climbing gym industry secrets explained by auto belays

3 CLIMBING GYMINDUSTRY SECRETSEXPLAINED BY

AUTO BELAYS

In order to be a thriving business that maintains success in the long run you need to have a

sustainable competitive advantage.

Identify one thing you do better than the rest of your competitors & exploit that advantage as long as you can.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

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PRODUCT QUALITYWhole Foods is known for their high quality products. If you buy something at Whole Foods you know that it was made in a responsible manner using organic ingredients. You also know that

you’re going to pay a lot more than if you went to Safeway.

The climbing world equivalent might be that you have the tallest climbing walls in the area, the largest selection of bouldering problems or you could have one of the best route setters in the country.

How are you different than the gym across the street?How are you different than the gym across the street?


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INSTALL AUTO BELAYSIf you are the only gym in your area with an auto belay, that is already a competitive advantage in itself. Auto belays can also help augment your competitive advantage. For example if you want to be the best climbing gym in the area for new climbers auto belays can help. Auto belays are a

great backup when teaching someone how to top rope belay.

FFurthermore, auto belays can help that novice climber move to the next level and start leading routes. Putting someone on lead for the first time can be a nerve wracking experience. Auto belays will help build confidence in first time lead climbers by preventing that first whipper. Auto belays also make sure that accidents don’t happen from back-clipping or z-clipping. Auto belays are a great training tool and can give your gym the reputation of being the best gym to improve their skills.


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AUTO BELAYS REDUCE STAFFING COSTSThis can be This can be reflected in many different ways and mostly depends on the policies of your gym. Some gyms provide belay services for climbers without a partner. Having an auto belay in your gym frees up your staff to attend to more important matters. If your gym regularly hosts events like birthday parties, it’s much easier to train parents to clip kids into an auto belay than it is to train them how to belay all together. Furthermore, one staff member or parent can monitor

multiple climbing lanes at the same time with auto belays.


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AUTO BELAYS INCREASE GYM ATTENDANCE IN OFF PEAK HOURS

This is because climbers don’t always have to coordinThis is because climbers don’t always have to coordinate with a partner. This allows climbers to swing by the gym on a whim during their lunch break or when their partner is still stuck in the office. Climbers are also more likely to attend the gym in off peak hours if they feel that they can get quality workout in a short amount of time. When you’re using an auto belay you don’t have to wait for your partner to get a drink of water, flake the rope, put on their shoes, tie in, check their knot and harness, and then climb the route… With an auto belay you can climb back to back routes repeatedly, so that you can reach that critical pump much faster. This way climbers will be able to justiable to justify squeezing in a quick session before class in the morning. Getting members to

climb in off peak hours reduces the congestion during those busy times. This means that you can get more climbers in your gym on a daily basis.


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You need to know what you do better than your competitors to add value for your customers.

Members notice when their gyms invest in impMembers notice when their gyms invest in improvements and upkeep. Actually, it’s even easier for members to recognize when their gym isn’t. Think about your gym. Is your floor padding riddled with holes? How often do you reset your routes? Do you hire competent route setters that can set intriguing, creative routes? Is your hydraulic auto belay leaking oil everywhere? You need to

provide your members with a quality experience even if you are targeting a low-price high-volume strategy. Giving customers a good deal doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice product quality. Sure the watch that you buy at Walmart will never compare to a Rolex but that doesn’t mean it will

fall apart the second you leave the stofall apart the second you leave the store.


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WALMART: COST DRIVEN COMPETITVE ADVANTAGEThe souThe source of Walmart’s competitive advantage is their distribution network. Walmart’s efficient distribution network limits shipping expenses so they can sell products cheaply to end consumers and still make money. Walmart has to sell an incredibly high volume to make this strategy viable. If you are planning on attacking the other gyms in your area by undercutting them on price, you should make sure that you can maintain the proper volume of memberships and day passes. You

also have to strictly manage your expenses and pursue efficiency at every turn.


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Are you making the most of your competitive advantage? If you try to be everything to everyone then you won’t be anything to anyone. Know what you’re good at. Know what you’re better at than your competitors and focus on it. Integrate your competitive advantage into your holistic business plan and you’ll achieve greatness.


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Understanding elasticity of demand can help you set prices to maximize revenue & improve sales forecasting by understanding the effect of a price change.

Elasticity of demand is a fancy way of asking, “To what extent does the price of my product or service affect the demand for my product or service?”

