No man is an island as John Donne said, and neither is any business. Your Gym or Fitness Club will naturally be affected by the competition that surrounds it, and this has never been more pertinent as Lockdown is being lifted after this most recent (and hopefully last) wave of the Covid-19 Pandemic. 

As such, the Fitness Club and Gym market finds itself in a unique position. How does our industry act moving forward? After over a year of either Pay Freezes, Price Freezes, mass cancellation and the rise of Home-Gymming. It is time to take a look at some of the basics as we move forward out of Lockdown.

So to bring it full circle from the beginning of our introduction, do not ask who the Dumbbell tolls for, it tolls for thee. 

 

Keep your area or each area in mind

This will be easier for a Gym or Fitness Club owner or manager who only deals with one building.

Knowing the area is vital. This isn’t as simple as knowing the competition. Understanding transport links, demographics and other external factors is vital.

Not only that, it is important, now more than ever, to not take this knowledge for granted. Just because you have operated in your area for five or ten years, doesn’t mean it looks the same post-Covid.

Demographics

Some estimates say the population of London dropped by nearly 700,000 people over Lockdown. If you operate in London, that is a lot of potential members gone. If you operate outside of London, that is a lot of potential members gained.

Cities, in general, saw a reduction in population outside of a few outliers such as Bristol and Edinburgh. Towns and Suburbia saw an increase as the British population wanted to enjoy gardens more, and cramped city flats less.

This means the demographics in your area could’ve changed dramatically.

 

Working from Home

Not only that, people have started working from home more, and this is not a trend that shows any sign of abating.

Over the entire lockdown, many traditionally office-based sectors such as the financial sector, software development and investment all moved to a work from home structure with significant infrastructure investments.

Costly offices have been shut down entirely during the last 15 months and working from home has never been so widespread or viable.

As a Gym or Fitness Club Owner or Manager, you need to be looking at how this affects your place in the market.

Was your Gym full of financial sector office workers because of its position in the city centre? Was it next to a suburban development that has just doubled in population size due to the urban flight?

One of these businesses is going to have significantly more members, and another might now have significantly less. You need to understand where your former members are now, and where your potential new members might be.

This represents a shift in demographics in this country not seen since the Second World War and your Gym or Fitness Club would be remiss and essentially flying blind if you did not renew your market research into the new landscape of your local area.

 

Monitor your competitors and their pricing levels

You should never be neglecting the pricing levels, structures and tactics of your competitors, and whenever we are exiting a Lockdown is absolutely no exception.

Keep a close eye on several aspects of your local competitors’ pricing structure. Is there a noticeable reduction in price across all your competitors in an attempt to win customers back after a period of hardship and separation from their member base? Conversely, has the price risen due to perceived increased demand in your area?

Your pricing decisions should be based on real market analysis, so keep an eye on what they’re charging for various membership types. As we covered in the last section, this could be based on research they have done that has revealed something you do not yet know.

A high tide may raise all boats, but you can still be in the best position to exploit and utilise that high tide. Look for patterns in your competitors’ movement that may indicate where your business needs to look or what it needs to do moving forward.

 

Cancelled Memberships: What happens next

Even if your Gym or Fitness Club froze all your memberships instantly in March or April of 2020 when the Covid-19 Pandemic’s effect became clear. It is likely you have lost some members.

Given everything we have detailed so far with the effect it has had on the country, it is hardly surprising that you may have lost some members. And without open facilities to attract new members, this means most Gyms and Fitness Clubs will be in full recruiting mode.

This will leave most regions and localities looking very different to how they have done in the past.

For once, it seems likely that every Gym or Fitness Club in a given area will be thinking ‘How do I attract New Members within the next month’. Rather than some being at capacity and some being happy just to coast.

This means there will be a lot of competition and one area worth focusing on is the reclamation and consolidation of any members that cancelled during the last 15 months between March 2020 and June 2021.

Utilising your market team to make it clear your Gym or Fitness Club is back open is the first, apparent step.

After that, it will become a matter of offers, nostalgic reminders and events that will have to get them dropping those 5kg dumbbells that live under their sofa and back onto your state of the art equipment. 

 

Frozen Memberships. What happens next

From time-to-time your members might have a genuine reason for not being able to attend the club but recently they’ve had a damn good reason not to attend. As such, many Fitness Clubs and Gyms took the decision at the beginning of the lockdown to freeze membership direct debits until the time it seemed possible to re-open safely, once lockdown had been fully lifted. 

Rather than letting them cancel this allowed for the mass freezing of memberships in a way that hadn’t been done before on a nationwide scale.

However, with freezing comes significant risks. There is a significant chance that even though the membership has been frozen for so long, now the world is opening up the member could turn around at the end of this freeze period, instantly stopping their direct debit now that the prospect of returning has arisen.

It has been proven that many gym-goers are reliant on momentum and habit and those are obviously factors that have been curtailed and shattered in the last 15 months.

Thus it is very important to try and work on a campaign of integration back into the club. This could range from events and clubs, to new equipment, free t-shirts and even discounts. 

If possible, get your staff to contact individual members during this period of unfreezing and lifting Lockdown to determine:

1.  When the freeze started, confirm the terms of the freeze and then check the members contact details.
2.  Ask them when they would like the freeze to end and try to encourage them back as soon as safe and possible..
3.  Try to end the freeze on the phone to reduce repeat admin and increase revenue. But make sure your staff respect the member’s wish if they do not wish to unfreeze yet!

 

Conclusion

The path out of lockdown isn’t going to be easy, but it does represent an opportunity.

A lot has changed and not all of it is necessarily for the worse. We find ourselves in a new environment and that environment comes with its own challenges, trials, opportunities and successes.

As we move into the summer, hopefully, this guide we have laid out will help you appreciate some of the challenges that lie ahead and how to make them work for you! 

 

You needn’t do it alone 

Lockdown wasn’t just an unprecedented time for Gyms and Fitness Clubs, it was also unprecedented for us as a Fitness Payment Management Solutions company.

We rose to these challenges in a big way and as such are now more ready than ever to help your club or gym move into this new future.

If you are interested in how we can help your club enter the post-Lockdown market and really power up your operation, please contact us today for a free demonstration!

We hope to hear from you soon!

5 More Questions You Need To Ask About Your Membership Payment Collection

We are back with 5 more questions that you need to be asking when it comes to membership payment collection when talking to a membership management company. As you might remember from our last article, we had a lot to say on the subject. Now we are back with more of our insight. Grab a pen and paper or open up a word document and start making your own checklist of questions you want to ask when approaching a company to potentially deal with your membership fees and payment management collection.

Once again, we have put the follow-up questions we deem to be most pertinent in their own quotation boxes, like the one below. Keep these in mind when forming your cheat sheet of questions.

Grab a pen and paper or open up a word document and start making your own checklist of questions you want to ask when approaching a company to potentially deal with your membership fees and payment management collection.

1. Are there any restrictions?

Leading on from the follow-up questions from the last blog, It is important to ask about the limitations of any given direct debit payment management company. Not every company will be able to provide every service you want as part of their standardised packages.

The relative nuances and permutations of fitness service rarely allow for such clean fits. Club fees and membership payments are always a safe bet, but as you get into the other services, you may find that there are restrictions cropping up with each of your prospective direct debit payment management candidates.

If you are reading sequentially you’ll already be thinking about the challenges that could be presented if a payment company isn’t able to work around certain aspects of your business.

What if they are unable to deal with the payment and booking of specialised workout classes? Or what if they don’t deal with the organisation and payment of personal trainers. 

Perhaps this is acceptable to you and your business. If so, great. You might already have the infrastructure in place to deal with it and be willing to take the hit of dual-systems.

However it is important to consider whether this is prudent or necessary. If the company you are talking to has an alternative. Is it worth considering the switch?

One key thing to look out for is how the company handles cash payments. If a company can incorporate cash payments into their system on the fly, this is a good sign that their system will be adaptable. 

Think of the detriment that could occur if a system is inflexible and can only take electronic, or worse, only set payments. This would hamper your ability to cater to something as simple as a club member bringing their friend to your establishment or business. 

