The Thursday class that always looks full
Your Thursday 7pm class is packed every week. It is the class you mention when people ask how the studio is doing. But when you look closely, half the room is on intro offers, a quarter are aggregator bookings and the instructor is on a per-head bonus.
Your Tuesday 10am class has eight regulars on unlimited memberships and a flat-rate instructor. It looks quiet, and you have been thinking about cutting it.
Which one is better for the studio? Without numbers, the answer is a feeling.
Why headcount misleads
Booking systems report attendance easily. They report income per class poorly, because income comes through packs, memberships, intro offers, aggregators and vouchers, each with a different value per visit.
Teaching cost varies too. A class with a per-head bonus costs more as it fills, and a cover class may cost more than usual.
Joining the two requires deciding what a visit is worth for each payment type. That is a one-off decision, but most studios never make it, so the report never exists.
What deciding by headcount costs
| Assumption | Risk |
|---|---|
| Full classes are the best | Overlooking low income per visit |
| Quiet classes are the worst | Cutting a loyal, profitable group |
| All visits are worth the same | Aggregator and intro visits overvalued |
| Instructor cost is flat | Bonus-heavy classes overestimated |
| Timetable changes are gut calls | Clients lost for little gain |
A report per slot that joins income and cost
We build a report that reads data you already have and applies rules you agree.
- We agree a value per visit for each payment type: pack credit value, membership value per visit based on average use, intro offer, aggregator payout rate and vouchers.
- Bookings and check-ins are read from your booking system, with the payment type used for each visit.
- Instructor pay per class comes from your pay rules or pay calculation, including bonuses and covers.
- Each timetable slot gets income, teaching cost and the difference, per week and averaged over a term.
- The report also shows the mix of clients: regulars, new, aggregator, and how many new clients from each slot went on to buy.
- A simple dashboard lets you compare slots and see trends, with a short commentary on anything that changed sharply.
We do not tell you which classes to cut. Some classes matter for reasons a spreadsheet will not show, such as a community group or a teacher you want to keep. The report gives you the numbers to weigh against those.
Where the numbers need judgement
- Unlimited memberships: the value per visit depends on how often members come, so we show the assumption clearly.
- Room costs: rent and bills can be shared out by hour if you want a fuller picture, or left out.
- Intro offer classes: they may earn little on the day but bring in regulars, so conversion is shown beside income.
- Seasonal patterns: January and summer are compared with the same period, not with each other.
Timetable review with the report
Before changing the timetable, you open the slot report. The Thursday 7pm class is busy but thin on income, and it feeds new regulars. The Tuesday 10am class is small but steady. You keep both, move a cover-heavy class and adjust aggregator spots on Thursday.
- Income and cost per class, not just headcount
- Client mix per slot
- Evidence for timetable changes
- A clear view of what intro offers and aggregators bring
Could this help your studio?
- You judge classes by how full they are.
- You are not sure which slots make money.
- Your income comes from several payment types.
- Instructor pay varies with attendance.
- Timetable changes feel like guesses.