Episode 342: “What Actually Makes a Studio Feel ‘Premium’ (It’s Not What You Think)”

Think premium means nicer equipment, a bigger lobby, or expensive amenities?

Think again.

In this episode of the Female emPOWERed Podcast, Christa Gurka breaks down what actually creates a premium client experience—and why independent Pilates studios, PT practices, and boutique wellness businesses can often outperform larger franchises without spending thousands on upgrades.

If you've ever wondered how to justify higher prices, improve client retention, or create an experience that keeps clients coming back year after year, this episode is for you.

Christa shares the simple, low-cost behaviors that create massive perceived value, why consistency matters more than luxury, and how small improvements to your client journey can dramatically increase both retention and profitability. 

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

•  Why premium is a feeling—not a facility 
•  The biggest mistake studio owners make when raising prices 
•  How small studios can compete with larger franchise brands 
•  Why client experience matters more than amenities 
•  The hidden ROI of remembering names, following up, and building relationships 
•  How to map your client journey from first inquiry to long-term membership 
•  The role team behavior plays in creating a premium brand 
•  Why consistency beats intensity when it comes to client retention 
•  How improving the client experience can add six figures to your business 

Key Takeaways

✔ Premium is built through people, standards, and consistency—not expensive upgrades.

✔ Clients stay because of how you make them feel, not because of your equipment.

✔ Small, intentional improvements throughout the client journey create higher perceived value.

✔ Independent studios can out-care and out-connect larger competitors every single day. 

Mentioned in This Episode

🌐 Fit Biz Community
 Join the Fit Biz Community

🌐 Christa Gurka Website
 Christa Gurka Coaching & Resources

📲 Instagram
 @ChristaGurka

Connect with Christa

If this episode resonated with you, share it on Instagram and tag @ChristaGurka. We'd love to hear what premium experience upgrades you're implementing in your business.

SEO Keywords

Premium client experience, Pilates studio growth, boutique fitness business, client retention strategies, studio pricing strategy, Pilates business coaching, wellness business growth, boutique fitness marketing, client journey mapping, independent Pilates studio, boutique fitness leadership, Christa Gurka, Fit Biz Community.

