“How Your Gym Can Tackle Rising Energy Prices in 2022 and Beyond?”
It is a time of tension, both across the world and in the UK. It is hard to shake the twinned feelings of horror that one, energy prices have substantially risen. And two, that not only will those prices not go down, but they are also most likely, under current government policy, only going to rise.
With that being said, the last two months have seen stunning reversals by the UK Conservative Party (including the reversal of a prime minister), so it is possible that compared to the time of reading, the situation may change.
As it stands, our understanding is that the rather ‘half-measure’ cap in energy prices that has been put in place for businesses will expire in April and that ‘a more targeted alternative’ will come into place. In a move reassuring to no-one, the specifics of that scaled-back and ‘more targeted’ scheme have not been shared.
As predicted by the head of the British Chamber of Commerce earlier in the year, we are already seeing businesses, both within and outside the fitness industry starting to reduce hours. In a few extreme examples, closing entirely.
As such, we thought it best to be proactive and look at a selection of measures that businesses can take to mitigate the damage that the energy price crisis is currently inflicting on many industries. We have made sure to keep in mind what independent gym and fitness club owners can do about the rising energy prices during this coming winter and beyond.
Despite being the ‘party of business’, the Conservatives have never been too keen on the state directly financing businesses (unless they are banks). Now former Prime Minister Liz Truss’ response to the crisis involved an energy package that capped energy bills for businesses at the same price per unit as consumers for two years. This was later revised to six months by now Chancellor Jeremy Hunt. Alongside this measure, we have also heard talk of the capping of business rates and, we should also expect VAT and business rates to be reduced, all of which have yet to be finalised.
Thankfully there are multiple government schemes including a grant scheme and the offer of bespoke loans which businesses should absolutely take advantage of.
And while you wouldn’t believe it from government rhetoric, there are also incentives on offer for businesses that are able to show that they have lowered their carbon emission and a variety of other factors.
While we might discuss these another day and how they can be applied to independent gym and fitness clubs owners. For now we would guide you towards the official government advice on this:
Much like the government, energy providers are keenly aware of what is happening, and know that while these energy prices are currently resulting in record profits, they also threaten to wipe out many of their customers.
As such, we have seen many energy suppliers offering initiatives and grants that encourage and reward energy efficiency. Most of the time, these can be taken in conjunction with the government schemes. This reinforces the need to keep track of any and all improvements that a gym owner may make to their facility. Often a portion of this can be recuperated.
In addition, ‘business hardship funds’ have existed for a long time within many energy companies. These are, for apparent reasons, coming into the limelight now in a back way. While a business will need to prove that they qualify for this type of relief, it can be of vital importance to small businesses.
We are planning to do a more indepth article about business rates in the future but for now the above should help guide gym and fitness club owners down the right path.
Finally, though it will not save or add additional money to a business portfolio, the option of setting up a payment plan exists. Energy companies are receiving significant pressure from governmental and non-governmental sources to enact these at the moment and they can often be a generous lifeline. As such, we believe every facility within the fitness industry struggling should look into energy payment plans for their gym or fitness club.
3. Review Your Choice of Energy Supplier
If you are not happy with the support offered by your current energy supplier, the next step is to shop around. Each energy supplier is different and will offer different levels of business support. We recommend doing research on any energy supplier with an appealing energy package to see what experience other business owners had with them. We would recommend looking for other business owners within the fitness industry first, followed by other businesses that use a similar level of electricity to a gym or fitness club.
Comparison websites can be useful here for getting an idea of which energy supplier will offer the best rates, but it is important to keep in mind that that isn’t the whole picture. If they offer effective energy efficiency grants, business hardship schemes and other business supports, it might be preferable to pay a little extra on your bill to be properly supported through these trying times.
4. Contact Your Bank
Every major bank provides some form of financial advice for businesses. Santander, Lloyds, Natwest, HSBC and Barclays all spend a significant amount of money investing in their business departments. In better times, we can just forget that these services exist but they exist for a reason. Whether you are a long or short term customer with your bank, they should be more than willing to offer business support. This advice and support can manifest in a variety of ways, it may overlap with some of the above, being able to recommend areas to save, energy suppliers that have been useful to their other client businesses and more. Banks represent a concentration of business expertise and support to gyms and fitness club owners and should be utilised as such.
5. Reduce Consumption
And finally, the most direct solution. While we never want to impact the members that use our gyms and fitness clubs, given the circumstances it may be necessary to scale back energy usage. Some energy usage can be reduced without compromising the operational effectiveness of a gym or fitness club.
Lowering the thermostat/resting temperature:
As obvious as it is effective. Lowering the thermostat a few degrees can quickly add up to large savings. It is important for any gym or fitness club to communicate this (and any measure that is undertaken) to their membership ahead of time. Even if it is a temperature change that will be mostly imperceptible, your membership will appreciate being forewarned and that a gym is taking measures to lower costs.
Using energy-efficient equipment and LED bulbs:
As discussed earlier, one of the many tools in the fight against energy costs will be energy-efficient electronics. Gyms and fitness clubs should make careful note of every energy-saving appliance they purchase to demonstrate the measures that have been taken to make the business more environmentally friendly and energy efficient. If this can be demonstrated, significant price reductions and business assistance could be unlocked.
Automatic sensors to endure that empty rooms do not have their lights turned on unnecessarily:
Just as above, this is another measure that will not only save a significant amount of money after a gym or fitness club has installed them but can also be used to demonstrate energy efficiency.
Turn off powered exercise equipment/PCs/Sauna/ when not in use:
By turning off these systems when they are not in use, consumption can be reduced. A more extreme variant of this measure would be to limit the amount of time that these systems are operational. This can be especially effective with any facility that uses heated water, such as a sauna, spa, or especially a swimming pool. While an extreme measure, if communicated responsibly we have seen that gym and fitness club members are understanding of the hardships currently facing the industry.
Energy Audit:
An energy audit can highlight some of the above measures and recommend where more complex energy-saving measures such as solar panels and insulation can be placed. Both of these measures are expensive but very effective. Insulation will allow for the thermostat to be run lower, though it is important that the current ventilation also be taken into account. Solar panels can provide massive savings on energy for a business if a gym or fitness club is able to accommodate them.
Here at Ashbourne, we’ve been working with gyms and fitness clubs, growing their business and helping them reach their potential for over 25 years. While our primary domain is membership management, we’ve learned plenty along the way. Interested in seeing if we can help enhance the reach and potential of your Gym? Please do not hesitate to contact our team today here.
“Content as a Tool for Increasing Your Gyms Marketing Potency”
Content as marketing is not a new strategy, but it is one that has seen a marked increase. We think that part of the reason for this is that it has never been easier to get a long-form, detailed opinion out into the public at virtually no cost. Whereas before the rise of the internet and digital marketing, there was always a prohibitively expensive cost associated with length that has started to recede and vanish. Now there is very little to stop long form, insightful content from being published online with a high chance of reaching its audience through ever more advanced search engines. This is, in our opinion, a blessing. It has allowed companies to post valuable and meaningful content without fear it will go completely unread, or even end up costing significantly more than it generated. Now the ability to share relevant and impactful information directly to the audience cannot be overestimated as a tool for marketing. Now rather than relentlessly and monotonously bombarding potential customers with the same message in order to build some semblance of trust, businesses can put their message, their product, their expertise and their value right where their mouth is. Unlike terrestrial advertising, this method allows for the story and expertise of the company to be demonstrated through the content they produce. In turn, this can help create a bond with the potential customers that a business is trying to reach.
At time of writing, it is estimated that over 80% of brands are either utilising or in some way participating in Content Marketing. It has become a tour de force that has transcended marketing and become a way to get a business into search engines while generating valuable and meaningful content.
So how can a gym or fitness club owner incorporate content based marketing into their marketing strategies?
We are going to cover off a few of the most accessible and impactful methods that can be implemented swiftly.
Blogs are the mainstay of content-lead marketing for a number of reasons. As we discussed previously, one of the draws is the ability to communicate impactful information and have it reach the audience for the lowest possible cost. Blogging fits that criteria perfectly. Not only is creating it cheap, requiring only expertise and a word processor, hosting it on a website is a negligible expense. Furthermore, given search engines focus on keywords, the potential for it to be found is very high relative to other forms of marketing.
So that is the positive news. The downside is that, especially within the fitness industry, Gym content lead marketing is very competitive. It is an industry full of people who know their stuff and do a significant portion of their business through their websites.
As such, it is important that gym owners keep in mind two mantras when producing blogs as content lead marketing for their websites.
First, it must make a real contribution. No half measures. The information that Gyms are putting out shouldn’t be contentless clickbait or a guide that has been done better elsewhere. Every gym or fitness club should be a hub of talented and experienced individuals, with valuable expertise to contribute. It is therefore necessary that Gyms bring their A-game to all content. The blogs will be what is selling the gym or fitness club to the customer. We want them to be drawn in and understand that the organisation has something to offer them that can improve their life. That it is worth their time and money.
A useful thought exercise is something we call ‘The bookmark test’. Does the blog provide valuable enough content that someone who is interested in the subject would want to bookmark or favourite it on their browser so they can return to it. If the answer is yes, the content is on the right track.
The second is the more pragmatic and marketing side, and that is keywords. The best content in the world won’t draw a business any new custom if it can’t be found. As mentioned earlier, blogs trade in keywords and that is especially true in the fitness industry. With prospective customers often searching very specific queries, whether it is related to an exercise, or a class, or an exercise machine. It is necessary for the content to be precise and purposeful in the language that is used.
In addition, a successful blog should try to mention the location of the gym or fitness club it is trying to promote. A lot of searches are locational, so the more that the gym or fitness club can be linked with the specific area, the better.
2. Podcasting
Take it from us, making a podcast and getting it onto the big platforms that people actually use has never been easier.
There has been a big rise in the number of brand podcasts and they are enjoying a large amount of success.
In a recent poll, 50% of content-led marketers who have adopted and utilised podcasts as a marketing tool have described it as one of their most effective content mediums they use.
