On this episode of The Pilates Business Podcast, host Seran Glanfield sits down with former Division I athlete and tech founder Tessa Thomas of Pipeline Solutions to uncover the powerful (and often overlooked) data that drives growth in boutique fitness businesses.
Tessa shares the insider strategies used by top-performing studios to streamline operations, boost client retention, and finally take control of the numbers that truly matter. They dive into what retention really means, why your intro offer may be holding you back, and how simple tweaks to your tracking could unlock hidden revenue.
If you’ve ever felt buried under admin or unsure which metrics actually move the needle, this episode will bring the clarity you need to make confident, data-informed decisions that grow your Pilates studio.
Connect on IG @pipelinesolutionsco
www.pipeline-solutions.co/
Got a question for Seran? Add it here 👉
~~~
GRAB YOUR FREE RESOURCE 👉 The Studio Owner's Guide to MASTERING REELS
📲 Follow Seran on Instagram @seran_spring_three
❤️ Loved this episode? Leave a review - your review helps spread the word about the show and I read each and every one!
🎧 Never miss a new episode! Be sure to follow or subscribe to stay up to date
Work with Seran:
🌟 Join the Thrive Business Coaching Program and get smart strategies that drive growth (and profit) in your boutique fitness studio
🌟Enroll in the Marketing Intensive and get everything you need to finally master your marketing and stand out from the competition
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Could the biggest revenue opportunities in your
business be hiding in plainsight, perhaps buried inside
data that you might not even belooking at?
Well, in today's episode, we'repulling back the curtains with
someone who's helped many topperforming studios to really
streamline their operations,retain more clients and stop
(00:23):
losing money through the cracksby diving into the data.
She's a division one athleteturned tech founder, and her
insights will really change howyou run your studio.
We're talking about what thetop studios are doing
differently and some of the mostmisunderstood parts of
retention and metrics.
And some of the mostmisunderstood parts of retention
(00:44):
and metrics and some of thesurprisingly simple data points
that could really shift.
So much for your bottom line inyour studio business.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Well, hi there, I'm Saren Glanfield.
I'm a business and marketingstrategist just for boutique
fitness studio owners like you.
If you're ready to be inspiredand make a bigger impact, studio
owners like you, if you'reready to be inspired and make a
bigger impact, you're in theright place.
All you need are a few keystrategies, the right mindset
(01:17):
and some support along the way.
Join me as I share the reallife insights that will help you
grow a sustainable andprofitable studio.
This is the Pilates BusinessPodcast profitable studio.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
This is the Pilates Business Podcast.
Welcome back to the PilatesBusiness Podcast.
I'm Sarah Glanfield and thankyou so much for joining me today
.
This is where all of youpassionate studio owners come to
learn, to grow, to lead and tothrive without burning out in
the process.
And I know that many of youfeel like you're running your
(01:52):
studio with 17 open tabs in yourbrain and juggling marketing
and retention and clientcommunications and team
operations and, of course, therevenue reports, while still
also trying to teach the bestyou can.
And so today's episode is goingto feel like a breath of fresh
air because we're going to betalking about how to we're going
to be really demystifying thedata and the data component of
(02:16):
your business, because today'sguest is Tessa.
She is the co-founder ofPipeline Solutions.
This is a platform that shebuilt specifically for boutique
fitness studio operations.
She has a background as adivision one athlete super
inspiring and she has blendedthat sort of power that she has
(02:36):
and that strong ability toperform at a high level with a
deep passion for fitness andtech and all the things in
between, and her career hastaken her around the world, from
places like London to New Yorkto Sydney, and today she's on a
mission to help studio owners tosimplify using data.
So welcome, tessa, I'm so gladyou're here.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Amazing.
Thanks, erin.
That was quite the intro.
I appreciate it.
I'm happy to be here, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Well, I love when I get to connect with folks like
you and we can talk all thethings studio, business and data
because I think it's one of themost sort of mysterious parts
that people find about buildinga business and growing a
business, especially as anentrepreneur and where does the
data sit, how does it fit, whatshould I be looking at, what is
it telling me?
(03:24):
So I'm glad you are doing whatyou're doing, and so why don't
we kick off and why don't youshare a little?
Speaker 3 (03:32):
bit about Pipeline Solutions and what you do there.
Yeah, absolutely so.
Pipeline Solutions isessentially your all-in-one
platform for boutique fitnessand wellness operations.
So we integrate with bookingmanagement platforms to
essentially cut down on a lot ofthat noise and deliver the
analytics and metrics thatmatter most, accompanied across
(03:54):
the board, so you can kind oflook into one place, understand
what's happening in yourbusiness and also be able to
take action in that same placeas well, and all that's
supported by, you know, paymentsand bookings through your
(04:15):
booking management system.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
So tell us a little bit about how Pipeline Solutions
came to be.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Of course, yes.
What's the journey?
How did we get here?
Always a bit more circuitousthan you probably think it would
have been from the get-go, butyep, so my co-founder and I
started Pipeline about six yearsago.
I was a coach and I have abackground in, as you mentioned,
(04:44):
athletics and fitness and hadbeen doing group fitness,
instructing and coaching forsome time.
Up to that point, I had alsojust happened to get, you know,
pretty interested in softwareand app development, personal
(05:07):
interest standpoint, and thosetwo worlds kind of came together
with um, with Pipeline, andessentially approaching uh, john
, who is my co-founder ofPipeline, who was the owner of
the studio that I was coachingin, and just you know, kind of
sitting down with him and askingwhat, what is not fun, you know
what is, what is the leastfavorite part of you know kind
of operating uh, this businessand, um, you know part of what
he favorite part of you knowkind of operating this business
and you know part of what he hadgotten to.
(05:28):
Of course there's someautomations and things like that
.
So those are some of the thingswe built early on late cancel,
automation, double booking,removing people from double
bookings and classes, thingslike that really wanted to see
was you want to be able to justunderstand from a performance, a
business performance standpoint, how the studio was doing by
(05:49):
just glancing at a dashboard andgetting all those metrics in
one place without having to gopull all those reports.
And it was also a period ofgrowth for that business, which
was great.
So it wasn't coming from aplace of you know kind of dire.
We really need these needs, weneed all these things to come in
it actually, because it wasn'tcoming from a place of dire.
We really need these needs, weneed all these things to come in
Actually, because it wasn'tthat kind of energy, it was more
(06:10):
so okay, the things that wewere doing at 100 and 150
members are no longer working at250, 300, 350 members.
We need a new playbook.
But I need to understand whereto put my energy and how to kind
of go about that.
But I need to understand whereto put my energy and how to kind
of go about that.
And then also, with the idea ofopening another location and
things like that, right, soyou're talking about kind of
(06:36):
starting to scale and all of asudden all those reports become
that thing you'll get to and youdon't get to it.
And by the time you do nowyou're looking at data that's
six weeks old and, you know,trying to work off things that
are outdated.
So that's kind of the originstory of how Pipeline started.
And you know, I startedbuilding from that point and
kind of built the first versionof our product through.
(06:56):
I would not call myself anengineer by any stretch, but you
know, the interest in thattechnical side of the business
allowed me to kind of build a V1.
And now we have our CTO, mike,who has really elevated the
platform into what it is todayand has, you know, built out
really something you know veryperformant and really kind of
(07:18):
world class on the analyticsstandpoint for boutique fitness
on the analytics standpoint forboutique fitness.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Yeah, tell me a little bit about what types of
studios you do work with.
What do they offer, what typesof services they offer, and so
on.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Yeah, absolutely so.
We work with a range of studiosor concepts, as is right now.
So a lot of the F45 network, ofcourse, with our partnership
with them.
So essentially functionaltraining or HIIT, Really any
class-based boutique is greatfit for us.
