June 9, 2025 • 22 mins
In this episode of The Pilates Business Podcast, host Seran Glanfield uncovers one of the biggest myths in boutique fitness marketing: that happy clients will naturally refer their friends. While word-of-mouth is the holy grail of marketing for Pilates and boutique fitness studios, relying on "hope" alone isn’t a strategy.
Seran breaks down the real reasons referral programs often flop — and exactly what you need to do to create a referral strategy that is clear, compelling, and consistent. From making referrals frictionless to building a culture of connection and belonging, Seran shares the powerful mindset and systems shifts that can turn your loyal members into your most valuable marketing asset.
Whether you’ve got a half-baked referral program or none at all, this episode will give you the framework you need to increase brand awareness, drive more leads, and grow your boutique fitness business with ease.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Have you ever looked around the studio and seen all
these happy, smiling faces andthought these clients just love
it here, but why aren't theybringing more of their friends?
I know you've got loyal members.
I know you've got some ravingfans.
I know you've got clients thatshow up every single week, yet
maybe referrals are inconsistentor even non-existent.
(00:20):
And the truth is what I've seen, having coached for decades, is
that happy clients doesn'tnecessarily equal growth, unless
you have a little bit more toyour referral program than hope.
So in this episode we'reunpacking why it is that many
(00:41):
boutique fitness studiosstruggle to really generate very
consistent leads from word ofmouth marketing and how to
create a strategy that reallysupports increasing brand
awareness through referrals.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Well, hi there, I'm Saren Glanfield.
I'm a business and marketingstrategist just for boutique
fitness studio owners like you.
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, you're
in the right place.
All you need are a few keystrategies, the right mindset
and some support along the way.
Join me as I share the reallife insights that will help you
(01:24):
grow a sustainable andprofitable studio.
This is the Pilates BusinessPodcast.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Welcome back to the Pilates Business Podcast.
I'm Saren Glanfield and I'm sothrilled that you're here with
me today.
I just hit end call on myweekly live call with my Thrive
group and, as usual, we have avery healthy conversation about
all sorts of different things.
But I wanted to hop on here andtalk to you about one thing
(01:53):
that does come up really very,very regularly monthly at least
and that is referral programsand referral strategies.
And I know that you know aswell as I know that we love word
of mouth marketing.
I think it is the best type ofmarketing.
It means so much to you butalso means that you're probably
(02:14):
getting people in the door whoare already ready to say yes, to
sign up and to dive in and getgoing and commit, and we love
that.
They're the best kind ofclients.
They're enthusiastic, they areenergized, they are ready to
commit to one or two or eventhree classes or sessions a week
, and that's because they'veheard great things about you
(02:35):
from their friend.
That's because their friend hasprobably shared some insight
with them about what happens inthe studio or even some of the
things that they haveexperienced as being your client
, some of the things that theyhave enjoyed about being your
client.
That is probably rich withemotion and feeling and detail,
right.
And so one of the things thatcomes up often in our calls is
(02:58):
okay, I know my clients love meand when I get referrals they're
the best kind of people to getin the door.
So how do I get more of them?
And maybe the next kind of partof this is why aren't more of
my clients referring theirfriends?
Why aren't they bringing themin and I get it?
It probably feels like itshould be happening.
Naturally, you've createdsomething wonderful and magical
(03:21):
inside of your studio.
You see it every day.
You've got happy, loyal clients, and so you're probably
wondering shouldn't thatreferral program just kind of
take care of itself?
And the reality is, is that?
No, not without intention, andthe truth is that you know this
might sting a little, you guys.
So you know, sorry, butreferrals just don't happen
(03:43):
because people are happy.
They don't just happen becausepeople are happy.
They happen because there's aclear process and clear
intention behind that referralstrategy that makes it easy and
exciting and rewarding for yourclients to share what they love
about your studio with theirfriends.
(04:04):
So I'm going to take you on alittle bit of a journey today.
I wanted to share with you astory about a studio owner that
I have been working withrecently.
We're going to call her Claire,because I'm not actually
working with any studio ownerscalled Claire right now, and I
wanted to share this story withyou without revealing the studio
owner themselves in casethey're listening, because you
(04:24):
probably are.
