4 Reasons Why Your Fitness Club Needs a Turnstile System

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Over the course of a week, your club experiences a significant amount of footfall.

Without an effective entrance solution in place however, inefficiencies occur and problems arise when it comes to managing memberships. More pressingly, it becomes difficult to track who’s entering your club and ensuring that your facility stays safe and secure.

Installing a turnstile system is an effective and affordable way to overcome these problems and provides a low maintenance and affordable solution to make your club run more efficiently, effectively and, ultimately, profitably.

To help illustrate this point further, here are some compelling reasons why your club should consider investing in Ashbourne’s Access Control system…

 

1. Profitability

 

This is perhaps the biggest reasons to invest in a turnstile at your fitness club. By implementing this technology into your building, you’ll no longer need someone on reception throughout the day. As a result, this will not only save money on wages, but it will eliminate any non-members from getting past the reception when it isn’t being manned. At Ashbourne, we offer a range of turnstile options to meet the needs of your club so that you can rest assured that the system you choose will deliver the best results possible when it comes to making long-term savings.

 

2. Utilise staff elsewhere

 

By removing the need for a member of staff at reception, you’ll be able to utilise their skills in other areas of the business.

This can include:

• Keeping on top of maintenance duties for an improved member-experience.
• Offering a wider variety of classes at different times for members.
• Providing extra PT and one-on-one sessions.
• Focusing on improving your club’s marketing and customer acquisition.

 

3. Improved membership management

 

Keeping tabs on non-paying members and monitoring customer behaviour is extremely difficult if you haven’t got a turnstile installed. With fitness clubs often requiring its staff to attend to a number of different tasks throughout the day, membership management usually takes a back seat.

A turnstile is a simple solution. Instead of requiring a member of staff and a computer system to check membership and register a customer’s time of arrival, a turnstile will automatically do this via its access control system. Providing a customer’s membership is valid, up-to-date and approved, the gate will then open. Furthermore, our Access Control solutions link seamlessly to Ashbourne’s Club Software giving you valuable insights into member usage and behaviour at the click of a button which you can use to your advantage to improve retention and deliver maximum value to your customers.

 

4. 24/7, around-the-clock access

 

Another great way of boosting sign-ups and improving customer satisfaction is by granting your members access to your club around the clock.

Not everyone wants or is able to use your club during more ‘conventional’ hours. A 24/7 service is a highly attractive prospect for your current members and prospects alike and enables you to provide a real selling point which will ultimately help to drive more sales.

What’s more, it might help reduce overcrowding in your fitness club at peak times as well. In fact, in a recent survey, 25% of Brits said that they’ve gone to the gym and couldn’t use the machines they wanted to because of this issue.

Instead, opening your fitness club up for 24/7 access might encourage peak members to go later in the evening or earlier in the morning. This flexibility will of course drive satisfaction levels up and help to increase retention.

 

How to choose the right turnstile for your club.

 

If you do want to invest in a turnstile at your fitness club or leisure centre, it’s essential that you choose the right one.

Here at Ashbourne Membership Management, our Access Control solutions can include RFID technology for added entry control, seamlessly integrate with our membership management software and comes with unlimited support from our team of engineers.

Simply put, it provides a simple but truly effective way to easily transform your club into a 24/7 facility without any fuss or receiving unwanted 3 am calls from members having trouble gaining access.

To find out more about our turnstile and access control systems, simply get in touch with us today and a member of our team will be happy to help.

Get more members through remarketing

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Remarketing for gyms & clubs.

The competition for new members has never been more fierce. Ensuring that you have a comprehensive and multi-channel marketing strategy in place in order to generate enquiries and stand out from other clubs has never been more important.

There are of course lots of ways to market your club, however, if you’re not using remarketing as part of your marketing efforts, you’re missing a big trick.

Remarketing is a technique which allows you to show adverts to people who have already visited your website but who didn’t convert into an enquiry or become a new member (companies like Amazon and ASOS, for example, use remarketing really effectively and you’ll have no doubt seen this happen many times before – you look at a product on their site and you’ll see ads for that product and other similar products across other sites online once you leave their site. This isn’t by chance, this is remarketing in action). Implemented in the right way, remarketing is a very effective method of generating more enquiries and bringing new members into your club. New members who may well have ended up joining a different club.

