Sam Dimmick is the owner of Collective MCR, a Manchester-based gym built around group training and one-to-one personal training. With a strong focus on creating an exceptional member experience, Sam’s goal has never been simply to get more people through the door. Instead, he wanted to build a sustainable business that could continue to thrive for years to come.

Working alongside Fitness Marketing Agency, Sam took a step back to look at the business data, identify where the real opportunities were, and strengthen the foundations of the gym before putting more focus on generating new leads.

The Challenge

Like many gym owners, Sam initially considered whether the business needed more leads.

However, after analysing the numbers, he realised that lead generation was not the main issue.

Collective MCR was already converting more than 60% of its prospects, but around 40% of people coming into the gym were not staying. For Sam, this highlighted a bigger problem. These people had already experienced the gym, so the issue could not simply be blamed on marketing.

“These people have already been into the gym. So that’s not a marketing issue. That’s a problem. And we need to figure out a way to solve that problem.”

At the time, retention was around 93.5%. While Sam recognised that this was not necessarily a poor figure for a large-group training business, he knew it was not where he wanted it to be.

Rather than immediately increasing marketing spend, Sam decided to look more closely at the entire business.

The focus became understanding whether the gym was delivering the level of coaching and customer service it wanted to deliver, whether the right people were coming through the door and what could be improved once they arrived.

As Sam put it, the process involved “holding the mirror up to yourself as a business” and being honest about where things were.

The Strategy

Fixing the Foundations Before Increasing Lead Generation

One of the most important decisions Sam made was to resist the temptation to simply generate more leads.

Instead, he wanted to improve the existing system first.

“I’m not going to pump in loads of new leads yet because I don’t want to pump loads of new leads into something I’m not quite happy with yet.”

With support from Fitness Marketing Agency, Collective MCR went back to basics with its marketing. The focus shifted towards building a stronger marketing ecosystem, creating consistent awareness and making better use of the community that already existed within the gym.

Rather than relying heavily on cold marketing, the business focused on understanding why its members loved the gym and finding ways to encourage those members to bring in people who would be a good fit.

Building А Stronger Referral System

Referrals became an important part of the strategy.

Collective MCR already had an organic referral system, but the team introduced more structured referral campaigns alongside it. One Christmas card referral campaign generated approximately 50 people the first time it was run.

The advantage was that these referrals were already familiar with the gym through someone they trusted. As Sam explained, they were effectively “pre-sold” because they had a better understanding of what they were coming into.

This gave the team greater confidence in the people entering the gym and helped create a stronger connection between the existing member experience and the acquisition process.

Making Тhe Member Experience Part Оf Тhe Marketing

For Collective MCR, marketing could not be separated from the experience members received inside the gym.

The business operates primarily through group training, with sessions capable of accommodating large numbers while still aiming to provide an individual coaching experience.

Sam explained that the programming is scalable and that coaches have the flexibility to adapt exercises based on each person’s circumstances and ability.

The objective is not simply to deliver a programme. It is to make sure people enjoy the process.

“They know the difference between a good experience and a bad experience.”

Collective MCR also places significant importance on the relationships between members. New members can be introduced to people who may have similar backgrounds, interests or experiences, helping them feel more comfortable within the community.

For Sam, this culture has become a powerful part of the business.

“Our members are our best sales people.”

The gym’s existing members have become an important source of referrals, supported by both organic recommendations and structured campaigns.

Using Data Тo Guide Decisions

Another key part of the approach was becoming more disciplined about analysing the numbers.

Sam and his team review their key performance indicators on a weekly basis, conduct monthly reviews and carry out quarterly reviews. This gives them a consistent process for understanding what is happening within the business and deciding where to focus their attention.

For Sam, data provides an important way to remove emotion and ego from business decisions.

“The data will help you remove emotion and your ego from stuff because it’ll just tell you what’s happening in your business.”

However, he also recognises that data alone cannot explain everything. The team needs to understand what is within its control, identify the areas likely to have the greatest impact and then make decisions collectively.

This approach allowed Collective MCR to focus on the areas that mattered rather than simply reacting to short-term changes.

The Results

The most significant result was an improvement in conversion, with Collective MCR moving from around 60% conversion to 82% from total prospects to members.

At the same time, the business continued to develop its wider marketing ecosystem rather than relying on paid cold campaigns.

Sam explained that from December 2024 onwards, the business had not run a paid direct cold marketing campaign during the period discussed. Instead, the focus was on improving the systems already in place, strengthening the member experience and developing referrals.

One of the structured referral campaigns generated approximately 50 people, demonstrating the potential of using the existing community as a source of new business.

The business also went through a deliberate period of change in its membership numbers. When Sam and his partners took over at the end of 2024, the gym had 378 members. At the time of the podcast, it had 255.

Rather than viewing this simply as a decline, Sam described it as a gradual change in direction based on the areas of the business that were working well and the type of business they ultimately wanted to build.

The emphasis was on making informed decisions rather than chasing membership numbers for their own sake.

“We recognised the areas of the business that work well. We go look at the data and then how are we going to get that from there to the long, you know, where we want to be.”

“Sometimes, Slower Is Better”

Perhaps one of the biggest lessons from Sam’s experience is that growth does not always mean generating more leads.

Collective MCR had the opportunity to increase its marketing activity, but Sam recognised that putting more people into a system that was not yet where he wanted it to be would not necessarily solve the underlying problem.

Instead, the team focused on strengthening the foundations first.

They looked at the customer experience, conversion, retention, internal marketing, referrals and the overall marketing ecosystem. Once those foundations were stronger, the business could approach growth with greater confidence.

“Sometimes, you know, slower is better.”

It was a measured approach based on data rather than emotion, with the team working together to identify what needed to change.

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