Equally, you need to ask yourself at what point too many restrictions become a deal breaker. What are your red-lines? What are the services you need to receive from a payment management company. What are the services you’d like to receive? What are the services you don’t mind not receiving, or have alternative solutions for. 

A simple tiered checklist like this can make all the difference as you navigate the various offerings provided. 

Follow-up questions to consider: 

• Are the restrictions reasonable?
• Is the company willing to accommodate your needs? Are their systems versatile enough?
• How do they respond to your concerns as a potential client?

• How do they deal with cash payments and one-off payments? If casual cash transactions can be incorporated into the payment management system, this will afford you greater flexibility moving forward.

 

2. What percentage of my funds will you hold back?

Much like our discussion around charging and price structure in our last outing, this will vary hugely from one payment management company to the next.

There is no standardised system across direct debit payment management companies and so this has the potential to be as varied as the number of companies that are out there. This, more than any other section, it is most important to think of what your business needs.

Do you require bi-monthly payments? Is once a month sufficient? Or would weekly be preferable. Each payment that the management company makes will have its own administration costs, their own infrastructure to consider and their own scheduling to account for.

All of the questions in this guide are fundamentally designed to help you approximate the value of a direct debit payment management company to your business. This question brings that goal into focus in a big way. The delivery of your funds is the crux of your relationship and it will be somewhere where the potential benefits and pitfalls of your relationship with the company will become apparent. 

If they are upfront and earnest in the functionality of their fund delivery schedule and systems, it could be a positive sign of your future working relationship. If they are inflexible and impersonal, it could be a bad portent of things to come.

 

3. How long does it take to get set up?

This question, like many of our questions, will serve two purposes. There are the practical considerations of the time it will take to set up a payment management company within your systems, and then there is also their philosophy and approach whilst doing so.

As such, this is another question that will be a vital indicator and source of insight into the business partnership you are setting up with the payment management company. Exploring what the initial setup phase will look like whilst you are sounding out different management companies will give you a good idea of what to expect.

Whilst the time taken to set up is not necessarily an indication of the quality of service you will be receiving, it will be a defining incident in your working relationship with the payment management company. Therefore it will be worthy of close scrutiny, from the beginning of your first demo or consultation through to implementation and beyond.

If a direct debit payment management company has a swift setup procedure, this is usually a good sign. It will often mean they have a simple, intuitive system that can blend in easily with existing structures.

Furthermore, it means that respect you as a client, are not overstretched and are dedicated to results.

With that being said, it is important that they are willing to understand your needs from the setup. There is a fine line to tread between a swift and professional service, and a hasty and impersonal one. 

As such, you should be on the look-out during demonstrations and asking questions that will help illuminate whether the foot you are getting off to with the management company is the right one.

 

4. What customer support do you offer?

Customer support will mean two things when it comes to a direct debit payment management company. The customer service it provides to your members, and the customer service it provides to you. 

Depending on the sophistication and complexity of the payment management company you elect to go with. You could be finding yourself dealing with multiple extra systems and it is important that the company is willing and able to talk you through these systems at a moment’s notice.

A dedicated customer care team, preferably only a phone call or a live chat away, can be invaluable to ensuring that any pressing query about your new (or old!) system can be answered with immediacy.

And of equal importance, you need to be able to rely on that same swift and effective service when your customer’s have a quandary that needs solving. It is no use them coming to you if you then have to send off a cumbersome email. It’ll leave them unsatisfied and you feeling out of control. 

Ask questions about the specifics of customer support, draft some queries that come up in your club or business and test the endurance and flexibility of their customer support systems. 

Follow-up questions to consider: 

• What technical support is available to you as a business owner (or your staff) if the direct debit payment management company is going to be introducing new systems to your business?
• What are the opening times for the customer support lines?
•  Do they align with your gym’s opening times?
• What is the availability like on the business/client support team? What are the average wait times? What are their SLAs for responding to queries?

5. What happens if a customer misses a payment?

An unfortunate but inevitable part of running a business such as a fitness club or gym. What if a customer misses a payment. It can be unpleasant, it certainly isn’t desirable. But it needn’t be your concern.

One of the largest benefits a direct debit payment management company can bring you is in their dealings with your late fee members and those who enter sustained arrears.

As such, this becomes an important question to ask and an important topic to dedicate time to in your search for a payment management company. If the company has a system in place for members who miss payments or pay late. This can be invaluable.

When factoring in the comparison between different payment management companies. Consider the amount that you might need to pay if you were to chase these fees yourself, or to employ a separate time to do so. This figure will only need to be a broad estimate before you start to see why a company that deals with this tumultuous area for you is worth the extra money.

Certain companies will charge extra for the handling of arrears reclamation. This can be a valid service and will definitely help to delineate where your money is going. With that being said however, it can also result in the service being an afterthought. It is worth looking into whether the payment management company considers this to be a keystone of their business or an ambitious afterthought. In such a delicate field, an amateur operation can great a lot of heartache and concern. 

Direct debit payment management companies that deal with missed payments will often have a specialised team in place to resolve these matters. Often they will be handled entirely in-house and in a professional, caring and correct manner.

It is, however, important to confirm that this will be the case. Ask for examples and case studies of how their reclamation or arrears department has dealt with missed payments in the past.

Missed payments will always be a sensitive subject even if it is just a simple administration error on the part of the member and especially if it is more systemic than that. It is of utmost importance to maintain a positive relationship with your members even during these trying times. It should go without saying that you are more likely to receive the money you are due if these matters are entrusted to a professional debt reclamation team.

More than that, your company will be less likely to be exposed to negative stories resulting from the mishandling of collection, the approach will be ethical and regulated and you are more likely to retain the member if their financial situation improves. 

 

Follow-up questions to consider: 

• Are there examples of arrears reclamation emails, calls or other correspondence that can be provided to prove the quality and values of the operation?
• What are the success rates for their reclamation team?
• How long has the arrear reclamation team in question been operating as part of the business?

• How experienced are the team? How is that experience being utilised within the team?
  

• Does the team understand the regulatory requirements? Are they prioritising the wellbeing of your business and your members. 

 

 

Forewarned is Forearmed! Come Ask Us These Questions And See How We Answer

Now your existing batch of questions from the last blog has been beefed up, it is time to put them into practice. And why not start with us here at Ashbourne?

Ashbourne provides a service that goes far beyond just the collection of direct debits and some rudimentary software. If you go with Ashbourne, the team at your service know that there’s a lot more to managing a great gym or fitness club than simply collecting payments on time.

Hopefully we have given you an idea of what to look out for, approach our team and book a demo and we can continue what we have started  here on this blog today.

If any of the questions and concerns we have covered resonate with you, then we might be the company for you.

If you want to simply talk about how we could help your club, or see the specifics we can offer, please do not hesitate to reach out and one of our team will talk you through how we can help take your club to the next level.

5 Questions You Need To Ask About Your Membership Payment Collection

When looking for a company to manage your Direct Debits, it’s important to do your research and find the one which is going to work best for you and make the perfect partnership. Here are some key questions to get your discussion going and compare different providers with one another. In addition, we’ve added some follow-up and related questions. As this series of blogs goes on, we may expand some of these questions into full articles.

Furthermore, we’ve highlighted one follow-up question we deemed to be particularly important when you are considering your checklist of questions for any potential membership payment management collection company.

1. How can I sign up customers?

The importance of this question cannot be overstated and as such we’ve placed it first on our list of must-ask questions when it comes to looking for a company to manage your Direct Debits.

Signing up customers to your gym’s payment scheme is one of the most important steps of the entire process and in this age of automated, easy access gyms it is important that the process be as streamlined as possible.

Streamlined not just for the customer but for you, the owner. Neither side wants to be dealing with tedious forms or complex websites when a customer is trying to sign up to a new gym. This is where your initial research will be vital. It can be complex to disentangle yourself from a Direct Debit management company that isn’t well suited to you and/or your customers.

Most reputable companies will offer some form of demonstration for the service they are providing, and we would recommend noting down any of these questions that you feel might be pertinent to your concerns. In relation to this question, it is important that you are able to visualise the process slotting into the current structure of your gym. Or, alternatively, that the new structure it will usher into your Gym will be an improvement.