More than 95% of users who visit your website leave without taking any form of action. They don’t get in touch with you, sign up or leave their contact details. More often than not, once they leave your site, they don’t come back – you won’t ever see them again.

But, there’s good news and this is where remarketing comes in. You see, remarketing allows you to communicate with the people who have been to your website in the days, weeks and even months after they visited your website as they come closer to making a decision about signing up to a new club.


And there’s even more good news…

…most clubs don’t implement remarketing activity as part of their strategy which means – for those clubs that do choose to use the technique – it serves as an extremely effective way to stand out from your competition and build stronger relationships with people who are actively looking for a brand new gym or club to join.

 

The facts.

Most people who visit your website each day don’t make an enquiry of any kind. They might be researching what clubs exist in the area, they might not be able to find the information they’re after or they might just get distracted because someone’s just rung their door bell. Ultimately though, regardless of the reason, they leave your website without taking action you want them to take.

In 2019, in this industry, an average customer journey doesn’t exist. The journeys new members take when looking for a new club are non-linear, unique to each individual and can be very long. However long or short that journey is though, it takes a period of time – a period of time in which you can communicate and re-engage with a potential member at various different stages and places throughout that journey.

Because remarketing only targets users who have previously been to your website, it means that there’s an increased likelihood of them being in-market for a new club to join.

 

Why does it work?

Remarketing works for a number of fundamental reasons…

1. It increases brand awareness by delivering continuous exposure of your brand, facilities and offers during a member’s buying journey. These people have already been to your website which means there’s a good chance that they’re interested in what you have to offer

2. It increases return visits to your website. The vast majority of people who visit your site for the first time don’t convert into enquiries or sign ups. When a user visits your site for a second, third, fourth time etc., they’re typically much closer to making the decision to join a new club. Therefore, on average, they are more engaged and are more likely to become members than someone who is a first-time visitor to your site. The long and short of it; if you want to generate more enquiries and members, you need to increase the number of return visits to your site and remarketing was designed for this very reason.

3. It’ll help you to improve the ROI on your marketing investment. Persistence definitely pays off in this industry. There’s so much choice and competition for your target audiences that it’s never been more critical to do whatever you can to stand out. To add to that, your prospects’ attention is so easily diverted by everything else that’s going on in their lives. As club owners, you have to accept that. In order to maximise ROI on your marketing investment, you need to continuously re-engage with potential members throughout their consideration process to increase new member sign ups and revenue.

 

There are a range of ways and online channels which you can use to run remarketing campaigns for you club, from Display Remarketing through the Google Display Network to Facebook and Paid Search. If you want to know more about remarketing and how best to use it to grow your member numbers, don’t hesitate to get in touch – a member of our team will be happy to help.

 

So, how does remarketing actually work?

 

explanation of remarketing

 

If you would like to know more about using remarketing as part of your club’s overall marketing efforts, don’t hesitate to get in touch, we’d love to help. You can contact us by clicking here.

Overcoming Customer Objections

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This is one for your sales staff, receptionists or anyone that has a channel of communication with members or potential members. It’s these staff that will have the opportunity to convert leads or to change the mind of members that want to leave your club. ll-rehearsed system for dealing with objections.

Like many things we discuss in high-performance sales work chance is taken out utilising well-crafted scripts and a choreographed process.

Here’s how it rolls.

Consider the acronym: P.R.E.K.C.

P stands for Pause.

The first thing that you do if a customer comes up with an objection is to do nothing, is to just pause for a few seconds. Take your time in responding.

Remember what they said they don’t mean. It is not true, they are not telling you the truth. This is because they are just having a little last-minute panic.

What you do next is to repeat back to them what they said to you.

 

The R is “repeat”.

‘You don’t think you’ve got the time?

You’re worried about the money?’

And you leave the words hanging so the prospect can hear what they said again. You both know it’s not true and they need to know you know it’s not true. So, you leave it hanging.

Now because you just put a little bit of pressure on this relationship you must do then a process called “empathise”. To show “empathy “with the client inability to decide.