So we do work also with FS8, sothe Pilates brand that is under
the Fit umbrella and anotherapplies location as well.
(08:01):
And then we also work with acouple of locations that are a
bit more bespoke, I guess youcould say so they might do turf
rentals or have boxing classesand also offer personal training
and kind of a model that has afew different modalities under
one roof.
So really across the board wework with any really kind of
(08:24):
class-based location andcurrently if they integrate with
MindBody, that's a perfect fit.
We have some other bookingplatforms that we're integrating
with this year, so more to comeon that but any MindBody studio
that is class-based.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Excellent, Fantastic.
So tell us a little bit about,obviously, you've seen and
worked with many really strongstudios when it comes to growth,
right.
So you see, you know the behindthe scenes and see the data and
can see what really has workedand what type of projection or
(09:02):
trajectory I should say thatthese studios have.
What do you observe about that?
When you know, what do youobserve about those studios who
are on a strong growthtrajectory?
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yeah, absolutely, it's a great question, I think
you know.
The things that always standout to me is that those studios
and those operators are On topof those numbers.
They really do understand theirbusiness kind of back to front
and can speak to any one ofthose metrics at any given point
in time.
They have a deep understandingof not just what's happening but
why Like, perhaps their trialoffer just changed within those
(09:59):
last four to six weeks and theycan see immediately how that's
impacting some of thoseconversion metrics, as opposed
to, you know, kind of waiting tosee what happens and breathing
thing.
You have to really stay on topof them.
You know and know what's goingon at any given point in time
and I find the most successfuloperators are very tuned in to
(10:20):
what's happening in theirbusiness, why those things are
happening and kind of a fewareas that will always be the
focal point.
So those you know conversionmetrics are always a focal point
, but on the back end of thatyou know their cancellation
percentage or their churn.
There are a number of at-riskmembers, they're suspended
members, you know all thoseretention metrics are super key
(10:44):
as well and those are the thingsthat are the drivers of revenue
, so of course they're keenlyaware of their revenue each
month, absolutely.
But what are the things thatare actually driving that right
and kind of getting kind ofgranular into those areas?
So that would be the firstthing that stands out.
The second is knowing thosethings is one be the first one
(11:07):
that stands out.
The second is knowing thosethings is one.
Having a playbook to actionthose things is another thing.
So typically what we see isthat you know there's a very set
of steps that are occurring totry and move those metrics in
any which way, and the bestoperators are experimental,
right, they'll try something,see if it works, try something
(11:29):
again, see if it works.
The only way you can do that isif you're able to see what is
happening with those experimentsand have a very clear idea of
the metrics that are moving.
So those are the first twothings that stand out, and then
the third would honestly just bemindset, would be the you know,
coming into something, thinkingthat it's going to be
(11:50):
successful, and an understandingwhere you want to go with that
business, like, do you want tooperate it as a person on the
floor?
You know forever?
Yes, maybe, maybe it's that youknow that thing that you want
to do.
Would you prefer to be a bitmore behind the scenes?
You know what does that looklike?
If that's going to happen, youknow, do we need a studio
(12:11):
manager or a general managerthat can fill in those shoes on
the floor and kind of build fromthere?
So kind of that mindset andvision of what the future looks
like, I'd say, is that thirdpiece that really drives it?
Because if that is unclear,then actually everything you're
doing day day becomes a bit adhoc and is not really kind of
being driven towards thatdestination.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Absolutely.
You make so many great pointsstudio owners who come into the
world of own studio ownership orfounding their own studio as a
movement practitioner.
There's a lot of you know.
I think much of what you, whatyou just shared, is perhaps
somewhat of some somewhat sortof uncharted waters.
(13:05):
You know, and I think that thedata portion of what ultimately
drives your ability to build andgrow a business is so
significant, and without reallyunderstanding the numbers and I
think you mentioned, you know,top line revenue number is one
thing, yes, but it's irrelevantactually, because what really
(13:26):
matters is what's happeningunderneath the herd of the
business and requires you tosort of drill down into some of
these data points.
So I was actually I was lookingearlier on at one of my studio
owners key numbers and you knowit's, you know you, you can, the
data can, can can send you indifferent directions.
And if you're not sort oflooking at that granular level,
(13:46):
like you mentioned, it can be itdoesn't actually tell you so
much about what's going on.
You really need to be able tounderstand and drill down and
see what's really happeningbehind the scenes.
So the data component is soimportant and then, like the
mindset you know in terms ofwhere you're heading, and also
this approach of testing andtrying and then perhaps refining
(14:09):
and improving, and for that tobe successful you have to have
data to be able to measureeither performance.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah, totally Otherwise you're like in the
dark.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
You're blind, right, and you want to experiment.
You know I think peopleinherently do are happy to do
that, to try.
You know, test another offer ora promotion or these things and
other things, and that'stotally fine.
But you know, I think, havinglooked at so much data over the
last five or six years, it's sopowerful to be able to always
(14:44):
compare apples to apples, right,and so if you kind of lose
track of the foundations ofthose experiments, they can lead
you in a direction that is notnecessarily kind of true or
accurate to what you're tryingto get out of it.
So we're always kind of makingsure that we do that when we're
working with the CEOs that wework with or we're doing any
(15:05):
kind of custom reporting is wewanna make sure that we are
comparing, you know, likesituations and environments to
like situations, environment sothat we can actually delineate
if the experiment has worked.
And the only way to do that isto have that information.
Or else you're you know you canbe at the mercy of seasonality
(15:25):
or you know a different set ofcircumstances and all sorts of
things.
So it's really critical, if youare going to run experiments,
that they're, or if you're goingto compare data.
That it's you know.
You're comparing the apples toapples yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
So you mentioned retention.
It's a huge.
It's a huge conversation thatwe talk about.
Well, I talk about with mystudio owners inside of my
program.
You know, every week, tell us alittle bit about what you see
some of the strongest performingstudios do with regards to
retention, what the data lookslike, what data points you are
(16:03):
looking at and so on.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
I love it.
Retention is kind of the lessersexy side of the business.
Everyone loves the sales andall the lead management and all
that fun stuff.
But if things are kind ofleaking out the back, then all
of that's kind of for naught.
So I love talking aboutretention because I also am very
much in kind of the camp, thatabout retention, because I also
(16:30):
am very much in kind of the campthat you know we're in a very
AI driven, you know, automationdriven kind of world now and all
that's great, it's helpful,like I get it.
Like I said, we've been inthese spaces.
I still coach every once in awhile.
I'm also in their training allthe time.
So I get it.
It's a heavy lift when you have,you know, 250, 300 members and
(16:52):
a team of you know five or sixpeople.
It's a lot.
So you kind of want to be ableto take some things off your
plate.
But for me everything stillstarts with what's happening on
the floor or in the location,starts with what's happening on
the floor or in the location andreally retention is it's a
(17:17):
bunch of different things whichI'll touch on, but that
experience is it's why we allgot into what we're doing.
You know it's the driver ofyour business and if that
experience is not reflective ofthe promise that was made to
that person when they signed up,that's where gut, that's the
intuition side of retention thatI think every operator is very
(17:57):
aware of, they're very attunedto because they know what they
want that thing to be.
So I always just say toabsolutely start there, because
it's the thing that you can feelin your space and understand.
Like you know, if I'm walkinginto this class, would I want to
take this class, is one of thefirst questions I always, you
know, kind of ask.
People is like, if you'rewalking into your classes, make
(18:19):
sure that you want to be there.
You know, like your membersshould want to be there as much
as you want to be there, and sowe can start there much as you
want to be there, and so we canstart there.
So I always kind of say startthere with the gut check of you
know, are we even, are wemeeting the standard that I want
us to meet on the floor, just?
