and serve every single member.

We’ve all met those people—the ones who can talk to anyone, who light up the room, who make others feel noticed and welcome. That’s what your front-of-house should feel like. That’s what your instructors should embody. And most importantly, that attitude should start with your leadership.

It’s not about hiring “bubbly” personalities for the sake of it. It’s about creating a culture where enthusiasm, empathy, and visibility are non-negotiable.

You Can’t Build Community From the Office

Culture doesn’t grow behind a desk.

If you want your team to be present and engaged, they need to see you doing it too. Managers must lead from the front—literally. That means being on the floor during peak times, greeting members, and supporting the team with visible leadership.

A brilliant example of this can be found in the hotel industry. Walk into a premium hotel during peak check-in, and you’ll often see the hotel manager in the lobby, speaking to guests, solving problems, and making the experience feel personal. Why should a gym be any different?

In fact, the two industries aren’t that far apart. We both work in hospitality.
And in hospitality, visibility = value.

Small Moments, Big Impact

Creating a community isn’t about grand gestures—it’s about consistently doing the little things that make people feel seen, appreciated, and cared for.

Here are some practical, powerful ways to do that:

Have a team member greet members during quieter hours
A simple “Good to see you again!” can change someone’s day.
Ensure instructors and PTs are on the floor, not in the office
There are very few reasons why gym staff should be hidden away.
Celebrate the wins
A big PB. A great body scan result. A first ever gym class. These are moments that deserve recognition—both for the member and the community vibe.
Encourage advice-giving and casual coaching
Nothing feels more valuable than an expert taking 90 seconds to offer real, helpful feedback.

This is where the magic lies. Not in expensive events or overdesigned campaigns, but in regular, meaningful interaction.

Teach Your Team That It’s a Performance

Here’s the honest truth that few gym operators want to say out loud:
This is a job. And in many ways, it’s an acting job.

Your team doesn’t get to bring their mood to work. Regardless of what’s going on in their personal lives, they have to show up with warmth, positivity, and a “nothing is too much trouble” mindset. That might sound harsh, but it’s the reality of creating a five-star member experience.

If your team can’t consistently be friendly, helpful, and approachable, your community culture will suffer—no matter how great your facilities or programming are.

Why It Matters: Community Drives Retention and Revenue

This isn’t just about feel-good vibes. It’s good business.

Gyms with strong community culture have:

Higher member retention
Greater average spend
More referrals
Higher PT and class engagement

People stay where they feel valued.
They upgrade where they feel connected.
And they talk about businesses that make them feel good.

If you want your gym to be more than just a place to train, it needs to become a place people belong. And that starts with people—your people.

Final Thought: Culture Is Created, Not Inherited

You don’t inherit community by launching a gym.
You don’t buy it with equipment.
You don’t install it with software.

You build it, day after day, through consistent leadership, high standards, and an unrelenting focus on member interaction. The work is subtle. The results are significant.

Because when you get the people part right, everything else—retention, revenue, reputation—starts to take care of itself.

Ryan Charlesworth
Black Raccoon Consulting
🌐 www.blackraccoon.org
📧 ryancharlesworth@blackraccoon.org

Saturday, 28 June 2025

Building a High-Performance Team in Your Gym: What We Can Learn from Elite Athletes

Elite sports teams and individual athletes rarely claim victory from talent alone. They succeed through highly coordinated support systems—strength coaches, sports psychologists, nutritionists, data analysts, and medical staff—all working in harmony to optimize performance. After all, it’s not just about who runs fastest or lifts heaviest; it’s about ensuring every variable—from mindset to recovery—is dialed-in to deliver peak results.

Why This Matters for Small Businesses

You’ll recognize this model in large corporations too: extensive head offices packed with specialists—from HR and marketing to supply chain and finance—ensuring each department performs at its best. Small businesses, however, often rely on a core handful of people to manage everything. The result? Overwhelm, inefficiencies, and missed growth opportunities.

But here’s the good news: you don’t need a full support team on payroll to benefit from expert insights. Today, it’s often more cost-effective to tap into specialist support through part-time consultants, platforms, and external partnerships—an increasingly popular approach among agile, ambitious businesses en.wikipedia.org+4aaronklein.medium.com+4tandfonline.com+4.

What Research Tells Us

Studies in elite sport show that interdisciplinary, collaborative support teams drive superior outcomes, both in performance and health. The UK Athletics integrated model used at the London Olympics notably combined coaching and medical disciplines to manage training loads and injury risk—which was directly linked to improved performance and medal results pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov+1linkedin.com+1.