ELASTICITY OF DEMAND

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INELASTIC DEMANDInelastic demand is a situation in which price has little to no effect on the quantity you sell. Gasoline is an inelastic good. People were still filling up their gas tanks when prices were over $4.00 a gallon. They were willing to pay an exorbitant price because they had to have gasoline to get where they needed to go. A large change in the price of gasoline resulted in a small change

in the quantity demanded.


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ELASTIC GOODAn elastic good is the opposite An elastic good is the opposite of an inelastic good. An elastic good is one where demand is greatly affected by price. Oranges are an elastic good. If one farmer decides to unreasonably increase the price of his oranges then it’s very easy for me to go to another farmer and buy their oranges instead. I might even decide to forgo oranges all together and buy an apple. It is

extremely rare for a good or service to be either perfectly elastic or perfectly inelastic. In most situations goods and services fall somewhere on a scale in between these two extremes.


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ELASTIC GOOD: CLIMBING GYMSClimbing gyms have an elastic demand. If an economic recession hits then people will cancel their gym memberships to save money. If there are two climbing gyms in an area that are mostly identical except for price then people will choose the cheaper option. Experienced climbers cancel their gym memberships in the summer when they can substitute outdoor climbing for

gym climbing.


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INCOME & SUBSITUTE GOODS The two most i The two most influential determinants of elasticity are income and substitute goods. The income effect influences elasticity of demand due to a change in purchasing power. The

direction of the income effect is dependent on whether the good is a normal or an inferior good. An example of an inferior good would be Ramen noodles. There is a negative correlation

between quantity demanded of an inferior good and income. If your income increases then you will buy less Ramen because you can afford better noodles. Normal goods have a positive correlation with income. The more money you have then the more of that good you will buy.


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INCOME & SUBSITUTE GOODSClimbing gyms aClimbing gyms are a normal good. Some people can only afford to go to the gym once or twice a month. If their income level rises then they will attend the gym more often and might even invest in a membership. Auto belays are similar to climbing gyms in that they are a normal good. If a gym increases its net income then it will have more income to invest in auto belays and therefore buy more auto belays. If a climbing gym’s net income decreases then they will have

less money to buy auto belays and will have less auto belays in their gym.


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INCOME & SUBSITUTE GOODSThe availability The availability of substitute goods and services is the other main influence on elasticity of

demand. A substitute good is a good that is similar or the same to another product. A substitute service for a climbing gym might be the competitive climbing gym across town or it could be a different sport altogether like skiing or mountain biking. A perfect substitute is an alternative that completely satisfies the customer by providing the same benefits and utility as the original good. Perfect substitutes are hard to establish. Economists might consider Pepsi and Coke to be

perfect substitutes but a consumer might disagree because they are brand loyal.


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INCOME & SUBSITUTE GOODSAn uniAn uninformed consumer might consider friction braking auto belays and eddy current magnetic braking auto belays to be perfect substitutes. They both allow climbers to safely descend from a route. They both are modular and can change locations based on the gym owner’s preference. They both cost about the same. In reality friction braking auto belays and eddy current magnetic braking auto belays are imperfect substitutes. Friction braking uses sacrificial parts that are designed to wear out over time. Eddy current magnetic braking auto belays do not have any sacrificial parts because they take advantage of a phenomenon called electromagnetic


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INCOME & SUBSITUTE GOODSYYou can achieve braking without friction because magnets and non-magnetic metals create opposing forces that can be harnessed to slow a climber’s descent. Eddy current magnetic

braking auto belays also have the added benefit of being self-regulating. This means that a 300 pound football player and a 35 pound child will descend at the same rate. With friction based auto belays the 300 pound football player will descend drastically faster than the child. This is similar to how a semi-truck will have a much larger braking distance than a Toyota Prius. As you can see, factors such as brand loyalty and product awareness can determine whether someone

considers a pconsiders a product to be a perfect or imperfect substitute.


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INCOME & SUBSITUTE GOODSThe distinction between perfect and imperfect substitutes is less important than identiThe distinction between perfect and imperfect substitutes is less important than identifying how many valid substitute goods or services are in your industry. The number of available substitute goods should influence how you set prices. If there are no substitutes then you are a monopoly and you can set prices however you like. This is extremely rare especially in the adventure

industry. Even if there are not any outdoor crags or any other climbing gyms in your area there are a multitude of other leisure activities that consumers can substitute for climbing.


