Hi Mary,
have you got a continuity plan or do members pay as they go? Try and introduce a tiered continuity plan (Gold, Platinum and Diamond membership) with additional benefits for each. What about activities outside the gym, like a shopping expedition for sports gear? hook up with someone like up and running in Belfast and arrange complementary gait analysis for everyone. Tell the shop, "hey I'm going to bring 20 women to this shop on friday night. Can you stay open especially, give them the red-carpet treatment and some gait analysis. Then sell the hell out of them and could I have 15% commission for bringing them there."
Then bring all your ladies out to choose some nice clothes and go shopping for normal stuff together, so they can really feel the benefits of belonging to your gym. They'll feel good and they'll be appreciative.
Who'd not like to do something like that?
I know it takes some guts to raise prices, but surely you offer more to people than simply the lowest price? And if you're not the lowest price then ask yourself: why do people come to you at all? They come because the
benefit to them is worth more to them than the money they spend.
People tend to be pretty elastic about price, especially where there is significant value or cachet. For example, a women-only gym attracts people for a reason other than price. My recommendation is to schmooze your clients massively; really care for them, make nothing too much trouble. They'll
want to stay and people always find the money for what they want.
Price is important yes, but you can see from your own business that it isn't all about price. It's about value. And you can increase the value without (necessarily) a commensurate increase in base costs.
As I say in tendering, "Live by Price, Die by Price". Someone is always willing to undercut you, so compete on an entirely different set of rules and comparitors.
And raise 'em cowboy!
www.winningtenderswithoutconsultants.com/ 
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