If during the demonstration you are starting to imagine the work-arounds and hardships that a system will bring when it comes up signing up new customers and gym members to your gym, it probably isn’t the system for you.

From the sign-up stage and through the entire lifespan of their member, the relationship with a Direct Debit Management Company  has to be one that benefits you, your gym and your customers.

As such, we recommend looking for modern, hands-off, time saving measures that the company offers.

Paper free sign-up is a big one to be looking for. In this age of instant communication, there are few reasons to be shackling your customers to a physical form. With the rise of fully automated gyms, many customers simply do not have the appetite for anything as involved as a pen and paper.

Think about the space you have. How will the sign-up be occurring? On your customer’s personal phone? On an iPad or tablet presented to them by a member of your Gym’s staff? On a static computer at a reception desk? Or on a laptop balanced on the top of a Shoulder Press machine?

Make sure that the services that they provide will work for your area. If you only have enough room for mobile or tablet sign-up, then making sure they have a mobile system that allows you to do 100% of the sign-up becomes even more important. 

It is also important to note the market has shifted, members are much more likely these days to sign-up to a gym online before they have even set foot in the premises. This represents new opportunities and it is important not to get left behind. 

To conclude this section, your sign-up system should never feel like it is impeding your customer or your business. Sometimes the bureaucracy of signing up can feel like a necessary evil, but it is quite an unnecessary one in 2021. As we have covered, by doing your research you can ensure that the sign-up system will work for you and your customers, integrating them into your gym’s payment system as quickly as possible, with minimal administration on your side.

Follow-up questions to consider: 

• How many different methods are there for customer sign-up?
• How long does the sign-up process take?
• Where can it be done?

• What tools can be used to sign-up? (Phone, computer, tablet, static terminal). Does your gym have those available. How will it fit in with your existing structure?

• How does sign-up work for additional services?

2. How do I submit payments? Can This be Automated?

Submitting payments has never been easier and as such there is no reason to accept anything less than the smoothest operation when it comes to the payment collection company you use.

By looking for a company that uses direct debit collections, you are already eliminating many of the hassles associated with collecting and submitting payments. Not only is this system paper free and admin-light, it is also ripe for numerous strives towards automation, in the right hands!

By hiring a company to handle your direct debit payments, the question of how you submit a payment will become a thing of the past. With the right company, you will be in full control with only a minimal time investment. This will allow you to choose increases and decreases, payment periods, membership categories and more.

Payments will be taken by direct debit directly from your members bank account by the direct debit company, held in a secure, liminal account, ready to be paid into your account. But not before it has gone through rigorous data capture, for both security and feedback.

Which leads us effortlessly onto our next question.

3. What reporting do you provide so I can track payments?

It is the year 2021 and Data is King. The days of knowing roughly what is going into your accounts are over. 

With the right direct debit payment management company, you’ll be able to take your gym’s data outputs to the next level. As we hinted at in the previous, the focus on data capture has never been more pronounced, more automatic or more automated.

This means several things for your business. It means that services that used to require significant human labour have drastically reduced in costs. This has opened up powerful reporting operations for very low charges, providing the company you link up with is ahead of the curve (excuse the graph pun). 

Detailed reporting power when it comes to your cash flow has many benefits that go well beyond just the monthly pay. It will allow you to examine trends in your business, breaking down important aspects of the customer journey and potential pitfalls that are losing your members. 

In addition, all that data comes in very handy when it is time to satisfy the regulators. The chances of you finding yourself with the 10pm coffee, ready to crunch numbers into the night, dramatically reduces. 

Finally it will give you security, the ability to more confidently manage your business in the present and in charting out the future. When the span of data becomes years, you will be able to build a firmer picture of your business. Invaluable when it comes to creating strategies for the improvement and growth of your business.

Follow-up questions to consider: 

• How are these reports delivered?
• Are direct debit payment reports generated automatically? 
• Will there be an obstacle to seamless reporting? Mis-aligned Data that will require monthly or weekly human intervention?
  
• What software do they use?

• Do they use their own software? Will it be easy for you to learn? Will you be able to transfer it if your business with the company ever comes to an end?

• Is their data usable in existing common systems Excel? SQL? Google Sheets?
• Are you comfortable using the software and data formats that they use?
• Can you integrate these new reports with your old reports to fully map your data?

 

4. Is it possible to integrate your system with my accounts?

This question should be firmly on your notepad or desktop post-it notes as you consider the company you want to manage your direct debit payment management. 

As we discussed earlier, the year is 2021 and there is no need to generate more hassle than necessary. Any direct debit payment management company worth its salt will be able to seamlessly integrate their operation with your existing account structure (providing you don’t do all your work on Typewriter or Windows 95). 

This question should be near the top of your list (as it is near the top of our list) and you shouldn’t accept anything less than ease of access, ease of use and a concerted focus on integration during setup. 

Any decent direct debit payment management company will have their focus on reducing your administration workload and one of the easiest ways to manage this is by starting your relationship with them correctly.

Ask questions that will help you understand how their operation works, how they handle data and money, and how that can potentially merge with your own, existing accounts infrastructure. 

The way a prospective payment management company responds to this question (and the others) will give you a good idea of how your relationship with them could pan out. If they are versatile, flexible and professional, they will have no trouble adapting to even the most rudimentary or bespoke accounting system that you may have in place. 

Conversely, if their head isn’t in the game, you might quickly find yourself having to deal with more issues than they are solving for you. This is why it is vital to ask pertinent questions up front when you are scoping out the type of company. 

Follow-up questions to consider: 

• Is the company going to be able to deliver or present the accounting data in a format that works for your existing operation?
  

• Will reporting be automatic or will there be a manual exchange of e-mail every month. Does this increase expense or the capacity for human error?

• What file types do they use?

5. How much do you charge per collection?

This simple question should have a simple answer for each company you approach. But the answer should have large implications to whether or not the company in question is the direct debit payment management company for you.

However, most companies will be slightly different in how they run their payment collection operation. Here we will cover several models that companies in the industry are currently using, discussing their benefits and their detriments.

Some will charge per month for a set number of users. This can be useful if your business is at capacity, or you have a solid idea of the amount of people you want using your business every month. 

This can be simple, but it is imprecise. It might feel effective and intuitive to say ‘My business has under 100 members’ and therefore select the package based on that. But this can present a real challenge for growth, even in the smallest metrics. If your business suddenly goes from 100 members to 101 you might find yourself negotiating in a high tier bracket that completely wipes out the gain of that single member. 

Not to mention all the hassle of renegotiating and maybe not even being able to sign them up. What started off as a simple time-saver could easily become a shackle and a burden to you and your business.

Some will go even more abstract, charging different packages based on a ‘business size’. This has advantages, you could find yourself in a favourable bracket. But it is a double-edged sword and you could find yourself just on the cusp of the next tier up and suddenly your fees will double.

In our opinion, precision is key for any fair business dealing and this logic definitely extends to a company managing your payments. 

A popular model will charge per transaction and this can be useful when growing a business. This method is closer to the ground in terms of representing value.

It has an added bonus of being incredibly flexible. That situation we outlined above where a business went from 100 to 101 members and suffered for it? Under this model that situation would be of no concern whatsoever. 

This situation can be reversed as well, to further show the versatility. Say that same gym from before goes back below 100. There is now a choice of paying well above the service level you are receiving or once again going down.

Given the Covid-19 pandemic that we are still feeling the effects of, you can understand why this system can sometimes generate more problems than it aims to fix. 

Therefore, as you can hopefully see, the real benefit of charge per transaction system is it keeps all costs firmly linked to profits. Keeping your business model as lean as possible, ensuring there are no excess profits being lost. 

Follow-up questions to consider: 

• Ask about different types of collection. One-off payments for day passes might be processed differently?
• Consider asking whether the system could also be used to integrate classes, personal trainers and other add-ons. The potential costs of these features and the potential time benefits they might bring?

• If the system is per transaction, ask about broader fees. Setup, processing fees?