Transcript

Speaker 0:00

Welcome back to another episode of the Female Empowered Podcast. I'm your host, Christa Gurka, and once again, I'm excited, genuinely excited about this natural next step of a conversation in an episode we had a few weeks ago. A couple episodes back, 337, I told you about how you should stop competing on price, that when you're small and high touch, you don't compete on price, but rather you compete on precision. And I got a lot of messages, a lot of DMs that said, "Yeah, I understand. I'm not lowering my prices, but how do I actually charge, justify charging more? How do I make my studio feel worth it?" And for those of you that can't see me, I'm doing air quotes. That, my friends, is the right question you're asking because raising your price without raising the experience is just not gonna work. It just doesn't fly. The math doesn't math. The price has to be backed by something. And here's that part that nobody wants to hear, that something is almost never the thing you're actually spending money on. You can pour $12,000 into brand-new reformers, a fresh coat of paint, eucalyptus towels, a candle that smells like the 1 Hotel. I love that candle. I love that smell. And still have clients that try one class and never come back because premium is not about what you bought. It's not about things. Premium is a feeling, and that feeling is built by people and standards, not by the amenities you have at your location. So today I'm gonna show you exactly where that feeling actually comes from, where almost every studio gets it wrong, and the small, nearly free upgrades that move you from nice to I'll pay whatever she's charging, right? Because I built Pilates in the Grove from 300 square feet into multiple locations, and I can promise you that the clients who paid premium and stayed for years were not staying for my flooring because I didn't change that, ever They stayed because of how it felt for them to walk in. So let's break down what premium actually is, where studios waste money chasing it, and the small but mighty upgrades that create that big perceived value. Okay, let's get into it. So- Premium is an experience, not amenities, right? Amenities are what you can buy. Experience is what people feel, and those are not the same. Anyone with a credit card and a build-out loan can buy your same amenities. A franchise with private equity money behind it can out amenity you every single day. They can have a nicer lobby, more reformers, a great app, a smoothie bar, those lights behind the mirrors. You will lose that race every single day. We also talked about this a whole lot, the private equity thing, I think episode three thirty-eight. So amenities are like table stakes. They get you considered, they look good on Instagram, but they don't necessarily get you chosen or kept. Premium is the feeling that says, "I am welcomed here." So let me bring back the two studio examples that I gave in episode three thirty-seven about not competing on price. But I want you to now think of this in terms of a premium experience lens. So you have Studio A that has sixteen reformers, brand-new equipment, gorgeous lighting, a nice check-in kiosk, a beautiful lobby. You scan a QR code when you arrive, but nobody says your name. Probably nobody knows it. You have people setting up tripods in the corner for their influencers. The instructor started a week ago and is pulling exercises off of YouTube as you walk in, has very little experience, is screaming at you through a microphone. All right. Now, Studio B has four reformers. The equipment is good, standard, not flashy, but the instructor not only knows your name, but she knows that you have mild scoliosis. She remembers that your shoulder flares up, right? She checks in with you before and after class. Which one feels more premium? So Studio B can charge double regardless of what they think. Think of your own experience, right? I-- my husband and I used to frequent this restaurant all the time. we still-- there's another one right now that's ten minutes from our house. Is it... Not even ten minutes. It's ten-- it's a five-minute walk from my house. Is it fabulous? No. Is the food exceptional? No. Is the price point super cheap? Not necessarily. But you know what? Every time we go in, they know our name, they know our kids, they say hello, they remember what kind of wine I drank. They tell us, "Oh, hey, this special's back on the menu again. I know you liked it last time." It's the experience of people making us feel special So let me give you another example as, a physical therapist. So here is how I want you to think about it if you're a clinician. Think about it in terms of, amenities are the symptoms, and the experience is the root cause. So a patient might come into the clinic with knee pain, and, the cheaper clinic does ice, stim, sends them home with a sheet of exercises, right? Moves on. They treated the symptom, the service thing that you can see. But you assess the whole chain and dive in to find that the hip is really what's causing the knee pain or the ankle, and you fix the whole problem. That's premium. Premium isn't the prettier studio and clinic, it's the experience underneath that client can feel. Again, I'm doing this in air quotes, but can feel it working even if they can't name it. And by the way, oftentimes they can't name it It's a feeling they have and people buy based on emotion. All right? It's the whole client journey, not necessarily the aesthetics. Now, I'm not saying have a disgusting, dirty, gross studio, but it's the entire experience. So whereas most people, they obsess over the lobby, the one moment a client on Instagram sees and then ignores everything else. So yes, should you have a nice lobby the first thing that people see when they come in? Yes. Does it need to be a $50,000 lobby? No. Does it need to have anti-gravity chairs? No. Does it need to have a place for them to sit? Maybe. Does it need to have, a nice inviting desk area? Maybe. But it's a feeling. It's... When I started Pilates in the Grove, I was very intentional about the colors I chose, the fonts I chose, the way you literally feel when you walk through the front doors, when you walk through the threshold of that place, and people felt it, and that's why they stayed. I did not ignore the 20 other things, though, that actually shape the entire experience. So premium is that entire arc. How as easy is it to book? Do you get a confirmation? Does it tell you what happens in the first 24 hours? Do you get a, tour, like where to park? Do they get a message after they leave? Is there a little sign? I talked about this before, like maybe there's a little sign that says, "Welcome, Ashley, on your first day." Right? Do they follow up if you haven't been in the studio for a while? Do they remember your name when you come into the studio? a client, most clients never decide this place is the place I wanna be at on one beautiful thing necessarily. They decide it based on consistency across the entire journey, not one moment. Okay? So if you have... So another example would be, let's say your website looks really crisp and clear and premium. Again, I'm saying premium with air quotes, and premium and high touch, and then they walk into your place and there's nobody greeting them. Or you have this example which I believe Felicia talked about this on the episode that aired a few weeks ago, where she said, "I got