So then the question becomes, why are podcasts experience such an increase in adoption by businesses? The answer is actually above, it has never been easier. Accessibility and outreach always used to be the issue. Even as little as ten years ago, podcasting was a niche with few defined outlets. Still very much the domain of iTunes and Apple. Recording, editing and then releasing a podcast was a lot of work and there was no guarantee it would be downloaded (not streamed!) onto more than a few devices. Now both recording and distribution has been made simple. Multiple websites can allow a business to upload a podcast once and then have it put onto all major streaming services (including the big hitters like Spotify). As it often goes, this meant that businesses were able to test the water with comparatively little time and effort. In turn, businesses learned that there was a market for these podcasts and so a content marketing method was born.
The success factor has come from the casual nature of podcasting. A conversation between two people within the fitness industry, about the fitness industry doesn’t feel like marketing but it is highly effective at doing so. Given that people will be listening to the podcast on either a phone or a computer, they will have a search engine to hand, so any mention of a gym or fitness club that grabs their attention can be instantly followed up upon.
The topics are endless and normally we find if you just set out a few topics of conversation and get the right people in the room, the conversation will flow nicely. Unlike a blog, it can be more freeform and anecdotal while still communicating valuable insight into the fitness industry. It can also exist to deliver news about a gym or fitness club, a few minute segment either at the beginning or the end of the podcast is the perfect time to detail new equipment, renovations, classes or events. These topics could even spark a conversation themselves about the running of the gym or fitness club.
The last aspect is promotion. By putting up posters and sending out emails promoting the podcast, a gym can get a core group of followers interested in the podcast. In turn, just like with blogs, this will help with discoverability.
The only limitation, and it is a relatively minor one in 2022, is getting the necessary equipment together. This will include a recording-quality microphone or microphones, headphones and computers to record and edit on. Nothing particularly outlandish and with a little candid conversation and audio quality, any gym can join this exciting and contemporary content marketing avenue.
3. Events. Virtual, Real, Hybrid
Hosting events may not feel intuitive to many gym or fitness club owners, but their facilities are an asset that many businesses envy. A big public space with plenty of room for activities. It has novelty value to some and lifestyle appeal to many.
This makes gyms and fitness clubs a very attractive place to host events, whether they are in-person events, virtual or a hybrid between the two.
It is important to take stock of every asset a given gym or fitness club has. Whether that is a spacious lobby, a central location within the town or city, a coffee bar or a large, easily emptied space for free-form events.
Open Days
It is the oldest trick in the book, but it stayed in the book for a reason. Open days are a great event for the area to see what a gym is made of, invite people in, publicise it in your area, invite local people of note. Furthermore make sure the day is filmed so that footage can be uploaded to your social media channels. It might even be a good topic for a podcast.
A food fair that focuses on healthy living: A universal human experience and perhaps one of the best. Partnering with local food distributors, cafes, restaurants or healthy takeaways can be a great way for a gym to act as a nexus and a hub for the local community.
Online Classes: Utilise a gym’s existing class system and personal trainers to hold free online classes.
Charity Events and ‘Event’ Events: It may sound slightly ridiculous but we all love a tie-in event. Whether it is for Easter or the Olympics, the Tour De France or St Valentine’s Day. Topical events are easy to market and will get people through the doors. The same with charity, everyone loves to support a good cause and for some a good cause can be the push they need to get exercising.
4. Educational Videos and Infographics
The chances are everytime you log onto social media, you see at least one instance of the following two things.
The first is educational video content. Whether it is the TikTok ‘how to’ or YouTube short ‘life advice’, short-form video is everywhere. And where the individual goes, a company can follow. Just as we discussed with podcast, this new cultural trend is just ripe for companies to get onboard with and many have already.
The second is infographics. We live in a world teeming with statistics, data and advice. This is good for content-marketing because it means that the audience of today is very receptive to infographics. More than ever, people are consuming their information from individuals and businesses through the snappy combination of data, images and text.
Both methods are capable of turning someone who has just stumbled across the content into an interested party right away. More people than ever before are discovering new businesses due to the informative video content that they are putting out. The rise of near limitless mobile data means that people are doing this everywhere and at every time of the day. Combine this with Instagram, Twitter and Tiktoks ever more efficient video integration and shareability and a Gym would be remiss not to capitalise on this effect and far-reaching trend.
As for what to show, we’ve listed ideas below for inspiration.
Facility tour: Showing off a Gym or Fitness club is a surefire way to get people interested. Unless a gym has large windows, local people can pass by every day and never know the great facility instead.
How to use equipment: education and entertaining: This can also help reduce gymtimidation if someone has never used a piece of gym equipment.
Exercise tips from your PTs: Short-form, well edited tips are the most shared and likely to hit the biggest audience.
Classes in Action: If a class is going on, ask for permission and then get filming!
Testimonials from the regulars: If regular customers are content and comfortable with saying a few words, the genuine enthusiasm they display can be a powerful motivator.
Meal preparation and diet tips and tricks: Whether it comes from customers or staff, a great way to share what works for the people who use a Gym.
As has hopefully become apparent, the 2020s have heralded a golden age for content-led marketing. Never before have gym or fitness club owners been able to put out meaningful content at such a cheap price point, and with such broad reach. There is a reason that all the methods above have seen such a rapid uptake and uptick in popularity over the last few years. Here at Ashbourne, we’ve been working with gyms and fitness clubs, growing their business and helping them reach their potential for over 25 years. While our primary domain is membership management, we’ve learned plenty along the way. Interested in seeing if we can help enhance the reach and potential of your Gym? Please do not hesitate to contact our team today here.
“Is Your Gym or Fitness Club Primed to Capitalise on the Quality of Life Revolution?“
Here are our tips on increasing your Gym’s age range appeal
The years between 2020 and 2022 have already marked multiple unprecedented events and demographic shifts within the fitness industry, but there are more to come.
And unlike Covid-19 or the ensuing lockdowns, the trend we are discussing today isn’t an anomaly. In fact it is quite the opposite, a trend that we are all aware of, one of the key criteria that we use to measure the success of modern society.
People are living longer.
While this should not be shocking to you, we are approaching a series of unprecedented watermarks as a society. We are reaching a tipping point that will see many areas that are traditionally marketed towards younger people as a matter of course being forced to change that habit. The simple truth is that the younger demographics account for less than they ever have before, and will only continue to account for less. This goes double for spending power. We should all be equally familiar with the headlines about the relatively diminished spending power of younger generations. Now while we won’t spend time focusing on the potentially disastrous long-term societal consequences of this shift, we can focus on how to translate it into short-term benefit for your Gym or Fitness Club.
So how will we be targeting this ever-broadening demographic?
Well, first we will need to look at what they want, and what they are currently doing. The answer to these questions are thankfully one and the same, they are staying active for longer and trying to stay active for as long as possible.
This is a significant change in behaviour when contrasted to even twenty or thirty years ago.
Now not only are these people living longer, but they are also going out of their way to enjoy a better quality of life.
Compared to the younger demographics, people over 50 find themselves with a greater disposable income and significantly more time. This enables them to enact their growing desire to stay healthy, active and impactful within society.
In turn this means that an entire demographic that could easily be considered ‘beyond fitness’ is returning to it in a very specific way with a very specific aim.
For the purposes of this article, we will be calling this the Quality of Life Revolution.
While that doesn’t mean abandoning the historic bulwark of the fitness industry, 18 to 35 year olds, it does benefit us to compare the behavioural trends of these groups. While it is likely your fitness club is maximising engagement with people under 40, it seems unlikely that you are making full use of your outreach to the over 50s. Besides the obvious benefit of being a new demographic with great expansion and longevity potential, it also has several inbuilt purchasing habit benefits over the younger demographics. A retention study by the IHRSA that looked at nearly 1.5 million fitness club members’ behaviours found that the movement habits of over 55s varies greatly from that of their younger counterparts. Remarkably, they found out that over 55s stay with a gym or fitness club, on average, 22 months longer than any other age group. This makes sense given what we know about people in the latter half of their life. People tend to be more established, with a deeper connection, whether it is economically, socially or emotionally, to any given place. Younger people shift location for work, shifting interpersonal relationships and even for no reason at all. Therefore the study seems intuitive.
An older customer at your Gym or Fitness Club may well be a customer that stays with you longer!
And it is important to keep this in mind. With minimal restructuring of what your gym or fitness club offers and how it is marketed, it could be earning more from a more stable customer base, all while improving the longevity of the community your business resides within.
What services can you offer to contribute to the Quality of Life Revolution?
Courses aimed at promoting longevity and quality of life work within different criteria to more traditional, youth-oriented courses. The metrics for success here are all about slowing down the process and effects of ageing while maximising functional fitness. Exercises are normally lower impact but with a focus on muscle health that can otherwise quickly decline in later years.
The four areas where the majority of quality and length of life is most pertinent and focused on include:
Weight, posture and body composition
Brain functionality, acuity and reactions and overall health
Mobility and health of the Musculoskeletal system and joint flexibility.
Cardiovascular health with a specific focus on the heart.
As you can tell, what is going to be important to these new prospective clients isn’t just exercise in the gym. Research has shown that they are also interested in dietary advice, breathing exercises and sleep regimes. However, all of this is rooted within a firm regime of exercise. Results have been shown to be powerful and once someone has embraced this new lifestyle and forged the habit (habits that, as previously established, older demographics are more likely to maintain), they are less likely to relinquish that habit.
Whether it is weightless or maintaining mobility, reaction training, meditation or joint strengthening, there are a host of activities that can be accomplished in your Gym or Fit Club. The opportunities for your gym or fitness club to provide solutions that increase the quality and longevity of life are limitless.
So let’s dive into six different ways to start catering to this demographic and their demands, today!
As we discussed earlier, the messaging of many Gyms and Fitness Clubs in the UK is inherently youth-oriented. This can be off-putting for many elderly people, when they see a Gym advertised entirely by attractive and healthy under-thirties, it sends a clear message about the target of this establishment.
Conversely, even one or two older faces in an advertisement are likely to stand out to the demographic we are trying to reach, while going unnoticed by the younger people who take their status as the core fitness market for granted.