Sports psychologists, an often-overlooked piece of the puzzle, deliver impressive impact. Mental resilience, goal-setting, and visualization strategies consistently improve confidence and competitive performance, even beyond the sports field .

In the corporate world, a meta-analysis revealed that individuals who work with professional coaches often experience a 700% return on investment youtube.com+4performancepsychologycenter.com+4en.wikipedia.org+4. Imagine achieving that level of strategic guidance in running your gym or leisure business.

Bringing Collaboration into Your Gym

Applying this model starts with a clear assessment of where you need support:

1. Identify Your Blind Spots:
What part of your business consistently causes stress? Is it marketing, staff engagement, member retention, or operational consistency? 

2. Source Specialist Help:
Rather than hiring for full-time roles, engage freelancers, consultants, or digital platforms. Need more leads? Use FitLeads and Meta ads. Need service quality? Hire a guest trainer or operational coach. Want better follow-up? Use an assistant service like Tima. 

3. Build a Coordinated System:
Just like in elite athlete support teams, communication and data sharing are essential. Schedule weekly reviews, consolidate data from various providers, and use insights to adjust course.

4. Measure Wins:
For athletes, performance is tracked in split times and recovery. For you, track KPIs—revenue per month, membership growth, churn rate, average visit frequency. The goal: turn expert inputs into tangible outcomes.

Small-Gym Examples: Outsourced Wins

A boutique gym that employed a part-time nutrition consultant doubled PT bookings and increased membership retention by 20%.
Another club layered in a mental-wellbeing coach during peak stress seasons, resulting in a 15% boost in member satisfaction.
A micro-operator eliminated a full-time front-desk role by using an outsourced call service, reducing no-shows and improving follow-up success by 35%.

Why This Approach Works

Cost Efficiency: No payroll overhead—just pay for what you need, when you need it.
Access to Best Practices: Specialists bring broader industry insights you’d otherwise need years to gather.
Greater Flexibility: Scale support up or down based on performance goals or seasonal demand.
Owner Relief: You can focus on strategic growth instead of firefighting every day.

Final Thought

Elite sports don’t win by luck. They win through planned, specialist-driven performance ecosystems. The same approach can apply to your gym—even with a small team and tight budget.

By investing in focused support—on marketing, operations, membership, wellness—you’re effectively building a high-performance business: one that responds faster, runs smoother, drives higher loyalty, and becomes more profitable.

Ready to start building your winning team? Book a 30-minute conversation, and let's design your bespoke performance system—without the full-time cost.

So, You’re Looking to Open a New Gym? Let’s Talk About the Most Important Decision You’ll Make… Price.

Opening a new gym is one of the most exciting projects you can take on as a fitness professional. You’ve got the vision, the energy, and hopefully a great location. But before you start ordering dumbbells and designing your logo, let’s get real about something:

If your numbers don’t work, your dream won’t either.

And at the heart of those numbers—above floorplans, equipment lists, or even marketing budgets—is your pricing strategy.

In most gyms, 80–90% of revenue comes directly from memberships. Which means that the price you charge per member doesn’t just impact your income—it determines your entire business model. From your service standards to your staffing levels, brand identity, overheads, and growth potential… it all flows from this one number.

So let’s unpack why price is the single most important decision you’ll make—and why it’s not as simple as “charge more for more.”

Price = Promise

Let’s start with the obvious. Your price sets the expectation.

If you charge £19.99/month, members expect a clean, well-equipped space they can access with minimal friction. That’s the deal. If you deliver on that, you're golden.

But if you're charging £99/month, expectations rise dramatically. Now you're not just providing access—you’re promising a transformation, a community, a lifestyle. You need coaching, support systems, technology, and meaningful interaction. That’s not a self-service model anymore—it’s a high-touch, resource-intensive operation.

The higher the price, the higher the promise. And that promise costs money.

The Volume vs. Value Trade-Off

Here’s where it gets tricky. More services mean more staff. More touchpoints. More costs.

Yes, a £99/month model brings in 5x the revenue of a budget club. But what many underestimate is that it can also bring 5x the cost base to deliver that level of service properly. Boutique doesn’t mean better margins by default. In fact, unless you’re running lean and with ruthless efficiency, it can be much harder to make work.

Conversely, budget clubs thrive on volume. The £19.99 price tag is designed to feel like a low-risk decision—psychologically it triggers commitment without friction. You’ll often hear people say things like “It’s only £20, even if I don’t go, it’s fine.” That kind of inertia actually helps drive retention.

