Episode 331: Retention Is a System: How to Keep Clients Long-Term

What if the real problem in your business isn’t lead generation — it’s retention?

In this episode, Christa Gurka shares why retention is a system, not something that happens just because you care deeply about your clients. While many business owners pride themselves on delivering a great experience, Christa explains why relying on personal charm and hustle is not scalable — especially if you want a profitable, sustainable business.

She breaks down the business case for focusing on retention, including why retaining existing clients is far less expensive than acquiring new ones and how even a small increase in retention can dramatically improve profitability.

You’ll also learn Christa’s 4-stage retention framework, including:

1. The first visit – building trust, certainty, and clear next steps
2. Habit formation – reducing friction and making attendance part of a client’s routine
3. Loyalty and community – creating a stickier client experience through recognition and progress tracking
4. Advocacy – turning loyal clients into referral sources and raving fans

This episode is packed with practical examples, retention scripts, automated touchpoints, and re-engagement ideas you can immediately apply in your PT practice, Pilates studio, personal training business, or boutique wellness brand.

If you’ve been focused on getting more leads but ignoring the “leaky bucket” in your business, this conversation will help you rethink your systems and strengthen the client journey from day one.

Transcript

Speaker 0:52

Hey there everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Female Empowered Podcast. I'm your host, Christa Gurka and today's episode is entitled, retention is a System because we're talking about one of the most underrated profit levers you can pull in your business Drive profit and drive sustainability and drive utilization, whether that's in a physical therapy practice, a boutique fitness business, personal training, Pilates, yoga bar, hybrid, any of the above, right? So I wanna say something in the most loving way possible, but if your retention system is. Based on you being really, really good with people and you just being people really like me as a person, then. I am here to tell you, you don't really have a retention system. You have charm and charisma, and charm and charisma are not scalable. They're just not. They're gonna break. The minute that you get too busy, they're gonna break the minute that you hire other people to fill your role. The minute you go on vacation, the minute. Your admin quits and you have some team upheaval or restructuring. The minute you stop being the one that's texting and calling everyone back and being at the front desk all the time, Not scalable, and I'm gonna share some stats with you. some of you might know these stats already. I'm sure you've heard of them. If you know anything about marketing and retention, it's a big, big pillar of your marketing system. Retention. So according to the Harvard business. Review. Acquiring a new customer can cost you anywhere between seven and 25 times more than retaining a current customer. Okay, so basically the cost of constantly trying to get new people in the door is way higher than retaining the ones that are already buying from you. according to Forbes, increasing your retention by a mere 5%, can increase profits by 25%. Increasing your retention by as little as 5% can increase your profitability by 25% or even more. All right. According to the small business journal, 61% of small businesses say repeat buyers drive more than half of their revenue. So getting them in the door, but never forgetting that you wanna keep them in the door. So you gotta plug the leaky bucket buck. Plug the leaky bucket at the end. Alright, so what I'm hearing from a lot of people in the industry now, especially in some of our groups, is that they're getting leads in the door, but people aren't staying. Or they're getting people in the door, but their utilization isn't as great. And so one of the things that you really need to look at is. How many new people are coming in? That's a marketing metric, right? So that's gonna tell you how your marketing is doing. And then you wanna look at retention, you wanna look at overall utilization, and that's gonna tell you what you're an operational metric. So are you providing a good service to these people, to these individuals, to these customers where they're staying? Okay. So when I teach the five pillars of marketing. I teach that retention is the fifth pillar. So you have awareness. People have to know about you. People have to know, like, and trust you, right? Then you have to actually invite them to buy from you. Then you have to service them, and then you have to retain them. Okay? Retain and, and re-engage. So in this. Episode that I have entitled, retention is a System because it should be a system in your business the same way Lead generation is a system the same way a sales strategy is a system. Alright, so I'm going to give you a simple framework that you can implement immediately into your service-based business. We're gonna talk about the four stages of retention, the checkpoints that you should a thousand percent automate. Different scripts and touch points that you can realistically increase conversions and reduce drop offs without you as owner personally needing to babysit each and every client. Okay, so if we look at the facts, we know that it is significantly more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to keep an existing one. Why? Because most of us are paying for, whether it's ads or paying for marketing and some, some way to get those people in. So. If we're paying for that, right? If you know that your cost per acquisition is, I don't know, $40, $50, a hundred dollars, $200, whatever that is, it's cheaper to keep a client. Have you ever heard that phrase? It's cheaper to keep, but it's cheaper to keep a client, so. Harvard Business Review has cited research. Acquiring a new customer can cost anywhere from five to 25 times more than retaining one. We talked about that stat at the beginning of the episode, right? And a 5% improvement in your retention can increase profits by 25% or more because loyal customers repeat customers, they buy more. They stay more, they refer more and they cost less to serve. Okay? So, and if you can get those repeat buyers to be more than 50 to 60% of your revenue, you will be saving on marketing costs upfront. Okay. So how do you. Decide whether you have a marketing problem or a retention problem. Okay? It's whether you have to look at top of the funnel versus the leaky bucket, versus plugging the funnel at the bottom. Okay? So retention is a system and it starts. The minute that new lead becomes a client, actually, I would say even before they become a client, it starts the minute that new lead inquires about becoming a client. Okay, so let's get into the four stages of retention, okay? And what clients are deciding at each stage of this system framework. Okay. Stage number one. Is their first visit. So their first visit is, do I trust this place? Do I like this place? Do I feel valued at this place? How does that happen? When they walk into your facility, are they greeted by somebody? Does somebody look them in the face and say, hi, Sandy, welcome to our studio today, or Welcome to our clinic today, or Welcome to our gym today. Does somebody, do you have maybe a little sign that says, welcome first visits, new clients, and maybe it has their name on there. Are you taking the time to make these new people feel special? Then number, that's number one. Number two, are the service providers providing them a great