But this studio owner, um,wonderful, amazing, ambitious,
lovely human, so much passionfor what they do, has a
fantastic, solid business andthey have a wait list for many
of their classes, has a reallysolid community that is warm and
(04:45):
just shows up right with thebest of intentions, but there's
not a steady stream of referrals.
Those clients are sort ofkeeping the studio to themselves
a little bit, and so you know,claire came into one of our
sessions recently and said youknow, I don't know why my
clients aren't bringing me,their friends.
(05:05):
No one's referring anyone to meright now and I know this is a
good opportunity.
There will be a goodopportunity for growth for me if
I could figure out how to makeit work.
And the reality is is thatClaire did have a referral
program, right, she hadmentioned it here and there and
she was wondering, you knowreally why that wasn't getting
(05:26):
referrals, is the question.
And what was happening was thatshe was doing something, but
not consistently orstrategically an email here and
(05:46):
there, you know a little line inthe newsletter, right, maybe
she would mention every now andagain and very sporadically,
that you know that someone couldbring a friend often to you
know, perhaps a new client earlyon in their, you know,
experience.
And so it was a very sort ofhaphazard and program, or if you
could even call it that, andwithout a lot of intention
behind it and also perhaps a bitlacking some transparency about
(06:11):
what that referral programreally is.
And this might feel familiar tomany of you, because I find
that this is very, very common,which is one of the reasons I
wanted to talk about it today.
But the reality is is is thatthere's a bit of a shift that
happens when we kind of come tothe realization that referrals
don't happen because yourclients are happy.
(06:32):
They happen because you'vecreated a system to make them
happy.
Okay, sorry, a system to makethem happen.
Okay, I just also recorded apodcast, you guys, about why you
should build your schedulearound your energy and the
afternoons clearly are not thebest time for me to record a
podcast.
(06:54):
But, coming back to full circle,referrals happen because you've
built a system to make themhappen.
And the reality is your clientscertainly want to refer to you,
they love you, they do want torefer you to their friends, but
if there's no plan, there's noprompting them and there's no
encouragement, there's noreminder, it probably just won't
(07:16):
happen.
And it's not because there'sanything you're doing wrong in
their experience.
It's just that when they leaveyour studio they're thinking
about what else they have ontheir to-do list and you know
referring their friends to yourstudio probably isn't that top
of that list.
So the question I have for you,as you're listening here today,
is are you relying on hope toget referrals on just the TLC
(07:41):
from your clients, or do youhave a process in place?
And the reality is is that hopeis not a scalable solution.
It's not a strategy, but havinga system is, and so let's talk
a little bit about what thatlooks like Now.
When Claire worked a little biton her referral program
(08:03):
Initially, like I mentioned, itwas not that successful and most
programs fail.
Most referral programs failbecause of three things they're
not clear, in that they're notreally clear about what the
reward is, if there is one, whatthe incentive is if there is
(08:25):
one, how a member should refer afriend.
So there's just no clarityaround what it is that your
referral program actually is.
The second reason is thatthey're not typically very
compelling.
So why should your member, whyshould a client care about
making a referral to you?
What is it?
What is it that isn't is isencouraging them to do that.
(08:49):
And I think the final part of it, which is the most common, I
will say, is that the programpromotion, or the promotion of
your referral program, is veryinconsistent.
There is not a lot ofrepetition around whether or not
you have one, if it isopen-ended, if it is fixed, is
it just for this week?
And so what happens is thatthese referral programs tend to
(09:14):
just sort of sit in thebackground, very, very, very
quietly right, and what I would,I encourage you to do, is to
bring it to the forefront ofyour strategy, because that
referral program is a promotion,just like perhaps your Black
Friday promotion is, and justthink about how much emphasis
(09:37):
and attention you put on thatBlack Friday promotion.
Right?
And every promotion needsmarketing, and that means a
marketing message that is easyto understand and something that
feels exciting and regular,repeated exposure that makes it
memorable to your clients, right?
So one of the very first thingsthat Claire did differently was
(10:00):
that she actually startedtalking about her referral
program, right, like she talkedabout her newest teacher or her
newest class or you know, thatfavorite smoothie that she
started making recently.
And with that energy and thatintention and that confidence,
guess what happened?
People started paying attentionand slowly but surely, she
(10:22):
started to see a little bit of ashift happening with the types
of and slowly but surely, shestarted to see a little bit of a
shift happening with the typesof clients, the new clients that
were coming in the door.
