The 2025 Gym Owner's Guide to Hiring Sales Reps, Setting Goals, and Driving Growth

Apr 11, 2025

 by Sunny S.

Look—if you’re running a gym in 2025 and you don’t have someone dedicated to bringing in new members, you’re leaving money, impact, and community on the table. Period. You’re great at coaching. You know fitness. But if you want your gym to grow, you’ve gotta treat it like a business—and that starts with sales.

Here’s the no-fluff playbook we’ve used to help hundreds of gym owners stop stressing over leads and start building real, scalable growth machines.

Real Talk: Why Every Gym Owner Needs a Sales Rep

Let me hit you with something obvious that most gym owners ignore: Every business has salespeople. Why not gyms? What makes our space different? Nothing.

You’re not too cool for sales—you’re too busy to waste time doing it all yourself. A good sales rep is a full-time growth engine. They’re not a "nice to have"—they’re a must if you want to stop riding the member rollercoaster.

Who You Want to Hire (Spoiler: It’s Not Just Experience)

We’ve managed hundreds of sales reps over the years, and here’s the punchline: Give me someone with insane work ethic, great energy, and a willingness to learn—and I’ll turn them into a killer rep.

Don’t be cheap. Want top-tier reps? Pay like you mean it.

Ideal Sales Rep Vibes:

• High-energy

• Relentless

• Resilient AF

• Clear communicator

• Hungry to grow

Step One: Hire One Person to Do It All (Then Scale)

Start lean. Get someone part-time who can do outreach and close deals. As revenue grows, split the role:

Lead Gen – Books appointments, revives dead leads, runs campaigns.

Closer – Sits in the “kill zone” all day and closes. Nothing else.

The best closers don’t want to do outreach. Let them stay in their zone of genius.

Where to Find Sales Animals in 2025

• Post on your IG stories, Facebook, and community boards

• Ask your clients—referrals are 🔥

• Use sites like:

  • Indeed

  • LinkedIn Jobs

  • BuiltIn

  • Workable

Don’t overthink the hire. Trial them. Set expectations. Give them 60-90 days. If they don’t produce, let ‘em go.

Money Talks: Build a Comp Plan That Actually Motivates

Commission-only? Sure—if you’ve got a rockstar.

But most reps? They need a little base to stay consistent and feel secure.

Simple Structure:

• Base: $500–$1,000/month

• Per Sale: $50–$150 upfront

• Residual: $10–$20/month per member

The residual keeps them in the game. Now they care about retention.

Two Winning Commission Models:

1. Commission Only:

• $75–$150/sale

• 5–20% residual on the backend

2. Base + Commission:

• $500/month

• $30–$100/sale

• Ongoing monthly bonus per retained member

Bonus play: Put them in charge of saving cancellations. It works.

The Metrics That Actually Matter (aka Your Scoreboard)

If you’re not tracking numbers, you’re guessing. Want scale? Get your data game right.

KPI Goals:

• Outreach: 10–30 leads/hr

• Weekly Touches: 100–150

• Appointments Set: 10–20

• Appointments Shown: 5–15

• Closed Deals: 3–10/week

If your rep hits 600 new contacts/month, even a 2% close rate = 12 new members. Add that up.

Conservative Revenue Breakdown (Just So You See the Play)

Reminder: This is recurring. Doesn’t include organic, referrals, upsells.

Don’t Have the Budget? Run This Play

Roll out a “lifetime membership” promo. Stack cash. Use it to hire your first rep. Now you’ve got runway.

You’re Sitting on a Sales Army—Use It

Referral program = low-effort, high-return play.

Offer: $50–$150 per referral + 10% discount for both people

Put it on your wall. Mention it in class. Post it weekly. Let your members sell for you.

Add Fuel: Upsells & Incentives

Your reps can:

• Push apparel

• Upsell PT

• Sell nutrition

• Promote specialty classes

Offer a one-time bonus on each. Now they’re not just adding members—they’re increasing value.

Outreach Channels That Work in 2025

Let’s get tactical:

• DM your IG + FB followers

• Re-engage canceled members

• Hit local apartments

• Visit local biz owners

• Attend community events

• Chamber/B2B groups

• Hit up their own network

• Run FitHive reactivation campaigns

This is real hustle. Most of your competitors won’t.

Follow-Ups: The Secret Sauce No One Talks About

Leads die when you ghost them.

Your rep needs to:

• Log everything in your CRM

• Tag, note, and follow up forever

• Follow up until it’s a yes or no

• Set long-term reminders for cold leads

Pro follow-up line: "No worries if now’s not a good time—I’ll follow up in a few days if I don’t hear back."

Final Word: Stop Hoping, Start Building

You already have the ingredients. You’ve got a great gym, you’ve got a tight community, you’ve got the vision. Now get the team and systems to grow it.

Sales isn’t sleazy. It’s how you impact more lives.

Go build the team that gets you there. And if you need help—reach out. We’ve done this for hundreds of gyms and can show you exactly how to make it work for yours.