 

The E in P.R.E.K.C stands for “Empathise”.

We use a technique called “Feel, Felt, Found.” To overcome it.

Here’s how we build a sentence with these three words in it.

#1 Money or the price.

It’s more expensive than I thought it was going to be, it’s more money than I was hoping to pay. The second one is the time. ‘I’m not sure I’ve got the time to use the club to get the value out of it.’

The third is the competition. ‘I’d like to look around the other clubs in the town before I make a decision.’

The fourth one, is what we call the spouse or the partner objection. ‘I’d like to go home and discuss it with my partner before I decide about joining.’

And the fifth one, ‘I will think about it.’ Also known as the procrastination objection. Now when you look at the needs analysis interview that we’ve done, every single one of these five has been asked about in that interview. So, all this is a complete shock to you if you’ve done the system right. That doesn’t mean it isn’t going to happen because people are saying these things even when they don’t really mean them.

So it goes something like this,

‘It’s more money than I thought it was going to be.’

Look them in the eye and pause for a few seconds.

Then you say; ‘It’s more money than you thought it was going to be?

I know exactly how you feel.

Lots of my customers at this point felt it was a huge amount of money to invest but once they got started and they started to feel the benefits and see results within the first four to six weeks they realise it’s the best money they spent.’

 

K is the key Question.

I’m then going to move on and ask the key question. ‘Is it the only thing stopping you from joining today Kelly? Is it the only thing stopping you from joining today? I just need to make sure that it is.’

Then I’m going to close.

 

The final C of the jigsaw is the closing question.

Now if you are working with a club of any quality at all you will be using some sort of money back guarantee. Money Back Guarantees can be anything from 7, 14 to 21 days long but any club of any value should be using that. Here’s how we use it in the close.

‘Kelly, will you know within the next 14 days whether you’ve joined a club where you are going to get value for money?

Would you know in the first two weeks whether you’ve made a good decision?

Yes?

Great, here’s what we’re going to do then. We’re going to sign you up today, I’m going to get you started because I know that you’re keen to achieve that result that we’ve talked about. And if at any time in the next 14 days you’re not happy or you’re not feeling as though you’re getting the value you want from the club, we will give you all your money back.

And here’s the certificate that you can carry to prove that. Let’s get you started.’

And that is the way you use the money back guarantee.

It really is a badge of honour.

You see right now in our industry we’ve got people joining clubs without money back guarantees who then fall out of love and they get hit for the whole membership and they tell everybody they know about what a terrible club it is.

What you want to be doing is for the 5% of people, the five people in 100 who bring this back is they all go and say, ‘I went and used that club and they were really nice and really friendly, but it wasn’t for me and they gave me all my money back.’ How about that PR compared to, ‘I’m not going to join Club X because they’re awful and it cost me £450.00?’

You can’t lose with this, you really cannot.

So, what we’ve got to do is we need to just work that process with each of these five different objections.

‘On the money one is it the joining fee or the monthly dues that’s causing you the problem?

Bearing in mind all the things you get when you join the club, how much were you expecting to pay as a joining fee? “

Or if the objection is the monthly dues amount:

“Bearing in mind the facilities we’ve got and the services we’ve talked about how much were you expecting to pay for the monthly due?’

So you are thinking about £24.00 ? Our membership costs £36 per month and the prospect was thought that £24 per month was their budget. You were happy to pay £24 so the difference of £12.00 per month is what’s stopping you from joining today right ? That’s about £3.00 a week?

(Empathise) I know how you feel, lots of people felt it, then found that we are better by far than any other club in this area.

Can I ask , is it the only thing stopping you from joining?

Will you know in the next 14 days whether you’ve made the right decision or not?

Yes.

Great, then here’s what we’ll do, let’s get the paperwork out.’

The competition objection– this  is my favourite one.

‘I’d like to look round at other competitors.’

‘Well I can help you with that because every club in this town we’ve got members from them so I know all about the good and the bad of those clubs, what do you want to know?

I’d like you to join this club, I think is right for you,

Let me ask you, do you think you will know in the next 14 days whether you’ve made the right decision or not?

Yes.

Great, here’s what we will do, let’s get the paperwork out, get you set-up and I’ll give you the Money back certificate to take away today.’