Okay, so it's about the energyA lot of it is about the energy
that you put into this program.
Now, the second part of thisthat I get asked about is okay.
So how much of a discountshould I give or how much should
I reward my clients?
(10:43):
And you know, I think thatthere's a lot of there's an old
school mentality around this andthe old school way of doing
things in that you know, I willgive you my honest opinion about
is was that, you know, if aclient came, if a new client
came in, and they mentioned amember's name and that new
(11:05):
client went through the introoffer and then went on to buy, I
say, a 10-pack of classes, onlyafter that sort of second
purchase, that 10-pack purchase,that larger purchase, did your
member get any sort of a reward.
And typically, typically, theapproach was that if you
(11:27):
promoted that your members get areward of some sort maybe it's
a free session or free class ora discount off of their next
package that that would beenough for this referral program
to be successful and togenerate all these new leads.
And the reality is is that youknow that's not my favorite
approach, can you tell?
(11:49):
Because your members are notpaid on commission to be your
salespeople.
And so, while that might feellike an easy, quick way to make
sure your members are perhapsbringing you their clients, the
reality is that because it's notthat compelling, because it is
not promoted frequently, becauseit just falls off of the radar
(12:11):
of your clients, they're noteven aware that that's even what
your referral program may be.
But even beyond that, and if wesort of evolve that strategy and
make it a little moresophisticated and build it into
what should be a really thoroughcustomer journey that leads
people into your business,guides them into your business,
pulls them into your businessand then leads them towards a
(12:33):
next sale, it is really on youas the business owner and the
studio owner to create thatexperience such that it is high
converting.
And so if we cannot only rewardour members for being so
generous and thoughtful aboutbringing their clients in, if we
are not also doing our bit tosupport that experience as well,
(12:54):
right, and this is why thereally big reason why
traditional programs that looklike that tend to fail is
because it is down to the the.
The reason they client willconvert is not because their
friend told them to come, it'sbecause of the experience that
they're going to have in yourstudio.
So we want to make sure that weare giving an acknowledgement
(13:17):
to your members for simplybringing someone to the door
right, and anyone who comes tothe door that is a referral is
going to be a much warmer leadthan someone who is not.
And that means that we want tobe perhaps a little bit more
thoughtful about how we rewardor and incentivize our members
to bring their friends, becausethey're not just transactional
(13:39):
for your clients.
There's more to it than thatthey're making a recommendation.
It than that they're making arecommendation.
And so they want to make arecommendation because they not
just love what you have done forthem, but because they want.
They want to share you withothers, because they just think
you guys are the best.
Right.
And you know, we see in somebusinesses that referral
(14:00):
programs create incentive.
But for the most part, yourclients are going to refer
because they feel they want torefer, because they want to feel
like they're being helpful totheir friends, they want to feel
like they want to be generousto them with helping them to
feel better and experience whatthey are experiencing as well.
So what we found is thatreferrals aren't just about the
(14:22):
discounts for your members.
It's also about that identityright.
And so Claire also reframed herapproach to tap into that sort
of emotional part of it and shebuilt out her client experience
and she built out the culture ofcommunity within her studio so
that she was able to reward hertop referrers and she made them
(14:46):
feel extra special in lots ofdifferent ways.
Now Claire decided to give themsort of these special perks in
her studio, right, she calledthem sort of like the insiders
and they got early access toworkshops and so on.
But you can have lots ofdifferent.
There are lots of differentways that you can show
(15:07):
appreciation to your clients forbringing in a friend, and it
doesn't just have to mean $20off their next package.
And what we find is that themore that you can show that
appreciation to them in morethan just a monetary discount,
the better your the referralswill be, the stronger they will
be as leads into your businessand the deeper the relationship
will be.
The stronger they will be asleads into your business and the
(15:27):
deeper the relationship will bewith your clients.
Now, what we often find too isthat these referral programs
because there are these multiplepurchases that might be
required before your member getspaid and all this stuff gets
really complicated.
No one remembers, no one cares.
We want to make it reallysimple for people to refer a
(15:48):
friend.
And this is where it all reallyclicked for Claire.
She realized that even whenclients wanted to refer, it was
just too much work, right, andthey didn't know what to say,
how to explain the pricing.