2. Shift Perspective
With that being said, we don’t mean that you should load your gym adverts full of strollers and walking sticks. The stereotypes about the over 60s that we have had are starting to disappear, and no one knows that as well as the current people within that demographic. Not feeling your age is the mantra, and as such the marketing should be aimed at people who are in extended middle age, with much of the vitality that they had at 45 or even younger!
This is a trend that has been thoroughly entrenched in Scandinavian society and contributed to a significant shift in the marketing of such fitness items as bicycles and swimming gear!
It is all about normalising the concept of older demographics working out, and that will never change if we shy away from including positive examples in advertising material. It will help you stand out and stand for positive change.
3. Social & Enjoyable
One opinion that crosses the generation divide (A rarity these days, it feels), is that many people young and old do not find exercise enjoyable. We have all heard polls and have had conversations where people say that they would only do exercise if ‘they found it enjoyable’ and that lifting weights or running on a treadmill doesn’t meet that marker for them.
They know it is good for them, but all that does is put it into the same category as vegetables or not spending money. This is a hot topic when targeting young people, but it becomes even more pertinent when targeting people for quality and longevity of life. Luckily, the regimes and exercises that we are promoting are not about lifting massive amounts of weight or running a virtual half-marathon. The strength that functional fitness has is that it can be lightweight, unintrusive and very social. By focusing on the more casual and social nature of it, you will be able to draw a larger crowd. This is especially relevant amongst an older demographic who frequently struggle with loneliness. You will find many councils within the UK are keen to reduce loneliness and increase the number of active adults in the community. Work with members of the community, whether paid or volunteered to exchange ideas and inspirations on what functional fitness could achieve. This will not only help bolster the earnings of your club but contribute meaningfully to the well-being of your community. Win-win.
4. Outreach
In the same way that a lot of the content of the marketing in the fitness industry is aimed at a younger demographic, so are the methods.
If I had to hazard a guess (based on data), I would say that your gym or fitness club’s main method of marketing engagement is social media. And that’s great! But unfortunately the older demographic we are trying to target often have either significantly different social media habits, or none at all! This presents a challenge, but not an insurmountable one. The main methods that we found effective while targeting the older demographic were more traditional (perhaps unsurprisingly). Going through the local council signposting system, as well as newspapers and leaflets distributed to communal areas within your local area all are more likely to resonate and reach your audience than an Instagram post!
5. Invest in the Knowledge
While many of the services that contribute towards quality of life and longevity classes are part of a standard PTs repertoire, there is always additional knowledge, technicals and qualifications to be gained. It is also a good reason to expand the knowledge pool among your staff and potentially increase the number of classes you are running. By undertaking training that specialises in reducing the effects of ageing and maximises functional fitness. This, in turn, will enable your gym to have a much larger and more positive effect on the people and community around you. Quality of life and longevity exercises have been proven to reduce the occurrence of certain chronic diseases within the elderly community. Most importantly, this will give you a competitive edge over the gyms and fitness clubs in your area that are not offering this service. This is a growing demographic and a trend that is only going to become further cemented as more people from the currently under 50 demographic continue to age. It has been shown that there is a significantly different attitude in the people currently crossing the threshold and a desire to enjoy a better quality of life for longer.
6. Make your Gym or Fitness Club PART of their Quality of Life
The easiest way to make sure that this group keeps renewing month after month and year after year? Make your Gym a fundamental part of their Quality of Life.
Positive association is a powerful force, and staying active and youthful is a point of pride for people of all ages. It is estimated that lifestyle has a massive impact on the rate and effect of ageing, potentially over 60% to 70%. With all the services we have previously discussed, a Gym that provides all of that will no doubt be a key player in the longevity and life quality of the older demographic that frequents it.
Making your gym or fitness club a place that cultivates positive mindsets, nutrition, movement, socialisation and exercise will help it become a beacon to the community. Focusing on quality and longevity of life can help put a gym or fitness club into a new light, opening up exciting avenues of business and clientele that previously didn’t seem possible.
Conclusion
In our intensely youth-centric society, it can be easy to forget that fitness should be for everyone and that everyone needs to move. We are coming out of an era where old age was seen as the end of an active lifestyle, but it has been proven time and time again that that does not need to be the case. There is an opportunity for people to stay active, healthy and fulfilled for longer, and in turn, there is an opportunity for Gyms and fitness clubs to profit from this.
This is a revolution that has been 30 years in the making and is gathering speed. By putting your business at the forefront, there is the potential to make a meaningful impact on the community, and your staff and ultimately a profound impact on your gym or fitness club.
“Cost of Living: Energy Costs, Power Cuts and the Fitness Industry “
With great economic turmoil not only on the horizon but in our midsts, we thought it was a good time to look at the context that has caused these events and what the fitness industry is doing, and can do, to endure these trying times.
With costs skyrocketing, even after a lackluster government interaction, quite a few gym franchises and gym owners have reported they are scaling back the amount of electricity their facilities consume. This is being achieved in a variety of ways, from lowering the temperature of swimming pools and gyms, reducing operating times and turning off Jacuzzis and spa rooms.
It is important to stress that all of these actions are being taken irrespective of the flagship government measures aimed at capping runaway energy prices. Even though it was announced that they would be ‘capping’ prices for six months from the 1st of October, as it is not a solid cap this still means that gyms and fitness clubs are facing a substantial rise.
Many gyms use large amounts of energy to keep their saunas, pools and jacuzzis warm throughout their opening hours.
We are seeing examples of many gyms cutting back throughout the fitness industry, from small independents to even some of the biggest chains.
Better Gyms, well known for operating over 250 council-owned gyms and fitness facilities were one of the first to announce measures to tackle ever-rising prices.
While it is being decided on a case-by-case basis, all 258 gyms within their operation are looking at scaling back costs. So far this has included lowering the temperature of their swimming pools by a degree celsius but leading figures within Better Gym and their parent company Greenwich Leisure Limited said that they are looking at further cuts.
Several possible measures have been floated including turning off more facilities overnight and limiting the opening time for energy-intensive services.
They stressed they would be constantly monitoring customer feedback on these measures.
An important thing to keep in mind. While saving money is paramount at a time like this, it should not come at the expense of customer satisfaction.
It is important to ensure any changes are communicated clearly and compassionately.
Customers are aware of the economic situation and will appreciate money-saving measures that are taken if they are done transparently and responsibly.
An example of this feedback in action is the Bannatyne’s group and its chain of health and fitness clubs. They tried to implement similar temperature reduction measures as Better Gyms, but their customers were dissatisfied and so this measure was reverted in short order. It is important that this process, if made in any gym, is a dialogue between customer and business.
Better Gyms aren’t the only gym and fitness chain that is scaling back their services. The national titan, Nuffield Health have announced that they will be turning off all of their 72 jacuzzis until at least the spring.
While this is an extreme solution, it will ultimately save their operation a significant amount of money over the autumn, winter and potentially beyond. While it will most likely cause more customer dissatisfaction than lowering the temperature of pools by 1 degree, it will also save significantly more.
The example presented by Nuffield health also has value to smaller gym and fitness clubs.
A spokesperson for Nuffield gave their reasoning behind this action. They confirmed that turning off their jacuzzi facilities nationwide would allow them to save enough of their operational funds to keep their swimming pools and steam rooms functioning over winter.
This is the sort of thinking that can be applied to either one gym or many. Shutting down less popular and more costly facilities can be the key to keeping others running through this period of record high prices.
Just like with Better Gyms, the Nuffield group have not ruled out that more cost saving measures might be necessary this winter.
It has now been confirmed that the energy price cap in its current form will only last for six months. While it has prevented the situation from getting worse, most businesses have already seen their energy costs doubled. Given that we’ve been told that these energy prices are likely not going to shoot down again anytime soon, it is important that we in the fitness industry prepare measures that are sustainable, responsible and with the outlook that they may last for a long time.
“Why You Should Offer Your Employees A Gym Membership Incentive!”
Over the course of the Covid-19 through 2020 and 2021, individual health shot up the agenda in a big way. From an employer’s perspective, this was part of a long term, growing trend seen amongst employees.
As such it is not surprising that even as society opens up, the focus on fitness has not receded. In fact if anything, it has intensified.
Now that all restrictions have been lifted on everything from gyms and fitness clubs to swimming pools and stadiums, the desire has been met with the means and it has caused an explosion in popularity. Increasingly, employers are realising the power of offering on-site gyms and reduced corporate memberships as employee benefits. As such, we’ve taken the time to write this article where we will be examining the benefits of an employee benefit scheme for both employee and employer with specific focus on these benefits in the wake of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
A History of Steady Growth into A Fitness Explosion
Reduced corporate gym memberships and on-site gyms are nothing new, yet they’ve gained massive popularity in recent times.
The popular app, Engage, reported a 32% increase in the trend of employees demanding gym membership discounts from employers in April 2021. It is no stretch to imagine that this came as a result of the desire to return to the crossfit trainer after sustained periods of lockdowns and closed gyms.
We are confident that this trend isn’t just a kneejerk reaction to the pandemic. The public desire for fitness and wellness has been on a steady but significant rise for over a decade. This has been borne out time and time again on surveys of both employees and the general population. The current demand we are seeing is built on a solid foundation of a general consensus and desire for fitness. The benefits of the Gym and other organised fitness environments have lived large in the public consciousness long before the Covid-19 pandemic and this has merely solidified the myriad benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
The fact that between 2011 and 2019, the number of UK gyms doubled. It is apparent that this was a rise in supply to meet an ever growing demand. A demand that has only been intensified over the period of 2020 to 2022.
So, how can we use our knowledge of this growing desire for fitness and transplant it into tangible benefits within the workplace?
How fitness benefits benefit both employees and employers
Perhaps one of the biggest strengths of fitness and Gym memberships as an employee benefit is its universality. It is a benefit that helps employee and management alike in both their personal and professional life.
It is therefore little surprise that we are seeing more businesses incorporate fitness into their workplaces and workplace benefit packages.
Let’s examine some of the benefits that Gym or fitness club membership can bring to a workplace.