And if that is yes, then we'llgo into, you know, kind of the
the analytics side of things.
(18:39):
If that's no, you know that's adifferent conversation and
that's where I think things needto start.
But if that is yes, then youknow there's different stages of
retention.
So if a location offers a trialwhich a lot do, and that trial
can be all different types ofoffers, it could be a single day
(19:00):
, it could be, you know, three,for 10 or 30 days even.
But that's really your firststage of retention is can you
retain somebody through justtheir trial, right?
Like that person raised theirhand, they said, hey, I'm
interested.
They signed up or create aprofile or even bought the offer
.
Now, can we literally retainthem through that trial?
(19:23):
Can we get them into class?
So we, so we can book them toclass.
Can we get them there?
Can we have a follow-upconversation with them?
Can we potentially convert theminto a membership, so that it's
funny, like we call it theleads funnel but that's also
kind of your first retentionfunnel, right Is can people even
kind of make it through thattrial, in that you know, from
(19:46):
the time they raised their handand they think that this is the
solution for them, are youfollowing up on that promise
through that trial, whetherthat's one day or 30 days, and
you know what does that looklike.
So there's different.
You know metrics we can trackthere.
The metrics we track areessentially that lead created,
booked, visited and converted toa membership or a class pack,
(20:10):
for example.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
When you look I'm just going to interject, yeah,
of course, sprinkling ofquestions here.
I'm so curious when you trackthat data and the data that you
see on your end, do you findthat there is sort of a sweet
spot for the type of intro offerthat works for some of the
group class offerings that yourCEUs offer?
Speaker 3 (20:30):
That's a good question.
So the offer itself definitelycan vary and I think that is
maybe a little bit marketdependent as well.
You know, some places are justa bit different in that way as
to what kind of stands out interms of their offering.
But what we do typically see isconversion rates tend to trend
(20:52):
towards two to three visits.
So if that trialer can get inbetween like two, two and a half
, three times in their trialperiod, they're more likely to
convert.
So there's definitely offersthat allow for that.
(21:12):
Of course they're to be tend tobe more successful.
I think the kind of just thatsingle free class is a little
bit tight to you know to be ableto convert somebody.
Look, if you've got just, ifyour team is absolutely crushing
it and you can convert off ofthat first single class, then by
all means you know, go for it.
(21:33):
Convert off of that firstsingle class, then by all means
you know, go for it.
But most people need two orthree classes to see if it's the
right fit.
It also allows for them toexperience more offerings, like
if you have different classes orif you have different
instructors or coaches orteachers, then they can kind of
get more of a feel for what'sgoing on in the space and then
the kind of follow up to that isit gives you and your team more
(21:54):
time to get to know that personand communicate the value, but
also from a standpoint ofunderstanding what their goals
and needs are.
And it's kind of tricky to getthat in one visit unless
someone's really open, whichdoes happen but typically you
know you kind of got to peelback that onion a little bit.
(22:14):
It takes a couple ofconversations to understand
fully what's happening.
So in terms of price point, Idon't particularly have, you
know, kind of anyrecommendations on that or
anything that we've seen thatstood out.
But in terms of number ofvisits, that tends to trend
towards a higher conversionrates.
It's that kind of two to threesweet spot.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Yeah, this is what we see too.
I was just curious if you wereseeing the same data.
But yes, I think that's so, soimportant.
You know, the first class freeis very challenging to convert
and I think it often has a bighype because it does pull people
in.
But when we track the data, I'msure you track the data and
have seen it.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Look retention, even just beyond the intro, if you
look sort of three months downthe road it's so low that it's
just sort of like it doesn'treally it's not.
Whatever data you're gettingfrom the visits, from the first
class free, is not actuallysupportive of business growth
long term, as my has been myobservation.
Yeah, typically.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, and you get like
kind of trial hoppers as wellsometimes you know, there's just
yeah, all the things that we'veall seen.
So it's it's just non-committal, right and and it's it's the
type of thing where if you'relooking for you know if you're
looking for more.
So the drop-ins and class packpeople, you probably will see
(23:33):
those intro offers maybe convertto those types of services down
the road, but less so with youknow the longer term commitments
.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Yeah, yeah for sure.
So tell us a little bit aboutwhen, what, what folks are doing
in terms of long term retention.
So we talked about the introoffer, conversions.
That's kind of one kind ofretention measure, but obviously
we are looking for clients andmembers for like longer than
just a couple of months.
So what do you see those studioowners doing?
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Yeah, so we have that kind offirst intro retention and then
we move into, really, thosefirst 30 days and, depending on
your modality, your offering,you're really looking for key
touch points between thatconversion point and, let's say,
six or nine months and thatlonger term conversion.
(24:24):
So one of the things we lookout for are, for example, those
first 10 classes.
Right, it's a milestone.
It might not feel like itbecause we're all in these
spaces all the time and 10classes doesn't necessarily feel
like as big a milestone as thepeople in the space that are
hitting 100 or 1,000 or anythinglike that, but it's huge if
(24:46):
someone's just starting out thatthey hit their first 10 classes
.
So that's one.
And then another metric we liketo track is how long does it
take them to get to their first25 classes?
Right to that long-termretention is those first 60 days
have got to be high touch.
(25:20):
We have to understand are wemeeting the needs that this
person came in for?
So did we take down, did wewrite down their goals when they
came in and are they trendingtowards those goals as we are,
you know, progressing week overweek?
And it's really critical inthose first 30 to 60 days that
they're seeing even just I callthem micro wins, but like any
(25:43):
kind of micro win or improvementtowards what they came in for,
if it's increased mobility, ifit's strength, if it's literally
you know, I have back pain thatI don't want to have anymore
like is that starting to reduce.
Like those are the types ofconversations and follow-ups
that we really want to make surewe're having in those first 30
to 60 days, because it's goingto reiterate to that person that
(26:06):
this is the place where I needto be.
And if that's already happeningin the first one to two months,
what you've really done thereis you've already extended your
retention another, you know fewmonths beyond that point,
because they're, you know,seeing those results, having
those conversations which are,you know, kind of reinforcing
that, yeah, this is the place Iwant to be.
I'm starting to see results,people actually care and they're
(26:29):
following up with me and we'restarting to get there.
So those are kind of thoseearly touch points.
And then, beyond that, ofcourse, we tend to look towards
that visit data.
So are they starting to dropoff in their visit cadence?
Are they starting to like latecancel or no show?
Are they increasing their visitcadence, things like that.
(26:49):
So personally, in pipeline wehave a member engagement score
which tracks all that so we cansee when people are starting to
drop off, which would trigger,you know, kind of that outreach.
And there's different levels ofthat.
There's, you know, lowengagement, which is someone
that's just kind of starting todrop off, and then there's at
risk, which are people that arejust silently slipping away and
slipping through those cracksand you know, haven't kind of
(27:10):
been followed up within sometime.
So staying on top of those twocategories is just really
critical.
You know, the studios that areon top of the low engagement
people have a shorter list ofat-risk people, which is what
you want.
You know there's always like noone's going to have 100%
retention.
That's just not going to happen.
But what we're trying to do isget ahead of that by making sure
(27:32):
that we're understanding, youknow, what's going on in
people's lives and what'shappening with their, their
visit cadence and and keeping ontop of that just with
communication.
And if we can get ahead of it,then we won't be surprised, you
know, if something does come upand we're not going to have this
at risk category that's, youknow, 40 or 50 people deep and
(27:53):
we just didn't know that wehaven't seen britney in four
months.
Right because how are yousupposed to remember that, on
top of all the other things,that?