They weren't sure if they weregetting a special discount or
not, or even how they shouldbook their friend in for a trial
, and if they came with a guestpass or not.
(16:09):
So clear, just made it simple.
Okay, and this is really, Ithink, depending on the way that
you set up your business, yourbusiness model, what you offer
in your studio, but also thesoftware that you have available
to you, there are lots ofdifferent ways that you can
really simplify your referralprogram and you want it to be as
transparent and as simple aspossible, right, and so it can
(16:33):
just be saying the name ofanother member on the intake
form.
It can be sharing a one-click,clickable, shareable link.
It can perhaps a buddy pass ora guest pass that you give to
your members to share with their, their friends.
So there's a lot of differentways, but you do want to make it
(16:56):
as simple as possible, becausereferrals should really be
completely frictionless, right?
Like you know, imagine youwanted to share, like the
playlist, with your friends.
You can just click that littlebutton that says share.
If you want to share that, youknow that Amazon purchase that
your friend said, hey, where'dyou get that from?
I need some of those.
(17:16):
You go to Amazon and you clickshare.
You want to make it as simpleas that, because the world that
we're living in today, that'skind of what's expected right
Now.
What really makes the biggestdifference in the studios like
Clear Studio is that we stopseeing referrals like a one-off
event and instead start makingthem part of the culture.
(17:39):
So you integrate the idea ofbringing in friends throughout
the customer journey as part ofperhaps a sort of a key pillar
of your community.
Maybe you start inviting yourmembers in the early days of
their journey in your studio tobring in their friends.
Maybe you host eventsspecifically for your members to
(18:02):
bring their friends.
Maybe you celebrate when yourmembers bring in their friends
just happen very sporadically,occasionally and just out of
luck or hope.
They happen because you arecreating energy within your
studio that supports that typeof activity.
Right, and you know what I seetime and time again in the world
(18:26):
that we are in today and howsort of our behavior we're
seeing is shifting when it comesto movement and boutique
fitness is that people like tomove with their friends.
This is an activity, a sharedactivity, a shared experience
that people love to share withtheir friends, and so the more
that you can create that culturewhere that is something that
happens very organically, thatyou encourage in your studio,
(18:48):
then the more you will see thathappen.
And so this isn't just areferral program that sits on a
dusty shelf somewhere quietlywaiting.
This is something that you'rebeing re-proactive about in your
studio.
And so what Claire found was,when she made these shifts and
made these changes and investedin the community that she had,
(19:12):
that they became her bestmarketing asset, right?
And so what would it look likefor you if you made some of
these changes and your studiowas a community of friends, of
friends, of friends and friendswho meet the friends of their
other friends, who all come toyour studio, and how wonderful
that would be for the energy andthe atmosphere within the four
(19:37):
walls of your studio space.
So just a quick recap Referralsdon't happen just because
people are happy.
They happen when there's asystem in place.
Truly, it is about having asystem and the majority of the
programs fail or don't workbecause they're inconsistent,
(19:59):
they're vague, maybe they're alittle bit complicated and maybe
they're just not aware.
Maybe people are just unawarethat they even exist.
And what I have found is thatthese referral strategies, the
referrals that are really strong, especially in boutique fitness
studios, that there are onesthat are built around identity
(20:21):
and emotion and collaborationand belonging, not just, you
know, a quick $20 off the nextclass pack, right.
And you want to make sure thatthat process for a member to
refer a friend is completelyfrictionless.
So you want to make it simple,always wins, and that you want
to make sure that that processfor a member to refer a friend
is completely frictionless.
So you want to make it simple,always wins, and that you want
to make it as easy as possiblefor a client to make a referral,
(20:43):
to bring a friend in, right,and finally, that growth happens
, truly happens.
Great clients will come in thedoor when those referrals and
this referral activity becomes apart of your culture, not
something that sort of sitsbehind the scenes, like I said,
on that dusty shelf.
(21:04):
So maybe it's time to make somechanges and if you want a little
bit more help designing a highconverting, heart-centered
referral strategy that feelsreally aligned with your brand
and the way that you have builtyour business.
That's exactly what we diveinto inside of Thrive.
(21:24):
Like I said, each and everyweek we have conversations about
topics just like this to helpyou to make these improvements
to your business, and oftenthey're simple but very
effective changes that reallymake the biggest difference.
So I hope this was helpful toyou.
