Soul Cycle is the envy of many wellness brands. And it’s no wonder: Soul Cycle boasts over 10,000 rides a day, 11 million visitors to their website, aggressive expansion plans and an average profit of $4 million per studio. But their meteoric rise was no accident. The addictive experience and enthusiastic community of staff and riders was the result of meticulous commitment to a vision and the foresight to empower and incentivize their people in the right ways. Here’s their recipe for success and how you can follow it.
Lesson 1: Employees Are You Most Important Asset
Soul Cycle makes this cliche a reality. They make their staff feel special, with small touches like throwing them birthday parties and work anniversaries, and opening each meeting with a 3-minute meditation, and providing an in-house physical therapist. However, the real difference comes from their emphasis on staff development. With the help of a leader, each employee gets to create a personal development plan, which gets reviewed and assessed twice a year. This creates a sense of progression that staff can see; and bi-annual check-ins make it even more tangible. On top of this, Soul Cycle offer their staff ‘Soul-U courses’. This in-house university offers staff over 100 modules to aid their learning and development. Classes range from: how to teach on the floor if you’re injured, to how to build your own media channels, to what’s new on Snapchat. Their most recent campaign “Find It” features their instructors sharing what they do to ‘find their soul’.
Lesson 2: Shout Your Purpose From The Rooftops
Soul Cycle are in the business of personal transformation, not spin classes. They see themselves as a platform to help you uncover personal breakthroughs, with a bike as the conduit. This holistic approach to wellness is more important than ever as people are increasingly hungry to disconnect with their devices and rediscover the best version of themselves. And to be perfectly candid, in a multi-tasking world, Soul Cycle allows people can tick two boxes at once: fitness and mental clarity. As Gabby Etrog Coehn, SVP, PR & Brand Strategy, says “People come for the fitness, but stay for the mental clarity”. Every touchpoint is an opportunity for Soul Cycle to talk about personal transformation, not just fitness.
Lesson 3: Be Generous
Soul Cycle creates a consistently generous experience for its riders. Their studios are kitted out with amenities like free gum, hair ties, earplugs. They even take time to remove the plastic off smart water bottles they order in, to save their riders the 2-second hassle of doing it themselves. On their birthdays, riders get to ride the bike on the podium, and even get a free green juice with a candle in it. These seemingly small gestures add up to create an experience that feels thoughtful and thorough, and helps to make a $34 exercise class seem justified. They also have a team dedicated to customer happiness, which extends the feeling of generosity. The ‘Your Soul Matters’ team get over 1 million emails a year that they respond to within 24 hours.
Lesson 4: Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
Soul Cycle believe giving back is good for the soul, and they don’t just talk about it. They make giving back possible for all their staff through The Soulteering Program. This program takes two different forms; the first is done for all Soul Cycle employees who come together once a year to do some sort of philanthropic project. For example, renovating a cash-strapped school in the Bronx or building a playground on Governor’s Island. Separately there is a ‘Soul Gives’ program, where individual teams get two days off to volunteer at a place of their choosing. Happy, fulfilled staff helps with retention and promoting a sense of workplace pride; both of which are good for business.
Lesson 5: Freedom Within The Framework
Soul Cycle aim to give their staff enough support so they feel confident and well-equipped, but also try to give them flexibility to put their own stamp on things. Instructors are encouraged to make the classes their own through playlists, mood setting and their own mantras. Some instructors add their own twist by hosting costume rides, play their own music and host retro rides. As Cohen says, “We teach the foundations but they have to bring themselves to the class. We want them to find freedom within the framework”.