Speaker 1 (27:59):
you're doing, of course, absolutely absolutely so
.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
you know, if we can shift those people, then, um,
and our system's color-coded soit's like at risk is red, low
engagement is yellow, and thenyou have your green category and
your all-stars are, you know,kind of your purple or people
that are really crushing it, andthe goal there is just to
always keep shifting people up.
You know, red to yellow, yellowto green, and if we can keep
doing that then over time andyou know, retention is one of
(28:25):
the biggest things that willincrease your revenue.
So over time, if thosecategories, those red and
yellows, can get smaller, you'redefinitely winning, winning,
winning.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Okay, so tell us what metrics or data points that you
think every studio owner shouldbe tracking, but perhaps
overlook or miss or forget about.
What are those numbers that weshould be looking at?
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Yeah, I love it.
So for us, absolutely on thelead side of things, we don't
just track lead to membershipconversion, which is typically
tracked.
We want to really dig into thatfunnel and understand each step
of the process.
What's happening there.
So we want to track the lead tobooked, see what's happening
(29:12):
there.
So that's going to tell you ifthat flow has friction.
Right, if someone is likefilling out a form, maybe they
get an auto text message orsomething but they're not
booking into their first class,it's like what's the friction
there?
They raised their hand, theysaid I'm in and and some,
somewhere along the way theythey've kind of already dropped
off.
(29:32):
So that's the first drop offpoint.
Somewhere along the way they'vekind of already dropped off, so
that's the first drop off point.
So we want to make sure thatlead to booked is dialed in Book
to visit.
So for any paid offer, paidintro offer, that book to visit
percentage should be like 85, 90, 95%.
(29:52):
If people are booking and notcoming in, it's a big red flag
on kind of what's going on there.
And sometimes we see thathappen if, for whatever reason,
the communication flow, theinstructors or membership or
sales manager are booking peopleinto class for them, kind of in
a conversational way.
You know it's like, oh, wouldyou do you want to come in
Friday at nine?
And they're like, yeah, I'llcome in Friday at nine.
And then you book them in butthey don't have it in their
(30:13):
calendar, so they don't show upor they don't have access to the
app, or you know, there's kindof, uh, there can be drop-off
points there If if the kind ofthe playbook or the system tells
a story about the experience,right.
So if we see that lead tobooked and booked to visit,
(30:41):
those metrics are where theyshould be.
But that visit to membership is, you know, kind of in that 15
to 25% range.
We really want it, you know,40%, 50%, something like that.
What's happening on the floor,right, like what's happening
when that person comes in fortheir first visit and what we
(31:01):
love to do, and one of thethings that this is one that
gets overlooked quite a bit.
We surface a list of yourtrialers that came in fewer than
three times.
So zero, one or two times,essentially, people that paid
for a trial.
They only came in once or twice.
We want to know why, like whathappened there.
So not just it's great to getthe conversions, but let's not
(31:22):
forget about the people thatdidn't convert, cause that's
actually where all the gold is.
That's where the answers areLike tell me what happened.
You know, like I want to know,and what you'll find sometimes
is there's definitely a segmentof that group where they got
sick or they had to travel, orthey just didn't really have an
opportunity to come in.
You might be able to get themin, and that's where that one
day offer might come into play,where it's like, well, we could
(31:44):
get you into an extra class,just, you know, as kind of a
nice offering for that personperson.
But also you'll get tounderstand like, oh well, you
know I didn't really connectwith this instructor or the
class was too fast paced for me,or I, you know, I have
limitations and I feel like it'sgoing to be too much.
You're going to start tounderstand what's going on there
(32:04):
.
So the list of people that comein and don't convert, I think
is probably one of the mostoverlooked segments and like
data points that we have toimprove the sales process as a
whole.
So that's definitely a big onethat I would encourage people to
dive into and it can be painful, so I don't want to say that
(32:24):
it's not.
I get it.
I'm also a business owner.
I want to understand too, andthose conversations can be hard,
but you're going to learn themost from them?
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Yeah for sure, yeah there's.
You know, I think it's wheneverwe do because you know we look
at the KPIs with our studioowners I'm always like, oh look,
there's all these people thatbecame leads but didn't actually
book, or booked and then nevershowed up, or you know there's
all these people who are in yourworld that we have warm enough
that we should be able to, weshould be reaching out and
pulling them back in, you know,and I think that I agree, I
(32:55):
think that's one of those missedmissed opportunities for most
for sure.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
And I think as well it it.
It doesn't always like it canjust be an information finding
event right, you could take thestress off of.
You know this isn't a salesconversation.
This is me trying to understand.
You know just your feedback andwhat, what we could do to
improve Um, and so you know they.
Even if you get, you know, evenreach out to 10 of those people
(33:23):
and only two of them let youknow something.
It's two now kind of datapoints that you have that you
didn't have before Um and it'sit's.
It can help a lot once youstart to do that, because
there's, to be honest, moststudios we interact with have
hundreds of people in that listof warm.
You know they raised their handat some point.
(33:43):
They're not members now and andit would be great to understand
why yeah, absolutely okay.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Last quick question for you as a founder what is one
lesson that you've learned onyour business journey that you
think will be helpful to studioowners?
Oh boy, oh that's so hard.
I know, the problem is it'sjust one.
It's just one.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
It is just one, oh goodness.
I think the biggest lesson isyeah, I kind of touched on it,
but that mindset side of thingsis really, it's everything.
I think it's everythingbusiness that helps fitness
(34:35):
businesses, um, but we've beenin the fitness business as well
for a long time and it's justreally critical to have a vision
for what you want that businessto be and and who you need to
be to get it to that place.
Um, so I think you know thereally big lesson is that, uh,
the business growth.
We're the ceilings on ourbusiness growth.
(34:55):
So the business will never bebigger than the operator or
owner or founder or creator.
That person needs to continue toevolve so that the business can
continue to evolve.
So, whatever that looks like,you know, for you it means that
that's the discomfort ofentrepreneurship, is that you
(35:17):
kind of have to keep growing ifyou want the business to keep
growing, and you know there'smany different forms that that
takes, depending on the person.
But I'd say that that's thebiggest lessons I'd look for.
You know those areas where youfeel like you're pretty
comfortable and try and try andstep into them a little bit more
(35:37):
, and I wouldn't be surprised ifthe business kind of, you know,
transforms in that way as well.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
For sure, For sure.
Well, this was such.
I could keep talking to youabout this for days, but it's
time to wrap it up.
So I want to say thank you somuch for being so open and
generous with your insights,such interesting um.
It's so interesting always toum hear what you're seeing,
especially from a dataperspective, and the, the
(36:03):
quantity of data that you seeand and all of the and diving
into what not just what the datais is telling you, but also you
know some of the things thatyou tools that you use and
tactics that you use to helpmake sure that data is all
trending in the right direction.
So, thank you so much.
Do you want to just quicklyshare and let us know where
people can reach out and get intouch with you to learn a bit
(36:24):
more about Pipeline Solutionsand what they can do?
Speaker 3 (36:26):
to help.
Sure, yeah, thank you.
So we are Pipeline Solutions,so it's pipeline-solutionsco.
So that's our website.
You can see a recorded demo onthe site, which is really great.
Or you can find me.
I'm on LinkedIn, tessa Thomas.
I think I'm the first Tessa Ton LinkedIn, so if you just
(36:49):
search for Tessa Thomas, youmight find me there.
Just search for Tessa Thomas,you might find me there.
And, yeah, by any, by all means, reach out.
So, tessa atpipeline-solutionsco, happy to
chat with anybody that'sinterested in learning more.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
Fantastic, thank you so much.
I'm going to link to that inthe show notes as well, so you
guys don't need to go and findit.
You can just click in the link.
Thanks, tessa, so much.
Perfect, thank you.
Thanks, erin.