5 More Questions to Ask

 

If you still have questions you want answered, we’ve put out another five questions that Gym and Fitness Club owners need to be asking when they approach Membership Payment Management Companies.

Follow this link for more questions to add to your checklist, or look below for information regarding booking a demo or talking to a member of our team!

 

NOW THAT YOU KNOW WHAT TO ASK, COME ASK US!

Unlike other direct debit payment management companies. The services that Ashbourne provides isn’t just some basic software and the ability to collect your direct debits. No, the team at Ashbourne knows that there’s a lot more to managing a successful club than simply collecting payments.

Now that we have armed you with the pertinent questions for navigating the world of payment management companies, we want you to come and ask them to our customer team.

If any of the questions and concerns we have covered resonate with you, then we might be the company for you.

If you want to chat about what we offer, or simply run through how we can help your particular health club, then get in touch with us and our team will contact you to talk things through.

 

An Introduction to Direct Debits 

Direct Debit Payments are a crux of modern living for the majority of consumers and businesses. As a method of payment it is only going from strength to strength. It has even found itself firmly in the Cambridge Dictionary and the Collins Dictionary! According to a broad study from 2017, at the time it was revealed that 9 out of 10 people in the UK with a bank account had at least one Direct Debit. In addition, over a third of combined households were totalling over 6 Direct Debit payments.

What we are trying to say is that this isn’t something that will scare customers away. The Direct Debit is an ingrained and accepted part of everyday life for most consumers. Direct Debits are something that many younger (Or tech-savvy older!) consumers will be able to manage and manipulate on their phone with ease. 

As such, it is a system and methodology to be embraced and we are here to lay out the reasons why Direct Debits will help make life easier for your business and your customer. 

Here is a list of just some of the points we will be covering today.

• How a direct debit can help reduce the running costs of your business
• How a direct debit will increase membership retention and customer satisfaction 
• How a direct debit will give you give you more control over your business 
• How a direct debit gives you the freedom and flexibility to make price changes with ease
• How a direct debit contributes to an easier administrative load with reduced admin costs
• How a direct debit system will integrate and enhance the potential (or continued) automation process of your gym.

Quite a hefty list, can we back it up? Be assured that with over 25 years of handling payment management within the fitness industry, we hope to convince you swiftly that we know our stuff.

 

1. Direct Debit lets you increase fees when you need to

 

Flexibility has always been key to surviving in any business. But with the advent of digital technology, agile work methodology and ever more competitive business practices, it matters now more than ever.

How could this relate to direct debit payments? Well the clue is in the section title. 

The price of any given service will always be subject to flux, whether it is due to external factors such as Covid-19 or currency, or internal factors such as the renovations on a gym or increased membership. With other, more archaic payment systems, keeping track of who is paying what could be a significant challenge. Let alone attempting to instigate any sort of mass increase in member fees. 

If you take the relative of the direct debit, the standing order for instance. This would require the customer to cancel their existing standing orders and create a brand new one in it’s place. Often this cannot be done as simply as a direct debit on a mobile phone and even if it could, it is still an inconvenience. And a dangerous one at that. 

The last thing you want is for a customer to have to cancel a standing order and have to do tedious admin whilst suffering the indignity of an increase in fee.

Safe to say that all of this can create hassle for your customers, it could cause delays or even lead to your customers letting their membership lapse. 

With the direct debit this ceases to be an issue at all. You are able to monitor, review and most importantly, change the amount you are collecting without needing any input from your members.

This flexibility can bring a lot of new options into the picture. Given our recent experiences in the Covid-19 pandemic, the direct debit proved its strength as a format that could be quickly amended, paused or continued. In unprecedented times it is all the more necessary to have an adaptable, reliable system in place.

 

2. Direct Debit reduces administrative load and it gives your business more control

The administrative load associated with more traditional methods of membership payment collection are daunting to say the least. Cash, cheques, standing orders. If you are collecting a combination of these then it can quickly add up to long nights of tedious reconciliation activity.

But how could the direct debit ever compete as an alternative to cash or currency? That tried and tested method since Mesopotamian shekel? Well, it might’ve taken 5,000 years but we think we have an alternative. 

With direct debits, unlike standing orders, they can be easily and effortlessly set up on a computer terminal, phone or tablet. 

This means that it is as easy to whip out a portable electronic device and arrange the bank as it would be to say, hand over £10 (or Mesopotamian shekels if you are feeling nostalgic). 

In many cases this might be easier. A lot of modern sports equipment (running bands, gym shorts, etc) is being outfitted with a place to hold your debit card or credit card securely. But the same isn’t to be said for cash, which is obviously bulkier and impossible to recover if lost.

As such, the direct debit is a natural fit for the transforming habits of most gym-goers.

Sounds pretty good? Well, as an added bonus, you’ll receive an added layer of control and data feedback regarding what has been paid and what is due to be paid. This is something you don’t get with standing orders.

With direct debits, you will be aware as soon as one has been cancelled, even if it isn’t pay-day. This is due to the nature of the direct debit (as discussed in security and regulations). It isn’t like a standing order, which exists only as an instruction on a given day.

The benefits that this can afford you are numerous. It can allow you to react quickly to a cancellation, perhaps even contacting the member in question to understand what has occurred. It also has the very tangible benefit of allowing you to understand how much money can be expected from your members in real time. Invaluable.

It is no surprise that changing from Standing Orders and Cash to direct debit can be like switching on a flashlight for many gym and club owners. We have had it stated that it is like being fully in control for the first time. 

Which makes sense when you consider that a drabble of cash and standing orders that need to be painstakingly reconciled and catalogued at the end of each month would cause massive admin costs and consistency issues.

Which brings us effortlessly onto our next point.

3. Direct Debits can reduce administration costs 

It may seem like a no brainer with the reduction of administration load but we think this deserves its own section.

The amount of wage saved in the potential reconciliation of cash, cheque and standing order could be massive, especially to a small business. It used to be taken as a given that any physical business would invariably have to deal with multiple streams of income in different formats. But as we move forward into the digital age, this is becoming less and less likely. 

Imagine replacing all of that costly counting with a single tablet. That counts as your sign-up, your monthly fee and also covers any potential increases in fee, decreases in fee, fee pausing or cancellation?

All of these actions would have required additional admin, in addition to the monthly admin just to make sure that your books are fully reconciled!

And with human reconciliation comes the inevitable human error, which will only lead to more admin. With the direct debit, the cash flow is automatic, regular, easily recorded and instant. 

In addition, full integration of a direct debit system into a club management system can reduce administration costs even further if you use it to tackle the actual membership and entry to your club. With digital technologies it has never been easier to seamlessly integrate membership and payment, rather than having to track them on two disparate systems.

And finally, it will also make your year to year easier. No longer will you have to go to 1 of 18 spreadsheets. No longer will you be forced to painstakingly recheck your hand-written notes from 10 months ago to make sure you didn’t misread something.

It is incredible what a powerful effect such a simple tool can have. All the more important to state the impact that a direct debit can have on a gym or fitness club.

 

4. How Direct Debits can greatly assist your Regulatory Compliance and Payment Security 

 

Regulations are never fun but that doesn’t mean they aren’t extremely necessary. Mercifully, with direct debits you can cross out tedious from that list of attributes.

As we tried to stress in the introductory paragraphs, the direct debit is an industry standard and as such it is not only fully compliant (vital) but incredibly secure. 

It is covered diligently and thoroughly  by the FCA (the Financial Conduct Authority, the UK government regulator for financial transaction). The FCA covered direct debits in a piece of regulatory mandating known as the Payment Services Regulations directive. We won’t bore you with anything further than that but it is safe to say that this affords the direct debit a large degree of security and compliance that is unmatched.

Once it is confirmed that the chosen billing provider is FCA accredited, you can have the utmost confidence that the transactions and membership fees that occur will be compliant, trusted and most importantly, safe for your customer and your business. 

5. Get more from your data and make the data work for you

 

The data outputs from a traditional gym membership payment system can be, lacking to say the least. Unless it was set up by someone of extraordinary vision it will most likely have fallen to place naturally as memberships are received by cash, cheque and standing order as and when applicable. 

