Franchisor Q&A (#1): Listen To Your Body

February 01, 2023

Investing in a gym or fitness franchise comes with considerably less risk than an independent operator. A fitness franchise offers key benefits such as:

A proven business model
Brand recognition
Existing customer base
Franchisee support system

Franchising will do the heavy lifting for you, freeing you to concentrate on what really matters; reaching your full potential, running your successful business and helping others achieve their fitness goals.

Listen To Your Body (LTYB) is a perfect example of this, with almost 20 years’ experience in the fitness industry and a model focused on providing an individualized experience through Group Personal Training and Group Training Zone.

Learn more about the Listen To Your Body franchise opportunity here>>>

In our Franchisor Q&A series, we take a look at why Listen to Your Body (LTYB) is the perfect opportunity for budding investors who are looking to get active in the gym and fitness sector. Check out the full interview below:

Why is your business a smart franchise investment for entrepreneurs?

LTYB has been established for almost two decades which gives our brand years of experience and knowledge, and in turn, help our Franchise owners run a thriving business. LTYB has a true differentiator in the fitness industry by delivering personalised workouts within a group session, allowing owners to attract the sedentary market who are often lost in the industry.

The model runs lean with one staff member at a time, the average break-even point is 110 members with many studios averaging 220 -280 unique members per month. These numbers are driving an average profit of 25%-27% consistently with high performers achieving gross profit of over 50%.

At LTYB HQ, we provide every system to thrive including programming, marketing, lead generation, elite sales process, proven systems and HQ Business Support team which delivers a high touch point support model. In fact, LTYBHQ has a Franchise Support Engagement KPI every week.

What do you look for in a potential franchisee?

People who are willing to follow systems and processes, have a strong work ethic and motivation and drive to succeed. Are willing and able to hustle and of course, available capital is important to launch.
LTYB has two types of owners:

Personal Trainers who are looking to step up.
Business minded people with a strong interest in fitness.

Lastly, great people! We connect with the average owner three times per week and many owners have been with us for 5-10 years, hence great people and great relationships makes franchising fun. (And great people are more successful in the fitness industry)

What does the initial training process look like for new franchisees?

Over the top, lol!

We have many modules to tick off through our platform LTYB Central including sales, session delivery, staff recruitment, marketing, people management and many other modules. We simply go through each module and ensure the franchisee in competent prior to open. We also run team training for the entire team in the lead up to the open day.

We have multiple HQ Staff involved in the Franchisee Induction process and use live studios for training purposes as well as our HQ office.

Our Franchisee Induction is executed at LTYBHQ in Melbourne, Via ZOOM for a component and onsite at our Franchisees Studio in the two weeks prior to launch with the entire team.

What ongoing support is provided to franchisees?

We have multiple layers of support; in fact, we believe this is our biggest strength as a brand.

We have a quarterly Business Health check which involves multiple audits and a Performance score based on company benchmarks. This is a half day onsite four times per year.
National Marketing Plan incl. assets briefs, and training to deliver the strategy.
Support delivering the Local Area Marketing plan (we also don’t charge a Marketing Fee)

We have a Programming team incl. one of the best in Australia, Mathew Inness who is the current Head of Performance at the Western Bulldogs in the AFL and two others that execute the program build on our HQ Master system.

We deliver all programs via tech Australia wide monthly with multiple levels to personalise.
We executed internal news and education 7-10 times per month.
Annual Conference- These are epic events with inspiring content, speakers and connection.
Support as required with special projects.
Strong support and training with the Pre-launch foundation memberships.
Studio launch support, we execute the 90+ check points to execute the open plan.
Lead Generation support through the website, LTYB branded APP and other mediums.
We have a support desk where owners submit tickets daily and have a support staff member monitoring Full time.
Group Discounts from all LTYB Suppliers
Discounted tickets to the Annual Conference
Upskilling and education.

Whatever is required to give our Franchisees to best chance to succeed.

How do you help franchisees achieve a work-life balance?

This is always a balance; it comes down to strategy and time management. We provide a weekly workflow document with all the tasks that need to be completed per week and on what day (these process talks to the operations manual).

The business model requires Head of Sales and a Head PT. Both roles have all the systems and training provided and replicable. In fact, our two top performers who are on track for $500K this FY with a Profit of $250K can work 15 hours per week in the business due to having staffing in roles.

The LTYB Model is fully systemised and have a branded app that members set up their members, book, pay and manage which means the admin component is very low. It is a paperless business.

What plans do you have for the franchise over the next few years?

We aim to open five franchises per year in the next two years, however there is some extra interest in the brand currently due to momentum and current studio profitability levels. Therefore, we will assess the extension of that number provided our HQ team can ensure the operations meet the growth.

We pride ourselves on ensuring we offer the best support to existing franchisees and new projects to open, hence currently five per year is our sweet spot for growth management.

I feel brands can get greedy with expansion and not have the training and resources into the operations team to handle the growth. LTYB are all about Franchisee Profitability and steady growth.