But here’s the catch: budget gyms need scale. To make the same revenue as a 300-member boutique club at £99/month, you’ll need over 1,500 members. And that means you need the systems, marketing, and infrastructure to attract and retain those numbers without blowing your margins on acquisition and admin.

Location Will Dictate Your Ceiling

You may have settled on your model—but your location might disagree with you.

A high-price, low-volume boutique gym sounds great on paper. But if your location is surrounded by council housing, low average income, and high street competition charging £24.99, you're in for a hard time—no matter how beautiful your offer is.

According to ONS data, median earnings vary significantly by region. In London and parts of the South East, you may have access to a population that can sustain £80–£100/month. In many northern towns or coastal areas, even a £40/month membership can be a stretch.

And it's not just income—it’s lifestyle perception. Some communities value health and wellness differently. Your pricing needs to align not only with what people can pay, but what they’re willing to pay for what they perceive as valuable.

The Psychology of Pricing in Fitness

Consumers don’t evaluate prices in a vacuum—they use reference points.

If the town is flooded with £25/month gyms, and you arrive charging £65/month, they’ll ask, “Why are you more expensive?” If you don’t answer that clearly—and repeatedly—you won’t win.

That’s why storytelling, branding, and experience are so crucial. Price is not just a number; it’s a message. It tells people where you position yourself, what kind of service to expect, and whether they’re part of the tribe.

Also consider price anchoring. In behavioural economics, this refers to how people assess value based on initial price exposure. A £60/month gym might feel expensive next to a £25/month option—but cheap compared to a boutique yoga studio at £130. How you structure your offer and position your tiers can significantly shift perception.

Competitive Landscape: Who Else Is Eating Your Pie?

Before you even finalise your pricing, look at your competition. Who else is in the area, what are they charging, and how are they positioning themselves?

If you’re trying to undercut a PureGym or The Gym Group on price in a city centre, good luck. Their economies of scale and brand reach will squeeze you dry. Instead, you may want to find value gaps—what aren’t they doing well? Could you add PT-led inductions, programming support, or a stronger member journey?

If your area is already saturated with high-end clubs, a disruptive budget model might be your edge—especially if positioned smartly.

But if you're in a first-to-market opportunity (and they are rare these days), you get to set the tone. Just be aware: the first club in town often becomes the reference point others are judged against. Get your pricing wrong, and you’ve set the bar too low for everyone—including yourself.

Overheads: The Silent Killer

Finally, don’t forget the boring—but crucial—bit: your overheads.

Your rent, rates, energy bills, software, cleaning, insurance… all need to be covered before you even think about margin. Many projects look great on passion and PowerPoint—but when the spreadsheet gets real, the dream dies quickly.

If your location demands £12k/month in rent alone, and your service model requires four full-time staff, you’re staring down the barrel of £25k+ in monthly costs. That means pricing isn't just about the market—it’s about survival.

Sometimes, the numbers just don’t work. And that’s OK. Walking away from a bad deal is better than limping through one for years.

So What Should You Do?

Here’s a smarter way to approach pricing before you launch:

Run multiple financial models: What does your business look like at £25/month vs. £75/month? At 300 members vs. 1,000?
Factor in your break-even: Know exactly how many members you need to cover your costs, and how long it will take to get there.
Research your market deeply: Income levels, existing options, local lifestyle values, and willingness to pay.
Start with value, not price: Build a service that solves real problems, and price according to its perceived value—not just your cost base.
Don’t be afraid to pivot: If the numbers don’t stack up, change the model, reduce the spec, or look elsewhere.

Final Thought: Price Isn’t Just a Decision. It’s a Direction.

It defines who you serve, how you serve them, and whether your gym becomes a profitable business—or an expensive passion project.

So before you fall in love with your branding or start measuring studio space, fall in love with your spreadsheet first.

Because when the pricing’s wrong, nothing else you build can make it right.

Thursday, 26 June 2025

Biohacking, Wellness & the Fitness Industry: Are We Really the Right Platform for This Movement?

On the surface, it seems like a no-brainer. The wellness and biohacking boom is exploding—with cold plunges, red light therapy, sleep tracking, wearables, GLP-1s, and recovery tech dominating headlines and Instagram feeds. And if you work in fitness, you’d think we’re perfectly placed to lead the charge. After all, we’re in the business of helping people live longer, move better, and feel more alive. So shouldn’t we be at the heart of this wellness revolution?