If you are looking to build andgrow a boutique fitness studio
(21:48):
business, remember your happiestclients are already rooting for
you.
You just need to give them thetools and the encouragement to
spread the word.
Until next time, keep leadingwith purpose and growing your
studio with intention, andperhaps a couple more referrals.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
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
(22:35):
got this.
Thanks again for joining metoday and have a wonderful rest
of your day.
Have you ever looked around the studio and seen all
these happy, smiling faces andthought these clients just love
it here, but why aren't theybringing more of their friends?
I know you've got loyal members.
I know you've got some ravingfans.
I know you've got clients thatshow up every single week, yet
maybe referrals are inconsistentor even non-existent.
(00:20):
And the truth is what I've seen, having coached for decades, is
that happy clients doesn'tnecessarily equal growth, unless
you have a little bit more toyour referral program than hope.
So in this episode we'reunpacking why it is that many
(00:41):
boutique fitness studiosstruggle to really generate very
consistent leads from word ofmouth marketing and how to
create a strategy that reallysupports increasing brand
awareness through referrals.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Well, hi there, I'm Saren Glanfield.
I'm a business and marketingstrategist just for boutique
fitness studio owners like you.
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, you're
in the right place.
All you need are a few keystrategies, the right mindset
and some support along the way.
Join me as I share the reallife insights that will help you
(01:24):
grow a sustainable andprofitable studio.
This is the Pilates BusinessPodcast.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Welcome back to the Pilates Business Podcast.
I'm Saren Glanfield and I'm sothrilled that you're here with
me today.
I just hit end call on myweekly live call with my Thrive
group and, as usual, we have avery healthy conversation about
all sorts of different things.
But I wanted to hop on here andtalk to you about one thing
(01:53):
that does come up really very,very regularly monthly at least
and that is referral programsand referral strategies.
And I know that you know aswell as I know that we love word
of mouth marketing.
I think it is the best type ofmarketing.
It means so much to you butalso means that you're probably
(02:14):
getting people in the door whoare already ready to say yes, to
sign up and to dive in and getgoing and commit, and we love
that.
They're the best kind ofclients.
They're enthusiastic, they areenergized, they are ready to
commit to one or two or eventhree classes or sessions a week
, and that's because they'veheard great things about you
(02:35):
from their friend.
That's because their friend hasprobably shared some insight
with them about what happens inthe studio or even some of the
things that they haveexperienced as being your client
, some of the things that theyhave enjoyed about being your
client.
That is probably rich withemotion and feeling and detail,
right.
And so one of the things thatcomes up often in our calls is
(02:58):
okay, I know my clients love meand when I get referrals they're
the best kind of people to getin the door.
So how do I get more of them?
And maybe the next kind of partof this is why aren't more of
my clients referring theirfriends?
Why aren't they bringing themin and I get it?
It probably feels like itshould be happening.
Naturally, you've createdsomething wonderful and magical
(03:21):
inside of your studio.
You see it every day.
You've got happy, loyal clients, and so you're probably
wondering shouldn't thatreferral program just kind of
take care of itself?
And the reality is, is that?
No, not without intention, andthe truth is that you know this
might sting a little, you guys.
So you know, sorry, butreferrals just don't happen
(03:43):
because people are happy.
They don't just happen becausepeople are happy.
They happen because there's aclear process and clear
intention behind that referralstrategy that makes it easy and
exciting and rewarding for yourclients to share what they love
about your studio with theirfriends.
(04:04):
So I'm going to take you on alittle bit of a journey today.
I wanted to share with you astory about a studio owner that
I have been working withrecently.
We're going to call her Claire,because I'm not actually
working with any studio ownerscalled Claire right now, and I
wanted to share this story withyou without revealing the studio
owner themselves in casethey're listening, because you
(04:24):
probably are.
But this studio owner, um,wonderful, amazing, ambitious,
lovely human, so much passionfor what they do, has a
fantastic, solid business andthey have a wait list for many
of their classes, has a reallysolid community that is warm and
(04:45):
just shows up right with thebest of intentions, but there's
not a steady stream of referrals.
Those clients are sort ofkeeping the studio to themselves
a little bit, and so you know,claire came into one of our
sessions recently and said youknow, I don't know why my
clients aren't bringing me,their friends.