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INCOME & SUBSITUTE GOODSMost likely there are several viable substitutes to your climbing gym. A large number of substitute goods implies that a good has a highly elastic demand. Economics tells us in this situation that an increase in price will result in a large decrease in the quantity demanded. Increasing the price of your day passes and memberships will decrease the number of customers you get. Let’s look at

this a little more in depth...


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RAISING PRICES If you aIf you are thinking about raising your prices because there are more people that want to climb in your gym than your gym can facilitate, then you should test the waters by slightly increasing your price. A slight increase may be all that your market can handle. If you increase your price too much then you could actually decrease revenue. Sure you’re getting more money per

customer but it wasn’t worth the large quantity of customers that now attend the gym across the street. The opposite could be true as well. If you are a gym struggling to pull people in then you might be able to get away with setting your prices only slightly lower than your competitors to draw people in. If you set your prices too low then you could have a million customers and still draw people in. If you set your prices too low then you could have a million customers and still

go bankrupt, because you aren’t bringing in enough revenue to cover your expenses.


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These scenarios assume that the only difference between you and your competition is price. There are of course many other factors that will determine your market share. If you need to, go back and read Part 1 of this presentation about how competitive advantage relates to pricing strategy. The most important factor that will determine your success may be how customers perceive the quality of your gym. Climbing gym demand is not perfectly elastic because no two gyms are exactly the same. Most people are willing to pay more for a membership at a better gym. What do climbers consider better? How much more are they willing to pay? It all depends on the peperceived value. That is why it is important to intimately know who your target market is and what they value. Are you providing what your customers want? Are you doing it better than your competitors? If this interests you keep checking back for the next part of the series where I will discuss how adding customer value will help you gain customers and convert them to members.


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It is absolutely essential to create exceptional customer experiences if you want repeat business.

Providing value for your customers hinges on understanding:

WHO THEY AREWHAT THEY WANTWHAT THEY EXPECT

ADDING CUSTOMER VALUE

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BUYER PERSONASThe best way to do this is to cThe best way to do this is to create buyer personas. Buyer personas are a representation of a customer segment based on market research and existing customer information. Having a buyer persona creates a concrete image of your ideal customer so that you can identify how different groups will react to your sales and marketing campaigns. Going through the process of creating buyer personas forces you to think about every aspect of your customer. The more robust you make your buyer persona the better you will be able to understand the intricacies of

your customer’s behavior.


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CREATING PERSONASWhen you’When you’re creating your personas you’ll want to specify things like age, income, gender,

education level and other characteristics you think are relevant. To start out you can create one or two personas and then write additional ones as you see necessary. For example you could start with one persona for experienced climbers. Down the road you might want to create a version for sport climbers, another version for trad climbers and yet another persona for dedicated gym climbers that have never been outside. If you need help getting started with buyer personas you can get a free template here. For the purposes of this article we’ll focus on two customer

segments: the veteran climber and the novice climbesegments: the veteran climber and the novice climber. Let’s call the male personas Novice Nick and Veteran Vic and their female companions can be Novice Natalie and Veteran Victoria.


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PROVIDING VALUE TO VETERAN MEMBERSPProviding value to the veteran members in your gym is crucial because they are your long term source of revenue. They love the sport. They are addicted. They identify with climbing culture and will climb for the rest of their lives. Veteran Victoria and Veteran Vic might cancel their

memberships over the summer but you know that you will be seeing them again as soon as the weather turns. There is no off-season for these guys. They may be a bit picky sometimes but, if you treat them well they will reward you with their loyalty. What do veteran climbers value? Veteran climbers have a gym membership for two main reasons. The first reason is that they are addicted to climbing and can’t stay awaaddicted to climbing and can’t stay away. The second main reason is that they need to train so

that they can send their outdoor project.


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INVESTThe best way to fulfill these needs is to have The best way to fulfill these needs is to have route setters that set creative and challenging routes. Invest in an employee that can set high quality routes and you will be reaping the

benefits as long as they are on your team. The other way to add value for veteran climbers is to have a section in your gym dedicated to strength training. At a minimum you need to have a campus board so that climbers can practice their campus-ing skills. Most gyms have a section dedicated to weightlifting equipment. Adding a hang board gives climbers a way to do pull ups with a climbing application. Having a strength training section in your gym can also provide

value for novice climbers thvalue for novice climbers that want to improve.


