Episode 343
343. Why Your Clients Don’t Show Up (Even When They Want To)
Your clients don’t skip Pilates because they don’t care.
They skip because the system asks them to do work they don’t have the capacity for.
In this short episode, Raphael shares:
- Why flexibility often reduces attendance
- The paradox of overwhelm: needing structure but lacking the bandwidth to create it
- How studios unintentionally design for no-shows and drop-off
- A simple shift from “choice” to “default” that increases consistency and retention
If your clients say they “don’t have time”, this episode explains what’s really happening and how to fix it.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
AdBarker - https://adbarker.com/privacy
Transcript
Welcome to Pilates Elephants. I am Raphael Bender.
::So I almost didn't make an episode this week and I want to share with you why.
::So this episode is about why I almost didn't make an episode.
::Riddle me that, Batman. So as I'm recording this, it is the 4th of January 2026
::and it's about 30 minutes before we usually release an episode every week here.
::And the reason I haven't, usually we have like three or four episodes in the
::bank that we've recorded but haven't released, but we don't have that this week.
::And the reason is that Heath and I have been working on something pretty hard
::for our mastermind clients.
::So these are the people I coach one-on-one and Heath coaches one-on-one to help
::them grow their Pilates studios.
::And so don't worry, dear listener, there's a big lesson in this and that's why
::I'm actually making this episode.
::I wasn't going to make an episode today, but I thought this was a really valuable
::lesson for you if you're an instructor or studio owner.
::And so this will just be a short one where I want to share just a brief case
::study of what we did this week that stopped us from pre-recording a couple of
::episodes and then how you can apply that in your studio.
::So the basic principle is that people don't fail because they don't care.
::They fail because they're,
::the system requires skills that they don't currently have.
::So let me explain what that means in our context and then what it means in your context.
::So for our mastermind clients, we have this wonderful system where the first
::thing we do when we start working with someone is we build out a KPI dashboard with them.
::So the KPI is Key Performance Indicator, and it's basically all of the key metrics
::that tell about the health of each part of their business.
::So their client acquisition, their client conversion, their schedule efficiency,
::their retention, their financial metrics, labor costs, profitability, all of that stuff.
::And when we look at that KPI dashboard, it gives us a really good high-level
::overview of the health of the business and lets us pinpoint actually what's
::the one thing that is holding this business back from going to whatever the next stage is.
::And then from there we give that business owner
::one key task to do which is to
::deconstrain the thing that we found so we might
::find that client acquisition is their biggest pain okay so we give them you
::know go run this ad or you might find that scheduling efficiency is the key
::thing so we might say okay you know cancel these three classes and put on two
::more classes at these times you know whatever it might be we give them a task
::to address the main constraint and so it's fantastic system,
::but what we've found is that a lot of studio owners don't fill in the KPI dashboard
::and don't even look at it in between sessions.
::Which, you know, was a real head scratcher for us because it's such a powerful tool.
::It's like driving a car without looking at the road in front of you.
::But what we realized as we sat down and talked about it and looked at,
::you know, back at the experiences that we'd had working with people is that
::these studio owners, they desperately want to grow their studios,
::but they're just stuck in the weeds of execution.
::They're overwhelmed. they're busy doing essentially
::low value tasks like you know admin the books
::teaching cover classes things like that and they're just they're stuck on a
::treadmill and they feel like they just don't have time to do the thing that
::paradoxically will actually create time and eliminate overwhelm is like knowing
::what your numbers are and knowing what you need to work on,
::and and going okay everything else is not as important as
::running that ad or adding those two classes or whatever it might be paradoxically
::they don't do that because they feel like they're overwhelmed they don't have
::enough time so that the the the thing that stops them doing the thing they need
::to do is the actual reason they need to do the thing in the first place hence the paradox.
::And so you know with heath and i were scratching our heads and thinking like
::well why don't people you know why don't they do this because we fill out the
::kpi dashboard with them together in the first session every time.
::And so they get to see it, but then they just never look at it again.
::They'll look at it and go, oh, that's amazing. But then like the next month,
::they haven't done it. And then we go, okay, great. Well, let's do it together again now.
::So then basically that, pretty much from almost all of our clients with one
::or two exceptions, it only gets done when we, you know, essentially sit there
::with them and literally do it together in real time.
::And so, you know, this was mystifying to us until we realized that it's just,
::they didn't have the tools to make it easy.
::We were asking them to do more work than they had the resources for.
::And so the reason, so now we're back to, finally we come to the reason why we
::didn't record the episode this
::week and why I'm recording this episode is because we've been working,
::we've hired another full-time team member whose job is to actually fill in the
::KPI dashboards for all of our coaching clients.
::So this person just like literally, that's what she does.
::And so we've got their KPI dashboard, 100% up to date. We've got their,
::we'll have their class attendance schedule all up to date.
::So when I like, you know, Mondays at 9am, the average attendance was this,
::you know, Sally's classes, the average attendance was that, you know,
::level one reformer, the average attendance was that.
::We'll be able to tell which classes are performing, which ones are underperforming
::at a glance every month. We'll be able to look at that together.
::And so basically moving forward, we've created this system where they'll have
::a standing booking every month.
::So they'll sit down with me or Heath once a month at the start of the month
::and we'll look at their KPI dashboard,
::which will be 100% completed because my team will just have read-only
::access to their systems and my team will go in and fill out the dashboard for
::them and we'll make decisions about what's most important based on what we send
::the dashboard and then we'll send that studio owner away with one high impact
::task that they can accomplish that month in order to deconstrain the biggest
::constraint in their business right now.
::So that is the process that we've been building. And so I've spent,
::you know, the last week, you know, training up this person and building out
::the spreadsheets and doing all of that kind of stuff.