This ad hoc process, while perfectly acceptable, isn’t winning any awards for innovation. At best the data will have to be collected and processed into a usable format. At worst? Well, it won’t be, and the business will be stumbling around in the dark like we discussed during Point 2. 

With a direct debit system, the data outputs and reporting capabilities are digital, immediate and powerful. With the right systems and support, the versatile data that it will generate naturally will allow you to see a business from angles previously inconceivable. 

This will allow you to understand what is happening in your business, whether it be in a given hour or over the span of years, with hitherto unknown speed. 

You will be able to make and generate reports to keep others in the loop, allowing you to develop specific areas and quickly inform others of the needs of the business.

 

6. Customer Service

 

And finally, and perhaps most importantly. The customer, your members, will also receive significant benefits from this system. We have covered some of these previously, but they will bear repeating together for a true picture of how this change could benefit every aspect of a business.

The effects will be tangible and instant and include:

The ease of signing up to a direct debit when they first enter your fitness club or gym will be immediately noticeable to them. No longer having to worry about bringing cash per session, or the lengthy process of setting up a standing order.

The efficiency of changing members fees will not go unappreciated. No member relishes paying their fee, let alone paying an increased fee. So adding on the unnecessary and tedious bureaucratic hassle of making them update their own increased payment won’t always go down well. Remove the issue and make the unfortunate news of a price increase all the more palatable with clear, professional communication and the reassurance that no action is required from them. 

Furthermore, if your gym introduces tiered systems, it will allow customers to easily upgrade to the next tier or section. If your gym or fitness club opens up additional classes, it will be no bother for them to quickly up their fee for the additional services you are offering.

The reassurance of security you will be able to give to your members will not go unappreciated. And the clear paper-trail, compliant regulated practices and easy trouble-shooting of any issues will be an extra feather in any businesses cap compared to the labyrinthine processes of yesteryear. 

And finally, your members just get to spend less time thinking about money and payment and more time thinking about the gym. Ideally you want your club members thinking as little as possible about their payments. A direct debit lets their membership payment become part of the background flow of the month for both of you. Allowing you both to focus on the service that is being provided. 

INTERESTED IN DIRECT DEBITS? COME ASK THE EXPERTS

 

Ashbourne Membership Management has been growing over 25 years to handle every single aspect of club management. From direct debits to website maintenance and handling your energy bar sales – Ashbourne handles it all.

When it comes to Direct Debits, we can drastically reduce your admin and free up your staff in 5 simple steps:

• We provide you our software to track all your members
• We provide you with direct debit guarantees and set them up
• We set up your direct debits
• We handle all contact between your members and their payments
• We handle all debt collection for any defaulted payments

If you want to take a look at what your club could be with a system in place for direct debit collection, then we can give you a completely free demo and consultation, simply to run through the process, our systems and answer any questions you might have.

Simply book a free demo with us and let us show you the future of your gym.

 

Although the end of the most recent lockdown is in sight, the introduction of the newly revised tier system still has a great impact on gyms and health clubs across the country with group classes still unable to go ahead. And many of your members may still be hesitant about returning to your facility whilst the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing.

During an incredibly uncertain time, the fitness sector continues to be confronted with the challenge of trying to keep their members active and engaged – outside of the gym!

Finding solutions to keep your members engaged during this time is crucial, providing them with resources and frequent contact, however this shouldn’t just be seen as a short-term fix. The more ways your members’ can engage with your club, the more enhanced their overall experience and satisfaction will be. So you need to have ideas that work as a long-term solution.

Although this may be a new challenge you are facing, remember that to your members, you are still the expert! Many of your members see you as their source of all information relating to their fitness and health. Use your knowledge to inform your members and give them recommendations as to what they should do when exercising at home. Many people will feel demotivated and want to give up, so do your best to make sure this isn’t your members!

 

YOU CAN ALSO DOWNLOAD OUR MAINTAINING ENGAGEMENT GUIDE

If you don’t have time to read the blog, then you can always download our maintaining engagement guide right now, and discover ways in which you can encourage interaction with your members amongst all the uncertainty.

 

FIND YOUR ONLINE VOICE

Whether your club will be remaining closed or getting ready to re-open it is crucially important to maintain clear and regular communication with your members. To not only keep them informed, but to also help them feel reassured.

But beforehand, you need to define your brand’s voice. Think about what you want to say and more importantly how you want to say it.

As a gym or fitness studio, you will have already identified what your goal is and what you hope to bring to the fitness industry which sets you apart from your competitors, but it’s time to think about taking that one step further.

What is your purpose? 

You need to communicate your value and deliver high-quality content to your members and remember how powerful social media and the internet can be! But only if used correctly.

Your members are ready and willing to hear from you, so utilise the communication channel which works best for your audience whether that be via email, SMS, social media or your website. By making the right choice of communication method you are more likely to build a rapport with your members.

 

CREATE HIGH QUALITY ONLINE CONTENT

Keeping your members informed is one thing, but that isn’t enough to keep them actively invested in your gym. You want to keep your members motivated and provide them with a dose of normality, so offering them regular content is vital to keep them moving and boost their engagement.

Gyms and fitness studios across the country are quickly turning their attention to harnessing the skills of their instructors and personal
trainers to provide digital workouts and classes for their members.

So don’t let physical distance stop you keeping your members in check. Create a timetable to release content to your members so they have something to look forward to and continue to look to your facility for their health and fitness information.

Live Stream Workouts

Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or through video conferencing APPS like Zoom; live streaming is a great tool to reach out to your members! Trainers could run daily classes at the same time every day. Get your members involved and for those who aren’t members of your gym now, it’s a great way to capture their attention and convince them to join. Live streams can then be saved and turned into video workouts…

Video Workouts

Use pre-recorded workout videos to offer your members a form of exercise they can do at any time. Those with children may not be able to join you for your live stream at specific times, so it’s a great way to engage those with time constraints. You can use video through an email campaign to reach only your members or reach out to non-members through social, similar to the live stream workouts.

Recipes

Provide healthy recipes to keep your members engaged and to help them carry on their health transformation that they started at your club!

 

MAKE YOUR CONTENT RELIABLE

Virtual classes and online training and support has come out as king during a year of virtual services.

While these have proven to be very successful at keeping members paying to some degree, and cementing your gym in your customer’s mind even whilst you’re closed, this is still unchartered territory for so many clubs and gyms.

But whilst hosting an online class might sound easy, there is certainly a great deal to consider in order to make sure you are providing your
members with a valuable, quality experience. And although your customer experience is at the forefront of your mind, you as a business owner, must also ensure you consider your business needs and choose a streaming platform that is not only reliable, but also cost effective.

To discover more about the cost-friendly platforms available, read our blog about the best platforms available to host your online gym classes.

 

SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE

During isolation, times of lockdown and when members are not ready to return to your gym, it is easy for your members to feel isolated and alone. Many people turn to exercise to increase their mood and the motivation they get from others – whether it be your trainers or fellow members can be really encouraging.

This is your chance to bring your members together and create an online community. Encouraging your users to interact with the content you produce and make available is a great way to foster two-way conversations between your club and your members. On your social media pages your trainers can set challenges to your members or feature “workouts of the day” and ask your members to comment with their videos or pictures using specific hashtags to bring your online community together.

Social media channels, such as Instagram, also feature interaction tools such as polls, questions and sliders via Instagram stories, making it easier than ever to ask your audience a question and get real-time responses. For example, you could host a weekly “Let your members decide workout” and ask your online community what type of workout (i.e. strength or cardio) they would prefer that day. Give them a 60-90 minute window to answer and then host a workout based on the most popular response.

This not only allows your members to feel valued but also gives them the opportunity to receive what they would feel as tailored training from your club.

 

MAINTAIN YOUR MEMBERS ACCOUNTABILITY

Staying motivated to visit your gym or complete your workout is hard enough, even when gyms are open! So imagine how much more difficult this is when you are required to stay at home, with no fitness trainer in sight to provide you with encouragement. It’ll come as no surprise that to encourage your members to keep training, it is going to require a little extra effort, not only from them but from you and your team.

