Don't Use Auto Pay! · High Intensity Business (Free)

Don't Use Auto Pay!

This seems to be a pretty big topic so I thought I would weigh in.

Just for the record, I did not use auto pay for my studio that generated an average of $1.2 million per year. I personally did an average of 130 sessions per week and my trainers filled in the balance of the schedule totaling over 300 sessions per week. With all of this, I did not use auto pay and we sold session packages only. Our session packages were four and eight sessions for once or twice per week workouts. That's it.

First of all, let me vent... I see people doing 20 sessions or less talking about using auto pay. In my opinion this is ridiculous. This totals 10 hours of work per week and you don't have 30 minutes for accounting chores?? I was able to track over 300 sessions per week and usually spent 30 minutes each evening for billing and recording. It was the best time of the day for me. The next morning I got to see this massive deposit in my account. What a great way to start the next day!

So now that you know my history let me give you the reasons I did not use auto pay.

First, I did not want to entertain the idea of any type of discount for a “monthly membership” type of payment plan.

Next, when trainers would call in sick or take vacation it would create quite a bit of stress and pressure to cover the sessions not to mention the complaining from the clients on how they only want to work with their individual trainer, etc. I had no patience for this.

Most significant for me was that I used my session packages as a great selling tool. I would consistently advertise that this was a private studio with exceptional customer service and we did not have ongoing memberships (or auto pay) like other gyms. We were anti-gym and this was just another way of showing it. The session packages are basically only a month's worth of training with a six week expiration date and a 24 hour cancellation policy. I can go on, but you get the idea.

Now let me tell you where auto pay is a great idea.

If you are a franchise with multiple locations then auto pay is the only way to go.

You are tracking members across multiple locations and this is a great way to keep an eye on your money. It's also a great option if your facility is doing well over 300 sessions per week with multiple trainers who rotate through the clients so no one trainer is locked into an individual client. This type of facility is one where the owner is not doing the bulk of the sessions or any sessions at all.

For example, if I wanted to take my studio to the next level and not do any of the sessions I would have switched to an auto pay plan, increased the amount of trainers and rotated them through the clients. This way I can track my money and the trainers would have no contact with any type of payments while the client is getting to experience multiple trainers each month.

So, where I can see great value from auto pay in certain situations, I do not think it is a great idea for individuals, small studios and those with only one or two employees especially when you're starting out and building your business. In the building phase, session packages are the way to go.

Just my two cents. Thank you for reading this.

2 comments