How do I tell if a fitness studio depends on the owner teaching classes?
Compare the owner’s classes with the rest of the schedule, look at booking data for who fills each class, read reviews for names, and ask members and instructors directly. If members come for the owner, ask how the handover would work.
In a boutique or class studio, ask whether the owner is the draw. Members may love the teaching more than the room. If that person leaves, some members may go too. You can check this before you buy, using three kinds of evidence that the studio already has: the schedule, the booking data and the reviews.
Read the class schedule
Count how many classes the owner teaches each week and which ones. Are they the busiest slots or the quietest? Ask who covers when the owner is away, and what happens to attendance. A schedule built around one person is a sign to ask more questions, not an answer on its own.
Look at the booking data
Ask for attendance by class and by instructor over several months. Look for classes that fill as soon as booking opens, and see who teaches them. Compare member visits in weeks when the owner taught with weeks when another instructor did. Ask your accountant to help you read the numbers carefully.
Check reviews and talk to people
Read online reviews and note whether the owner is named. Then, with the seller’s permission, speak to other instructors and a few long-time members. Ask what keeps them coming. Their answers show how much members value the owner personally and how much they value the instructors, the schedule and the space.
If members come for the owner
If it does, one option is to ask the seller to stay on for a transition period and to introduce you to members. Your lawyer can advise on the terms, along with any restriction on the seller opening nearby. Also think about whether you can teach, or hire and keep instructors members trust.
Related reading
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Sources
This answer is checked against primary sources. Links were last confirmed on the dates shown.
- 01Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentHow to conduct due diligence when buying a business
- 02Canadian Federation of Independent BusinessResearch dataSuccession Tsunami: Preparing for a decade of small business transitions
- 03Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentAfter buying a business, what is the next step?
- 04Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentHow to minimize negotiations when selling your business
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