As a business owner, there are a lot of things you must manage to keep operations running and your BJJ business growing.
But there are 5 mistakes BJJ gym owners consistently make that hold their gym back from thriving.
And none of them have to do with running classes, teaching jiu-jitsu, or students winning medals at competitions.
These are proven business tactics that any small business needs to continually grow year after year.
Get more leads, retain more members, and grow revenue by overcoming these 5 biggest mistakes.
Not Running Paid Ads
Every serious business is running paid ads on Google, Youtube, Facebook, or Instagram, and if your business is not, you're losing to your competition.
Never before in history have you had the ability to reach exactly the type of client you want like today. Formerly, you had to run ads in local newspapers, send mailers to entire towns, or pay for expensive radio or tv commercials.
These things weren’t always effective, as they were shown to everyone, not just your target market.
And there was no way of accurately tracking results from your ad spend - it was the spray and pray method.
With digital paid ads, you can target precisely who you want, and only spend money on people you want to receive your message.
You can also see exactly how effective your ads are, making your ad spend much more valuable.
Every gym should be running paid ads to get new leads.
Not creating consistent content.
If you don’t want to spend money on paid ads you can create organic content. But in today’s hyper-competitive online world, I don’t recommend leaning only on organic social media.
The likelihood of your content being seen by a local target prospect is very low, which is why paid ads are the way to go.
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t create organic content. Organic content is used to build a digital ecosystem for your gym. You can use content for your paid ads, or as part of a funnel for when someone clicks on your paid ads.
Chances are, after someone clicks on an ad they will then check out your page. If there is an archive of interesting content showcasing your gym, with testimonials and people improving their lives, it gives your gym credibility, and they will then likely take action on your paid.
Organic content can also be used to retain current members. You can use it in newsletters to keep members engaged, or blog articles to build SEO to rank higher in search results.
The biggest mistake however, is not being consistent with content.
You must create content every week to remain relevant in today’s nonstop social world.
Try to post every day and create newsletter content at least once per month.
No retention tools.
If leads are the oxygen to your school, your current members are the lifeblood that keeps it going. However, many gyms have nothing in place to retain members. They assume simply by operating and running classes that students will remain.
Now, BJJ does have some inherent retention qualities that a typical fitness gym doesn’t. The belts are built in retention mechanisms that act as milestones to keep students motivated and consistent.
But new belts aren’t enough.
You must have systems in place to retain members. Things like social events every 6-8 weeks, regular review check-ins, especially during the first year of new memberships, as well as regular testing or promotions to keep students on track.
But possibly the most important thing is a system to track members who are falling through the cracks and not staying consistent.
A decline in attendance is the the biggest indicator that a member will cancel.
Which brings us to the next mistake…
Not tracking important metrics.
There’s a saying in business, you can’t manage what you don’t measure. Meaning, you can’t fix your retention problem if you don’t know you have one.
Attendance tracking is just one of the important things to track, but there are several key performance indicators you need to keep an eye on.
There are lead metrics, current member metrics, and revenue metrics you should track every month. Things like conversion rate, retention rate, average revenue per member, and growth rate are all important numbers you should know about your gym.
Knowing these numbers will give you a chance to improve them, but it starts with tracking them first.
Make it a habit to track metrics every day, and do a month-end review every 4 weeks to strategize and make changes to grow your gym.
No automation.
Finally, very few gym owners are using automation to make all of the above easier for themselves. We have incredible technology today that can help reduce the stress of managing a business.
Email automation is the first place to start, as it will help with lead generation and nurture, as well as retention without you having to do a thing.
Automate a welcome sequence to go out immediately to new leads, as well as retention emails to current members, including referral and testimonial requests.
You can also automate your organic content to be scheduled to post. This way you can batch create it, then schedule it to post at regular intervals so you don’t have to be on social media all the time.
With AI, the possibilities will literally be endless, so start taking advantage now to make life easier and keep up with modern business.
Final Thoughts
On top of teaching excellent jiu-jitsu, getting students to make progress, and operating a functional facility, you must not commit the above mistakes if you want to grow as a Jiu Jitsu school.
Most of the things mentioned work together. The content drives the paid ads and helps with retention, which can all be automated, and should be tracked each month. This ecosystem is what will take your gym to the next level.
Make it a regular part of your routine to create content, retain members, and track metrics. The paid ads will amplify your message, and automation will lighten the load for you.
Putting systems like this in place is how to run and grow a profitable Jiu Jitsu gym.
If you need help with any of the above, book a call.
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