Run a gym · System 3 of 7 · The Pricing Engine
The Pricing Engine
The failure mode this prevents
Five years in, a gym's price list is an archaeological dig. Eleven live price points, a “mates rate” nobody remembers approving, a 2021 foundation rate that a third of the members still sit on, and a headline price that has not moved since opening because raising it always felt like next quarter's problem. The gym is busy. The gym is also, per member, earning less every year in real terms, and the owner cannot say what the average member actually pays. Busy and broke is a pricing failure, not a marketing failure.
The operating system
No market benchmarks appear anywhere in this system; every comparison is against numbers you enter.
Parameters you set
Your numbers, not benchmarks. Saved in this browser only — nothing you type here is sent anywhere.
The procedure
- Architecture, not accumulation. Every sellable membership must answer three questions in writing: who is it for, what does it include that the tier below does not, and why does it exist (acquisition, yield, or retention). A product that cannot answer all three gets killed or sunset. Hold the live count at
MAX_LIVE_PRICES; every new offer must name the one it replaces. - Legacy rates get a dated decision. For each grandfathered rate, decide once and write it down: honour indefinitely, migrate on a date with notice, or migrate at next contract event. “We'll deal with it later” is how a discount becomes a pension.
- Yield versus volume is chosen before every campaign, not discovered after. A discount campaign buys volume with yield; a price rise buys yield and risks volume. Neither is wrong, but each campaign brief must state which lever it pulls and what number it must move. If a promotion cannot name its lever, it does not run.
- The annual increase ritual. On
REVIEW_DATEevery year, run the worksheet below, decide the increase (including deciding on zero, on purpose, in writing), giveINCREASE_NOTICE, and communicate it plainly with the reason. A small regular increase members expect beats a large shock increase after four frozen years. Operator experience We hold this as a fixed annual calendar event so the decision gets made when we are calm, not when cash is tight. - Discounts are governed. One written floor, one named approver. The moment every staff member can improvise a price, your architecture is decoration.
Tool: the pricing-architecture worksheet
One row per price point currently in your system, live or legacy. The panel computes from your own rows only — no market benchmark appears anywhere. Saved in this browser, so your annual ritual can start from last year's sheet.
| Price point | Weekly $ | Still sellable | Members on it | Who it is for | Purpose | Decision | Sunset date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
What we could not verify, and what varies by gym
We publish no “average Australian gym membership price” here on purpose. Survey-based figures exist and are sourced and dated on our statistics page, but they average across formats from budget 24/7 to boutique studios and say nothing about what your gym, in your suburb, at your service level, should charge. Price elasticity in your member base is unknowable from the outside; the only honest way to learn it is your own increase history, which is another reason the annual ritual keeps records. Nothing here is financial advice; the worksheet arithmetic is only as good as the numbers you type in.
Boundary: mid-term changes are a contract and consumer-law question
Raising prices on members who are inside a fixed-term agreement is a contract and consumer-law question, not a spreadsheet question. Your agreement terms govern what you can change and when, and unfair contract terms rules apply to standard-form membership agreements. Before changing terms mid-term, check the ACCC and your state fair-trading body, and put your agreement in front of a lawyer. This system covers the discipline of deciding; the law covers what you may do.
Do this now
Email me this system
The Pricing Engine as a working document, with the architecture worksheet ready for your REVIEW_DATE. So it does not die in a browser tab.