So that’s the competition one. The partner one. ‘If you went home and you said to your partner I’ve joined the gym what do you think they’d say?

Is it the only thing from stopping you from joining today?

Here’s what we’ll do. I want you to join up today, I want to get you started but if for any reason your partner is not happy about the decision I will give you a full money back guarantee in the next 14 days.

What I’d also like to do is to give you a guest pass for your partner to come down and train with you. Does that sound fair?

Great, let’s get you signed up.’

Finally, the think about it – and this is where as a sales person you really do earn your corn because these people are the worst buyers and they need to be helped. ‘I know how you feel, lots of people have felt this concern that they were making this step into the unknown and not sure if they’re going to get value but found it was the best money they’d spent. Would you know in the next 14 days whether you’ve made a good decision or not? Here’s what we do, join you up, give you the certificate, take it away.’

So, it’s about your confidence and it’s about using the tools that you’ve got and it’s about really having this attitude of mind that what is the worst thing that can happen from somebody joining your fitness club?

They get slimmer, they feel great, they have less chance of dying a premature death, they are going to meet people, they’re going to feel more energised, they’re going to feel a sense of control, emotionally they’re going to feel better.

You owe it to them to really, I think, let’s not call it hard sell but let’s just not take no for an answer. Let’s make them say no, not I want to think about it. Customer indecision is a sales “crime”

Yes or no; your job is to help them decide.

6 Reasons to Choose Ashbourne

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Find Out How Ashbourne Membership Management Can Help Your Club

At Ashbourne Membership Management, we provide world-class payment and membership software to hundreds of clubs across the UK and Europe.

As a club owner, if you’re looking for a more streamlined and cost-effective way of generating sign-ups, boosting customer satisfaction, understanding membership behaviour and successfully collecting payments, Ashbourne Membership Management is here to help.

For over 25 years, our state-of-the-art software has helped club owners to run their gyms and fitness facilities more efficiently, effectively and profitably.

Here are six compelling reasons why partnering up with us could be the best move you make all year…

 

1. Integrated club software & payment collection

 

Time is a precious commodity a lot of club owners wish they had more of. Our club software system and payment collection service are linked together in real-time for a cohesive and no-nonsense approach that will drive efficiency and which saves you and your staff time. If a member misses their payment, the system will immediately refuse them entry into the club and, what’s more, having all of your members’ information in one place will enable you to track usage reports and retention data to monitor behaviours and find ways to increase your membership base.

 

2. Complete club software package including branded members app

 

If you choose Ashbourne, you’ll receive all the software you need to run your club. This includes online sign-up capability, online class bookings, EPOS, a dashboard where managers can send text messages and emails to members, prospect management features, a facility scheduling tool and a branded members app which allow members to track their workout progress and keep in touch with your club.

 

3. Debt recovery

 

Trying to chase members for outstanding payments isn’t always easy especially if you run a small independent club.

However, with our in-house debt recovery process, you don’t have to waste valuable time chasing up payments and stress about your club’s finances.

Our tried and tested methods have helped us recover 95% of missed payments for our customers and is a service included to them at no extra charge.

 

4. Dedicated customer services team

 

If your members need a helping hand with their memberships, our friendly, dedicated customer service team can handle all of the calls effectively for you. This includes technical support on how to use our software.

This means you don’t have to spend extra time dealing with the financial side of things and can focus on maintaining and improving your facilities instead. Once again, this service comes at no extra charge for our customers.

 

5. Digital marketing campaigns

 

Running a fitness club or gym is a relentless job at times. As a result, your marketing can often take a back seat, which stunts growth.

Our team at Ashbourne can provide tailored digital marketing campaigns that’ll drive prospects into the club, follow up with prospects and increase your membership sales.

 

6. Turnstile/access control installation service

 

If you want to open up your club for 24/7 access, stop non-paying members from entering and effectively monitor behaviour, a turnstile is a perfect choice.

Our in-house engineers can install a variety of full height and waist height turnstiles that integrate with our club software for a competitive price and ongoing support included.

Ready to find out more? To arrange a free demo of our club software or to find out more about our turnstile installation and digital marketing services, simply get in touch with our team today.