all these automations and I got these great welcome emails, but then I went into the place and nobody greeted me, nobody knew my name. The instructor didn't even say hello before she started teaching." And so there was, like, a disconnect, and then there was an automated message afterwards, and she's "But nobody even said hi to me. I came in, I walked in, I did a class, and I left, and not a single person Talk to me. Not one. So if aesthetics are the cover of your book, the journey is whether the book is actually any good, right? Is this reader gonna get past the second cha- chapter? Okay? So think about, again, think about things in your own life. When you walk into a restaurant, is the interior stunning, and do the tablecloths look great, but is the host rude? Or if it takes 20 minutes for the server to come to your table or, they never came back and asked you what... how your meal is or how can they help, versus a place where, let's say, it's even a small place and you're wearing black jeans and a white napkin, and someone comes up and gives you a black napkin. those are the little things that feel really good. I worked in restaurants for years, and I always love when managers come over and say, "How's everything going? Everything good? Anything I can help you with?" I love that. I also love when mana- I see managers bussing tables and helping the host or being the expeditor because I just... That shows me how much they care both about the back of the house and the front of the house. All right? So you want to experience things in a different way, and it's not always the most expensive way. So what I would love for you to do is map your client's first 30 days as a literal journey, like literal journey. This is exactly what we're doing in our Fit Biz Accelerator next month, client mapping and client journey. So you can take a person from finding out about you till they convert to a long-term membership. All right? So I want you or have somebody else go through going on your website, trying to book an appointment. Do they get a confirmation visit? What's the first visit welcome? How's the class itself? After-class check-in, 24-hour follow-up text, the conversation about what's next. Most studios have maybe one of those dialed in and leave the other five or six to chance. Every gap in that journey is a place where your premium leaks out, right? So if you think about this again from a clinician standpoint, posture and alignment. You can have a gorgeous-looking person standing in front of you, like straight up, but if their muscles aren't doing that properly, one segment can be compensating for the other. The whole structure is unstable, and eventually, it will show up. So if onboarding your clients is misaligned with the journey, with the follow-up, with the experience, it begins to break down, and that's where you get a trust recession. So premium comes from alignment all the way up and down the chain, not just from one beautiful, well-oiled segment. Most importantly, staff behavior is the brand. Your team Behavior is your premium experience, full stop. All right? It's not the website, it's not the logo, it's not whether your, 100%, front desk dresses a certain way. Premium is a standard, and a standard comes from behaviors. Something specific and observable, okay? Be welcoming is not a standard. I want you to greet every client by first name within 10 seconds of wa- them walking in the studio is the standard Right? So it's important that you have clear values, clear expectations, and clear behaviors that you are looking for. That as- is how you set the culture, and that is how you keep yourself from the danger of a slow slide into fine. Fine staff create a fine studio, and nobody pays a premium for fine. I talked about the hidden cost of mediocrity in a previous episode as well. Behaviors that create premium experiences are almost always free, always. Eye contact, remembering names, remembering details, checking in on them before and after class, following up. The cost is paying attention, not money. Okay? Paying attention, listening That is how you create a premium experience. So it's really important that you define with your team what premium looks like as actual behaviors, right? The same way we discussed in a previous episode, like what a good class looks like. A great premium class isn't necessarily the hardest class. It's the way that the instructor builds rapport with every person in that class, that they start on time, that they end on time, that they check in with new clients at before and after class. They modify for people in the room. They give clear, concise skewing. Skewing. Cuing. Okay. Either those behaviors are binary, they either happen or they don't, and they should be repeatable. So while every instructor can be different in how they teach, the experience should be consistent The experience itself, the feeling people have should be the same across the board. And here's one thing I learned growing Pilates in the Grove, is that once your standards are crystal clear and your culture and mission, vision, and values are strong, your best people start leading from the front and they hold the line for you. You stop being the only person that is carrying that premium experience on your back. Okay? I use this analogy all the time in all my meetings. I've talked about it a lot. I used to explain this to my team. If our team is a boat and you have people in the front, people in the middle, people in the back, all right? The people in the back are dropping anchor. They're making it harder for anyone to move forward. All right? The premium experience is set by those that are in the front of the boat because they're driving forward. But if average behavior, which is the majority of people sitting in the boat, if you let average drive your team, then your culture rows at the pace where fine is the standard, and you don't want to be fine. You don't want to be mediocre, especially right now in this industry, in this world where there's, so many options, you can't afford to be mediocre. It's also where we have, as small independent studios, we have the power to make this change. None of these things cost money. Training your team to make eye contact does not cost money. Training your team to know people's names does not cost money. Training your team to be better instructors might cost a little money and might cost you your time, okay? Training your team on mission, vision, and values just costs your time. So none of these things cost a lot of money, but the ROI on making sure that they're happening in your studio each and every day is great, okay? So where I l- see a lot of studios get premium wrong or incorrect or miss the mark is the small upgrades that can create big, big perceived values, right? They spend money where the client doesn't feel it and skimp where they do. So they're gonna upgrade for new signage, but they have a really clunky first-class experience. They do a heavy renovation, but they build no follow-up systems. They confuse expensive looking with premium feeling, okay? Cold and beautiful is not premium. Warm and friendly is premium. Some people think that premium means more offers, more options, more add-ons, more eucalyptus towels, more flowers, more f- snacks, more smoothie bars. It usually means less done well. Simplify to optimize. I love this all the time. Simplify your experience and make it be consistent. studies have