Now… hear me out.

Because while it sounds like a perfect fit, I’m not convinced the health and fitness industry, as it stands today, is ready—or even the right vehicle—to deliver wellness at the level it deserves.

Let’s start with the basics: we still haven’t cracked our core product.

Despite decades of growth, we’re still a minority activity. According to recent data from EuropeActive, only around 15% of people in Europe hold a gym membership—a figure that’s been stubbornly slow to shift, despite rising health awareness and billions spent on marketing. Most clubs don’t consistently track outcomes or progress, and even fewer are meaningfully engaged in helping members achieve long-term behaviour change.

We celebrate growing member numbers, better tech, improved retention—but ask yourself, how many clubs are actually delivering on the promise of better health?

And this is why I’m cautious about the fitness industry rushing to position itself as the gatekeeper of wellness.

GLP-1s: A Missed Opportunity or a Wake-Up Call?

Take the emergence of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. They’ve exploded in popularity, particularly in the US, where over 9 million prescriptions were written in 2023 alone, and the market is expected to surpass $100 billion globally by 2030. These aren’t fringe treatments anymore—they’re mainstream.

Yet most of our industry has been either silent or dismissive.

What we should have seen is this: no one pays £200 a month for a drug like this unless they’re serious about change. These are motivated, high-intent individuals looking for control over their health and physique. That’s not a threat—it’s an invitation. Fitness should be the next logical step.

Imagine if gyms had created specific onboarding programmes for GLP-1 users—focused on building muscle mass, improving metabolic health, and embedding long-term exercise habits. We should’ve been leading that charge.

But once again, we were reactive rather than proactive.

Wellness Deserves More Than a Buzzword

And here’s where my main concern lies. As wellness becomes the next buzzword in fitness, I’m seeing clubs, coaches, and influencers jumping on the trend—often without the depth, knowledge, or structure to deliver it well. It’s starting to feel like just another project we’ve added to the pile, alongside smoothie bars, mental health campaigns, and sleep workshops.

That’s not to say those things aren’t valuable. But when everything’s a priority, nothing is.

Wellness—and especially biohacking—requires scientific literacy, personalisation, and a nuanced understanding of physiology, psychology, and data. This isn’t something you can bolt onto an existing gym membership and hope it sticks.

And it’s a shame I feel this way, because the intention is good. But other than a few brilliant individuals and forward-thinking facilities, I don’t believe most of the industry is currently equipped to carry this movement forward in the way it deserves.

**So What Should We Do?**

We need a more mature, strategic response—one that doesn’t centre fitness at the core, but rather places it as one component of a broader ecosystem. Here’s how we could start:

1. Facilitate, Don’t Force
Rather than trying to build wellness expertise in-house, why not partner with specialists who already live and breathe it? Collaborations with nutritionists, physiologists, therapists, biohacking practitioners, and even sleep coaches could create service layers that genuinely add value—without asking gym teams to become instant experts.

2. Create High-Street Wellness Centres
The rise of EMS franchises has shown that consumers are willing to engage with boutique, science-led services—especially when they’re easy to access. Wellness and recovery centres with cryotherapy, IV drips, infrared saunas, or guided breathwork could occupy the same model: targeted, high-touch, and branded as lifestyle medicine.

3. Offer Separate Programmes, Not Add-ons
Too often, wellness becomes an awkward bolt-on to standard gym offerings. Instead, let’s treat it as its own pillar—with its own pricing, marketing, and value proposition. That might mean creating 12-week metabolic reset programmes, GLP-1 transition packages, or stress-reduction protocols that combine fitness with evidence-based behavioural change.

4. Build Wellness Hubs, Not Clubs
There’s growing interest in creating third spaces—facilities that blend training, recovery, nutrition, and wellbeing under one roof. Think the Soho House of health. If done well, this could attract a very different audience: professionals who care deeply about performance, prevention, and longevity—but wouldn’t set foot in a traditional gym.

Let’s Get Fitness Right, First

Above all, I believe we need to double down on getting our own house in order. The best contribution we can make to the wellness movement right now isn’t trying to do everything—it’s to do our thing better.

Let’s stop pretending that access equals progress. Let’s refine our client journeys. Let’s use our technology to track, measure, and improve real outcomes. Let’s train our teams in behaviour change, not just biomechanics. Because once we can prove we’re consistently helping people get fitter, stronger, and healthier—then we’ll have earned the right to claim our place in the wider wellness landscape.