Increasing the General Fitness Level
While this might seem like a given, we aren’t so much looking at the increase in fitness as what it represents and the powerful knock-on effect it can have.
Studies have proven that even thirty minutes of working out a few times a week can yield significant health and morale benefits. Now replicate this across an entire office. An increased level of fitness can mean increased self-esteem, confidence, wellbeing and even team cohesion. Even if employees within a given team or company aren’t going to the Gym together, they have a shared place of interest. It has been shown that employees going the same Gym together will deepen their personal and professional bonds.
In addition to all these benefits, an employer can take statistical solace in the knowledge that more active workers have been proven to take fewer sick days, to be happier in their work and more productive.
And speaking of which…
Higher productivity levels
The impact of productivity can be so profound that it warrants its own section. If the employee Gym membership scheme has enough up-take and regular engagement, a workplace can see significant improvement to its energy and morale levels. In turn, these benefits quickly spread to nearly all aspects of an employees personal and profession life. A stronger, healthier and more motivated workforce is something no employer would pass up. And it is all the better if they can partially trace the origin of their happiness to the employers Gym membership benefit scheme.
Reduced stress
Exercise has been proven to have a tangible effect on both stress and mental health. I know I always feel a whole lot better after 30 minutes on a Crossfit trainer. We all know the science at this point (further proof of a rising public knowledge of health and physical fitness). By releasing endorphins through exercise, people are more able to navigate the trials and tribulations of everyday life. Including work! In turn, an employer can look forward to stronger attendance and employee performance.
Better talent
By offering Gym membership as part of an employee benefit package, a company is demonstrating their commitment to their employees wellbeing. Company culture has become a huge element in recruiting and then retaining the best staff. As such, employee benefits have come to form a core pillar of any corporate culture or employer ethos
To take it one step further, an employee Gym membership scheme as part of a benefits package shows that a company understands the values of the era. It shows that they take a dynamic, money-where-their-mouth-is approach to fitness. Prioritising their employees physical and mental wellbeing by offering them benefits that have a broader impact in their lives beyond the workplace.
Different methods to improve fitness within the workplace
It is only natural that fitness in the workplace will take a different shape for every business. There are a lot of options to choose from, but we’ve narrowed it down to a few. We will be discussing the pros and cons.
Providing Free gym membership as an Employee benefit.
With many owners now setting aside a set amount of money ‘per head’ for their Employee Benefit scheme, a free Gym membership is becoming increasingly viable. It hits that sweet spot of being just enough that your Employees will notice and appreciate the gesture, without being pie-in-the-sky, like a company car for everyone. Given the number of benefits we have already discussed, you won’t be surprised that this gets our seal of approval.
Providing Reduced gym membership as an Employee benefit.
Alternatively, if the budget can’t stretch to free Gym membership, there is plenty of leeway when it comes to just reducing the cost. The two most popular methods for this involve salary sacrifice, where the employees sacrifice a very small portion of their wage in order to help fund the membership. This method is as flexible as it gets. The split can range from 1% to 99%. The value for this will nearly always work out favourably because businesses generally get a collective discount. The power of collective bargaining!
On-site gyms
If you have the space and the funds, an on-site Gym could definitely be the way forward. However for many companies this will be too expensive and inhibitive. It requires a significant amount of money, expertise and space within an office place.
In addition, with the rise of Working From Home in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is less likely that an employee will actually be in the office than ever before.
Want to find out more about Gym Membership as an employee benefit?
Interested in exploring the potential of a Corporate Discount Gym Membership scheme for your Employees? Here at Ashbourne, our twenty five years experience within the Fitness industry allow us to offer you a wealth of experience and resources. Having overseen and assisted the implementation of these schemes with our partners, we are confident that we can help your Gym or Fitness Club obtain new members and increase your standing and profile in the local area.
Are you interested in obtaining and enacting an employee Gym membership scheme in your workplace? Drop a message me a message, I’m contactable on [email protected]
Marketing for Gym and Fitness Club owners can feel like an undiscovered country to the uninitiated. We know that every Gym and Fitness Club is marketing themselves to a greater or lesser extent every single day and yet the discourse regarding it feels listless and perhaps even a little secretive. This is why we thought it was time to write this blog. Ashbourne has been working with independent Gym and Fitness Club owners for 25 years. In that time, we’ve seen the ascendancy of internet marketing in a huge way and we’ve helped Gym owners keep up the pace in a rapidly changing and challenging online environment.
So if you’ve ever looked at a sleek looking mega-Gym and wonder how they have built up such a large customer-base. The silver bullet you might be looking for is marketing.
Given how competitive the fitness industry can be, it is no wonder the aforementioned secrecy has come to define the industry when it comes to talking about what works in the vital arena of marketing. So many times we’ve had people come into a Gym they’ve never set foot in before and say ‘Oh wow, I had no idea it was like this in here!’ or ‘This is so much better than the Gym I go to’. Unfortunately, without spreading the good word, customers can walk past your Gym or Fitness Club every day and never know how much better it is than the soulless chain gym they are going to just down the road.
So what do Gym and Fitness Club owners need to do to stay competitive in this market that is obsessed with increasing levels of automation and price-reduction? In this article we will be going deep into the details of marketing for independent Gyms, how to energise your existing membership base with impactful engagement and most importantly, how to reach new customers, soon to be members, within your local area.
All Our Marketing Tricks (click them to skip ahead)…
Content as a tool for increasing your Marketing potency
Content as marketing is not a new strategy, but it is one that has seen a marked increase. We think that part of the reason for this is that it has never been easier to get a long-form, detailed opinion out to the public at virtually no cost. Whereas before the rise of the internet and digital marketing, there was always a prohibitively expensive cost associated with length that has started to recede and vanish. Now there is very little to stop long form, insightful content from being published online with a high chance of reaching its audience through ever more advanced search engines.
This is, in our opinion, a blessing. It has allowed companies to post valuable and meaningful content without fear it will go completely unread, or even end up costing significantly more than it generated.
Now the ability to share relevant and impactful information directly to the audience cannot be overestimated as a tool for marketing. Now rather than relentlessly and monotonously bombarding potential customers with the same message in order to build some semblance of trust, businesses can put their message, their product, their expertise and their value right where their mouth is. Unlike terrestrial advertising, this method allows for the story and expertise of the company to be demonstrated through the content they produce. In turn, this can help create a bond with the potential customers that a business is trying to reach.
At time of writing, it is estimated that over 80% of brands are either utilising or in some way participating in Content Marketing. It has become a tour de force that has transcended marketing and become a way to get a business into search engines while generating valuable and meaningful content.
So how can a gym or fitness club owner incorporate content based marketing into their marketing strategies? We are going to cover off a few of the most accessible and impactful methods that can be implemented swiftly.
Blogging
Blogs are the mainstay of content-lead marketing for a number of reasons. As we discussed previously, one of the draws is the ability to communicate impactful information and have it reach the audience for the lowest possible cost. Blogging fits that criteria perfectly. Not only is creating it cheap, requiring only expertise and a word processor, hosting it on a website is a negligible expense. Furthermore, given search engines focus on keywords, the potential for it to be found is very high relative to other forms of marketing.
So that is the positive news. The downside is that, especially within the fitness industry, Gym content lead marketing is very competitive. It is an industry full of people who know their stuff and do a significant portion of their business through their websites.
As such, it is important that gym owners keep in mind two mantras when producing blogs as content lead marketing for their websites.
First, it must make a real contribution. No half measures. The information that Gyms are putting out shouldn’t be contentless clickbait or a guide that has been done better elsewhere. Every gym or fitness club should be a hub of talented and experienced individuals, with valuable expertise to contribute. It is therefore necessary that Gyms bring their A-game to all content. The blogs will be what is selling the gym or fitness club to the customer. We want them to be drawn in and understand that the organisation has something to offer them that can improve their life. That it is worth their time and money.
A useful thought exercise is something we call ‘The bookmark test’. Does the blog provide valuable enough content that someone who is interested in the subject would want to bookmark or favourite it on their browser so they can return to it. If the answer is yes, the content is on the right track.
The second is the more pragmatic and marketing side, and that is keywords. The best content in the world won’t draw a business any new custom if it can’t be found. As mentioned earlier, blogs trade in keywords and that is especially true in the fitness industry. With prospective customers often searching very specific queries, whether it is related to an exercise, or a class, or an exercise machine. It is necessary for the content to be precise and purposeful in the language that is used.
In addition, a successful blog should try to mention the location of the gym or fitness club it is trying to promote. A lot of searches are locational, so the more that the gym or fitness club can be linked with the specific area, the better.
Podcasting
Take it from us, making a podcast and getting it onto the big platforms that people actually use has never been easier.
There has been a big rise in the number of brand podcasts and they are enjoying a large amount of success. In a recent poll, 50% of content-led marketers who have adopted and utilised podcasts as a marketing tool have described it as one of their most effective content mediums they use.
So then the question becomes, why are podcasts experience such an increase in adoption by businesses? The answer is actually above, it has never been easier. Accessibility and outreach always used to be the issue. Even as little as ten years ago, podcasting was a niche with few defined outlets. Still very much the domain of iTunes and Apple. Recording, editing and then releasing a podcast was a lot of work and there was no guarantee it would be downloaded (not streamed!) onto more than a few devices. Now both recording and distribution has been made simple. Multiple websites can allow a business to upload a podcast once and then have it put onto all major streaming services (including the big hitters like Spotify). As it often goes, this meant that businesses were able to test the water with comparatively little time and effort. In turn, businesses learned that there was a market for these podcasts and so a content marketing method was born.
The success factor has come from the casual nature of podcasting. A conversation between two people within the fitness industry, about the fitness industry doesn’t feel like marketing but it is highly effective at doing so. Given that people will be listening to the podcast on either a phone or a computer, they will have a search engine to hand, so any mention of a gym or fitness club that grabs their attention can be instantly followed up upon.
The topics are endless and normally we find if you just set out a few topics of conversation and get the right people in the room, the conversation will flow nicely. Unlike a blog, it can be more freeform and anecdotal while still communicating valuable insight into the fitness industry. It can also exist to deliver news about a gym or fitness club, a few-minute segment either at the beginning or the end of the podcast is the perfect time to detail new equipment, renovations, classes or events. These topics could even spark a conversation themselves about the running of the gym or fitness club.