(05:05):
No one's referring anyone to meright now and I know this is a
good opportunity.
There will be a goodopportunity for growth for me if
I could figure out how to makeit work.
And the reality is is thatClaire did have a referral
program, right, she hadmentioned it here and there and
she was wondering, you knowreally why that wasn't getting
(05:26):
referrals, is the question.
And what was happening was thatshe was doing something, but
not consistently orstrategically an email here and
(05:46):
there, you know a little line inthe newsletter, right, maybe
she would mention every now andagain and very sporadically,
that you know that someone couldbring a friend often to you
know, perhaps a new client earlyon in their, you know,
experience.
And so it was a very sort ofhaphazard and program, or if you
could even call it that, andwithout a lot of intention
behind it and also perhaps a bitlacking some transparency about
(06:11):
what that referral programreally is.
And this might feel familiar tomany of you, because I find
that this is very, very common,which is one of the reasons I
wanted to talk about it today.
But the reality is is is thatthere's a bit of a shift that
happens when we kind of come tothe realization that referrals
don't happen because yourclients are happy.
(06:32):
They happen because you'vecreated a system to make them
happy.
Okay, sorry, a system to makethem happen.
Okay, I just also recorded apodcast, you guys, about why you
should build your schedulearound your energy and the
afternoons clearly are not thebest time for me to record a
podcast.
(06:54):
But, coming back to full circle,referrals happen because you've
built a system to make themhappen.
And the reality is your clientscertainly want to refer to you,
they love you, they do want torefer you to their friends, but
if there's no plan, there's noprompting them and there's no
encouragement, there's noreminder, it probably just won't
(07:16):
happen.
And it's not because there'sanything you're doing wrong in
their experience.
It's just that when they leaveyour studio they're thinking
about what else they have ontheir to-do list and you know
referring their friends to yourstudio probably isn't that top
of that list.
So the question I have for you,as you're listening here today,
is are you relying on hope toget referrals on just the TLC
(07:41):
from your clients, or do youhave a process in place?
And the reality is is that hopeis not a scalable solution.
It's not a strategy, but havinga system is, and so let's talk
a little bit about what thatlooks like Now.
When Claire worked a little biton her referral program
(08:03):
Initially, like I mentioned, itwas not that successful and most
programs fail.
Most referral programs failbecause of three things they're
not clear, in that they're notreally clear about what the
reward is, if there is one, whatthe incentive is if there is
(08:25):
one, how a member should refer afriend.
So there's just no clarityaround what it is that your
referral program actually is.
The second reason is thatthey're not typically very
compelling.
So why should your member, whyshould a client care about
making a referral to you?
What is it?
What is it that isn't is isencouraging them to do that.
(08:49):
And I think the final part of it, which is the most common, I
will say, is that the programpromotion, or the promotion of
your referral program, is veryinconsistent.
There is not a lot ofrepetition around whether or not
you have one, if it isopen-ended, if it is fixed, is
it just for this week?
And so what happens is thatthese referral programs tend to
(09:14):
just sort of sit in thebackground, very, very, very
quietly right, and what I would,I encourage you to do, is to
bring it to the forefront ofyour strategy, because that
referral program is a promotion,just like perhaps your Black
Friday promotion is, and justthink about how much emphasis
(09:37):
and attention you put on thatBlack Friday promotion.
Right?
And every promotion needsmarketing, and that means a
marketing message that is easyto understand and something that
feels exciting and regular,repeated exposure that makes it
memorable to your clients, right?
So one of the very first thingsthat Claire did differently was
(10:00):
that she actually startedtalking about her referral
program, right, like she talkedabout her newest teacher or her
newest class or you know, thatfavorite smoothie that she
started making recently.
And with that energy and thatintention and that confidence,
guess what happened?
People started paying attentionand slowly but surely, she
(10:22):
started to see a little bit of ashift happening with the types
of and slowly but surely, shestarted to see a little bit of a
shift happening with the typesof clients, the new clients that
were coming in the door.
Okay, so it's about the energyA lot of it is about the energy
that you put into this program.
Now, the second part of thisthat I get asked about is okay.
So how much of a discountshould I give or how much should
I reward my clients?