service? So in other words, are they. Is the cli, is the clinician, is the Pilates instructor, is a personal trainer, greeting them by name, asking them questions, giving them a really good service, right? And then at the back end is someone telling them exactly what their next step is doing. It exactly what their next step is doing. That's exactly what they should be doing in their very next step is that, let's schedule your next session. Let's, here are the memberships that we would recommend for you. Here's what I would recommend personally for you in terms of your recovery, right? Are they personalizing it for this individual so they're feeling the value? Okay, so what they're deciding. Is not necessarily do I love Pilates. What they're deciding is, do I feel safe? At this place, do they understand me and my needs? Do they understand my goals? Are they listening to me? Is it worth the money? Is it worth the trek to get down here? Is it worth sitting in traffic? Is it worth paying for parking? That's what they're deciding during those first couple of sessions. And retention starts with certainty and feeling valued at. Whatever new place you're going to. Right. So those are the kind of things that you want to start doing from the very beginning. Right? You should not just be winging it. There should be automated sequences that go out as soon as someone has their first visit. It a welcome email telling them about the place and why you're, they're, you're excited that they're gonna start with you, telling them a little bit about you and your business, putting them centric. So instead of business centric, you want customer centric. So instead of saying Pilates is the best, or Pilates in the grove is the best, you'd be other people like you have found. These are their wins, right? So you're doing customer centric testimonials and reviews. We want automated touchpoints and personalized touchpoint. Personalized touchpoints are the instructor knowing the person's name, personalized touchpoint are having a sign at the front desk that says, welcome Sandy, to your first session. personalized touchpoints are having a greeter. Know who they are and be you're a therapist. Jane will be right with you. anything I can get you? Can I get you some water? Anything like that? Do you need me to validate your parking? So those are all. Part of stage one, right? So what they need in stage one is they need to feel valued and that that they're more than just a number at your business. They need a clear next step before they leave a clear next step. Is that a follow up? Physical therapy visit is that, let's book the next session from your intro pack. Let's get you signed up for a membership. What is that Very next session? That very next session. Okay. And a follow up call, text, email, some sort of message that reinforces that plan. Okay. So here is a great script that we used to use. For the first session, okay. Based on what you told me, your goal is insert their goal, and the thing we're solving first is insert that the fastest path to achieve that is by. Certain amount of sessions over the next certain amount of weeks. Let's go ahead and get your next four sessions on the calendar so we keep your momentum. So if this were gonna be physical therapy based on what you're told me, you're. Goal is to be able to reduce your pain so that you can get back on the golf course and and golf regularly with zero to two pain. And the thing we're solving for first is to improve your hip mobility so that all of the forces while you're golfing don't go up into your back. The fastest path to do that is for me to see you once a week, and I'd love to see you once a week over the next four weeks so that we can really be as consistent as possible. So let's go ahead and get those first four sessions scheduled so we can keep the momentum going. All right. For Pilates, based on what you told me, that your goal is to try to get into group classes and come two to three times a week to the studio, the thing that we're solving for today is making sure that you feel comfortable on the reformer so that you can. Go at your own pace in the classes and you feel safe and supported. So the fastest path to do that is to do the next two private sessions within the next 10 days. And so I would recommend let's get those next two scheduled today so we can keep the momentum going and we can hopefully get you into group classes by the end of the month. Great. Okay, so if they don't book that next session at the time they're there at the, at your facility, make sure that you trigger an automated follow up sequence, whether that be to call them, to text them, to email them, so that they recognize that they understand that you care about them and their outcome. Okay, so that's basically stage one, right? Stage two of the retention system is making it a habit for them. How can you make this so that they know this is part of their routine and this is where most churn happens? Okay? This is the danger zone where your clients are, they like you. They feel the value, but they're not fully built into the routine, and so it gets easy for them to cancel. They're I'm busy. I missed a week. Oh, it's hard for it to get back in. I fell off. I didn't love the people that were in my class, so I'm not gonna go back. I'll start again later. Your job in stage two is not necessarily motivation. Your job is to remove the friction. Okay? Remove friction and. Provide structure. So what you want is to make them feel they're Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 9:00 AM Pilates class is literally part of their routine and they schedule other things around that. So they're not scheduling around Pilates, they're scheduling their life and other things around that class, right? How can you do this? You can make attendance automatic meaning. If they're on a membership, they get recurring scheduling. They're automatically scheduled for that. Okay? They get reminders. They get easy ways to adjust their schedule independently of you. Right, and you're creating a community. So they know that they come to Pilates Monday, Wednesday, Friday at night, and then they go have coffee afterwards, or they go get their bagel afterwards, or they go get smoothies with some of the other women in the group. You are creating a community where this now becomes habit and they don't like to mix, miss the habit the same way the habit becomes, you get up every morning and you make yourself a cup of coffee. Or you, me, meditate or you get out for sunlight, whatever that is, make this scheduling part of their routine. Okay? So how you can do this in terms of what you can do in your studio. Have automated reminders that go out 24 hours before their, appointment. Okay? You can also have automated texts. You want to remind people that you care about them and that you're, you are reminding them about this is part of their habit. This they, you told me this was your goals, and I am totally going to be there to help you on your goals. Okay? When someone cancels or no shows, reach out to them regularly. This is how you maximize retention. Reach out to them, okay, I know that life happened. We didn't see you today. Do you want to keep your usual routine this week? We can also reschedule the session you missed today. We wanna make sure you get your three schedule your three sessions in. Okay. People should be bought in to the fact that the, your goal of your business is to help your clients meet their goals. How you help your clients meet their goals is by keeping them consistent. Okay? So you can have automated, you missed your spot. We were scheduled for you. Okay. If you have, if you've, no, you can also have What's the word? I'm re-engagement emails. So if