shown when you look at buyer perception and customer buying power and psychology, consistency beats intensity every single time. People gravitate towards a consistent experience. it's why people order the same thing when they go out a lot of times, okay? A confused client never feels taken care of. So if you can be consistent with your clients and give them the same experience every single time, that feeling they have is what's premium, and that feeling they have is what keeps them coming back Okay? So think of those things, think of those things as your amenities. All right? Small little upgrades to the behaviors that you try to implement in your business carry a huge value in ROI. So let's talk about small little things that you can possibly do. And again, this is... Some of this I don't recommend for larger studios. But for really small studios or as you're growing, these are little things that can make you premium. All right? Maybe it's a handwritten welcome note after your first class, or maybe it's a handwritten welcome note on the reformer or on the bike or on the mat, right? Maybe it costs you fifty cents and three minutes to make that happen. Maybe it's a text from the instructor the morning after someone's first visit. Not automated sounding, even if you do automate it. A real, "Loved having you. How are you feeling today? I just wanted to check in." Knowing and using people's free... full names. Free. Absolutely free. Knowing your client's name and using it is absolutely free, okay? A clean, calm, start on time, end on time class and session, absolutely free. It's a standard. It's a behavior. A genuine check-in when a regular client disappears for thirty days, absolutely free. You can automate these. Remembering one personal detail, a daughter's wedding, knee surgery, a trip they're planning, all of those absolutely free. You can use AI now to remind you of things. You can use lots of software to help you with these things. Now, here's the math behind why this ha- why this matters more in dollars because like I always say, feelings are not facts, and I want you to look at the math. So say you have two hundred spots in group classes in a week, two hundred spots, and right now you're charging thirty dollars a session. All right? So that's six thousand dollars a week if you, achieve all of them, if you fill two hundred spots a week, okay? If your experience becomes more premium and f- people feel more premium because you're doing these little things that are free or low cost, and now you can move from a thirty dollar session to a forty or forty... Let's even say forty-five dollars a session, that's nine thousand dollars a week. So that is a three thousand dollar a week difference times fifty-two weeks a year. That's over a hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year. And that not $1 of that requires you to buy a new reformer. It requires you to remember names, to follow up, have on-time classes, have behaviors of a team, and hold that team accountable to a standard. Okay? It's the cheapest six figures you will make. So think about it in that way. And if you're a smaller studio and you have four or five or six reformers, that is also premium. You're having semi-private sessions versus you're having half the amount of people in class. So if you think about it from that way, now this is not apples to apples, but if there's a 12 reformer studio and they're charging $30 a class and you have six You have half the amount of people, you could charge double, 60. That obviously doesn't apples to apples, but you could charge 45 or 50 because you have to lean into the experience and the value of that experience. Now, some people aren't gonna value that, but there are plenty of people that will. All right? Premium, once again, it's not the big renovation. It's the small, consistent reps of being genuinely good to people done by everyone on your team every single time. Consistent, consistency compounds. So we actually had a client in our mentorship group that had a studio who had six reformers, five or six, I can't remember right now. And she was at a point where I think her average cost per class was $32 a class, and she was terrified to raise the prices because she was like, "How can I compete with these other studios? I don't have a fancy space. I don't have, the big room. I only have six reformers." And what I really tried to get her to see was you don't need a bigger build out. You need a better onboarding system and a better client retention system. So what we did was we really revamped her lead generation process. We trained her team on greeting behavior, on answering the phone behavior. We updated her, email and text sequence before and after the session. We upgraded her teaching skills and those of her, instructors. We made a few small tweaks to the actual class experience. and then within probably six or seven months, we slowly, over time, moved that rate up to $45 a class. So from 32 to 45. Her retention actually went up, not down. And the clients who had been quietly price shopping, they stopped asking about discounts. She didn't get more premium looking necessarily. She got more premium feeling. Now, did some people leave? Some of those price shoppers leave? Yes. But it then opened up availability for the people that were looking for this specific type of experience Right? So this is the things you need to remember, that premium is never about the equipment, the candles, okay, the lobby looking a certain way. It is a feeling, and that feeling is built by your people, by your standards, and the consistent things you do across the entire client journey. Consistency compounds. You will never be able to out-amenity a franchise, but you can out-care them every single day, and that is the one game they will never win against you. So stop trying to spend money where the client doesn't feel it, and start spending your attention on where they do feel it. All right? If this episode resonated with you, and I have a feeling for a lot of you it may have, here's your next honest step. These upgrades I talked about are very simple, low-cost, simple, free even most of them, but they're not always easy to see when you're standing inside of your business every day. It's hard to see the forest through the trees. You're often too close to it. You can't see the forest through the trees, right? So this is exactly what we do inside my mentorship programs, and the lowest barrier to entry is to take advantage of joining our Fit Biz Community, which is a month-to-month community membership. It is less than the cost of a private session at your facility for a whole month, okay? So for $99 a month, you get two coaching calls, you get laser, Q&A, hot seat coaching, you get some resources, you get a full video library of trainings where we work through these exact things, where you can learn how to map out your client journey, where you can learn how to map out your core values, where you can figure out where your experience is leaking, and where one tiny upgrade could be the difference that transforms your business. It is the most affordable place to get eyes on your business from someone, mwah, who's actually built and sold one. So find out more information at www.christagurka.com/community, and I would love to see you inside one of our mentorship programs. All right, ladies, that's all I got for you today. Have a good one, and as always, bye for now.