The last aspect is promotion. By putting up posters and sending out emails promoting the podcast, a gym can get a core group of followers interested in the podcast. In turn, just like with blogs, this will help with discoverability.
The only limitation, and it is a relatively minor one in 2022, is getting the necessary equipment together. This will include a recording-quality microphone or microphones, headphones and computers to record and edit on. Nothing particularly outlandish and with a little candid conversation and audio quality, any gym can join this exciting and contemporary content marketing avenue.
Events. Virtual, Real, Hybrid
Hosting events may not feel intuitive to many gym or fitness club owners, but their facilities are an asset that many businesses envy. A big public space with plenty of room for activities. It has novelty value to some and lifestyle appeal to many.
This makes gyms and fitness clubs a very attractive place to host events, whether they are in-person events, virtual or a hybrid between the two.
It is important to take stock of every asset a given gym or fitness club has. Whether that is a spacious lobby, a central location within the town or city, a coffee bar or a large, easily emptied space for free-form events.
Open Days
It is the oldest trick in the book, but it stayed in the book for a reason. Open days are a great event for the area to see what a gym is made of, invite people in, publicise it in your area, invite local people of note. Furthermore make sure the day is filmed so that footage can be uploaded to your social media channels. It might even be a good topic for a podcast.
A Food Fair That Focuses On Healthy Living
A universal human experience and perhaps one of the best. Partnering with local food distributors, cafes, restaurants or healthy takeaways can be a great way for a gym to act as a nexus and a hub for the local community.
Online Classes
Utilise a gym’s existing class system and personal trainers to hold free online classes.
Charity Events and ‘Event’ Events
It may sound slightly ridiculous but we all love a tie-in event. Whether it is for Easter or the Olympics, the Tour De France or St Valentine’s Day. Topical events are easy to market and will get people through the doors. The same with charity, everyone loves to support a good cause and for some a good cause can be the push they need to get exercising.
Educational Video and Infographics
The chances are everytime you log onto social media, you see at least one instance of the following two things.
The first is educational video content. Whether it is the TikTok ‘how to’ or YouTube short ‘life advice’, short-form video is everywhere. And where the individual goes, a company can follow. Just as we discussed with podcast, this new cultural trend is just ripe for companies to get onboard with and many have already.
The second are infographics. We live in a world teeming with statistics, data and advice. This is good for content-marketing because it means that the audience of today is very receptive to infographics. More than ever, people are consuming their information from individuals and businesses through the snappy combination of data, images and text.
Both methods are capable of turning someone who has just stumbled across the content into an interested party right away. More people than ever before are discovering new businesses due to the informative video content that they are putting out. The rise of near limitless mobile data means that people are doing this everywhere and at every time of the day. Combine this with Instagram, Twitter and Tiktoks ever more efficient video integration and shareability and a Gym would be remiss not to capitalise on this effect and far-reaching trend.
As for what to show, we’ve listed ideas below for inspiration.
Facility tour: Showing off a Gym or Fitness club is a surefire way to get people interested. Unless a gym has large windows, local people can pass by every day and never know the great facility instead.
How to use equipment: education and entertaining: This can also help reduce gymtimidation if someone has never used a piece of gym equipment.
Exercise tips from your PTs: Short-form, well edited tips are the most shared and likely to hit the biggest audience.
Classes in Action: If a class is going on, ask for permission and then get filming!
Testimonials from the regulars: If regular customers are content and comfortable with saying a few words, the genuine enthusiasm they display can be a powerful motivator.
Meal preparation and diet tips and tricks: Whether it comes from customers or staff, a great way to share what works for the people who use a Gym.
Google Business Profile (Previously Google My Business)
We thought we’d start with a feature so ubiquitous that it requires little introduction. Chances are that if you’ve googled a business in the last eight years, you’ve seen a Google Business Profile. Their success and omnipresence make them a powerful tool for communication and legitimacy.
Many people, even those who don’t really understand the concept of a Google Business Profile, gravitate to that box in the top right hand corner of their google search or those little pins on Google Maps.
But despite their status as one of the most well-known and efficient methods of business communication in the business world, it is often misused. Everyone can remember the time they came across a nonsensical or out of date Google Business Profile while looking for legitimate information. It is an instant turn-off and a quick indication that some aspects of the business in question need polishing. And there are very few excuses for this. Google Business Profile is a free service for businesses, provided by, you guessed it, Google.
It is a simple and effective tool for communicating the nature of a business, including key contact information, pictures and location, all within a succinct information box.
Having this box filled in is vital for driving business from the online arena, into your actual Gym or Fitness Club.
Too often we have found that Gym Owners have suboptimal or poorly filled in Google Business Profiles. It has reached a tipping point where many people within that key demographic of 18-34 will assume that the business may be in trouble or has ceased to exist if they can’t find a confirmation that it is ‘Open’ on the Google Business Profile. This reflects a compounding consumer trend of reliance on the Google Business Profile to determine whether a business is open, or whether it even still exists. As such, you can imagine the damage that not having a sufficiently setup profile can do to the prospect of converting internet interest into feet through the doors.
Not only that, but due to the poor state that many Gym and Fitness Club’s keep their Google Business Profiles in, having a functional one can greatly increase your visibility in your area. A fully optimised Google Business Profile makes it more likely that it’ll be your Gym that shows up higher on the list when someone googles ‘Gyms near me’ or ‘Gyms in *your area*’. So how can you improve your Google Business Profile you are asking? We’ve set out the immediate and impactful steps you can take to give your business profile a boost.
Visual Media (Photo and Video) are a MUST!
It has been estimated that businesses with photos and video are clicked on 30% to 40% more than those without. That is without the inestimable psychological effect that it has on the average potential customer to see what a business hasn’t even uploaded any pictures. While it is a simple bar to clear, it is one that many businesses do not do successfully and it is an easy and effortless way to stand out from the crowd. Use the pre-existing photographs and videos that are on your Gym website, pick the most striking one first, as they will be the thumbnail that most potential customers see. Alternatively, pick the feature you are most proud of, or that you think makes you stand out the most from your local competition.
Be sure not to just put up pictures of an empty gym, wide shots of your gym or fitness club being used by many people are a must, as well as any classes that you hold. This will show people a snippet of what you have to offer, and psychologically it will be more appealing than just an empty Gym (even if said empty Gym is well furnished).
Add Keywords (or get your Keywords in order) and Make Them Relevant
While keywords are a kingdom unto themselves, we can simplify it for the sake of this section.
Make sure they are relevant! And understand that more does not equal better. Ten pertinent and powerful keywords will do more than 100 vague and meandering ones. Keywords are a tool to be used precisely and sparingly. For anything more advanced, we recommend you visit a dedicated guide regarding keywords. But with just a thorough review and a refresh, you are guaranteed to be displaying higher than you were before.
Choose the Right Business Category
Much like with keywords, this is another case of less being more. Google will let you select up to ten Business Categories but it is not recommended to use your full allotment. For the average Gym or Fitness Club, it will only be necessary to use a few. For instance, if you specialise in combat sports such as MMA and Boxing, it might be pertinent to put ‘MMA Gym’ or ‘Boxing Gym’. From there, you could also put ‘Octagon’ as a sub-category if that is a feature your Gym has. Conversely, if your club has a Swimming Pool, it would be fair to say that that is a category unto itself. Make sure your categories are distinct from one another and that each one is contributing something meaningful or adding a layer of specificity.
Overlap will only confuse the issue and too many will dilute the potency of the search terms and result in less overall hits.
Update Regularly
Because a Google Business Profile is free and low maintenance, it is often completely neglected. In our experience, a useful paradigm is to consider your Google Business Profile to be like your Twitter or Instagram feed. If you hadn’t updated or maintained those for a week, we would like to think there would be raised eyebrows. As such, we recommend you dedicate a small amount of time regularly to the maintenance of your Google Business Profile. Whether that is responding to reviews, updating the circumstances of your business or just adding new pictures. Given that many will use the state and circumstance of your Google Business Profile to determine the health of your business, make it look alive! Less than ten minutes of care a week can make a significant impact in the long term.
We hope you’ve enjoyed the article and you’ve learned something about this small but powerful and transformative piece of internet infrastructure. Chances are you had seen it every day of your life and never questioned what was driving such a useful box.
Forge Local, Meaningful Partnerships
While online marketing is a vital and powerful tool for gyms and fitness clubs, we should not lose sight of more traditional marketing techniques. The most effective in our experience? Engaging with the local community that surrounds the gym or fitness club. Ultimately, even when partaking in social media and other online content, what a Gym is trying to do is grow a network of individuals within the proximity of the gym. Of people who could realistically be customers of the gym.
This is where local partnerships come into play. While the internet can make us feel connected to someone on the other side of the planet, the most important connection in most people’s lives is within their local area. Whether this is the centre of a town or city, a neighbourhood or college or a school, people will have somewhere they gravitate to.
We have found that gyms and fitness clubs can benefit immensely from identifying these areas and attempting to support and integrate. Ultimately this is what sets apart independent gym and fitness club owners from cold, corporate chains and the importance of a connection to the local area can’t be overstated.
As we covered earlier in the article, a spacious gym or fitness club is the ideal place to host community events. Reach out to council and local charity networks to see what projects they have running in your area. Chances are they will already be engaged in encouraging fitness and healthy living within the area.
In addition, approach local businesses that either also work within or are related to the fitness industry. Whether it is health supplements, sports and fitness equipment or sports clubs. Whether it is just to pass on advertising materials such as leaflets and pamphlets, or deeper collaborations involving the products of the business, these partnerships can help spread the reputation of the gym into the local area.
Moving Forward
We hope this article has given some actionable ideas to any gym or fitness club owners with a desire to grow their business.
Over the past 25 years in the fitness industry, Ashbourne Membership Management has worked tirelessly with independent gym owners to streamline their processes and grow their businesses. Whether it is through our lightweight and powerful membership management software, sleek and professional website design or our wealth of industry expertise, we are confident that we can help any gym or fitness club owner take their business to the next level.
