Ask any independent gym owner in the UK or Ireland about the first three months of the year and you will quickly notice the responses follow a theme. It is a period of mad rushes and significant downtime.
The January Rush is significant enough to be well known even outside our industry and can knock an unprepared fitness facility for six. The turnstiles are spinning constantly, the induction diary looks like a mess, and it can be hard to keep Business-As-Usual operations running smoothly.
For years this has been accepted as the norm. Survive January, push through February, and recover in March. But after twenty-five years working in the fitness industry, we have noticed that a select group of independent gym and fitness club owners don’t just “survive” Q1. They thrive during it, allowing them to hit the ground running and bolster those retention margins long after the first wave of January Joiners.
So, what do these high-performing gyms do differently? It isn’t about working harder, it is about shifting the mindset from reactive firefighting to proactive management. Here is how they do it, and how Ashbourne helps make it possible.
Planning versus Reacting
The difference between a stressful Q1 and a profitable one usually comes down to a single decision made in December. Does the independent gym in question have a plan? Because we all know failing to plan means planning to fail.
A reactive gym waits until the first week of January to realise they have run out of fobs, the turnstiles need a software update and the queue is already out the door. The manager spends the morning printing join forms and troubleshooting the Wi-Fi and suddenly they are playing catch-up for the rest of January.
A proactive gym, however, has already dealt with these problems and planned for the month ahead. They know the projected footfall patterns and trends from previous years, they know what worked and what didn’t. All because they have a record of what they did before, how it went and an easy way to access that information on the fly.
At Ashbourne, we have helped thousands of independent gym owners and managers across the UK and Ireland to collect, access and utilise this data. We know that the “New Year, New Me” crowd doesn’t just appear on the 2nd of January anymore. The sign-ups often start creeping up in the last week of December as people get restless at home.
Proactive independent gym owners use this historical data that they have collected from their own business using our membership management system to understand what is likely to occur. They staff up accordingly. They ensure their biometric scanners and turnstiles are serviced before Christmas. They aren’t just guessing and they aren’t starting from scratch every year, they are preparing for a known event in their business calendar.
Stop Guessing, Start Knowing
This brings us to the second habit of high-performing gyms. Their data-driven approach means that reports aren’t just something you bring out every quarter because ‘it is the done thing’ while most people struggle to pay attention.
They use live, reliable data to show them what is working, what is not, and what requires immediate attention.
As a company built by gym owners, for gym owners, we know that intuition has a valuable place on the gym floor. But so does the certainty of data.
High-performing gyms use Business Intelligence (BI) to look at past Q1 performance to forecast the current one. They ask specific questions:
Which membership type sold out last January?
Look at how Peak and Off-Peak are performing.
Do the times need to be adjusted? Does the number of Off-Peak members rise in January, February and March as fairweather customers opt for a cheaper membership?
When did the rush actually peak last year?
We know Q1 is defined by rush periods, but when did they occur?
Who is likely to join? Who is likely to leave? And when?
When did they join? When did they start to leave? The first question can prepare you for the rush, while the latter can be used to understand when to deploy your retention efforts to retain as much of that January Joiner custom as possible.
Past years have seen certain age ranges or demographics join in greater numbers. If so, are there any trends that can be defined? Are members within the 18-30 age range more likely to cancel by the end of March?
With the appropriate tools, trends that would’ve previously been unidentifiable can be isolated and understood within minutes.
With our integrated BI Dashboards, you don’t need to be a spreadsheet master to get these answers. You can see, in real-time, what your attendance looks like compared to last year using your own reliable data.
You can see which classes were rammed and which were not, which hours were busiest and which were downtime.
But the data doesn’t have to be from a year ago. It can be from last week. The trends of one week can help inform the next. This allows you to make decisions on the fly, perhaps adding an extra class or extra staff on a certain night if the data is showing a sustained spike in demand.
It is about removing guess-work and word-of-mouth as the sole resource for decision-making and augmenting them with the data coming directly from your facility.
The Real Perils of the Rush (And Who Has Your Back)
Managing the rushes that define Q1 in the fitness industry is vital, and planning can make it all the easier.
But anyone who has worked in this industry for any length of time knows even with all the planning in the world, things go wrong.
Here at Ashbourne, we know how vital a quick fix can be. Which is why we don’t just set up our membership management software and call it a day. Our in-house support team is right there every step of the way.
Because every problem feels five times as big if it happens during rush hour. The last thing any independent gym or fitness club owner wants is to be in the queue for some call desk support while their queue is growing out the door. A big, faceless corporation is likely to give you an automated ticket number and a promise to call back in 48 hours.
As Gym Owners, we know this isn’t good enough. And our partners have been quick to acknowledge how game-changing this support can be compared to their previous providers.
High-performing gyms choose partners who understand the stakes. That is why here at Ashbourne we offer in-house, UK-based technical support. When you call, you speak to a human who knows the system. They know that a broken fingerprint scanner isn’t just a “hardware issue”, it is a member experience crisis.
You can speak to the same person twice, they know the software and the hardware, and they aren’t just reading a script.
A plan is vital, but a plan for when things go wrong is priceless.
Don’t Take It From Us, Listen To Other Independent Gym Owners
Here at Ashbourne, we aren’t happy to just sit in an office all day. We love getting out and talking to our partners directly, travelling across the UK, Ireland and beyond to understand what is working and what we can do better.
Take Rees Gym in Caerphily, who discovered the power of the data-driven approach after visiting fellow Ashbourne partner Gym The Fit Club Redditch with us. They used Ashbourne’s BI Dashboards not only to predict the rush but to demonstrate the potential of their business to others in the area. They were able to use the footfall data they were suddenly collecting to lure in all sorts of specialists from the local area.
Meanwhile across the border in England, Ultraflex sat down with us and discussed what an incredible impact our in-house support team has had on their operation. Ultraflex wanted to offer a premium service, but they felt unable to without the right support team. Since switching to Ashbourne, they have been able to operate with the confidence of knowing that a well-trained, in-house support team based in the UK has their back and it has made all the difference.
And they aren’t alone, Carl and Courtney at Elements Gym up in Stafford were also keen to reinforce just how much of an impact our in-house support team had had on their gym.
If you want to know more about how Ashbourne can help your independent gym or fitness club not only survive but thrive during Q1 and beyond, click here to arrange a demo with our in-house team today.