::Um, and hence we didn't get an episode out. And so here's, here's the lesson, dear listener.
::I said, people don't fail because they don't care. They fail because the system
::requires skills they don't currently have.
::And so this applies to all humans, it applies to myself.
::It applies to my clients, my mastermind clients. It applies to you and it applies
::to your Pilates clients as well.
::And so I'm thinking about in your studio, you know, people who buy an intro
::pass, but don't book their classes.
::People who buy an intro pass, book their classes, and then don't show for them.
::People who buy an intro pass, book their classes, show for them,
::but then don't purchase a membership. People who purchase a membership, but then don't use it.
::People who, et cetera. So basically people who don't do the thing that they
::need and want to do for their own health and well-being.
::Why don't they do that?
::So, and the reason is, not because I don't want to do it, not because I don't
::see the value, but because they don't see how to do it.
::It's hard work, cognitively and psychologically.
::And so, you know, the lesson that I learned, you know, really about this,
::from this episode is rather than giving people flexibility and giving them work and options,
::give them a structure, make it a set and forget, make it a no-brainer and make
::it just something that happens.
::And so I have a few mastermind clients who already have this set up in their business.
::And this isn't necessarily a prescription of how to run your memberships or
::your schedule or whatever.
::But the idea here, I think, is to essentially make it easy for people to do
::the things that they want and need to do for themselves. You know,
::they've bought a membership.
::They've stuck up their hand figuratively and said, yeah, I want to do Pilates.
::I need to do Pilates. And yet, then they don't show up to do it.
::And so essentially making it easy for them.
::And so that, you know, if we were dieting at home, it would be like not having
::sugary drinks in the fridge just makes it much easier to not have a sugary drink.
::If you've got lots of healthy food at home, lots of fruit and fresh veggies
::and all that kind of good stuff, it's much easier to make good choices for yourself.
::And so we just employ the same psychology with the studio. So this is really
::about what we call a success path.
::So basically mapping out the steps to achieve the goal and not just mapping
::it out, but making each step inevitable as a consequence of the previous step.
::So what we have to do is take the first step and then bam, it's like a kind
::of rolling downhill from there.
::So what I mean by that is when somebody buys an intro pass and they're like,
::They receive a call from someone in your studio within 10 minutes that welcomes
::them and books their classes right there for them on the call.
::Then when they show up to their class, they get, you know, you have a conversation
::with them that talks about what's your long-term plan?
::You know, how many times a week do you want to work out?
::What's your actual goal for being here in terms of your fitness and your health?
::What do you want to achieve? Okay, great.
::You like Tuesdays? let's lock you in for tuesdays every week fantastic
::once a week is that what you want to do fantastic let's lock that in and so
::actually just like creating that that agreement at the beginning of what they
::want you know for understanding what they want and then creating that and just
::rather than having them giving them options every week like oh just book in
::wherever you want come as many times as few times as you want etc you can cancel
::you can reschedule it's super flexible.
::Paradoxically that flexibility creates friction to actually doing the work whereas when it's,
::set in to a specific date and time, it's something they just show up for every
::week or twice a week or three times a week.
::And again, I'm not necessarily saying that you should say, hey,
::you can only attend this studio if you commit to this specific time.
::Although I do have a few clients who do that.
::And let me tell you, those studios have a way higher or a substantially higher
::capacity utilization than other studios where they do casual drop-in.
::So casual drop-in studios where clients can book and cancel themselves,
::et cetera, on the Intermanet.
::We see like 80% to 85% really is the maximum.
::That's a really well-run studio with very functional wait lists,
::with good booking app, et cetera, and lots of classes.
::You can get to 80%, 85% if you're doing it really well.
::Whereas for studios where they book clients into a specific class,
::so when you sign up for the membership, you're not signing up for like a once-a-week membership.
::You're signing up for Tuesdays at 6 p.m. you're signing
::up for that specific class in perpetuity you never have to book
::or you know anything it's just like that's your spot those studios
::run at 95 to 98 percent capacity
::utilization routinely because people just like all of the classes have permanent
::bookings in them so uh you know it does it does increase the efficiency of your
::studio as well but more to the point people attend more regularly because they
::don't have to like remember oh
::you You know, when am I doing Pilates this week? Oh, I can't do Thursday.
::You know, they don't have to think about it. It takes the effort out of it.
::And so I think that is, that is, and we can apply that same thinking to each
::step of the process. Okay.
::So, you know, when, when they buy the pass, someone calls them up and actually
::just talks them through, like does the next step with them, booking the classes,
::right? So then they show up for the class.
::Then you take them through the class. I don't have to think about that.
::Then at the end of the class, you have the conversation. How often do you want
::to come? What are your goals? Okay. Once a week. Okay. say twice a week,
::whatever it is that they said they want.
::Which days suit you? Okay, this day and this day, great. Let's lock that in. Let's do that now.
::Okay. It's like, just actually just ask them what they want and then,
::great, let's do that and let's do it now. So it just takes it off their plate for later.
::And dear instructors, you can apply this kind of process to all kinds of things.
::Like if you're looking for somebody to cover your classes, right?
::You're going away or if you want to upsell a client to one-on-ones,
::like you can apply this same type of thinking to lots
::of different situations where you basically first you
::have to get alignment with what people actually want and need and
::then just make that the default option so just
::make the default is it happens unless you do
::something to prevent it happening rather than the default
::is it doesn't happen unless you do something to make it happen all right dear
::listener so that is why I almost didn't record an episode this week and but
::I decided that it was actually going to this was a valuable lesson for me and
::I hope it'll be valuable for you,
::and that's all I got for you so much love and I will see you in the next one.