Many people rely on their routine to maintain their motivation, so offering a class schedule which almost mirrors your typical gym
schedule will be beneficial to your members. It will feel familiar to them and therefore will be much easier to maintain, as you’re not expecting them to show up at times which may otherwise be out of the ordinary.

You also have a prime opportunity here to utilise your coaches and personal trainers. The likelihood of your team being less busy than usual is high when your gym is closed or you are unable to host group classes, so try to utilise their skillset elsewhere. Give them the task of becoming ‘Accountability Coaches’ to those individual members or groups that might need extra support and encouragement to stay active and continue maintaining or reaching their fitness goal.

 

YOUR FUTURE IS POSITIVE

It’s easy to see the negative side of the ongoing disruption to the fitness industry and the uncertainty this brings to gym owners and gym goers, but it is important to focus on the positive outcomes this time can in fact provide.

With your clubs doors having been closed, you’ve been able to spend time looking at any repairs or upgrades to your equipment which you might have been delaying as it would typically cause disruption to your members. But now has been the perfect time.

With the help of schemes such as the government business interruption loan scheme, it might also be possible for you to invest in your facility and have something for your members to look forward to when they individually decide it’s the right time for them to come back.

And of course, make sure to keep your members updated on every club development that happens during your closures and even once you have reopened again. This will help you build up a buzz between your current and potential members as they patiently wait to get back inside of your newly improved facility.

This doesn’t need to be expensive either, even giving your club a little facelift with some redecorating is often enough to build excitement amongst your members.

 

ASHBOURNE CAN HELP WITH EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR CLUB

Unlike most club management services which just give you some basic software and collect your direct debits, the team at Ashbourne knows that there’s a lot more to managing a successful club than simply collecting payments.

From debt collection, to web design, marketing ideas and more – the entire team at Ashbourne Membership Management is at your disposal to help you succeed and master every single element of being a successful gym.

If you want to chat about what we offer, or simply run through how we can help your particular health club, then get in touch with us and our sales manager Grant will be back in touch to talk through everything.

Membership retention at gyms is something that has always been a challenge, long before the COVID-19 pandemic. With many people choosing to embark on their fitness journey, it is no surprise that around half of people who start an exercise program will drop out within the first six months.

And with the onset of this pandemic, gyms are facing an entirely different set of challenges in order to to retain their members. Due to the overwhelming uncertainty that came with COVID-19, many people opted to cancel their gym memberships for a range of reasons.

Many people faced uncertainty over their employment. With many people placed on the government furlough scheme and although some businesses have been fortunate enough to reopen and employees return to work, this hasn’t been the case for everyone and therefore there was and still is a fear of economic downturn. This has resulted in people trying to save where they could.

Even if you opted to freeze your memberships throughout lockdown periods, you will have noticed that some of your members will have proceeded with cancelling their memberships anyway as a precautionary measure.

But you rely on your members for the long-term survival of your gym, so try and get ahead of members cancellations by making sure you provide enough value to make them stick around.

 

YOU CAN ALSO DOWNLOAD OUR MEMBERSHIP RETENTION GUIDE

If you don’t have time to read the blog, then you can always download our membership retention guide right now, and discover the steps you need to consider in order to improve your membership retention percentage.

REGAIN CONFIDENCE, BUILD TRUST

Understandably, many of your members may be reluctant to return to your facility once it is able to open again. People may be unable to due to an underlying health condition, or they might be hesitant due to the many concerns that surround returning to a public place.

People have become used to spending increased time at home and at the same time are fearful of the virus. Your members need your help and support in order to navigate through this time and they will gradually feel safe enough to return. Although, you must anticipate that not all members will return to feeling the same way they did prior to COVID-19 and some members may cancel their membership for good.

To begin rebuilding the confidence in your members you must have consistent, open and honest communication with your members. Let them know about your new safety protocols and sanitation guidelines. Do this via email, SMS and through your social media channels to ensure that as many of your members as being exposed to your new measures. Your members need to know that you are doing everything possible to keep them safe and although this won’t be enough for everyone, don’t let that discourage you as your members would need to know this information anyone to ensure they follow your new guidelines.

It may also be beneficial to share research and information from other sources to try and help fight negatives feelings caused by the overwhelming amount of COVID-19 updates. Early research conducted by the Norwegian Research Council found that there is no evidence to suggest that gyms pose any additional risk to spreading COVID-19 when following appropriate social distancing and hygiene protocols. This type of research sharing will reassure your members and will encourage them to trust that you are doing your best to stay informed and act accordingly.

 

IMPLEMENT NEW SAFETY PROTOCOLS

When your gym or studio is ready and allowed to reopen, one of the biggest obstacles you may face is encouraging your members that your facility is safe to return to and they should feel comfortable in doing so.

So during your closure, pay particular attention to communicating your plans to keep your gym COVID-safe across as many communication channels as possible. You want to reach your current members and well as potential new customers, so utilise your social media channels, your website, emails and SMS.

Clearly define the measures you are putting in place and go the extra mile above social distancing & 1 way systems. It’s time to focus on your customer experience more than ever and focus on instilling confidence in your members and provide them with the means to cope with the situation. Be empathetic to those people who are slightly more concerned and reserved than others and prioritise safety first and foremost. This might disrupt how your gym and any classes were previously run, but by taking the approach of putting your members above all else and providing them with the guidance and reassurance they need, your gym will stand out and you’ll be able to build a loyal customer base.

 

CREATE DISCOUNTED REJOINING OFFERS

How many times have you looked online with the intent of buying something and then for one reason or another decided not to bother? But then perhaps you’ve been tempted to go and purchase whatever item you were interested in when the company email you with a discount code to try and tempt you to reconsider.

This is a very common sales tactic and has a pretty high success rate. I mean, who wouldn’t feel encouraged to buy a product they were already interested in when someone offers them money off!

This same tactic could be used on your memberships with a small tweak here and there. Perhaps you have members who are getting in touch to cancel or you’ve members on a 6 or 12 month membership who don’t opt to renew and their membership lapses. These are your ideal candidates to test out an offer to encourage them to think twice about cancelling or to encourage them to reinstate their membership.

You don’t always have to go straight down the route of offer them a discounted membership either if you don’t feel comfortable with that, but here are some offers you could consider:

• 1 month free membership (when purchasing 6 months or more)
• Discount on month of membership (for those with rolling contracts)
• Free personal training session
• Free access to additional resources (if available)
• Free nutrition guide

 

NURTURE YOUR NEW MEMBERS

When a new member signs up to your gym, it’s down to you to give them a great experience from the outset to ensure they don’t immediately feel dissatisfied with their choice to join.

Hopefully your sign up process was nice and straight forward for them, so you are able to get off on the right foot. Being able to sign up online via direct debit is preferable for many people as it means they can make their decision on whether to join in the comfort of their home and can complete their subscription in their own time. So making sure this is easy to do is crucial to giving your members a premium experience from the start.

Once their membership is confirmed, you should have an automated welcome email sent straight to them. This is your opportunity to give a warm and friendly welcome to your new member, whilst providing them with information about the services and resources they can access as well as pointing them in the right direction for when they may have questions. This will help your member feel confident that they have made the right choice to join your gym.

This message should be personalised as much as possible, to make your gym personable and make your member feel as though you are approachable. You should also invite your member to get in touch with you to arrange their induction at your facility. You want every person who enters your gym to feel confident and comfortable with the equipment they are using. Some people may already be confident with the gym equipment you have on site as they are moving from another facility, but you should make this offer to everyone, to show that you are focused on providing a quality and fair experience to all of your members.

 

MAKE CURRENT MEMBERS HAPPIER

COVID-19 has brought uncertainty to many people so taking additional time to go above and beyond to ensure your members are happy is an important step to take to ensure they don’t consider cancelling their membership.

With many gyms temporarily closed, connecting with your members is becoming more difficult than ever. Some people may have opted to freeze their memberships whereas others may have chosen to continue if you are able to provide online classes for them to take advantage of. No
matter which route your members have decided to take, you should make the effort to engage with them all the same.