they've missed seven days and they haven't been in, you can follow up with a text. If they've missed 14 days and they haven't been in, you can have a, a restart message. Maybe the owner or the manager sends them a restart message. Right. If they haven't been in, in a month, maybe you're reaching out to them and saying, you know, our reengagement, if they haven't been in, in a month, I think the email said are your ears ringing? And the open rate was great. And then it was we've been thinking about you. We haven't seen you, and we miss your smiling face here. We know life gets busy, yada, yada, yada. You still have three sessions in your package. I'd love for you to be able to attend one of these classes. Click here to join. We make it very easy for them. Okay. Stage three in the retention system is loyalty and community. So is it, it's not just, am I getting results, but am I also getting recognition? Loyalty and community is where the stickiness really, really, really happens. And where the business can get fun because this is where people stop. Price shopping because now it's, they've understand the value, but it's more if I leave, I'm leaving this community. I'm leaving individual people. I have to start over. When a new community with new people me, these people recognize me. They know my ins and outs, they know my family. I've created social structure with them. I'm really real, really, really loyal to this place. Why? Because they feel seen there. They know that they're not just a number. Everyone knows their name, okay? Surprise and delight is during this stage, bringing in balloons for their birthday or, you know, if they had a baby, you send them a baby gift. Like these are little touch points that surprise and delight our customers and really, really get that community and loyalty and raving fan type of client. Okay, so this stage will can require something maybe you do a progress review 30, 60, 90 days or maybe every 10 or 15 visits and your. Sending them a thank you for your loyalty. You've done this many sessions. I know you guys have seen it all on the internet, where people are doing 20 sessions, 30 sessions, they're taking pictures and they're, community building that way. And that not only from a, a new customer, someone's oh, this person's been with them for a hundred visits. That's amazing. But also it's giving this person achieve that goal. I can do that too. So it's a different type of buy-in. Right. The other thing you can do that I think is really, really powerful, especially if you're an appointment base or if you're doing privates or you're doing physical therapy, doing things here's what's improved since you started with us. It can be very objective You only had 45 degrees of hamstring flexibility and now you have 90, you've doubled your hamstrings flexibility. Or you could only balance on one leg for 10 seconds. Now you can balance for 30 seconds. Increasing that balance time decreases your fall risk by over 50%. Okay, here's what I'd love to work on in the next three months, right, and where we wanna go over the next three months for you and your goals. You'll feel this. By this time, okay, you could even do this in a class-based setting, but it is, it's. Harder just because you have so many more clients. But if you have an appointment base, you should definitely be checking in every 30 days or every 10 visits every 90 days to re, we see most churn happen between three and four months. And so before that three month period is over, those 90 days is how can you be reaching out to review and recommit them to the goal? Right. How can you surprise and delight them? So they're well, I'm not going anywhere, dude. This is the best place I've ever been to and I feel really valued here, and I feel myself progressing and I feel great, and so I'm gonna keep coming. Okay, so now system four. Or stage four, sorry, not system. Stage four is really advocacy. How do I tell other people these are, this is the way when you take a loyal customer and you make them a Rav fan. So how are they? Inviting more people like them in, right. it's not just how can they become advocates for you, brand ambassadors for you. It's not just a sign at the front desk that says, please refer us. Okay. It happens at the right moment when you can make it easy and tie it to the identity right of. You are a great person and you will be helping your friends by referring them here so that you can give, help them get the same feeling that you're feeling here, right? So something You know, we've watched how amazing your results and your consistency and your commitment has been. We're so impressed with your progress. If you have a friend who's dealing with something similar, we'd love to have more impact in the community by helping friends like you, we want you to know we. As you can tell, we take care of, of everyone that comes through the door with the utmost respect and quality. And, sharing is caring or pay it forward helps someone else get the value of good movement. Okay? ask for reviews. Most people are, most people are happy to write you a review. It. Okay. They're happy to do it. They just have to be reminded to do it right. So reviews are really, really great. Get people to leave you a review, have some sort of an automated process where you can do that. Okay? So one of the things you wanna do is then you really wanna track your retention. So you should be tracking your retention on a monthly and a quarterly basis. And industry standard is, we wanna have 80% retention or higher. If you are seeing that you are having more than 20% churn or more than 30%, that is a lot of churn. And once again, churn means people leaving. So if you constantly have to fill that gap with new people, it's costing you a lot of money. And also just remember Remember, it's, it's a lot. There's a lot of touch points to get people to buy. They're new. You have to convince them, you have to sell to them. You have to make sure that everything's on point. Whereas someone who's been your best friend forever will, will take things with a in stride, right? They already know. And if you make a mistake, it's not that big of a deal. But when you make a mistake with a new client, they might write you off immediately. Okay? So make sure you're checking your retention. Make sure that you are automating a policy, so from the beginning, from their very first visit, there should be touch points automated through email and text and personal, whether that be through phone call or personal interaction while they're at your place of business and throughout the customer journey. You should be having these touchpoint with them, whether that's, you know, monthly newsletters, whether that's direct personal test, touchpoints with them talking about their progress, whether it's doing client appreciation days and things like that. But, and then also having a re-engagement strategy. So if people are not in, in seven days or 14 days, or for sure 30 days, how are you reminding them? To come back in. How are you reminding them, Hey, you have sessions left on your package. We'd love to see you, and we've introduced these couple classes or these new services. Or Jane, the pt, who's normally full has five extra visits on her schedule this week. Would you like to come in for a tuneup? There's always ways to do that. And also making sure that you are. Validating and rewarding your current clients, right? That could be with milestones, with gift bags, with even just a personal or even an automated email. There's ways in your system now that you can automate an email going out that says You've just hit a hundred visits at the studio. We're so happy for your loyalty, and we're so happy you stayed committed. Being committed is

