So, you find yourself thinking about changing your studio management software? Let’s take a moment to acknowledge what a big step that is. It’s a big deal. You’ve likely got money, energy, and many, many hours tied up in your latest software solution. However, if that software solution isn’t supporting you or your business the way it should, it might be time to make a change.

If you’re making the change, you might as well take this opportunity to start fresh and optimize your business practices. But how? Well, you can start by asking yourself 5 important questions. Here are the top 5 things you should consider as you make the transfer from one software to another: 

1. Are the business pricing options what you want them to be? 

If you want to switch something up, the best time to do that is usually during a move of some type. And so, if your pricing options aren’t exactly what you want them to be, now is the time to switch it up. Let’s break that down with some pricing updates that have benefitted fitDEGREE customers during their switch to our platform.

• One studio owner in Colorado realized that they offered too many packs and took the opportunity to slim down their offerings. This made it easier for their clients to purchase, and it supported more of a commitment from students in choosing  medium to larger packages. 
• One personal trainer in New York has taken the time to think about how she might be able to increase recurring revenue with memberships, which gives her more financial security. For her clients, booking for 6 to 12 months at a time relieves the strain of having to pay another bill each month. 
• A pilates studio owner in North Carolina has taken the chance to increase pricing now seeing that some services may have been drastically underpriced before. 
  

There are a million different ways you could possibly structure your offerings, so consider what is best for you and your business model. This is your chance to get creative, support your clients in new ways, and develop a more stable financial model for your business.

2. Do you want to make any alterations to your current training schedule?

Ok, so this one isn’t rocket science, nor is it meant to be. During this transition time, it’s always nice to do a bit of “housekeeping”.

Take a look at the classes you offer as well as the times you offer them. If a certain class isn’t as full as you like, now is the time to think more about why that might be and update your schedule as you see fit. 

• One fitDEGREE studio owner came to realize that their 9am wasn’t as regularly full as they wanted. Upon further investigation, they realized that online schooling times was affecting their clients’ ability to join. Making a simple switch to 11am when kids are settled in for the morning allowed for a significant increase in attendance and revenue. 

3. What discounts and special offers have been the most successful in the past?

If you like to take notes, write this one down, highlight it, star it, whatever you need to do in order to draw attention to this point! It’s incredibly important.

The longer a business is open, sales are offered and deals are made. Taking a detailed look back at what you have offered and what was successful is key to repeating that success. Make sure you understand any expiration periods applied. This is very important, not only during a software transfer, but all the time for your studio’s financial health. 

Having membership and new student specials will always have a strategic place for your operations and marketing, but offering too many lifetime discounts and options with no expiration will impact your bottom line. Knowing what you have done in the past will help you identify opportunities to leverage yourself and your best offerings on your new platform in the future without potentially recreating deals that were not financially lucrative before. 

• One phenomenal example of this from the fitFam is a barre studio in California that was able to see a New Student Special that was run a few years prior. They noticed that the special needed work! Some simple sprucing on price and the offer itself gave the studio owner a special that allowed her to be more profitable and gave her new clients a better experience all at the same time.
  

4. Would you like to do any client clean-up?

This is also a rather simple and straightforward tip, but it is also the one item we see done very rarely. Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with keeping an original master list of all contacts (in fact, we encourage it). 

However, if you have ever been in your existing account and thought “Wow, there are a lot of inactive clients in my account! I wish I had time to clean them up,” then this is that prime-time to do so. 

You’ll want to come to your new software provider with an account that feels updated, fresh and clean. 

5. What items are still on client accounts that would be owed to them during this transition from one platform to another?

This is an essential step for a successful software transfer because business owners don’t want to ever cause friction for their customers. Take a look at what clients have paid for in the past that should remain active, but also consider if those are pricing options you would like to maintain moving forward. 

Conclusion

We know that switching your fitness studio management software can be intimidating, so we commend you for taking the steps necessary to ensure your business thrives. Most of the fitDEGREE team has worked in fitness, which allows us to understand the very real stress behind this big move. We know that you’ve got to have your administrative processes “together” during any platform change. 

We have plenty of other tips and tricks that we share during our on-boarding process, so schedule a demo with the fitDEGREE team today and let’s help you run a thriving, profitable fitness business.