You should encourage a thriving and engaging community to bring your members together, they are likeminded individuals with one certain thing in common, they attend your gym or fitness studio! Create dedicated online networking areas for your members (frozen & current), for
example a Facebook group. Here you can share updates about your gym and the COVID-19 protocols you will be adopting to keep everyone up to date, as well as also encouraging your trainers to share fitness tips or daily exercise challenges. This will encourage your members to not only interact with you, but also with one another. Whilst also providing them with a forum to share things themselves. This will keep them engaged with your gym and is also likely to decrease any sense of loneliness they may be feeling.

For your members who choose to continue paying you can create closed Facebook groups for them to have exclusive access to the online classes you will be offering. This will make them feel like part of an elite club and give them direct access to your trainers. What you share here also isn’t limited just to the classes you run, you could also think about sharing other fitness resources, such as recipes or nutrition guidance.

Ask yourself: why did your members join in the first place? What value were they looking for? Once you know the answer to this it makes it much easier to begin curating content you can share with them and activities you can do to ensure they receive the value you perceive they signed up for.

 

WHY DID YOUR MEMBERS LEAVE?

It’s inevitable that no matter how hard you try, some members will still choose to leave. This can be for any number of reasons, but there is no point in presuming or trying to guess these for yourself. You must ask your members what prompted their decision to leave.

Being able to collate this kind of information will provide you with insight into your club and how your members perceive it and will highlight any issues that you may need to address moving forward in order to prevent more members leaving.

So when your member contacts you to request cancellation of their membership, ask them if they’d like to share why they have chosen to leave. Of course they do not have to answer this if they would rather not, but by providing them with the forum to give feedback you are much more likely to find out why.

Keep a report of the reasons members are choosing to leave and if you begin to notice any trends in this information, it’s your chance to address this and see if you can turn things round. By making these changes you may also be able to attract old members back by addressing the specific thing which caused them to leave in the first place.

But remember, during these current uncertain times the information you may gather at the moment will be limited. Many of your members will be choosing to leave for financial reasons and although this doesn’t provide you with information on how to improve your club, it does provide you with the opportunity to consider offering discounted membership rates if your retention percentage falls too low.

 

CONSIDER MEMBERSHIP TIER LEVELS

Whilst your facility remains temporarily closed and members are restricted to only accessing content online if they wish to, or even once your gym reopens there will be some members uncomfortable with returning. This is your opportunity to consider introducing tiered membership levels.

Some of your members may opt to cancel their membership because they don’t feel like they are getting the value for the money they are paying. And the easiest way to address this and keep your members active is by creating a new membership level which lessens the cost they are liable for paying which makes it easier for your member to justify paying, whilst still giving them access to some of the core resources of your gym.

For example, for members who don’t feel comfortable returning to your gym when it reopens or for those who are unhappy to pay their full membership cost for online class replacements during your temporary closure, introduce a reduced membership cost which gives them access to your online classes only.

This would enable your members to stay engaged with your gym without having to attend if they are unhappy to. And similarly during your closure addresses those members who feel they are loosing significant value by continuing to pay their full membership cost when they are unable to access your facility.

You could take your online classes membership one step further by introducing further elements at increased cost, such as access to exclusive recipes or personal online sessions with one of your trainers.

You want to make sure your gym is able to offer something for everyone and during a time where many people will be evaluating aspects of their life prior to COVID-19 and deciding whether or not there are changes they might wish to make following the pandemic, you are at least giving your very best effort to ensure you offer enough value to entice people in varying personal situations.

But be careful not to make your reduced membership tiers too attractive, otherwise you risk loosing some of your other paying members who are attracted by this downgrade option.

 

LET MEMBERS FREEZE THEIR MEMBERSHIPS

You will have noticed how we mention frozen memberships throughout this post, however it’s important enough that it really needs its own explanation!

COVID-19 has brought overwhelming uncertainty across the globe, in a way which the majority of people have never seen before. And it’s more likely than ever that for those of your members who are asking to cancel their membership it is for one simple reason, they just simply aren’t in the current financial position to continue paying for your membership.

But instead of just proceeding with their cancellation, why not give them the option to pause their membership?

By utilising this option, they can continue to receive updates and remain a part of your community and then when they are in a financial position to start their membership again, they will be more motivated to do so.

All of their membership details will still exist, so they won’t have to go through the process of starting their membership from scratch. Not only will you have less admin work to do, but your member will also find it really straight forward to start their membership again as all they will need to do is get in touch.

 

BUILD YOUR ONLINE REVIEWS

With your members spending an increased amount of time at home, many of their usual habits will be impacted also. With more spare time, this is your opportunity to ask your members who are delighted with the experience they receive at your gym to leave a positive review for you. Whether that be through google reviews or through your social media, use whichever resource you think is likely to resonate with your members more.

Unfortunately this is also an opportunity for you to hear from any disgruntled members as well. But at least by encouraging this opinion sharing you will be able to address any negative reviews you are faced with.

Ultimately, new members or current members questioning whether to continue their membership are likely to look to other peoples opinions within the community to help reinforce their decision, so by curating reviews you are building a strong brand image.

This won’t only be helpful during COVID-19 either and will stand the test of time as it serves as your book of testimonials for your gym or fitness studio for its entire lifespan. Be sure to thank your members for leaving their reviews as well, or offer them something in return for leaving one. This will build your rapport with them and make them feel like a valued member of your community. Their opinion is important to you and it’s nice to hear if you are doing something well, so take the time to read all of your reviews and feel assured that you are doing right by your community.

 

ASHBOURNE CAN HELP YOU WITH EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR CLUB

Unlike most club management services which just give you some basic software and collect your direct debits, the team at Ashbourne knows that there’s a lot more to managing a successful club than simply collecting payments.

From debt collection, to web design, marketing ideas and more – the entire team at Ashbourne Membership Management is at your disposal to help you succeed and master every single element of being a successful gym.

If you want to chat about what we offer, or simply run through how we can help your particular health club, then get in touch with us and our sales manager Grant will be back in touch to talk through everything.

When clubs and gyms are reopened in the UK after lockdown restrictions lift, it’s no surprise that social distancing rules are going to drastically change the average gym session for both members and staff alike.

While social distancing is going to be an important change to gym life for the months to come, the question remains:

What does a successful socially distanced gym actually look like?

We’ve already seen lots of creative ideas thrown around, with certain gyms in the US actually sectioning off 2 metre workout areas draped in protective PPE covering. But for the average club owner, they need simple and effective methods to quickly make their gym safe and socially distanced, while keeping everything simple for their members and staff to quickly get into a routine and stay healthy.

So on the theme of keeping things simple, let’s run through what social distancing in a health club is actually going to look like on the day-to-day.

 

A Socially Distanced Club Means…

 

All Gym Equipment Will Be Spaced Out Across The Club

If you want to keep your members socially distanced during their workouts, that means you’re going to have to distance all of your workout equipment.

Overall, clubs are going to have to minimise the equipment available on the gym floor because every member is going to need to be able to exercise in an area that allows them to distance from other gym users.

This will take some planning and a lot of heavy lifting in order to best use your space efficiently in order to have as wide of a variety of equipment available in your club, while also adequately spacing out your equipment around your facility.

All of this could account for you needing to cut your equipment down by at least 50%.

However, this is also an opportunity to maximise your space. If you have areas that you would usually use for classes, you could potentially use these as part of your main gym floor in order to keep as much of your equipment available for your members to use.

 

Increased Signage & One Way Systems Throught The Club

In light of your entire gym layout changing, this will require some new signage in order to help your members learn the new rules and guide themselves around the facility.

All of your efforts will be for nil if your members aren’t following the protocols to keep themselves and your club safe and healthy. And with minimal staff on the floor, you can’t have confused members asking for help from your already busy staff members.

Clear and simple to understand signage should decorate your club and you should be ready to update and change signage based on your member’s feedback or confusion.

One way systems may also be required for some clubs, depending on their layout, which will require further markings on the floor in order to clearly create a path for your members to work their way around your facility.

