I've had a number of conversations with people opening new yoga studios lately, and one of the things I talk about often is the power and importance of recurring revenue. But I also talk about how there's an easy way to generate recurring revenue before you even open your studio.
One of the most powerful features we offer with Tula is our payment forms, and there's an important and valuable by-product of this feature that allows you to line up members for your new yoga studio, without charging your customers until opening day.
We always recommend that you start marketing your new studio as soon as possible.
If you've signed a lease, you should be handing out flyers at local restaurants, going to farmers markets (if that's an option) and generally spreading the word in every way you can. The trouble is, if you're not open yet, you don't really have anything to sell yet either.
What you can do however, is provide people with the option of purchasing early-bird discount memberships. Purchase a membership before the doors open, you can let them know, and pay the discounted price for as long as your a member. This is a great way to both build loyalty for your studio, *and* reward your very earliest supporters for as long as they're a member. It's a win-win for everyone.
If a full price membership is $129/mo, maybe offer an early-bird membership for $99. If full price is $99, maybe offer a discount membership for $85.
The idea is that in exchange for a small discount, you're getting people to commit to your new studio before the doors are even open. Importantly though, most people don't want to get charged until you have actually opened your doors. This is where our payment forms come in.
Because a student's credit card is not actually charged until you do the payment matching, what you can do with Tula is your new students fill out the payment form, but you simply don't match the payment until opening day. Doing this stores the information about the purchase, including the credit card, but it doesn't actually conduct the charge until later when you match the payment.
The result is your students can make a commitment to you early on, they don't get charged until your doors open, and on opening day you log some very real revenue and an kick things off with an initial set of committed customers.