So I hope this was helpful toyou as you go about building
your boutique fitness studiobusiness and if you enjoyed what
you heard today, I would be soappreciative if you could take a
quick minute, go to whereveryou're listening to this and
rate and review this podcast.
It would mean so much to me andhelp to get this podcast out
(37:30):
into our amazing community ofteachers, instructors and studio
owners around the world.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Did you love this episode and want more?
Head to spring3.com and checkout my free resources that will
help you run a profitable andfulfilling studio business.
And before you go, one lastreminder there is no one way to
do what you do, only your way.
So whatever it is that you wantto do, create or offer, you've
(38:02):
got this.
Thanks again for joining metoday and have a wonderful rest
of your day you.
Could the biggest revenue opportunities in your
business be hiding in plainsight, perhaps buried inside
data that you might not even belooking at?
Well, in today's episode, we'repulling back the curtains with
someone who's helped many topperforming studios to really
streamline their operations,retain more clients and stop
(00:23):
losing money through the cracksby diving into the data.
She's a division one athleteturned tech founder, and her
insights will really change howyou run your studio.
We're talking about what thetop studios are doing
differently and some of the mostmisunderstood parts of
retention and metrics.
And some of the mostmisunderstood parts of retention
(00:44):
and metrics and some of thesurprisingly simple data points
that could really shift.
So much for your bottom line inyour studio business.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Well, hi there, I'm Saren Glanfield.
I'm a business and marketingstrategist just for boutique
fitness studio owners like you.
If you're ready to be inspiredand make a bigger impact, studio
owners like you, if you'reready to be inspired and make a
bigger impact, you're in theright place.
All you need are a few keystrategies, the right mindset
(01:17):
and some support along the way.
Join me as I share the reallife insights that will help you
grow a sustainable andprofitable studio.
This is the Pilates BusinessPodcast profitable studio.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
This is the Pilates Business Podcast.
Welcome back to the PilatesBusiness Podcast.
I'm Sarah Glanfield and thankyou so much for joining me today
.
This is where all of youpassionate studio owners come to
learn, to grow, to lead and tothrive without burning out in
the process.
And I know that many of youfeel like you're running your
(01:52):
studio with 17 open tabs in yourbrain and juggling marketing
and retention and clientcommunications and team
operations and, of course, therevenue reports, while still
also trying to teach the bestyou can.
And so today's episode is goingto feel like a breath of fresh
air because we're going to betalking about how to we're going
to be really demystifying thedata and the data component of
(02:16):
your business, because today'sguest is Tessa.
She is the co-founder ofPipeline Solutions.
This is a platform that shebuilt specifically for boutique
fitness studio operations.
She has a background as adivision one athlete super
inspiring and she has blendedthat sort of power that she has
(02:36):
and that strong ability toperform at a high level with a
deep passion for fitness andtech and all the things in
between, and her career hastaken her around the world, from
places like London to New Yorkto Sydney, and today she's on a
mission to help studio owners tosimplify using data.
So welcome, tessa, I'm so gladyou're here.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Amazing.
Thanks, erin.
That was quite the intro.
I appreciate it.
I'm happy to be here, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Well, I love when I get to connect with folks like
you and we can talk all thethings studio, business and data
because I think it's one of themost sort of mysterious parts
that people find about buildinga business and growing a
business, especially as anentrepreneur and where does the
data sit, how does it fit, whatshould I be looking at, what is
it telling me?
(03:24):
So I'm glad you are doing whatyou're doing, and so why don't
we kick off and why don't youshare a little?
Speaker 3 (03:32):
bit about Pipeline Solutions and what you do there.
Yeah, absolutely so.
Pipeline Solutions isessentially your all-in-one
platform for boutique fitnessand wellness operations.
So we integrate with bookingmanagement platforms to
essentially cut down on a lot ofthat noise and deliver the
analytics and metrics thatmatter most, accompanied across
(03:54):
the board, so you can kind oflook into one place, understand
what's happening in yourbusiness and also be able to
take action in that same placeas well, and all that's
supported by, you know, paymentsand bookings through your
(04:15):
booking management system.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
So tell us a little bit about how Pipeline Solutions
came to be.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Of course, yes.
What's the journey?
How did we get here?
Always a bit more circuitousthan you probably think it would
have been from the get-go, butyep, so my co-founder and I
started Pipeline about six yearsago.
I was a coach and I have abackground in, as you mentioned,
(04:44):
athletics and fitness and hadbeen doing group fitness,
instructing and coaching forsome time.
Up to that point, I had alsojust happened to get, you know,
pretty interested in softwareand app development, personal
(05:07):
interest standpoint, and thosetwo worlds kind of came together
with um, with Pipeline, andessentially approaching uh, john
, who is my co-founder ofPipeline, who was the owner of
the studio that I was coachingin, and just you know, kind of
sitting down with him and askingwhat, what is not fun, you know
what is, what is the leastfavorite part of you know kind
of operating uh, this businessand, um, you know part of what
he favorite part of you knowkind of operating this business
and you know part of what he hadgotten to.
(05:28):
Of course there's someautomations and things like that
.
So those are some of the thingswe built early on late cancel,
automation, double booking,removing people from double
bookings and classes, thingslike that really wanted to see
was you want to be able to justunderstand from a performance, a
business performance standpoint, how the studio was doing by
(05:49):
just glancing at a dashboard andgetting all those metrics in
one place without having to gopull all those reports.
And it was also a period ofgrowth for that business, which
was great.
So it wasn't coming from aplace of you know kind of dire.
We really need these needs, weneed all these things to come in
it actually, because it wasn'tcoming from a place of dire.
We really need these needs, weneed all these things to come in
Actually, because it wasn'tthat kind of energy, it was more
(06:10):
so okay, the things that wewere doing at 100 and 150
members are no longer working at250, 300, 350 members.
We need a new playbook.
But I need to understand whereto put my energy and how to kind
of go about that.
But I need to understand whereto put my energy and how to kind
of go about that.
And then also, with the idea ofopening another location and
things like that, right, soyou're talking about kind of
(06:36):
starting to scale and all of asudden all those reports become
that thing you'll get to and youdon't get to it.
And by the time you do nowyou're looking at data that's
six weeks old and, you know,trying to work off things that
are outdated.
So that's kind of the originstory of how Pipeline started.
And you know, I startedbuilding from that point and
kind of built the first versionof our product through.
(06:56):
I would not call myself anengineer by any stretch, but you
know, the interest in thattechnical side of the business
allowed me to kind of build a V1.
And now we have our CTO, mike,who has really elevated the
platform into what it is todayand has, you know, built out
really something you know veryperformant and really kind of
(07:18):
world class on the analyticsstandpoint for boutique fitness
on the analytics standpoint forboutique fitness.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Yeah, tell me a little bit about what types of
studios you do work with.
What do they offer, what typesof services they offer, and so
on.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Yeah, absolutely so.
We work with a range of studiosor concepts, as is right now.
So a lot of the F45 network, ofcourse, with our partnership
with them.
So essentially functionaltraining or HIIT, Really any
class-based boutique is greatfit for us.
So we do work also with FS8, sothe Pilates brand that is under
the Fit umbrella and anotherapplies location as well.
(08:01):
And then we also work with acouple of locations that are a
bit more bespoke, I guess youcould say so they might do turf
rentals or have boxing classesand also offer personal training
and kind of a model that has afew different modalities under
one roof.
So really across the board wework with any really kind of
(08:24):
class-based location andcurrently if they integrate with
MindBody, that's a perfect fit.
We have some other bookingplatforms that we're integrating
with this year, so more to comeon that but any MindBody studio
that is class-based.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Excellent, Fantastic.
So tell us a little bit about,obviously, you've seen and
worked with many really strongstudios when it comes to growth,
right.