 

Cleaning Equipment & Sanitisers On Every Machine

Club members should be no stranger to wiping down equipment after a workout (well…most of them anyway). That process is going to continue, but is going to be enforced far more strictly.

Hand sanitiser should be found at the following locations:

 

1 – Every entrance and exit to the gym

2 – Next to every single piece of equipment, to be used before and after use

3 – Outside any locker or toilet facilities

 

Along with hand sanitiser, equipment should also have a complete cleaning facility, including paper towels and anti bacterial spray, which members should be requested to clean the equipment with after use…without fail!

Overall, your team should be visibly cleaning the facility throughout the day, which is partly for cleanliness and partly to demonstrate that you’re taking the situation seriously and keeping your members feeling comfortable and safe.

 

Limited or Zero Access To Showers / Saunas / Steam Rooms

While there is little evidence that Coronavirus is spread easier in environments like Showers and Saunas (we have information like this in our Coronavirus FAQ that clubs can send out to their members), the fact remains that they are high contact environments that are difficult to control.

Because of this, it is likely that clubs are going to have to completely close, or largely restrict access to certain areas of thier facility, such as showers, saunas, steam rooms and changing rooms.

In surveys that we’ve conducted with our gym Prime Fitness Redditch, we asked our own members their opinions on limiting access to locker rooms and our shower facilities. The good news is that a majority of our members were completely fine with this given the circumstances, although several mentioned they would not like this on a long term basis.

Regardless of your members’ response, it’s clear that in order to keep your members safe and make sure your gym is not a source of contamination, that you will likely have to close your changing facilities and saunas where you cannot guarantee social distancing.

However, the best practice with this is to use surveys in order to keep your members updated and get their feedback so that you can quickly respond and relieve any confusion or frustrations that your members may have.

 

Gym Sessions Booked By Appointment

Restricting the actual numer of members who can enter your facility at any one time is a major part of social distancing.

Afterall, it would be self defeating to half the equipment in your gym, only for a packed gym full of members to be impatiently waiting to use the limited equipment.

Having a system in place for your members to book appointments in order to use the gym is the best way to do this. If you have a class booking system in place, this will be best retrofitted to take bookings for the gym in general.

Ashbourne customers already have access to a specially built gym sessions booking system, as well as an automated system that creates a reservation list and gives members the ability to come to the gym earlier if there is a cancellation – all done automatically without the need for staff to keep track of it.

Once again, clear communication with your members is key here, so they understand how the process works, but also understand why the process is in place in order to ease the transition into a socially distanced club environment.

 

A Continuing Focus On Online Classes & Online Only Memberships

Based on our own findings, we’ve discovered that members over 50 are far more likely to be concerned about returning to gyms immediately after they reopen.

Why do we mention this?

Because the data shows that all members aren’t the same.

Club owners are going to have to be highly aware of the demographics of their gym and fit their reopen plan to them.

As a business, you’re also need to find a way to give a valuable service to your members who are inevitably going to become impatient with the fact that they can’t enter the gym whenever they want, with social distancing and session booking in place.

Between the issue of members potentially not wanting to return to the club straight away, and the restrictions place on those that are returning, there needs to be a huge focus on providing online classes, workouts and support to keep your members engaged with your gym.

But this isn’t a cause for concern, this can be a huge opportunity to deliver a wider service:

Any classes you run, you can now livestream.

You can create extra revenue by providing an online only membership.

Post more free help and support to your members online to get them believing in your brand.

 

There Are Big Opportunities For Your Club Here…

Today’s obstacles can evolve into a better service for your members, if you plan your relaunch correctly.

The current restrictions can provide the inspiration to you to come up with smarter ways to increase your revenue.

A successful post-COVID club needs to implement social distancing changes quickly, while also using the new setup to maximise their revenue and demonstrate to their members that they care and are listening.

The socially distanced club is a strange new frontier, but if we pull together and plan ahead, we can leave lockdown with an industry that has greater reach to our customers, reaching far into the future when social distancing is a thing of the past.

If you want to talk to Ashbourne about helping you get your gym “social distance” ready, then get in touch with us and we can give you the support, software and tools you need to hit the ground running for your reopen date.

When it comes to health clubs and coronavirus, there are so many questions coming from all sides. Many members are cautious about returning to their gym due to the numerous unknowns that COVID-19 is causing.

And on the other side, gym owners are also uncertain about many key COVID-19 facts, such as how easily it can spread in a gym and what is the best way to keep your club clean and free from the virus.

To help answer the most frequently asked questions, we’ve put together our very own Coronavirus FAQ For Clubs & Gyms, which we are giving away as blank template for you to download, rebrand with your own gym’s logo and then send out to your members to answer their questions and put their minds at ease about coronavirus.

We’ve answered all of the most common questions below, so feel free to download your free unbranded Coronavirus FAQ template here, so you can out your member’s minds at ease and get them back into your club and using your facility when indoor clubs open later in the year.

 

How Can We Keep The Gym Clean?

All gyms will need to be deep cleaned overnight and regularly throughout the day, using high-grade disinfectants that will kill the virus. It is impossible to keep any environment 100% clean, however it is possible to make environments ‘safe’ by undertaking appropriate cleaning measures. COVID-19 is easy to kill with most readily available cleaning products and with thorough hand washing with soap for 20 seconds or more.

 

Can You Catch COVID-19 From Sweat?

No, COVID-19 cannot be transmitted through sweat. However, don’t forget that wiping sweat from your face could lead to the virus being passed from your hands to your face. So it is important to regularly use hand sanitisers which are 60% alcohol or more and avoid touching your face as much as possible. Make sure there are hand sanitising stations throughout the gym, so they are easily accessible to your members.

 

Can Physical Activity Help Against COVID-19?

Being physically fit has a number of health benefits, including being highly protective against a range of illnesses. People with underlying health conditions, diabetes etc and those who are overweight are more at risk to being affected by COVID-19, so given that the virus is now considered to be ‘endemic’ within the community, it is more important than ever to maintain your fitness – which in turn will boost your immune system.

 

Are Gyms Higher Risk Than Other Enclosed Spaces?

Not at all. There is the same chance of getting COVID-19 in all indoor areas. What is important is that people follow social distancing, cleanliness and aerosolisation guidelines. The COVID-19 R rate (the rate the infection is spread by one person) is much higher indoors, including shops, households and workplaces. Although gyms fall into this same category, this can be mitigated through special measures and guidelines put in place.

 

Should I Wear A Mask To The Gym?

No, wearing a mask is not a requirement when attending the gym, unless it makes you or your members feel more comfortable. A mask protects people from droplet spread from an infected peron to another person, it does not protect the wearer and following social distancing is of greater importance.

 

Should I Wear Gloves To The Gym?

No, you do not need to wear gloves at the gym. Gloves should be reserved for those responsible for certain tasks such as caring for the sick, working in a hospital environment or by cleaning staff. Gloves can harbour a high viral load and could contaminate surfaces. Washing your hands is far more important.

 

Can I Get COVID-19 From The Air?

COVID-19 survives in droplets or possibly aerosols (very fine particles) and can be transmitted person to person via close contact. There is no evidence to suggest that COVID-19 can be transmitted through the air. Maintaining social distancing greatly reduces risk of spreading as the majority of droplets fall to the ground at this distance.

 

How Can I Help Reduce The Spread of Infection?

If you have any concerns that you may have contracted, or been in contact with anyone infected with COVID-19 – stay home. When you are in the gym, follow the simple guidelines, keep your distance, wash your hands and clean equipment before and after use. When speaking, stand beside one another and make sure to cough/sneeze into the inside of your elbow.

 

Is Using The Club Showers Safe?

Clothes are considered a low-risk source of infection from COVID-19 and washing at 60 degrees celcius or above kills the virus. However, they can become contaminated so should be handled with care and being sure to wash your hands thoroughly after touching. Do not hand wash clothes and be sure to change immediately after reaching home.
There is currently no evidence to support the suggestion that COVID-19 can be spread to humans through the use of showers, hot tubs, pools or spas. It is, therefore, safe to shower but once again ensuring that social distancing is followed. For the time being, members should be encouraged to arrived and leave in gym kit wherever possible.