Getting more members for your climbing and bouldering gym can be tough work. We understand. As a business owner, you’re probably busy enough with managing the hectic logistical side of your business; schedules, billing, payments, vendors, insurance, the works. With that that on your plate, it’s kind of hard to find time to sit down with your team and say, “Hey guys, how can we start to increase our membership? What are we missing?” Well no worries. Pour yourself a cup of coffee (or make a supplement if that’s your thing), and sit back for 10 minutes and look at the three easy ways below that you can start getting more bouldering gym members.

Set Up Business Partnerships with Local Gyms and Yoga Studios

I’m almost positive that your climbers are sore as hell after a good session. What they need is some quality muscle-relaxing time. What comes to mind when you think of a way to calm your mind and body? Yoga! Reach out to your local yoga studio and see if they’d be willing to set up a reciprocative agreement. Your climbers will get a discount at their yoga studio and their yogis will get a discount at your climbing gym. Their yogis will be happy that they get to try climbing and your climbers will have a nice place to unwind those tight muscles.

Hold Open Social Events so People Can Try Climbing

There’s nothing better than cracking open a cold beer on Friday after work with your buddies. Why not take that mentality to the climbing gym and start having a Friday climbing social at your business. Of course you’re not going to be “selling” alcohol, because that is illegal, but you’re more than able to give it away for free. Encourage your active members to invite their non-members friends to the gym for a few beers on Friday night. They non-climbers can get a feel for what climbing is, get to see how sweet the climbing community is, and maybe they’ll think about signing up for a few sessions. You can even ask your current members to bring some snacks or their own drinks. It’ll give them a reason to invite their friends to a cool event, and you’ll get to talk to potential clients about getting into climbing. It’s all about getting new people in the door.

Offer a Corporate Discount to Nearby Businesses

If you’ve got some larger companies in your city, it’s worth your time to send an LETTER (not an email), to their head of HR to propose offering a discount to their employees. The business will love this idea, since they can tell their employees that they “got them” a discount, when in reality, it was you doing the ground work to give them the discount. Regardless of how it works out, if a business has 25+ employees and you offer them all a nice discount, there’s a good chance that you’ll get some people in the door. You don’t need to gouge your prices either for these people; just give them a respectable discount and hope they come in. Most large corporations offer fitness perks, so it’s worth asking your local businesses if they do as well.

Image Credits:
Climb Ibex
Where Is Boulder