So you see, you know the behindthe scenes and see the data and
can see what really has workedand what type of projection or
(09:02):
trajectory I should say thatthese studios have.
What do you observe about that?
When you know, what do youobserve about those studios who
are on a strong growthtrajectory?
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yeah, absolutely, it's a great question, I think
you know.
The things that always standout to me is that those studios
and those operators are On topof those numbers.
They really do understand theirbusiness kind of back to front
and can speak to any one ofthose metrics at any given point
in time.
They have a deep understandingof not just what's happening but
why Like, perhaps their trialoffer just changed within those
(09:59):
last four to six weeks and theycan see immediately how that's
impacting some of thoseconversion metrics, as opposed
to, you know, kind of waiting tosee what happens and breathing
thing.
You have to really stay on topof them.
You know and know what's goingon at any given point in time
and I find the most successfuloperators are very tuned in to
(10:20):
what's happening in theirbusiness, why those things are
happening and kind of a fewareas that will always be the
focal point.
So those you know conversionmetrics are always a focal point
, but on the back end of thatyou know their cancellation
percentage or their churn.
There are a number of at-riskmembers, they're suspended
members, you know all thoseretention metrics are super key
(10:44):
as well and those are the thingsthat are the drivers of revenue
, so of course they're keenlyaware of their revenue each
month, absolutely.
But what are the things thatare actually driving that right
and kind of getting kind ofgranular into those areas?
So that would be the firstthing that stands out.
The second is knowing thosethings is one be the first one
(11:07):
that stands out.
The second is knowing thosethings is one.
Having a playbook to actionthose things is another thing.
So typically what we see isthat you know there's a very set
of steps that are occurring totry and move those metrics in
any which way, and the bestoperators are experimental,
right, they'll try something,see if it works, try something
(11:29):
again, see if it works.
The only way you can do that isif you're able to see what is
happening with those experimentsand have a very clear idea of
the metrics that are moving.
So those are the first twothings that stand out, and then
the third would honestly just bemindset, would be the you know,
coming into something, thinkingthat it's going to be
(11:50):
successful, and an understandingwhere you want to go with that
business, like, do you want tooperate it as a person on the
floor?
You know forever?
Yes, maybe, maybe it's that youknow that thing that you want
to do.
Would you prefer to be a bitmore behind the scenes?
You know what does that looklike?
If that's going to happen, youknow, do we need a studio
(12:11):
manager or a general managerthat can fill in those shoes on
the floor and kind of build fromthere?
So kind of that mindset andvision of what the future looks
like, I'd say, is that thirdpiece that really drives it?
Because if that is unclear,then actually everything you're
doing day day becomes a bit adhoc and is not really kind of
being driven towards thatdestination.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Absolutely.
You make so many great pointsstudio owners who come into the
world of own studio ownership orfounding their own studio as a
movement practitioner.
There's a lot of you know.
I think much of what you, whatyou just shared, is perhaps
somewhat of some somewhat sortof uncharted waters.
(13:05):
You know, and I think that thedata portion of what ultimately
drives your ability to build andgrow a business is so
significant, and without reallyunderstanding the numbers and I
think you mentioned, you know,top line revenue number is one
thing, yes, but it's irrelevantactually, because what really
(13:26):
matters is what's happeningunderneath the herd of the
business and requires you tosort of drill down into some of
these data points.
So I was actually I was lookingearlier on at one of my studio
owners key numbers and you knowit's, you know you, you can, the
data can, can can send you indifferent directions.
And if you're not sort oflooking at that granular level,
(13:46):
like you mentioned, it can be itdoesn't actually tell you so
much about what's going on.
You really need to be able tounderstand and drill down and
see what's really happeningbehind the scenes.
So the data component is soimportant and then, like the
mindset you know in terms ofwhere you're heading, and also
this approach of testing andtrying and then perhaps refining
(14:09):
and improving, and for that tobe successful you have to have
data to be able to measureeither performance.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah, totally Otherwise you're like in the
dark.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
You're blind, right, and you want to experiment.
You know I think peopleinherently do are happy to do
that, to try.
You know, test another offer ora promotion or these things and
other things, and that'stotally fine.
But you know, I think, havinglooked at so much data over the
last five or six years, it's sopowerful to be able to always
(14:44):
compare apples to apples, right,and so if you kind of lose
track of the foundations ofthose experiments, they can lead
you in a direction that is notnecessarily kind of true or
accurate to what you're tryingto get out of it.
So we're always kind of makingsure that we do that when we're
working with the CEOs that wework with or we're doing any
(15:05):
kind of custom reporting is wewanna make sure that we are
comparing, you know, likesituations and environments to
like situations, environment sothat we can actually delineate
if the experiment has worked.
And the only way to do that isto have that information.
Or else you're you know you canbe at the mercy of seasonality
(15:25):
or you know a different set ofcircumstances and all sorts of
things.
So it's really critical, if youare going to run experiments,
that they're, or if you're goingto compare data.
That it's you know.
You're comparing the apples toapples yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
So you mentioned retention.
It's a huge.
It's a huge conversation thatwe talk about.
Well, I talk about with mystudio owners inside of my
program.
You know, every week, tell us alittle bit about what you see
some of the strongest performingstudios do with regards to
retention, what the data lookslike, what data points you are
(16:03):
looking at and so on.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
I love it.
Retention is kind of the lessersexy side of the business.
Everyone loves the sales andall the lead management and all
that fun stuff.
But if things are kind ofleaking out the back, then all
of that's kind of for naught.
So I love talking aboutretention because I also am very
much in kind of the camp, thatabout retention, because I also
(16:30):
am very much in kind of the campthat you know we're in a very
AI driven, you know, automationdriven kind of world now and all
that's great, it's helpful,like I get it.
Like I said, we've been inthese spaces.
I still coach every once in awhile.
I'm also in their training allthe time.
So I get it.
It's a heavy lift when you have,you know, 250, 300 members and
(16:52):
a team of you know five or sixpeople.
It's a lot.
So you kind of want to be ableto take some things off your
plate.
But for me everything stillstarts with what's happening on
the floor or in the location,starts with what's happening on
the floor or in the location andreally retention is it's a
(17:17):
bunch of different things whichI'll touch on, but that
experience is it's why we allgot into what we're doing.
You know it's the driver ofyour business and if that
experience is not reflective ofthe promise that was made to
that person when they signed up,that's where gut, that's the
intuition side of retention thatI think every operator is very
(17:57):
aware of, they're very attunedto because they know what they
want that thing to be.
So I always just say toabsolutely start there, because
it's the thing that you can feelin your space and understand.
Like you know, if I'm walkinginto this class, would I want to
take this class, is one of thefirst questions I always, you
know, kind of ask.
People is like, if you'rewalking into your classes, make
(18:19):
sure that you want to be there.
You know, like your membersshould want to be there as much
as you want to be there, and sowe can start there much as you
want to be there, and so we canstart there.
So I always kind of say startthere with the gut check of you
know, are we even, are wemeeting the standard that I want
us to meet on the floor, just?
And if that is yes, then we'llgo into, you know, kind of the
the analytics side of things.
(18:39):
If that's no, you know that's adifferent conversation and
that's where I think things needto start.
But if that is yes, then youknow there's different stages of
retention.
So if a location offers a trialwhich a lot do, and that trial
can be all different types ofoffers, it could be a single day
(19:00):
, it could be, you know, three,for 10 or 30 days even.
But that's really your firststage of retention is can you
retain somebody through justtheir trial, right?
Like that person raised theirhand, they said, hey, I'm
interested.
They signed up or create aprofile or even bought the offer
.
Now, can we literally retainthem through that trial?