Why Our Fully Integrated App Is Integral To Your Club

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The benefits of our gym software and app for your club.

Fitness technology, such as gym management software, has exploded into the mainstream in recent years. Due to a revolution in sporting technology and a growing interest in fitness, health and general well-being, technology has been able to become one with working out.

With technology becoming so ingrained with every aspect of our lives, most people monitor their fitness through the likes of wearable trackers, fitness apps, and even via their mobile phones. Gym owners have also moved towards online systems to make it easier to manage their facilities, trainers, and members’ class bookings.

This post will show you exactly why our fully integrated app and gym management software is a must have in your gym or sports club by examining just some of its key features…

 

The benefits of our Membership App for your gym members.

 

Our fully integrated gym app offers a number of features that will allow the member to get the most from their workout, and most importantly, their membership to your gym.

One of the biggest advantages of our software for members is that they are able to book classes in real-time, through your website, or via its customer-facing app, YourApp+. This will instantly update your gym’s live system, which allows the member to check availability and book a class or workout session with a trainer whenever suitable.

As with all gyms, during busy periods not everyone will be able to book their trainer when they want, which is why we have incorporated a waiting list into the booking system. This automatic system will consider any cancellations and send out new availabilities to waiting members. They can then confirm their bookings via email. This ensures that members are not left disappointed and means that your studio’s timetable runs more efficiently.

Additionally, the app’s ability to work in real-time brings a huge benefit to the members of your gym. This allows members and trainers to communicate and plan, resulting in strong relationships between the two. This is something that is really important to the newer gym goers. The extra communication and support makes the member more comfortable when exercising and more likely to reach their goals.

However, a club app wouldn’t be sufficient in the modern gym if it didn’t allow members to track their workouts! Therefore, we at Ashbourne have ensured that YourApp+ can be used to monitor workouts in visual graphical reports, making progress tracking easier to manage.

 

The benefits for your gym or sports club.

 

The aforementioned benefits for members are, of course, also highly beneficial to your club. The simple reason why? Happy members are what makes a gym or fitness centre succeed. Nonetheless, there are also a number of advantages of gym management software that will specifically help you run your gym more efficiently.

First of all, Ashbourne will adopt the role of customer service, dealing with enquiries, payments, direct debits and debt recovery. This gives you more time to focus on the running of your club. Additionally, not only will the club management app be connected to your clubs existing website, it can also be used by members and non-members to book classes. This will boost your secondary income from ‘external’ clients, draw in new members and help to retain current ones.

A further reason that this fully integrated management system is a must have, is because alongside the online class booking system, the software offers staff and facility scheduling. The facility scheduling is very important in large clubs with numerous facilities, such as courts, pitches and studios. staff scheduling is also always important in gyms and health clubs as it is very easy for your trainers to be double booked. Fortunately, our app and software will ensure that the entire club runs smoothly.

Finally, the last handy feature that will be discussed is the automatic gym check-in software. This efficiently tracks all members in real time, while continuously checking their payments. This feature also allows the club to monitor and limit attendance during peak and off-peak times, encouraging more gym goers to sign up to use your gym’s facilities.

If you need any further information on gym management software from Ashbourne, please visit our club software page. If you have any questions or want to find out more about our services, please see our FAQ or contact us.

Implementing An Effective Referral Campaign

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The best source of new leads for your club is your existing members. Getting your current members to sell your facility to their friend’s means that the hard work of selling is done for you and best of all, it’s cheap!!

Referral programmes get you new members AND your current members now have training partners and a sense of ownership, therefore increasing retention. Of course, members are more likely to make a referral if there is something in it for them.

 

How to Implement an Effective Referral Campaign:

  • Purchase a good-looking prize and display it in your reception with balloons and banners to catch people’s attention.
  • Put up signs around the club explaining the rules and that the member who refers the most new members this month will win this incredible prize.
  • Display a list of the members who have referred people to your club, complete with a running total. You will find that if two of your members have referred the same number they will both try to get more new members in order to win the prize.
  • Present the winning member with their prize on the last day of the month – take a photo and put this on display. Include a list of the other members who referred friends and thank everyone for their efforts. Keep this picture displayed for the whole year and then add each new month’s winning picture.
  • Start the whole process again on the 1st of the following month with a different prize of similar value.