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NEW MEMBERSYYou can’t ignore the newbies. If you can attract new members and then convert them to members you will be in business for a very long time. Inexperienced climbers are tomorrow’s

veterans. Novice Nick is going to buy a day pass because he wants to see why all of his friends are raving about this whole climbing thing. It’s your job to make sure he falls in love with the sport. After Novice Nick and Novice Natalie realize that climbing is the best sport in the world you have to give them a venue where they can grow and improve. If you do that for them, then they might become lifelong customers. In today’s world more and more climbers are being introduced to the sport via climbing gyms. People thsport via climbing gyms. People that have never tried climbing before want a safe environment to see if they like the sport. Climbing gyms are the best way of doing that short of hiring an outdoor climbing guide. Climbing gyms can provide value for Novice Nick by creating a safe environment

that makes climbing easily accessible for people without any previous knowledge.


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NEW MEMBERSAuto Belays are a greAuto Belays are a great way to get people without expertise started climbing. Auto belays are simple to learn how to use. Auto belays minimize the time between walking in the door to

getting on the wall by eliminating the need to train someone to belay. All climbing gyms need to do is show people how to open an auto locking carabiner and where to safely clip it to a harness. If you want to train someone to top rope belay or lead belay auto belays can help. Auto belays are the perfect backup when teaching someone how to belay for the first time. Think about it, did you belay someone with perfect form the first time that you tried to belay? It’s nearly

impossible thimpossible that you can get to a point where 100% of customers are going to be able to belay perfectly the first time they give it a try.


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INTERMEDIATE CLIMBERSAuto belays aAuto belays are not limited to being a training tool for introductory belay lessons. Auto belays can help intermediate climbers learn how to lead climb and lead belay. Intermediate climbers don’t even need a partner to practice lead climbing. All that they have to do is clip into an auto belay and practice clipping quick draws as they climb. Another benefit of practicing lead belaying with an auto belay is that it eliminates potential whippers. Taking a big fall the first few times you lead climb can turn someone off of leading altogether. Using an auto belay to practice leading delays that first lead fall experience until you know that your partner can avoid back clipping, z-clipping and the other potential pit falls z-clipping and the other potential pit falls of lead climbing. Having auto belays on your climbing

wall is a great way to safely allow climbers to learn new skills.


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TRAINING TOOLSAuto belays can also help add value for your customers because they aAuto belays can also help add value for your customers because they are a great training tool. Auto belays are perfect for building endurance. Auto belays allow climbers to climb back to back routes over and over again. With an auto belay you don’t waste time flaking a rope and tying a figure eight knot. With an auto belay it takes half a second to clip a carabiner and another second to double check your harness. Furthermore, you don’t have to wait for your partner to get a drink of water, put on their shoes and take their turn climbing. With an auto belay you don’t even need a partner at all. This means that you don’t ever have to feel guilty making someone your belay

slave when you want to climb back to back slave when you want to climb back to back routes to build endurance.


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NO PARTNERBeing able to climb without a partner cBeing able to climb without a partner creates an immense amount of convenience for climbers. Let’s face it, one of the hardest parts of working out is finding time to actually get to the gym. It becomes even harder to make time for climbing when you have to coordinate your schedule and your partner’s schedule. If you can get a great work out without a partner in a short amount of time creates opportunities to climb that were previously impossible. Suddenly your members can

justify coming in for thirty minutes before work or during lunch. This creates significant customer value because your members can climb in off peak hours where they have less

competition to get on the competition to get on the routes that they want to climb.


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In order to add value for your customers you have to know what they want. WhWhat better way to figure out what they want than to ask them? This can be as simple as having a conversation with the members you have the best relationships with. You can also ask your customers to fill out a survey. Anonymous customer surveys are a great way to get honest feedback. Another tactic that has been proven to be successful is to put a comment box

somewhere in your facility. This gives your customers a format to express themselves and bring attention to potential problems that you may have never identified on your own.


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You should always consider customer feedback with some skepticism. It’s possible thIt’s possible that you could have one very loud and expressive customer that has an opinion contrary to the rest of your members. It’s also possible that your customers don’t actually know what they want. As Henry Ford once said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” If you ask people what they want it’s possible that they will just tell you what other companies are doing. Steve Jobs was of the same opinion. He found that, “it’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” Giving people something that they want when they don’t know they want requirequires an in depth understanding of who your customer is. This all circles back to knowing

your customer segments. Someone is going to create the newest innovation in the climbing gym industry and it might just be you. If you have a great idea don’t hesitate to test it out. Who knows, you might just discover a sustainable competitive advantage that will give your gym

success for years to come.


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climbing gym industry secrets explained by auto belays

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