(19:23):
Can we get them into class?
So we, so we can book them toclass.
Can we get them there?
Can we have a follow-upconversation with them?
Can we potentially convert theminto a membership, so that it's
funny, like we call it theleads funnel but that's also
kind of your first retentionfunnel, right Is can people even
kind of make it through thattrial, in that you know, from
(19:46):
the time they raised their handand they think that this is the
solution for them, are youfollowing up on that promise
through that trial, whetherthat's one day or 30 days, and
you know what does that looklike.
So there's different.
You know metrics we can trackthere.
The metrics we track areessentially that lead created,
booked, visited and converted toa membership or a class pack,
(20:10):
for example.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
When you look I'm just going to interject, yeah,
of course, sprinkling ofquestions here.
I'm so curious when you trackthat data and the data that you
see on your end, do you findthat there is sort of a sweet
spot for the type of intro offerthat works for some of the
group class offerings that yourCEUs offer?
Speaker 3 (20:30):
That's a good question.
So the offer itself definitelycan vary and I think that is
maybe a little bit marketdependent as well.
You know, some places are justa bit different in that way as
to what kind of stands out interms of their offering.
But what we do typically see isconversion rates tend to trend
(20:52):
towards two to three visits.
So if that trialer can get inbetween like two, two and a half
, three times in their trialperiod, they're more likely to
convert.
So there's definitely offersthat allow for that.
(21:12):
Of course they're to be tend tobe more successful.
I think the kind of just thatsingle free class is a little
bit tight to you know to be ableto convert somebody.
Look, if you've got just, ifyour team is absolutely crushing
it and you can convert off ofthat first single class, then by
all means you know, go for it.
(21:33):
Convert off of that firstsingle class, then by all means
you know, go for it.
But most people need two orthree classes to see if it's the
right fit.
It also allows for them toexperience more offerings, like
if you have different classes orif you have different
instructors or coaches orteachers, then they can kind of
get more of a feel for what'sgoing on in the space and then
the kind of follow up to that isit gives you and your team more
(21:54):
time to get to know that personand communicate the value, but
also from a standpoint ofunderstanding what their goals
and needs are.
And it's kind of tricky to getthat in one visit unless
someone's really open, whichdoes happen but typically you
know you kind of got to peelback that onion a little bit.
(22:14):
It takes a couple ofconversations to understand
fully what's happening.
So in terms of price point, Idon't particularly have, you
know, kind of anyrecommendations on that or
anything that we've seen thatstood out.
But in terms of number ofvisits, that tends to trend
towards a higher conversionrates.
It's that kind of two to threesweet spot.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Yeah, this is what we see too.
I was just curious if you wereseeing the same data.
But yes, I think that's so, soimportant.
You know, the first class freeis very challenging to convert
and I think it often has a bighype because it does pull people
in.
But when we track the data, I'msure you track the data and
have seen it.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Look retention, even just beyond the intro, if you
look sort of three months downthe road it's so low that it's
just sort of like it doesn'treally it's not.
Whatever data you're gettingfrom the visits, from the first
class free, is not actuallysupportive of business growth
long term, as my has been myobservation.
Yeah, typically.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, and you get like
kind of trial hoppers as wellsometimes you know, there's just
yeah, all the things that we'veall seen.
So it's it's just non-committal, right and and it's it's the
type of thing where if you'relooking for you know if you're
looking for more.
So the drop-ins and class packpeople, you probably will see
(23:33):
those intro offers maybe convertto those types of services down
the road, but less so with youknow the longer term commitments
.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Yeah, yeah for sure.
So tell us a little bit aboutwhen, what, what folks are doing
in terms of long term retention.
So we talked about the introoffer, conversions.
That's kind of one kind ofretention measure, but obviously
we are looking for clients andmembers for like longer than
just a couple of months.
So what do you see those studioowners doing?
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Yeah, so we have that kind offirst intro retention and then
we move into, really, thosefirst 30 days and, depending on
your modality, your offering,you're really looking for key
touch points between thatconversion point and, let's say,
six or nine months and thatlonger term conversion.
(24:24):
So one of the things we lookout for are, for example, those
first 10 classes.
Right, it's a milestone.
It might not feel like itbecause we're all in these
spaces all the time and 10classes doesn't necessarily feel
like as big a milestone as thepeople in the space that are
hitting 100 or 1,000 or anythinglike that, but it's huge if
(24:46):
someone's just starting out thatthey hit their first 10 classes
.
So that's one.
And then another metric we liketo track is how long does it
take them to get to their first25 classes?
Right to that long-termretention is those first 60 days
have got to be high touch.
(25:20):
We have to understand are wemeeting the needs that this
person came in for?
So did we take down, did wewrite down their goals when they
came in and are they trendingtowards those goals as we are,
you know, progressing week overweek?
And it's really critical inthose first 30 to 60 days that
they're seeing even just I callthem micro wins, but like any
(25:43):
kind of micro win or improvementtowards what they came in for,
if it's increased mobility, ifit's strength, if it's literally
you know, I have back pain thatI don't want to have anymore
like is that starting to reduce.
Like those are the types ofconversations and follow-ups
that we really want to make surewe're having in those first 30
to 60 days, because it's goingto reiterate to that person that
(26:06):
this is the place where I needto be.
And if that's already happeningin the first one to two months,
what you've really done thereis you've already extended your
retention another, you know fewmonths beyond that point,
because they're, you know,seeing those results, having
those conversations which are,you know, kind of reinforcing
that, yeah, this is the place Iwant to be.
I'm starting to see results,people actually care and they're
(26:29):
following up with me and we'restarting to get there.
So those are kind of thoseearly touch points.
And then, beyond that, ofcourse, we tend to look towards
that visit data.
So are they starting to dropoff in their visit cadence?
Are they starting to like latecancel or no show?
Are they increasing their visitcadence, things like that.
(26:49):
So personally, in pipeline wehave a member engagement score
which tracks all that so we cansee when people are starting to
drop off, which would trigger,you know, kind of that outreach.
And there's different levels ofthat.
There's, you know, lowengagement, which is someone
that's just kind of starting todrop off, and then there's at
risk, which are people that arejust silently slipping away and
slipping through those cracksand you know, haven't kind of
(27:10):
been followed up within sometime.
So staying on top of those twocategories is just really
critical.
You know, the studios that areon top of the low engagement
people have a shorter list ofat-risk people, which is what
you want.
You know there's always like noone's going to have 100%
retention.
That's just not going to happen.
But what we're trying to do isget ahead of that by making sure
(27:32):
that we're understanding, youknow, what's going on in
people's lives and what'shappening with their, their
visit cadence and and keeping ontop of that just with
communication.
And if we can get ahead of it,then we won't be surprised, you
know, if something does come upand we're not going to have this
at risk category that's, youknow, 40 or 50 people deep and
(27:53):
we just didn't know that wehaven't seen britney in four
months.
Right because how are yousupposed to remember that, on
top of all the other things,that?
Speaker 1 (27:59):
you're doing, of course, absolutely absolutely so
.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
you know, if we can shift those people, then, um,
and our system's color-coded soit's like at risk is red, low
engagement is yellow, and thenyou have your green category and
your all-stars are, you know,kind of your purple or people
that are really crushing it, andthe goal there is just to
always keep shifting people up.
You know, red to yellow, yellowto green, and if we can keep
doing that then over time andyou know, retention is one of
(28:25):
the biggest things that willincrease your revenue.
So over time, if thosecategories, those red and
yellows, can get smaller, you'redefinitely winning, winning,
winning.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Okay, so tell us what metrics or data points that you
think every studio owner shouldbe tracking, but perhaps
overlook or miss or forget about.
What are those numbers that weshould be looking at?
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Yeah, I love it.
