Industry reports show that when gyms reopened, fitness enthusiasts flocked back to their local gyms. While this is encouraging news, the one thing these reports often miss is the opportunity that has been created in the last year and a half. Large numbers of people have realised, during the pandemic, that they need to focus…
Retention is the cornerstone of a consistently profitable membership model. It costs much more to gain a new client than it does to service an existing one and this high churn also degrades the integrity of a brand. On Thursday 17th March, Adam Daniel – accomplished sportsman, fitness entrepreneur, Performance and Impact Coach will be…
Written by Ana Marin Every day, hundreds, maybe thousands, of members walk through your doors. When they joined, each of those members had their own unique perception of what it was going to be like to be part of your club. When they leave after their workout, each of those members will have their own unique perceived experience of their…
written by David Heathcote The launch of Sport England’s 10-year strategy, Uniting the Movement, earlier this year, formed a pivotal moment in our industry. The first of ‘the Five Big Issues’ is perhaps the most important and overarching as we continue to reopen as an industry: a chance to Recover and Reinvent. The sector must…
As a trainer and consultant of sales, I’m experiencing that even the best sales people in our industry have lost their confidence and greatness due to being out of the game for a while due to furlough and feeling overwhelmed in the new Covid world. Changes in which the way they are being managed due…
Written by Tom Doodson, Sales Account Manager, Fitronics What Is Net Promoter Score®? NPS®, formally known as ‘Net Promoter Score’, is a widely recognised way of assessing the loyalty of an individual or group of customers. Using just one simple question, Net Promoter Score allows you to gauge how likely someone is to recommend your…
By 2025 you will be buying a car on social media! That prediction came from a director at a large digital agency and is based on booming e-commerce and social commerce during the last 18 months. This acceleration is due to payment and shopping functions on platforms, but crucially on the reliance on reviews with…
Written by Dan Barker at Momentum Business Development Many professionals feel that their jobs are taking over their entire day and leaving them with no free time to do other things. Personal trainers are no exception. “Many times, personal trainers think that they do not have enough hours in the day to coach clients, manage their business…
Written by Phil Horton, Country Director UK, miha bodytec I think it’s fair to say that, in 2021, most people understand the importance of cardiovascular training for their health and wellbeing. That’s not to say those same people regularly undertake cardiovascular training of course, but a pop survey would likely reveal people know, to some…
by Louise Day For all health clubs, member satisfaction should always be your highest priority. A health club succeeds – or fails – based on being able to bring in new members and provide an excellent membership experience. Obviously, there are many different things that contribute to a great membership experience. From well-maintained facilities to…
by Paul Reeves 2020 saw a number of new phrases in the industry – one of the most common was “pivot to digital”, born out of panic from closure announcement, and potential loss of long-sleeping members which the industry had become addicted to. The rush to provide an alternative offer resulted in an explosion of…
by Daniel Barker The health and fitness industry has moved at a much quicker pace than anyone could have anticipated over the past 18 months with digitalised at home offerings and a new focus on health and overall wellness. This shift and increased competition now means that gyms and personal trainers will have to change…
by Terry Gibbs Nowadays most businesses have a variety of products or packages to give the customer a feeling of choice and, typically, the options available become better value as the price point increases. Within a health club environment access to the gym or classes may be £45 per month but access to both £60.…
by Lesley Aitken I remember 10 years ago (I’m now showing my age), a “free trial” was a great way of stimulating interest about your offering and generating a new customer through a carefully crafted conversion strategy. Members and gym goers just wanted to dip their toes into trying new things like step classes, spinning…
by Rachael Browes “The secret of Change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” When I was asked to write approximately 500 words to help club owners and operators fire up their sales team’s ready for their reopening, my first thought was how can I…
Times have changed in the gym industry. Long gone are the days of an individual joining a gym solely based on a referral or just “popping in”. Social media now plays such a key role, as it is one of the most prominent ways a potential member finds out about you or is keen to…
Space for cardio areas is becoming less desired, mainly due to changes in people’s movements pattern plus COVID has had a major impact on how people train, with a lot choosing to be outside for running, cycling and boot camp style workouts. So a key factor in designing a layout for a gym now and…
The single, most significant change that fitness club operators could do today that would help them transform the financial performance of their site is this… Stop being a slave to Membership! Fitness businesses do not have to be run with a subscription model underpinning them. In the early days sessional visits were the way that…
Advertising online isn’t just about gathering leads and prospect data, it’s an opportunity to find out more about your target audience. And the more you know about them, the better chance you have of offering them what they want. Therefore, advertising online surveys is such a useful thing to do for your fitness club and…
When you have successfully undertaken a sensitive and in-depth Personal Needs Analysis Survey, and presented a compelling reason why your option is the most suitable for your prospect, avoiding “sticker shock” (the negative reaction to a surprising price quote), it is essential to close the sale. Here are 7 ways to overcome the likelihood of…
