Why To Raise Your Rates In 2025 And How To Do It The Right Way

If you’ve been thinking about raising your rates, there is no better time than the start of the new year.

Many gym owners have been stuck charging pre-pandemic pricing out of fear of losing members or money.

But the truth is, the world has changed drastically over the last 5 years and chances are, you should raise your rates.

This needs to be done tactfully, however. You can’t just charge your members more without explanation or providing value.

Here’s why and how to raise your rates the best way possible in 2025.

Why You Should Raise Your Rates

Flat out, things are more expensive now. Everything costs more, from your business costs to your personal expenses. 

Big businesses have no problems raising rates for nearly everything, but small business owners balk at the idea until they’re stuck paying more and taking home less.

I personally believe jiu-jitsu is underpriced to begin with. If you account for the actual life transformation this martial art provides, I think people would pay double or more for something as valuable as that.

You are providing fitness, confidence, self-defense, and community for just a few hundred dollars a month. That covers 5 of the 7 basic needs of human beings. It’s almost invaluable.

But one of the biggest factors is that you can no longer attract good coaches and staff by offering pre-2020 pay rates. Rent is more expensive, utilities, maintenance costs, software services, and certainly payroll, are all more expensive and likely to keep climbing in 2025.

So if it’s been a while since you raised your rates, now is the time to do it.

How Much To Raise Your Rates

Raising your rates need to be strategic.

You need to raise them enough that you’ll actually notice the benefit. And enough to not need to raise them again for another 5 years.

Cut once, cut deep.

But if you raise them too much, and you’re out of range with your local market, members will leave and you won’t attract many new prospects.

I recommend a 10% increase.

10% of $180/mo is $18 per member. At 100 members that an extra $1800 per month or $21,600 per year. This number will barely make your students notice the hike, or put you out of range with your local market.

You can always go higher, but realize, you will lose members.

In fact, you will lose members any time you make a rate change, with about a 10% drop on average. But the 90% who stay will make up for the lost members.

How To Raise Your Rates The Right Way

Once you determine your rate increase, you must determine 2 things: what increase in value you will provide with the new rate and how you will deliver this to your membership.

Members will feel cheated if you raise rates and don’t deliver more value. You can explain that your rate increase will fund better or more community events, increases in staff pay to retain the best coaches, facility improvements, and the increase in costs over the last few years.

But you can’t just raise rates and leave things as they are. Use the money to improve your business.

Next, you have to deliver this directly to every member weeks before it happens so they aren’t blindsided by the increase.

Email is the best way to do it, however if you have a private Facebook group you can address it there as well. The most important thing is that all members are notified in advance.

[ If you want a premade email template that explains exactly why you’re raising your rates, just email me and I’ll send it over. ]

If you aren’t currently on biweekly billing, or every 2 weeks, I suggest using this time to switch to that frequency. Biweekly billing aligns your cash inflows with your outflows, as you likely pay employees twice per month.  

But it also makes each payment less for every member. Instead of $180 a month, they’ll see $90 every 2 weeks. With the new raise, it’ll be $99 every 2 weeks. They’ll barely notice the hike.

Final Thoughts

If you haven’t raised your rates in the last 3-5 years, you probably need to. 

The new year presents an excellent time to do so that doesn’t seem out of left field.

First, determine how much you will increase your rates.

Second, list out the reasons why you are raising your rates and how they will benefit your members.

Third, deliver it directly to each member weeks before the increase goes into effect.

When you do deliver it, be firm that you want all members to contact you, the owner, directly with any questions. Don’t allow your staff to handle any kickback, or allow gossip to spread within your gym.

Have an open door and welcome all member questions and concerns.

Ultimately, your gym will be in a better position heading into the last half of the 2020’s with a strategic rate hike.

If you need help with this, including the free Raise Your Rates email template, contact me here.