So for us, absolutely on thelead side of things, we don't
just track lead to membershipconversion, which is typically
tracked.
We want to really dig into thatfunnel and understand each step
of the process.
What's happening there.
So we want to track the lead tobooked, see what's happening
(29:12):
there.
So that's going to tell you ifthat flow has friction.
Right, if someone is likefilling out a form, maybe they
get an auto text message orsomething but they're not
booking into their first class,it's like what's the friction
there?
They raised their hand, theysaid I'm in and and some,
somewhere along the way theythey've kind of already dropped
off.
(29:32):
So that's the first drop offpoint.
Somewhere along the way they'vekind of already dropped off, so
that's the first drop off point.
So we want to make sure thatlead to booked is dialed in Book
to visit.
So for any paid offer, paidintro offer, that book to visit
percentage should be like 85, 90, 95%.
(29:52):
If people are booking and notcoming in, it's a big red flag
on kind of what's going on there.
And sometimes we see thathappen if, for whatever reason,
the communication flow, theinstructors or membership or
sales manager are booking peopleinto class for them, kind of in
a conversational way.
You know it's like, oh, wouldyou do you want to come in
Friday at nine?
And they're like, yeah, I'llcome in Friday at nine.
And then you book them in butthey don't have it in their
(30:13):
calendar, so they don't show upor they don't have access to the
app, or you know, there's kindof, uh, there can be drop-off
points there If if the kind ofthe playbook or the system tells
a story about the experience,right.
So if we see that lead tobooked and booked to visit,
(30:41):
those metrics are where theyshould be.
But that visit to membership is, you know, kind of in that 15
to 25% range.
We really want it, you know,40%, 50%, something like that.
What's happening on the floor,right, like what's happening
when that person comes in fortheir first visit and what we
(31:01):
love to do, and one of thethings that this is one that
gets overlooked quite a bit.
We surface a list of yourtrialers that came in fewer than
three times.
So zero, one or two times,essentially, people that paid
for a trial.
They only came in once or twice.
We want to know why, like whathappened there.
So not just it's great to getthe conversions, but let's not
(31:22):
forget about the people thatdidn't convert, cause that's
actually where all the gold is.
That's where the answers areLike tell me what happened.
You know, like I want to know,and what you'll find sometimes
is there's definitely a segmentof that group where they got
sick or they had to travel, orthey just didn't really have an
opportunity to come in.
You might be able to get themin, and that's where that one
day offer might come into play,where it's like, well, we could
(31:44):
get you into an extra class,just, you know, as kind of a
nice offering for that personperson.
But also you'll get tounderstand like, oh well, you
know I didn't really connectwith this instructor or the
class was too fast paced for me,or I, you know, I have
limitations and I feel like it'sgoing to be too much.
You're going to start tounderstand what's going on there
(32:04):
.
So the list of people that comein and don't convert, I think
is probably one of the mostoverlooked segments and like
data points that we have toimprove the sales process as a
whole.
So that's definitely a big onethat I would encourage people to
dive into and it can be painful, so I don't want to say that
(32:24):
it's not.
I get it.
I'm also a business owner.
I want to understand too, andthose conversations can be hard,
but you're going to learn themost from them?
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Yeah for sure, yeah there's.
You know, I think it's wheneverwe do because you know we look
at the KPIs with our studioowners I'm always like, oh look,
there's all these people thatbecame leads but didn't actually
book, or booked and then nevershowed up, or you know there's
all these people who are in yourworld that we have warm enough
that we should be able to, weshould be reaching out and
pulling them back in, you know,and I think that I agree, I
(32:55):
think that's one of those missedmissed opportunities for most
for sure.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
And I think as well it it.
It doesn't always like it canjust be an information finding
event right, you could take thestress off of.
You know this isn't a salesconversation.
This is me trying to understand.
You know just your feedback andwhat, what we could do to
improve Um, and so you know they.
Even if you get, you know, evenreach out to 10 of those people
(33:23):
and only two of them let youknow something.
It's two now kind of datapoints that you have that you
didn't have before Um and it'sit's.
It can help a lot once youstart to do that, because
there's, to be honest, moststudios we interact with have
hundreds of people in that listof warm.
You know they raised their handat some point.
(33:43):
They're not members now and andit would be great to understand
why yeah, absolutely okay.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Last quick question for you as a founder what is one
lesson that you've learned onyour business journey that you
think will be helpful to studioowners?
Oh boy, oh that's so hard.
I know, the problem is it'sjust one.
It's just one.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
It is just one, oh goodness.
I think the biggest lesson isyeah, I kind of touched on it,
but that mindset side of thingsis really, it's everything.
I think it's everythingbusiness that helps fitness
(34:35):
businesses, um, but we've beenin the fitness business as well
for a long time and it's justreally critical to have a vision
for what you want that businessto be and and who you need to
be to get it to that place.
Um, so I think you know thereally big lesson is that, uh,
the business growth.
We're the ceilings on ourbusiness growth.
(34:55):
So the business will never bebigger than the operator or
owner or founder or creator.
That person needs to continue toevolve so that the business can
continue to evolve.
So, whatever that looks like,you know, for you it means that
that's the discomfort ofentrepreneurship, is that you
(35:17):
kind of have to keep growing ifyou want the business to keep
growing, and you know there'smany different forms that that
takes, depending on the person.
But I'd say that that's thebiggest lessons I'd look for.
You know those areas where youfeel like you're pretty
comfortable and try and try andstep into them a little bit more
(35:37):
, and I wouldn't be surprised ifthe business kind of, you know,
transforms in that way as well.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
For sure, For sure.
Well, this was such.
I could keep talking to youabout this for days, but it's
time to wrap it up.
So I want to say thank you somuch for being so open and
generous with your insights,such interesting um.
It's so interesting always toum hear what you're seeing,
especially from a dataperspective, and the, the
(36:03):
quantity of data that you seeand and all of the and diving
into what not just what the datais is telling you, but also you
know some of the things thatyou tools that you use and
tactics that you use to helpmake sure that data is all
trending in the right direction.
So, thank you so much.
Do you want to just quicklyshare and let us know where
people can reach out and get intouch with you to learn a bit
(36:24):
more about Pipeline Solutionsand what they can do?
Speaker 3 (36:26):
to help.
Sure, yeah, thank you.
So we are Pipeline Solutions,so it's pipeline-solutionsco.
So that's our website.
You can see a recorded demo onthe site, which is really great.
Or you can find me.
I'm on LinkedIn, tessa Thomas.
I think I'm the first Tessa Ton LinkedIn, so if you just
(36:49):
search for Tessa Thomas, youmight find me there.
Just search for Tessa Thomas,you might find me there.
And, yeah, by any, by all means, reach out.
So, tessa atpipeline-solutionsco, happy to
chat with anybody that'sinterested in learning more.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
Fantastic, thank you so much.
I'm going to link to that inthe show notes as well, so you
guys don't need to go and findit.
You can just click in the link.
Thanks, tessa, so much.
Perfect, thank you.
Thanks, erin.
So I hope this was helpful toyou as you go about building
your boutique fitness studiobusiness and if you enjoyed what
you heard today, I would be soappreciative if you could take a
quick minute, go to whereveryou're listening to this and
rate and review this podcast.
It would mean so much to me andhelp to get this podcast out
(37:30):
into our amazing community ofteachers, instructors and studio
owners around the world.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Did you love this episode and want more?
Head to spring3.com and checkout my free resources that will
help you run a profitable andfulfilling studio business.
And before you go, one lastreminder there is no one way to
do what you do, only your way.
So whatever it is that you wantto do, create or offer, you've
(38:02):
got this.
Thanks again for joining metoday and have a wonderful rest
of your day you.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.