“How To Maintain & Improve Your Google Business Profile”
A Google Business Profile, a feature previously known as Google My Business, is a vital but often neglected piece of online infrastructure for any business. We’ve noticed that Gyms and Fitness Club owners aren’t always on top of their Google Business Profile and there is a very fine line (and amount of effort!) between a sleek and professional-looking profile and one that looks shabby and abandoned.
So for today’s article, we will be looking at what we can do as Gym and Fitness Club owners to improve our Google Business Profile and really stand out.
All Your Questions Answered (click them to skip ahead)…
Chances are that if you’ve googled a business in the last eight years, you’ve seen a Google Business Profile. Their success and omnipresence make them a powerful tool for communication and legitimacy.
Many people, even those who don’t really understand the concept of a Google Business Profile, gravitate to that box in the top right hand corner of their google search or those little pins on Google Maps.
But despite their status as one of the most well-known and efficient methods of business communication in the business world, it is often misused. Everyone can remember the time they came across a nonsensical or out-of-date Google Business Profile while looking for legitimate information. It is an instant turn-off and a quick indication that some aspects of the business in question need polishing. And there are very few excuses for this. Google Business Profile is a free service for businesses, provided by, you guessed it,Google.
It is a simple and effective tool for communicating the nature of a business, including key contact information, pictures, and location, all within a succinct information box.
Having this box filled in is vital for driving business from the online arena, into your actual Gym or Fitness Club.
Too often we have found that Gym Owners have suboptimal or poorly filled in Google Business Profiles. It has reached a tipping point where many people within that key demographic of 18-34 will assume that the business may be in trouble or has ceased to exist if they can’t find a confirmation that it is ‘Open’ on the Google Business Profile. This reflects a compounding consumer trend of reliance on the Google Business Profile to determine whether a business is open, or whether it even still exists. As such, you can imagine the damage that not having a sufficiently setup profile can do to the prospect of converting internet interest into feet through the doors.
Not only that but due to the poor state that many Gym and Fitness Club’s keep their Google Business Profiles in, having a functional one can greatly increase your visibility in your area. A fully optimised Google Business Profile makes it more likely that it’ll be your Gym that shows up higher on the list when someone googles ‘Gyms near me’ or ‘Gyms in *your area*’.
So How Can You Quickly and Easily Improve and Maintain Your Google Business Profile?
So how can you improve your Google Business Profile you are asking? We’ve set out the immediate and impactful steps you can take to give your business profile a boost.
Visual Media (Photo and Video) are a MUST!
It has been estimated that businesses with photos and video are clicked on 30% to 40% more than those without. That is without the inestimable psychological effect that it has on the average potential customer to see what a business hasn’t even uploaded any pictures. While it is a simple bar to clear, it is one that many businesses do not do successfully and it is an easy and effortless way to stand out from the crowd. Use the pre-existing photographs and videos that are on your Gym website, pick the most striking one first, as they will be the thumbnail that most potential customers see. Alternatively, pick the feature you are most proud of, or that you think makes you stand out the most from your local competition.
Be sure not to just put up pictures of an empty gym, wide shots of your gym or fitness club being used by many people are a must, as well as any classes that you hold. This will show people a snippet of what you have to offer, and psychologically it will be more appealing than just an empty Gym (even if said empty Gym is well furnished).
Add Keywords (or get your Keywords in order) and Make Them Relevant
While keywords are a kingdom unto themselves, we can simplify it for the sake of this section.
Make sure they are relevant! And understand that more does not equal better. Ten pertinent and powerful keywords will do more than 100 vague and meandering ones. Keywords are a tool to be used precisely and sparingly. For anything more advanced, we recommend you visit a dedicated guide regarding keywords. But with just a thorough review and a refresh, you are guaranteed to be displaying higher than you were before.
Choose the Right Business Category
Much like with keywords, this is another case of less being more. Google will let you select up to ten Business Categories but it is not recommended to use your full allotment. For the average Gym or Fitness Club, it will only be necessary to use a few. For instance, if you specialise in combat sports such as MMA and Boxing, it might be pertinent to put ‘MMA Gym’ or ‘Boxing Gym’. From there, you could also put ‘Octagon’ as a sub-category if that is a feature your Gym has. Conversely, if your club has a Swimming Pool, it would be fair to say that that is a category unto itself. Make sure your categories are distinct from one another and that each one is contributing something meaningful or adding a layer of specificity.
Overlap will only confuse the issue and too many will dilute the potency of the search terms and result in less overall hits.
Update Regularly
Because a Google Business Profile is free and low maintenance, it is often completely neglected. In our experience, a useful paradigm is to consider your Google Business Profile to be like your Twitter or Instagram feed. If you hadn’t updated or maintained those for a week, we would like to think there would be raised eyebrows. As such, we recommend you dedicate a small amount of time regularly to the maintenance of your Google Business Profile. Whether that is responding to reviews, updating the circumstances of your business or just adding new pictures. Given that many will use the state and circumstance of your Google Business Profile to determine the health of your business, make it look alive! Less than ten minutes of care a week can make a significant impact in the long term.
We hope you’ve enjoyed the article and you’ve learned something about this small but powerful and transformative piece of internet infrastructure. Chances are you had seen it every day of your life and never questioned what was driving such a useful box.
Want to understand more about your membership?
Ashbourne can help you gain unprecedented insight.
Here at Ashbourne Membership Management, we are committed to not only working with our partners, but growing their businesses in every way. Whether it is something as large and vital as streamlining the collection of monthly membership fees, or something as small but impactful as fine-tuning their online presence. We are interested in being a valued partner that elevates your Gym or Fitness club to the next level. Interested in knowing more? Follow the link here and a member of our team will be in touch swiftly to see how we can help your Gym or Fitness Club to reach the next level.
Free passes were a constant issue for us at our test gym “The Fit Club Redditch“, last year. Members asking if they could ‘bring a mate’, trainers bringing guests and people generally trying their luck. The system we bought in: Pay for your day pass (£7.50), and get the money back when you sign up on a full membership. It’s a fair system, one that staff can easily get behind and it’s easy to administer when you have the right software package to manage it. Here’s how we do it:
All our implemented ideas (click them to skip ahead)…
To start with we set a price for a day pass that was palatable for our area. At £7.50 it’s our most expensive membership when we look at cost per day. However, the price is for convenience and designed to make our longer term memberships look more attractive.
At this price we rarely get objections, especially when the member is already at our front desk and eager to start their session!
Create your system
A crucial part of the system that we introduced was the use of Ashbourne’s prospect management system. If you are using a different system you may also be able to replicate this. There are three main components to the process we introduced:
Data Capture Form
When a day pass member comes down to the gym on a day pass, they have either already paid online or will do so at our front desk. We created a simple form that captures crucial contact information (name, email, phone). All the visitor needs to do once their payment is confirmed is to fill out their details on the digital form (hosted on a tablet computer at reception).
Automated follow up
Once the member has inputted their data into the form, they are automatically added to our lead management platform. We have the system set up so that it waits a day (allows the day pass visitor to enjoy their session before we get in touch), before sending out the first of a series of emails and text messages.
The first email includes a voucher code which, as promised, removes the value of their day pass from the cost of a full membership. Crucially, the system will perform checks to see whether the day pass visitor has signed up.In the case that they have joined, the system will stop pestering them!
Human follow up pipeline (optional)
One additional feature that we have recently set up, is a system for following up with people that go through the entire automated process without ever signing up.
These potential members fall into a ‘deal pipeline’, as imaged below.
Here, a member of our team will go through the list of contacts, calling each one up and asking about their session and if they wish to join us. They then simply drag and drop the contact to the relevant column, each of which includes its own automation.
If the contact is placed in the ‘Successfully contacted – Interested’ column, they will automatically then receive an email from us with the link to join.
Provided you provide clear instructions to your team, this process should mean that you never need to give away a free pass again!
It provides a clear and fair incentive to the potential member.
The system also means you can capitalise on every single person using your gym. Not only that, but it also puts you in good stead to convert them into an actual member!
Want to understand more about your membership?
Ashbourne can help you gain unprecedented insight.
As you can see, we really get stuck into every aspect of helping gyms and clubs succeed. Our success is directly tied to the success of our partnered clubs, so we are always ensuring that we’re at the cutting edge when it comes to helping all of our gyms grow and market themselves effectively.
If you’d like to get in touch about how we can help your club succeed, then you can always book a demo with our sales director, Grant Harrison, who would love to show you how our full club management package can help you improve and grow every aspect of your business.
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, an entirely different set of challenges were given to gyms in order to retain their members. Due to the overwhelming uncertainty it caused, many gym-goers opted to cancel their gym memberships for a range of reasons. Even with facilities reopening, there is understandably some hesitancy and reluctance for people to get back in the gym.
Getting new members in the door will always be important in order to grow your gym, but looking after your current active members and those members who were forced to leave due to worldwide issues, out of their control, is the true key to the success of your club.
Putting retention strategies in place in order to ensure your members aren’t tempted to leave is imperative – now more than ever.
1. Create a loyalty Programme
Do not get so caught up in chasing and trying to attract new members that you neglect the old guard. These are the loyal, 4 times a week gym members.
A loyalty programme is more important than any other marketing programme you have. If you treat the top 10% of your customers right, they will take care of most of your other marketing for you.
Keep the people who love you in love with you. Come up with loyalty programmes to make them feel appreciated:
Free Gold Member t-shirts for members that have been with you for an extended period.
If you have extra services at your club like massage therapists, supplements or a juice bar, give them a coupon for one of them.
Small touches can make them feel special – reward your members with free tea and coffee/ protein shakes. “I’ll get this protein shake for you John as a thanks for being such a loyal member.”
2. Build a Great Blog
Daily exercise tips, diet and nutrition tips, wellness, weightlifting, sports – comment regularly online about ANYTHING! A blog/newsfeed update keeps people up-to-date with what’s going on at your club. But more importantly, it builds a community link between your members and your staff and trainers. This further develops your customer loyalty.
