At a recent meeting with several Fit Body Boot Camp owners, the question of when to open a second Fit Body Boot Camp location was a hot topic. This was completely understandable, since everyone present had attained a comfortable level of success. By this I mean that they had a decent membership, they were paying the bills and making a decent income. But almost none of them were happy when I suggested that they really needed to consider whether they needed another location or just better boot camp marketing.

Here’s why.

There were basically two groups of FBBC owners thinking about opening new locations. One group was asking because they were making decent money and figured that opening a second location would double that income. The second group was asking because they weren’t making enough money and figured that a second location would double their income.

There are two problems with this thinking: 1) When you open a second location, you also double your expenses, roughly speaking. 2) When you open a second location, you potentially double the amount of time you spend running your business.

So I asked the group these two questions:

First: Have you absolutely outgrown your first location? In other words, are you full to capacity, taking care of as many clients as you can with the space and staff you have?

Second: Have you completely maxed out the income potential of your present location?

Every single one of the boot camp owners considering opening a second location answered “No” to at least one of those questions. None of them were all that happy when I told them that, in this case, what they really needed was more and better boot camp marketing, better sales and closing strategies and maybe to explore opening up other streams of income instead of opening another location.

If you’re not struggling to squeeze in more trainers and more sessions and more new clients, then you probably aren’t ready to expand. The word “expand” indicates that you’ve grown to the point where you can’t function well in your current space.

Obviously, the Fit Body Boot Camp franchise is designed to be replicated over and over again, and its design (including operational systems) is what makes it so ideal for multiple locations, because the running of the business is so streamlined. So, I’m not at all discouraging people from opening two, three or five locations. When the time and the reason are right.

The time is right when your boot camp marketing is on point, but it’s doing so well that you can’t accommodate new clients or more sessions. The time is right when the first location is running so seamlessly and staffed with such great people that it’s practically running itself, leaving you free to focus on another location.

The reason is right when a second location lines up with your chosen lifestyle, your other commitments and your goals. The reason is right when a killer space opens up in an underserved neighborhood at a great price.

But if your motivation in opening a second location is just to increase your income, you need to look at making more money where you are right now.

If you take that route, you haven’t incurred any new expenses or spent much more time at work, but you’ve increased your income, perhaps dramatically.

So before you start looking at space in that cool downtown warehouse……..

……make sure you’re making the most of your Facebook marketing potential, special promotions and challenges and outreach to other businesses in your community.

……work on closing more prospects and selling them bigger-ticket programs. If your conversion rate is low, learn how to be a better closer and teach your staff to do the same.

…….think about creating your own fitness information products, which will create residual income online and/or help you to bring in more new clients.

THEN, when you’re running out of space for your clients and staff and that great rental space comes up in that awesome neighborhood, you’ll have the funds, the time and the freedom to go for it.

This entry was posted on July 31, 2014 at 5:35 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted in Boot Camp Marketing, Boot Camp Strategies, Fitness Business by Steve Hochman | No Comments Yet