In my last blog we looked at some key suggestions for tripwire offers to deploy in your club. Let’s now look at 4 more. 5. Voucher Cards An alternative to trial offers with restrictions is to produce a bespoke Club Voucher card with 8 – 10 individual voucher offers on it and to discount the…
How do we make the jump from interested bystanders to committed members? The solution for fitness club operators is to use tripwire products. These tripwire products are designed to ascend prospects from a cold lead into short term, low commitment transactions before up selling the prospects into a more permanent subscription relationship. The other main…
If you think that your only role with your new members is to fix them something to do in the gym then you’re missing a big trick. Not only that, but you are also missing out on literally £1000s of untapped revenues. If you are ready to rethink your strategy with new customers and seriously…
A recent study from the Leisure Database Company suggested that the % of UK adults exercising has topped 15% for the first time since fitness clubs were invented some 50 years ago. Managing Director Dave Minton reported that this increase can be attributed to the increased usage in the budget club sector by a lower…
Here are 10 irresistible ways to convince your prospects why they should join your fitness club. 1. Sessional Bundles The price of group classes has never been higher thanks to the rise of the boutique clubs. The price of fitness membership has never been lower. The solution for clubs is to break out the group…
Ever found yourself in a position where you can’t seem to increase your monthly club income even though you think you’ve done everything possible? Sometimes you have a great sales month but then aren’t reflected in increased revenue the month later? Overcoming the fitness club income plateau is a problem which is one of the…
Today I want to show you a great way to highlight some instant ways for you to bring in more customers and grow your business. The following are 30 questions that will immediately pinpoint where your business is doing well – and where you can take action that will produce rapid results. These are the…
Your club member reactivation programme should be one of the most important systems you run. Without exception, people who leave you as members will at some point prior to cancellation have become inactive. When you calculate the financial cost of inactivity on attrition, then how effectively you drop into a pre-designed reactivation routine is vital…
The secret of charging what you want and getting people to pay lies in your ability to make positive PROPOSITIONS. Here are the 5 you really need to have mastered: 1. The Unique Sales Proposition (Your U.S.P) “Why would I join you above every other fitness club in the market (Including doing nothing) and why…
When it comes to targeting customers online, you must think outside the box. Don’t go with the norm and do what everyone else does, or you’ll end up competing for advertising space and then it’s a battle of spending power. But if you advertise at different/more specific audiences, you’re more likely to engage with them…
The words you use to communicate with your customers are very important, whether in brochures letters, advertisements, email, on websites or in telephone and face to face conversations. Below are 15 golden words that you should consider incorporating into all your communications. 1. Easy Everyone wants stuff that’s easy. We want things to be easy…
So, where do you start with lead generation? Firstly, it’s important to build a database list of people who are local to your club and have an interest in health and fitness. That interest might not yet be of an intensity and motivation that moves them to buy immediately (we call them “Skimmers”) but are…
In addition to the ability to attract new customers, Clubs would be foolish to ignore the potential of recovering those they have lost. The costs of signing a new member can run to significant sums. When you know what that figure is you can then gauge how aggressive you can be to get back members…
The No.1 Mission for all fitness clubs must be to “maximise customer value”. The logics simple. Once the original membership sale is achieved then all further revenue is achieved with virtually nil cost of sale. In the future, we can expect that the likely cost of acquiring customers will increase as the market becomes invaded…
I spent a fascinating day recently in the company of some industry veterans who are currently charged with running charitable Leisure Trusts. I was able to sit in on a day when they discussed the financial problems, they were facing regarding balancing the books of their service. Just to set some context it must be…
Everyone likes getting something for free. Users of gyms and leisure centres are no different. But just because it isn’t a form of marketing that costs the customer anything initially, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be using this tactic. It’s actually the start of a very important funnel… Attract: You’re gaining attention from customers by…
How To Get Your Fitness Team Talking More To Your Members: It’s not a question of attitude, its more usually a lack of process. One of your key jobs as fitness club operators is to help your staff team overcome the problem of cold calling when it comes to meeting members in your gym. Members…
One of the biggest differences between fitness owners who are thriving and fitness owners who are barely surviving is the ability to attract new customers. Not having a system in place to consistently generate new leads makes for a stressful situation and often leads to otherwise well-run fitness clubs closing their doors. What is a Lead Magnet? A lead…
Far and away the biggest error that I see working with struggling operators is that quite simply they don’t charge enough! They desperately yearn to run great clubs but can’t afford the staff to deliver it because of a lack of profits. The lack of cash affects the power and intensity of their promotional push…
Once the beach is in sight, we all start to think about how we are going to look when we are stripped down and basking in the sun. Motivation to get a quick fix exercise programme is at one of the highest points of the year. For the commitment phobia prospect, the 6-week programme is…