Spread the writing of material amongst your team. Get your personal trainers to write about their particular areas of knowledge and expertise + their case study success stories in relation to results gained by particular members. All this is likely to lead to more training enrolments.
Encourage PTs to send out this info by email, even on Twitter and Facebook. This will lead to more referrals, which all leads to more business.
Most clubs say that member interaction is what separates them from chain clubs. But as these chains grow and their prices come down, independents have to work even harder at service. Most chain gyms have a receptionist who welcomes each member by name as they swipe in – they don’t know the name, they just see it on-screen. This is so powerful in terms of retention!
3. Get Personal With All Your Members
Do you know the name of everyone in your club? Could you greet each one?
It’s also not just about knowing everyone’s name, what can really separate you from the larger clubs is knowing more about your members. Know something personal – why they are here, the real emotional reason i.e. not just to lose weight but deeper than that. ”I want to lose weight so I can walk my daughter up the aisle without getting out of breath”.
Take an interest in what they like to do outside of the club. Get to know about members of their family – this will make them feel special/part of the club and that you really care about them.
Just asking general questions is not enough – “How’s the programme going?” will not get you an interesting answer. Compare this to, “How’s your training going for the London Marathon that you are running in April?” or, “How did your daughter get on in her dance performance?”
How much more powerful is this for retention? With a small membership this is easy, but how to stay on top of this info with hundreds or thousands of members? The best way is to use a software package that has an easy to use Notes section. This cuts out the impossible task of trying to remember all these details! With good entry software you and all of your team can know so much about each member and then really make them feel part of your club.
4. Include Details of Members in the Newsletter (With Consent!)
Remember that Newsletter we suggested you publish all those points ago? Well, you can use this to communicate with your members about the latest developments in and out of the club when it comes to their members. This could and should include success stories, charity initiatives, notable birthdays etc. People, and especially members, love the lauding of their achievements. And you should as well! Go them!
5. Create A Community In Your Club
Engaging a member with events and activities shows that you are putting their needs and experience above that of profit for the club… but in fact, we all know that a happy member is a loyal member and those loyal members are what keep us making a profit.
Engage members in various ways to keep them motivated and to feel that the gym is their club, their “3rd space” other than work and home. Turn a group of customers into a community. Creating this community feel within your club will not only keep your members confident that you care about them as people (rather than just their exercise results) but they will also have a fear of loss if they do not attend.
Many members will turn up at the club even if they have no intention of training just to see what is going on. Create various challenges for members as well as social events. These activities cost very little to organise and implement but will save you a fortune compared with the marketing costs needed to recruit new members in place of those members you have lost.
6. Use Major Sporting Events To Your Advantage
Big sporting events can keep people at home watching TV so it’s important to turn them to your advantage instead:
Link spinning class challenges to the route of the Tour de France
Organise sweepstakes for events such as the World Cup
Create communal viewing of big sporting events on TV – it’s more fun to watch a big match in a group than on your own at home…
7. Coast-to-Coast Challenge
Create a map of the country and for each mile, a member completes on the treadmill they are able to move 1 kilometre along a predetermined route on the map. So, rather than someone just “going on the treadmill” they actually have an incentive to get across the country and complete the challenge.
If a member completes two miles a session then in two sessions a week they would complete the challenge in 8 months. For members on rolling contracts, this helps to keep them at the club.
8. Run Topical Workout Clubs
As we said earlier, is the Tour De France on? Guess where your Spin-Club is racing today. Is the F1 at Monaco? Let’s go for a ride around Monte Carlo. The Olympics? The London Marathon? The World Cup? Mr Universe?
When Covid-19 isn’t raging there is always something on the sporting Calendar. It is your job to incorporate these events and advertise them ahead of time.
9. Organise A Friday Coffee Morning
In most Fitness Clubs and Gyms, Friday is the quietest day. Offer a coffee morning in reception or in a dedicated coffee area. This will boost secondary spend as well as increase member interaction. Consider going to them yourself to allow members to give feedback in a neutral environment straight to the person who matters and can affect change.
10. Create The Best Layout For Your Reception Area
Make sure your reception desk is properly equipped to handle customer complaints or issues and prep your staff on standard procedures. Make sure you follow through in a timely manner when any issues do come up. Gyms that hire people with a willingness to help will attract and retain more customers than a gym that offers 75 different kickboxing classes but whose employees won’t flinch when people have a complaint or service issue. The ability to relate and empathize with your members is just as important as professional certification.
11. Professionalism and Excellent Customer Service Are Your Priorities, Always
This will significantly increase your customer loyalty. Members are demanding more from their health clubs today. They expect to be able to talk to qualified individuals that are willing to listen and help. As we have reinforced before, your staff are some of your most powerful assets
Customers are most satisfied when they interact with self-aware and compassionate people who have the ability to show empathy and optimism.
Nearly all of your members will appreciate a gym that offers staff that listens to complaints instead of a gym that offers 100 treadmills.
12. Retention Rates: Pay Attention To Your Data
For many years, larger gyms have ignored the retention issue and it has proven detrimental to their growth, customer satisfaction, and ultimately, their reputation. Ask anyone who has been to a large, automated Gym for any length of time and they will most likely have an impersonal story of horror about these soulless and uncaring establishments. Large enrolment numbers mean nothing if these members are not sticking around for their third or four-month.. It’s the revolving door of fitness. Five come in and 15 go out. Larger gyms don’t always pay attention to this because it’s harder to do. For smaller gyms, you have an advantage. It’s easier to keep tabs on people and make sure that the core crowd is returning month after month.
13. Be As Visible As Your Staff If Possible
As the owner of the gym, you should strive to be as visible as a Gym Instructor on the floor. Your staff should work as a team, with the ultimate goal of customer satisfaction and as such we have focused a lot on the guidance you can give them in meeting these aims. However, at times your gym instructors may not be equipped to handle certain situations, so you as the gym owner should be ready and available to lend support. Showing your strength and versatility as a team and your ability to solve any problem. This will create an impression and a reputation for professionalism and excellence that is not easily forgotten.
14. Failure, Feedback and Asking How You Can Improve
In business, humility is a virtue. We do not get everything right the first time, every time. As much as we try and in the Gym and Fitness Club business, this is no less true. Machines will be over-used or break, members will be stressed and won’t achieve their goals with the best will in the world, the coffee might be luke-warm on coffee Friday.
It isn’t about the mistake or the short-coming, it is about how it is addressed. Ask your members how you can improve and focus on improving the most often identified areas. If members see your Gym or Fitness Club shifting based on their advice, it will make an impression that won’t soon be forgotten.
15. Target ‘high yield’ customers
Conduct a membership survey with an incentive for participating. The most valuable information about how your brand is portrayed is going to come directly from the target of your brand message, your members. You should use this information to find out what areas require improvement and also to build on and perpetuate areas of strength.
Operators who measure retention using ‘length of stay’ are ahead of the game as they are able to analyse key member characteristics in their data in order to identify which types of members stay the longest. Understanding which members stay longest and pay more over the course of their membership life will allow you to plan for future years and will influence sales drives etc.
16. Identify High-Risk Customers
Major Gyms and Fitness Clubs have been conducting detailed studies and analysis into ‘high risk’ customers.
This is a form of agile customer retention that can prove highly effective in identifying and retaining flagging members.
Meaning those customers most likely to cancel at a given point in time. These studies show that when it comes to retention, prevention is far better than cure. Identify existing members who are at risk of leaving so that there is more time to intervene before they make the decision to leave. Fall off in attendance, lack of engagement in classes, the signs aren’t hard to read. It is up to you and your staff to develop strategies to re-engage members in an organic, naturalistic, and unobtrusive way.
17. Understand Which Members Are No Longer In Contact and Learn How To Work Around This
Assign responsibility and set up a plan. Your first step will be to identify which member of staff will have responsibility for this area. Track your members so that as soon as they are out of contract you offer them a renewal deal to encourage them to stay. Be careful not to wake any sleeping members who are on rolling deals as you might just remind them to cancel.
Undoubtedly, there will be members who fall off the wagon a little bit. Do your best to try and capture these members early on. If you track attendance, it’s easy to run a report of last visits and call the members you haven’t seen in a while. Monthly newsletters, email campaigns, postcards, and regular Facebook or blog posts are other ways that you can keep your gym fresh in members’ minds and even recapture those you may have lost.
18. Stay in Touch
Leading on from the last point. It is important to stay in touch with members throughout their membership, albeit in a meaningful way. Do not spam them with propaganda and bulk emails. A member should see a notification from your gym or fitness club and be enthused that they have received some quality content. Not another mindless TGIF spam email. As a service, you exist to add value to your members’ lives and this is no exception. Fill your emails with interesting events, promotions that are relevant, human interest stories that will ignite their passion and opportunities to improve themselves or their community.
19. Improve Your Technology and Research
Members want to feel that their gym has the latest and greatest, both in practicing principles and in equipment. The reason they aren’t lifting dumbbells at home is because they want the best equipment and expertise at the lowest price. You need to make sure your staff and your equipment is the best it can be on your budget. If you know you aren’t able to afford expensive new gym equipment, make sure your staff focus is even stronger to compensate and ensure your members are getting value for money.
20. Achievements Board
Not all achievements are equal. Everyone has a different journey and a different path to take. Mary might just be interested in making sure she can still run a single kilometre without stopping and John might want to deadlift three times the weight of Mary. Both of these achievements are important to both individuals and both should be celebrated, with their consent. If Mary is consistently hitting her goals, then fantastic, and if John has just managed to up his game from 3 Marys to 3 and a half Marys, then excellent! (Though he should probably stop measuring success in Marys).
21. Communicate With Members Everywhere
Your Gym or Fitness Club will have certain areas where you have a captive audience. This includes a treadmill, the reception desk, and more pragmatically, the toilet cubicles and changing rooms.
Use these areas to place posters that reinforce the message and story you want to get across. Use your latest product or PT package and keep the info up-to-date. Members will be compelled to read the message and you will increase the chance that a member will decide to purchase that extra product from you.