 

How to Ensure Your Referral Campaign is Effective:

  • Start your campaign on the 1st of EVERY month… if you’re slack at starting, your members will not have the confidence to recommend their friends.
  • Always present the prize on the final day of the month and display the winner’s picture around the club. At the bottom write that next month it could be you walking away with the prize.
  • Keep a running total of who is in the lead – this keeps everybody motivated.
  • Start with a few dummy names on the list to kick-start the campaign… no one likes to be the first.
  • Make the prize tangible rather than free personal training sessions.
  • Keep the displays looking fresh – if the balloons go down, GET MORE!
  • Make the winner the person who refers the most rather than having a prize draw – this rewards hard work.
  • To keep the campaign strong in November and December offer an even greater prize such as a trip to Paris.

 

Generating referrals is one of the most effective ways of generating new members for your club. If you’d like to get some advice on marketing your club, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can contact us now by clicking here.

Effective Ways To Increase Your Revenue

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How Can Gyms Generate Additional Revenue?

Generating extra revenue is something that many gyms and fitness clubs pass up due to the extra work that can sometimes be required to do so. This is understandable, but there are numerous ways that your club can generate extra revenue with little effort. This post hopes to provide some ideas for boosting profits.

Extra revenue makes all the difference. Take, for example, having a coffee shop or coffee bar in your gym. If a pre-workout caffeine fix is sold at just £2, and a member who attends your gym 3 times a week purchases one before every workout, this would amount to a total of £288 a year. If you have 50 members doing this, it will generate an extra £14,400 annually. If you have 100 gym members, that amounts to an extra £28,800 a year!

 

Coffee Shop

 

The reason so many coffee shops have opened is because there are great profits to be made. Coffee is cheap to buy and make, and it can be sold for a good price. What is great about having a coffee shop in your gym is that you won’t be directly competing with the coffee giants. Instead, you will be providing coffee as a caffeine supplement.

 

Supplement Bar

 

Supplementation is another way of generating revenue in your gym. Having a bar that stocks a full range of supplements will boost revenue from all types of members. Coffee and caffeine will give energy, while protein shakes and bars will provide a much-needed protein intake. Alternative ideas are high protein brownies and flapjacks, fruit, beef biltong, natural smoothies, shakes and electrolyte drinks that replace the salts lost through sweat.

 

Developing Relationships

 

Having a full nutritional kitchen onsite would be great. However, understandably, this is not realistic for most fitness clubs. Therefore, working with external companies to offer food services is a great idea. Take, for example Athlete Kitchen. They create personalised diet plans and deliver them to homes, workplaces and gyms.

Generating a relationship like this will mean that you could add this service to a gym membership. Again, if this isn’t a realistic option, the more compact Nutrivend might be. Nutrivend provide and fill vending machines with healthy supplements.

Developing relationships will attract new clients through recommendations and website links, which will also help your marketing by boosting your website’s SEO.

 

Selling Products

 

Selling products is simply income, and water bottles are a gym essential. Gym branded water bottles will not only generate extra revenue, but one will also advertise your gym where ever it is taken. The same can be said for workout clothing, however this is more difficult and costlier to produce. So, once again, teaming up with other companies to produce these is a great idea. With Ashbourne’s Club Software, you can even sell these items through your own branded app.

To make the process of selling products in your gym even easier, companies like PT Protein have an ambassador programme that enables sports clubs and other certified health, wellness and fitness professionals to supply their range of protein shakes. However, as well as enabling health clubs and professions to sell their products, PT Protein will also take care of the stock management for you, so there’s no wasted product!

 

Organise Events

 

This is a creative example that will not necessarily bring you direct income, but will generate awareness, thus leading to income. Charity events are a superb way of helping others, alongside generating a real presence for you club. Alternatively, if you can organise an expo, fitness meet or fitness event this can bring direct revenue as well as awareness.

 

Offer Extras

 

This will depend entirely on the size of your gym, the facilities that you have and the man power that you can deploy.