This is just my opinion, and I welcome the debate. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe wellness is ours to own. But I think if we’re honest, we’ve still got work to do.

Let’s build the bridges. But let’s not pretend we’re already across the river.

Ryan Charlesworth
Black Raccoon Consulting
🌐 www.blackraccoon.org
📧 ryancharlesworth@blackraccoon.org
📞 07929369658

Wednesday, 25 June 2025

Can You Truly Replace Sales Calls with Automation?

Not If You Want Real Results.

We’ve all seen the bold claims from marketing agencies: “Automate your entire sales process—no calls needed!” For busy gym owners and operators, it’s a tempting proposition. Automation offers consistency, speed, and scale. And when you’re juggling front-of-house duties, PT sessions, cleaning rotas, and social media, who wouldn’t want to offload the follow-up?

But here’s the issue. Most of these agencies have never sold fitness memberships. They’ve never spoken to a nervous prospect who’s just plucked up the courage to walk through the door. They don’t understand that fitness sales isn’t just about transactions—it’s about transformation. And transformation doesn’t happen through a chatbot.

Automation has undoubtedly transformed the fitness industry’s back-end operations. From onboarding workflows to lead capture forms, it’s made many processes faster and more efficient. But when it comes to front-end sales—the real, human moments that drive trust and action—there’s a hard limit to what it can do.

Full automation may work if you’re running a 24/7 budget club where price is the only differentiator and there’s no staff onsite. In that case, your product is access, not service. But if your gym prides itself on community, coaching, service, and support, why would your first impression be, “We don’t speak to people”?

Every lead that makes an enquiry is giving you a window. A chance to show them what your club stands for. That’s not the moment to hide behind canned messages and lifeless sequences. Automation can reduce your workload—but it should never replace your most important asset: real human interaction.

So what exactly is the right balance?

Let’s start with what automation does well. It’s excellent at handling the first steps of a sales journey: collecting information, qualifying leads, sending out welcome videos or brochures, and offering links to book a call or club tour. These tools filter your audience, give them a taste of what to expect, and prepare them for what comes next.

But once someone shows interest—whether that’s booking a visit, replying to your email, or asking a question—that’s when a real person needs to step in. A short voice note, a WhatsApp message, or a quick call can completely change the tone of the interaction. “Hey Sarah, I saw you’re thinking about starting your fitness journey—what’s prompted that?” It’s simple, personal, and powerful. And it’s something automation can’t replicate.

Now, you might be thinking, “I don’t have time to call every lead.” That’s a fair point. But do you really need to? Wouldn’t 15 quality conversations with genuinely interested prospects yield better results than 100 automated follow-ups? The answer, time and again, is yes.

If your team is stretched, consider using a call-handling service like Tima. These services specialise in fitness sales. They can contact leads promptly, handle questions in real time, and book appointments—while you and your team focus on delivering the member experience. It’s a great way to keep the human element without overloading your in-house staff.

It’s also important to remember that automation still plays a key supporting role. Let it handle the admin tasks: appointment reminders, follow-up emails after a tour, win-back messages for ghost leads, and onboarding journeys for new members. These ensure consistency and timeliness, helping you stay top of mind without draining your time.

We recently worked with a mid-sized club facing this exact challenge. Three staff were sharing all duties, and their lead follow-up was 100% automated. The result? A conversion rate of under 10%. We introduced a two-step system—automation to warm the lead and qualify interest, followed by daily one-hour call blocks either handled in-house or by Tima. Within four weeks, their conversion rate jumped to over 30%. Same number of leads. Just a better process.

Sales is psychological. It's not just about features and benefits—it’s about understanding what’s going on in someone’s head. What are they afraid of? What’s stopped them before? What’s their real motivation? You can’t get those answers from a checkbox or an AI script. You get them by listening, responding, and adapting. That’s where real selling happens.

So no, you can’t truly replace sales calls with automation—at least not if you care about long-term success. You wouldn’t let a robot do your inductions or coach your members, so why let one handle your sales?

At Black Raccoon Consulting, we help fitness businesses create hybrid systems—where automation does the heavy lifting, but the human connection stays at the heart of your sales process. Even with a lean team, you can sell like a pro.

If you’re not sure where your time is going—or what your current follow-up process is really delivering—let’s have a conversation.

Ryan Andrews
Black Raccoon Consulting
🌐 www.blackraccoon.org
📧 ryan@blackraccoon.org
📞 07912 345678

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Fit for Success – Mastering Sales in the Fitness Industry
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