Elizabeth 27:56

90% of the. Of the, challenge and you've achieved that in spades. So it makes people feel good. And when people feel good, they spend money. And when they feel good, they stay where they feel good. They wanna be around that more often.

Speaker 28:15

Okay, so. If you look at your retention and be I don't have a retention strategy. Your homework after this episode is to, one, start attacking your retention at least on a monthly or quarterly basis. Two, build. What I would say is your trigger list. What do you think is triggering people? Churning? Is it. That they're not feeling validated, that they don't love the service as much, that they, you know, they're not feeling special. What is it? What is it? What is that trigger? Where are you seeing most people fall off? And then how can you intercept that num? Okay? Then write the scripts. Write out your scripts. Write out your scripts that the front desk can use when they're talking to people, or they can reply in emails and automate. As much of the sequence and the process as possible. Alright, so I'd love to hear as always what you thought about this episode. I'm a big, big believer in retention and most people, most of the people in our programs, really, really have great retention. But if you're not checking your retention. You don't know. So I would be looking at it, I said, in a monthly or even a quarterly basis, how many people are you retaining? Are you coming back? And I would love to see that 60 to 70% of your revenue each and every month is from returning clients. It's easier, it's cheaper, and it's more predictable. All right, so review, reevaluate, reassess your retention strategy. You know, I love a little alliteration. and let me know what you think. If you have any questions, you can always DM me over on Instagram, and until next time, my friends, bye for now.