22. Monitor Your Competitors and Their Pricing Levels
No man is an island as John Donne said, and neither is any business. Don’t ignore what your competitors are doing price-wise. Your pricing decisions should be based on real market analysis, so keep an eye on what they’re charging for various membership types.
23. Allow Members To ‘Freeze’ Their Memberships
From time to time your members might have a genuine reason for not being able to attend the club. Rather than letting them cancel, allow them to freeze their membership. However, if you just agree to the freeze, the member might at the end of their freeze period stop their direct debit, try to cancel, complain or ask to extend the free. If you set up a system you are far more likely to reintegrate them back into the club.
Contact the member at various stages throughout their freeze period:
a) At the start of the freeze confirm the terms of the freeze and check the members contact details.
b) During the freeze contact the member to remind them you are still there and try to encourage them back earlier.
c) Before the freeze ends to reduce admin, cancelations and encourage them back to the club.
Over the past 5 of our blog posts, we’ve armed you with 100 tips for recruiting and retaining members, there is only one obstacle standing in your way to running a successful club: implementation. It is time to get some of what we have detailed here underway.
You’re a smart gym owner or you wouldn’t be reading this guide. You realise that everything boils down to getting and keeping members. You know you need to sort out your marketing, software systems, payment, collection, retention strategy, and more.
But you know all that, and the problem has always been having the time to do it. Who can you trust to allow you to have more time to focus on getting more members?
Today, we’re going to draw attention to how focusing on your members can in fact increase your membership sales!
Word of mouth has been one of the longest-standing and most successful forms of marketing. Not only is it incredibly cost-effective (costing you nothing!) but it also gives you the opportunity to hear from current paying members about how they are enjoying their membership at your facility and generate some ideas on what you could do to improve.
Impress your current members and they will do some of your marketing efforts for you! Recommending your gym to their friends and family, so let’s get started with our next 17 techniques to help drive your membership sales.
1. Breaking Down The Sales Barrier
So through the methods, we have tried so far, you have your prospective member through the door of your Gym or Fitness Club. Great! But if your sales system is an antiquated relic, that prospective member will leave without a membership as quickly as they came in. Ensure that all of your staff know what is expected of them when a prospective member enters your club and make sure your sales system is carried out on each and every occasion.
When prospects enter your club you need to ensure that the systems are in place to secure the sale. Too many clubs we have seen have outdated and inefficient sign-up systems. These can be inefficient for the customer, taking up a large amount of time or on outdated equipment. Or they can be inefficient for the business, involving forms filled out by hand or done across multiple different systems with different data outputs.
If this sounds familiar to you, then it is time to step up your Sales game. Things will need to change at your Gym or Fitness club if you wish to compete with the large chain gyms in your area. These gyms have a dedicated sales force that are sales professionals and will recruit the members that should be yours. They also have a strong automation game, with significant numbers of youth sign-ups being done without anyone being involved at all. Purely a digital sales platform.
2. Encourage Your Staff To Greet Your Gym Or Fitness Club’s Prospective Members
Much like the perfection of a working Sales doctrine for your staff. Reinforcing common courtesy can go a long way. A warm smile, a hand-shake (before and hopefully after Covid-19), and an exchange of names can make the entire process less daunting.
Don’t assume that every prospective member will want to be given a hand-guided tour. Some just want to be left to their own devices. But it should be the standard for your staff to offer it and not push it if the offer is rejected.
3. Ask Them To Complete The Questionnaire At Or Around Point Of Sale
A simple, non-intrusive, and short questionnaire will help you identify areas of your Gym or Fitness Club that they should be using. This will help your personal trainer, marketing team and associated staff determine the best course of action with the least intrusive set of information.
4. Be Upfront About What Will Happen During The Tour
Run through that you will:
Go through the questionnaire
Show them around the gym
Go through the various membership options and try to find a suitable option for them to join today.
5. Ensure The Staff Are Able To Fully Administer The Questionnaire
As we discussed earlier, the Questionnaire should be short and pacey enough that only the most impatient customer will be annoyed filling it out. Keep the questions strictly necessary to your Gym and your new Member’s development. This will allow you to get the maximum amount of benefit from the start. As we covered in an earlier point, this will increase your chance of gaining and retaining customers. Their journey will be made easier and more impactful by the guidance your staff will be able to offer off of the back of their questionnaire.
6. Determine How New Members Heard About The Club
This can be included in the questionnaire or asked separately by staff.
While we want to keep the questionnaire as brief as possible, the answer to this question will be easier to correlate if all of the answers are in the same format from the questionnaire. The responses to this question will be vital for understanding which of your many attempts to drum up membership are working and which are failing.
7. Returning Members
Use the questionnaire to determine if the new member is a returning member. Perhaps include a section asking why they left or why they are returning. This could be important information for you to learn from when managing and improving your Gym or Fitness Club.
8. Peak or Off-Peak?
Monitor your peak and off-peak foot-fall carefully.
Your peak times will be important to monitor because an overly crowded Gym will lose members quickly. No one likes not being able to use your rear delt fly machine (as previously established, the best machine). It is important to understand the equipment that does and does not get used during peak and off-peak times.
9. What Equipment Do They Want To Use?
To develop from the previous point. Finding a way to non-intrusively gauge what is being used, what is not being used, and what is being overused will be vital to keep your members happy.
If a member has been unable to use the rear delt fly machine six visits in a row, he might not make a seventh. Obviously, equipment is expensive but so is losing members. Consider your options carefully. A happy gym membership will be largely due to them being able to do the workouts that they want to do.
10. Focus On Their Areas Of Interest
Conduct your tour of your facility by showing the areas that are of most interest to them. Invite the prospect to try a piece of equipment to experience how easy it is to use – ensure the weight is set low on resistance equipment.
11. Try The Equipment
While we are talking about equipment. Try your wares or get someone you trust to try your equipment.
Whilst your staff should have a set maintenance pattern to ensure your equipment is up to snuff. It never hurts to sample your produce. If there have been a lot of complaints about a certain piece of equipment, there might be an even better reason to test it out. Understand if your chest press machine is the best it can be!
12. Demonstrate Relevant Equipment On The Tour
Using the questionnaire, understand the goals of the new member receiving the tour and make sure the staff understands the best pieces of equipment to utilise during the tour. Does the customer want to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1960s? I think they need a tore of the bicep and tricep machine, as well as a hefty go at the Chest Press.
Are they wanting to look like Bruce Lee? They should meet their new best friend the rear fly delt machine and a treadmill.
13. Price Options and The Tour
Make sure the staff giving the tour fully understand the different price points and tiers that your gym is offering. These will be vital to make sure the customer gets the best deal and your Gym or Fitness Club gets the correct amount of money.
14. FOMO And The Introductory Tour
Creating Fear of Missing Out on the introductory tour can be risky, especially if the customer is only there on a day visit on a week pass. However, it can also be incredibly effective. Work with your staff to understand which feel comfortable doing this in a way that doesn’t exploit the customer, whilst still effectively allowing them to make a decision that otherwise they might be hesitant to make.
15. Closing The Sale Whilst on the Introductory Tour
Again, leading on from the last point. Make sure your staff understands how to close a sale in a way that won’t be crude, awkward, or overly apparent.
Not all gym staff are natural salesmen and the last thing you want is your Gym or Fitness Club associated with primitive pressure tactics.
16. Dealing With Objections
As we’ve addressed earlier, sometimes trying to close a sale will result in objections, even with all the tact in the world. It is important that your staff understand when it is appropriate to push the matter and when it is appropriate to back off and take the loss, so to speak. Sometimes mindlessly and relentlessly chasing the close will do more damage than good.
17. Close The Sale!
With all objections overcome; with the emotional reasons for joining revealed and targeted; with the relevant parts of your facility clearly explained and demonstrated; and with the most suitable pricing options promoted, you should get the sale!
To help you further, here are various techniques you can use that will help you to close the sale:
Be assumptive during the tour and act as if the other person has made the decision to buy already.
Turn the focus of the conversation towards the next level of questions and assume the buying decision has already been made. For instance, “Once you have joined will you be bringing a friend?” When you act as though something is already true it is much more difficult for the prospect to deny it.
The alternative close works by offering more than one clearly defined alternative to the customer. If there is no third choice (i.e. to think about it), then they must pick one or the other. For instance, “Would you prefer the monthly direct debit option or the 12 month membership?” This works well when combined with being assumptive as the prospect only has a limited number of choices and not joining is no longer an available option.
List the pros and the cons of the prospect purchasing to show clearly that it will be a good decision to join. Ensure that the pros always outweigh the cons and the member will be certain to join.
When overcoming an objection, isolate that objection and ask if that is their only concern otherwise you will find you are just trying to overcome objection after objection. For example if a prospect says they can’t afford the joining fee use the conditional close, “If I can lower your deposit, will you be happy to take the membership today?” You’ve then established that if you can overcome this objection there shouldn’t be anything left holding them back.
When people are procrastinating or dithering over whether they should buy now or buy later, show them that delaying will either get them no advantage or may even be to their disadvantage. Talk about what they will miss by not having a membership over the coming period and emphasise the fact that they will miss out on the first visit discount.
The key to closing a sale is enthusiasm. Have a passion for what you trying to sell – if you believe in your product you are far more likely to convert the prospect. Make them feel what you feel. Making them excited about achieving their fitness and emotional goals will help transfer the enthusiasm.
A sale is either you convincing them that it’s the way to go, or them convincing you that they are right. The enthusiasm helps you convince them. Conviction and enthusiasm that the best thing for them to do is exercise at your club.
Positive body language will help reinforce that your staff genuinely want to help your customers achieve their goals.
Every interaction with a prospective customer helps to reinforce their opinion of your Gym or Fitness Club. Ensure that you and your team exude confidence and a welcoming attitude even down to your answerphone message.
Find a positive in everything and try to get excited about that.
FOMO: Make the customer understand why it is in their best interest to commit to your Gym or Fitness Club today.
Now you’re armed with even more tips for recruiting and retaining members, there is only one obstacle standing in your way to running a successful club: implementation. It is time to get some of what we have detailed here underway.
But you know all that, and the problem has always been having the time to do it. Who can you trust to allow you to have more time to focus on getting more members?