Fitness bootcamps and training courses are great extras that are easy to pull off and don’t take additional training. Essential the employees running the courses will be doing what they do every day, just in a more intense environment.

Childcare will be dependent entirely on your facilities, however it is certainly something that would draw parents to your club.

Massage therapies and sport spa treatments are extras that may require employing specialists. However, the return can be substantial. This service could be added to an advanced membership or purchased when needed.

 

Adding extras to your gym is a great way of boosting revenue. For further information please take a read of our blog.

The 6 Types of Gym Members

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Gyms and fitness clubs attract different types of people from all walks to life, from students and young professionals, to working parents and the retired. This means they’re likely to have different goals that they’re hoping to achieve from their workouts, whether that be losing a certain amount of weight, or being able to complete a certain number of squats, pull-ups or bench presses. The ways in which they attend the gym to achieve these goals will also differ, with many of your gym members fitting into one of a few types. The newbie, the lunchbreak exerciser, and the reluctant gymgoer are just a couple that your personal trainers probably see time and time again.

However, despite their differences in workout styles (and attendance levels), they all share a common goal; to improve their general health and fitness levels. To help make this a reality, you need to ensure that you use different tactics to get them to keep coming back to your club.

Here are 6 types of members that you’ll see at your gym and how to retain them…

 

The fitness fanatic in the gymThe fitness fanatic

 

This type of gymgoer comes in many forms, but they share one way of thinking; there’s no rest for the wicked when it comes to working out. You’ll see them cycling through every fitness machine with ease (minimal rest needed) or see them grunting and sweating as they lift the highest weight. To stop them losing interest, update your gym equipment often, have plenty of bars, free weights and power racks, and offer more challenging fitness classes, such as circuits and bootcamps. Just make sure you mix up the format of the classes each week!

 

The newbie

 

Your staff may have only seen them a few times, but every time they’ve struggled to operate the more complex exercise machines and have instead done a quick run on the treadmill before leaving. To keep them motivated to keep attending, make sure that you always have friendly and approachable trainers in the gym to give them guidance on their work out and show them how to use various machines. For shyer or busier members, displaying clear step-by-step guides for your equipment is also a good idea.

 

The lunchbreaker

 

As the name suggests, this gymgoer will only show up during typical work lunchbreak hours, and they’ll often be armed with an alarm and be in and out of your club in record time. To give them a chance to mix up their current fitness regime (and get them energised for the rest of their day at work), consider running a few 30-minute high intensity classes during lunchtime. However, although this is likely to be between 12:30pm – 1:30pm, keep an eye on when your busiest time on weekdays is.

 

The reluctant gymgoer

 

Reluctant gymgoers are very easy to spot because they won’t stay in the gym for long, and before you know it, they’ve quietly slipped out of the door. During their session, they’ll also be found using many of the machines and exercise mats as seats more often than they actually use them to exercise! If you want to boost their motivation, encourage your trainers to offer to put help them set achievable goals and put together a free personalised training plan that they can stick to.

 

The silver surfer

The social butterfly in the gym

 

The inspiring silver surfer puts us all to shame by keeping up with members twice their age in the gym; and in many cases, giving them a run for their money! To cater to the needs of gym members that fall into the over 60s age bracket, you should offer a varied range of high intensity and low intensity classes for different mobility levels. Some suitable high intensity classes are aerobics, dancing and swimming, while yoga and tai chi are excellent low intensity exercises. Your trainers should also help them build confidence in using weights, as although they may not have been exposed to lifting them for a long time, it can be extremely good for their health. You should also help them work through any existing injuries they may have.

The social butterfly

 

If you spy the social butterfly in your gym, they’ll most likely be taking a selfie in their nicest gym wear, texting between each set of reps, or precariously balancing their phone on an exercise machine to get their Netflix or Spotify fix as they get fit. There are a couple of things you can do to keep them happy, such as refreshing your club’s décor to make it ‘grammable’, having plenty of floor-to-ceiling mirrors, and investing in new machines that have apps such as Spotify and Netflix installed.

 

Whatever type of members your gym attracts, make collecting their Direct Debit payments an easier process with Payment Collection & Debt Recovery software from Ashbourne Management Services. Contact us to find out more about how we can help your club.