(10:43):
And you know, I think thatthere's a lot of there's an old
school mentality around this andthe old school way of doing
things in that you know, I willgive you my honest opinion about
is was that, you know, if aclient came, if a new client
came in, and they mentioned amember's name and that new
(11:05):
client went through the introoffer and then went on to buy, I
say, a 10-pack of classes, onlyafter that sort of second
purchase, that 10-pack purchase,that larger purchase, did your
member get any sort of a reward.
And typically, typically, theapproach was that if you
(11:27):
promoted that your members get areward of some sort maybe it's
a free session or free class ora discount off of their next
package that that would beenough for this referral program
to be successful and togenerate all these new leads.
And the reality is is that youknow that's not my favorite
approach, can you tell?
(11:49):
Because your members are notpaid on commission to be your
salespeople.
And so, while that might feellike an easy, quick way to make
sure your members are perhapsbringing you their clients, the
reality is that because it's notthat compelling, because it is
not promoted frequently, becauseit just falls off of the radar
(12:11):
of your clients, they're noteven aware that that's even what
your referral program may be.
But even beyond that, and if wesort of evolve that strategy and
make it a little moresophisticated and build it into
what should be a really thoroughcustomer journey that leads
people into your business,guides them into your business,
pulls them into your businessand then leads them towards a
(12:33):
next sale, it is really on youas the business owner and the
studio owner to create thatexperience such that it is high
converting.
And so if we cannot only rewardour members for being so
generous and thoughtful aboutbringing their clients in, if we
are not also doing our bit tosupport that experience as well,
(12:54):
right, and this is why thereally big reason why
traditional programs that looklike that tend to fail is
because it is down to the the.
The reason they client willconvert is not because their
friend told them to come, it'sbecause of the experience that
they're going to have in yourstudio.
So we want to make sure that weare giving an acknowledgement
(13:17):
to your members for simplybringing someone to the door
right, and anyone who comes tothe door that is a referral is
going to be a much warmer leadthan someone who is not.
And that means that we want tobe perhaps a little bit more
thoughtful about how we rewardor and incentivize our members
to bring their friends, becausethey're not just transactional
(13:39):
for your clients.
There's more to it than thatthey're making a recommendation.
It than that they're making arecommendation.
And so they want to make arecommendation because they not
just love what you have done forthem, but because they want.
They want to share you withothers, because they just think
you guys are the best.
Right.
And you know, we see in somebusinesses that referral
(14:00):
programs create incentive.
But for the most part, yourclients are going to refer
because they feel they want torefer, because they want to feel
like they're being helpful totheir friends, they want to feel
like they want to be generousto them with helping them to
feel better and experience whatthey are experiencing as well.
So what we found is thatreferrals aren't just about the
(14:22):
discounts for your members.
It's also about that identityright.
And so Claire also reframed herapproach to tap into that sort
of emotional part of it and shebuilt out her client experience
and she built out the culture ofcommunity within her studio so
that she was able to reward hertop referrers and she made them
(14:46):
feel extra special in lots ofdifferent ways.
Now Claire decided to give themsort of these special perks in
her studio, right, she calledthem sort of like the insiders
and they got early access toworkshops and so on.
But you can have lots ofdifferent.
There are lots of differentways that you can show
(15:07):
appreciation to your clients forbringing in a friend, and it
doesn't just have to mean $20off their next package.
And what we find is that themore that you can show that
appreciation to them in morethan just a monetary discount,
the better your the referralswill be, the stronger they will
be as leads into your businessand the deeper the relationship
will be.
The stronger they will be asleads into your business and the
(15:27):
deeper the relationship will bewith your clients.
Now, what we often find too isthat these referral programs
because there are these multiplepurchases that might be
required before your member getspaid and all this stuff gets
really complicated.
No one remembers, no one cares.
We want to make it reallysimple for people to refer a
(15:48):
friend.
And this is where it all reallyclicked for Claire.
She realized that even whenclients wanted to refer, it was
just too much work, right, andthey didn't know what to say,
how to explain the pricing.
They weren't sure if they weregetting a special discount or
not, or even how they shouldbook their friend in for a trial
, and if they came with a guestpass or not.
(16:09):
So clear, just made it simple.
Okay, and this is really, Ithink, depending on the way that
you set up your business, yourbusiness model, what you offer
in your studio, but also thesoftware that you have available
to you, there are lots ofdifferent ways that you can
really simplify your referralprogram and you want it to be as
transparent and as simple aspossible, right, and so it can
(16:33):
just be saying the name ofanother member on the intake
form.
