How Bodied Fitness Club sold memberships before it opened

Most new gym owners spend the months before opening on the build out. Nic Casaula spent them selling.

‍

Casaula, manager and coach at Bodied Fitness Club in New York, NY, ran a brand awareness campaign through the summer of 2023 using PushPress Core and Grow, with a September opening date in front of him.

‍

By the time the doors opened he had sold 26 six-month memberships and 64 one-week trials. A couple of months later the gym had more than 50 members and a team of 11 coaches.

‍

The Problem

‍

A gym with a lease and no members

‍

Opening day is the worst possible time to start looking for members. Casaula wanted people signed up and paid before the first class, which meant selling something that did not physically exist yet.

‍

One list, one window, one shot at the tone

‍

Another fitness business in the area had just closed and its members had lost their gym home. Casaula had a list of 450 prospects and wanted to reach them tactfully, as an offer of a new home rather than a poach.

‍

No front desk to take the money

‍

Interest in a gym that has not opened is worth nothing until someone can pay. Every sale had to close online, with no staff standing by.

‍

The Solution

‍

A three email campaign built in Grow

‍

In July, two months out, Casaula emailed his list of 450 prospects through PushPress Grow. The first email was straightforward: Bodied Fitness Club is opening in September, here are the owners and the coaching staff. A second went out in August and a third on opening day, promoting a one-week trial for $49 and a discounted six-month founders rate. Automation in Grow made the cadence easy to set up and then leave alone.

‍

Landing pages that closed the sale

‍

Every email linked to a PushPress landing page, so a prospect could read the offer and buy it in the same minute. That is how 26 memberships and 64 trials were sold before a class was ever run.

‍

Real time chat with a real person on the other end

‍

Automation handled the volume, but Casaula credits the website chat widget for the conversions that needed a human.

‍

"So much about selling health and wellness is about communication and acting when people come in off of their impulses. So being able to utilize Grow, and having those conversations pop up and being able to answer people in real time, is unbelievably helpful."

‍

He runs both at once on purpose, so more touch points go out automatically while every prospect still gets a specific message from him introducing himself.

‍

Train turning logged scores into accountability

‍

A brand new gym has no history to hold people to, so PushPress Train is doing community work as much as programming work.

‍

"The fact that people can keep track of their scores is such a huge thing. Not from the stance that people are hungry to keep track of how much weight they have lifted. But it allows them to feel like they're embedded in the community."

‍

Casaula says the effect is peer accountability. When members log a score they see who else was in class, and they notice when a name is missing the next morning.

‍

Appointments for the next revenue line

‍

Personal training and nutrition coaching are the next step, booked and paid through the Appointments feature in PushPress Core, promoted by email and text through Grow, and linked from social posts.

‍

"We can put the link to sign up and purchase a session, and everything gets handled without us having to physically be there. It allows us to generate more business, faster."

‍

Result

‍

26 six-month memberships and 64 one-week trials sold before opening

‍

The gym opened with paid members and a trial pipeline already in place, not an empty floor and a launch promotion.

‍

More than 50 members a couple of months in

‍

The pre-opening campaign carried into the first weeks of operation, and the gym now supports 11 coaches.

‍

App, programming and website live in under three months

‍

"My first call with PushPress was in the middle of June. And by September 5th, we had a fully-developed app with programming put in, and a fully developed website. That is very quick."

‍

Conclusion

‍

Bodied Fitness Club opened with members instead of hoping for them, because the selling started while the space was still being finished. Casaula also points to the guidance he got along the way, including a PushPress mentor who has been known to send him a Loom video at four in the morning.

‍

"Greg has been absolutely instrumental in helping us achieve the goals we have set out. If I didn't have someone to guide me through it, it wouldn't be possible."

‍

Ready to open with members already on the books? Book a demo and see what PushPress Core and Grow can do for your gym.