It can be sharing a one-click,clickable, shareable link.
It can perhaps a buddy pass ora guest pass that you give to
your members to share with their, their friends.
So there's a lot of differentways, but you do want to make it
(16:56):
as simple as possible, becausereferrals should really be
completely frictionless, right?
Like you know, imagine youwanted to share, like the
playlist, with your friends.
You can just click that littlebutton that says share.
If you want to share that, youknow that Amazon purchase that
your friend said, hey, where'dyou get that from?
I need some of those.
(17:16):
You go to Amazon and you clickshare.
You want to make it as simpleas that, because the world that
we're living in today, that'skind of what's expected right
Now.
What really makes the biggestdifference in the studios like
Clear Studio is that we stopseeing referrals like a one-off
event and instead start makingthem part of the culture.
(17:39):
So you integrate the idea ofbringing in friends throughout
the customer journey as part ofperhaps a sort of a key pillar
of your community.
Maybe you start inviting yourmembers in the early days of
their journey in your studio tobring in their friends.
Maybe you host eventsspecifically for your members to
(18:02):
bring their friends.
Maybe you celebrate when yourmembers bring in their friends
just happen very sporadically,occasionally and just out of
luck or hope.
They happen because you arecreating energy within your
studio that supports that typeof activity.
Right, and you know what I seetime and time again in the world
(18:26):
that we are in today and howsort of our behavior we're
seeing is shifting when it comesto movement and boutique
fitness is that people like tomove with their friends.
This is an activity, a sharedactivity, a shared experience
that people love to share withtheir friends, and so the more
that you can create that culturewhere that is something that
happens very organically, thatyou encourage in your studio,
(18:48):
then the more you will see thathappen.
And so this isn't just areferral program that sits on a
dusty shelf somewhere quietlywaiting.
This is something that you'rebeing re-proactive about in your
studio.
And so what Claire found was,when she made these shifts and
made these changes and investedin the community that she had,
(19:12):
that they became her bestmarketing asset, right?
And so what would it look likefor you if you made some of
these changes and your studiowas a community of friends, of
friends, of friends and friendswho meet the friends of their
other friends, who all come toyour studio, and how wonderful
that would be for the energy andthe atmosphere within the four
(19:37):
walls of your studio space.
So just a quick recap Referralsdon't happen just because
people are happy.
They happen when there's asystem in place.
Truly, it is about having asystem and the majority of the
programs fail or don't workbecause they're inconsistent,
(19:59):
they're vague, maybe they're alittle bit complicated and maybe
they're just not aware.
Maybe people are just unawarethat they even exist.
And what I have found is thatthese referral strategies, the
referrals that are really strong, especially in boutique fitness
studios, that there are onesthat are built around identity
(20:21):
and emotion and collaborationand belonging, not just, you
know, a quick $20 off the nextclass pack, right.
And you want to make sure thatthat process for a member to
refer a friend is completelyfrictionless.
So you want to make it simple,always wins, and that you want
to make sure that that processfor a member to refer a friend
is completely frictionless.
So you want to make it simple,always wins, and that you want
to make it as easy as possiblefor a client to make a referral,
(20:43):
to bring a friend in, right,and finally, that growth happens
, truly happens.
Great clients will come in thedoor when those referrals and
this referral activity becomes apart of your culture, not
something that sort of sitsbehind the scenes, like I said,
on that dusty shelf.
(21:04):
So maybe it's time to make somechanges and if you want a little
bit more help designing a highconverting, heart-centered
referral strategy that feelsreally aligned with your brand
and the way that you have builtyour business.
That's exactly what we diveinto inside of Thrive.
(21:24):
Like I said, each and everyweek we have conversations about
topics just like this to helpyou to make these improvements
to your business, and oftenthey're simple but very
effective changes that reallymake the biggest difference.
So I hope this was helpful toyou.
If you are looking to build andgrow a boutique fitness studio
(21:48):
business, remember your happiestclients are already rooting for
you.
You just need to give them thetools and the encouragement to
spread the word.
Until next time, keep leadingwith purpose and growing your
studio with intention, andperhaps a couple more referrals.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
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
(22:35):
got this.
Thanks again for joining metoday and have a wonderful rest
of your day.
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