Member perception of your facility including gym fitness equipment, classes, front desk staff, trainers and even the locker room are extremely important and can have lasting impacts on both current members and potential members. In today’s competitive market it’s important to not only sustain current membership levels, but to have those members talk so highly about your facility that they bring in new members.
Club Solutions just published a blog post titled, “The Importance of Diversification.” In it, they highlight that members don’t want to just walk in and see rows and rows of treadmills. Where’s the fun in that? The flip side is that yes members do want traditional options but keeping up with the High Intensity Interval Training, Cross Fit and Insanity trend is important. The key is trying out different things to see what lands and what helps reengage current member and drives in new members. Your goal is continued growth and by keeping things new, innovative and interesting you will do just that.
Here are 3 helpful tips to get started on your diversification plan.
1) Ask your members what they want
Seems so simple, but can truly lead to making an impact on current members by getting them involved in the decision process and seeing their desires come to life. Have them vote on the next piece of fitness equipment they want to see added. Anytime Fitness in Norristown, PA did just that. “We asked our members what they wanted – another treadmill, AMT elliptical, more spin bikes, another power cage, espresso bike, stepmill or Nexersys. They voted and we delivered!”
2) Take a look at your class schedule
Have your classes become stagnant and not getting the attendance they used to? Well it’s time for a refresh. Do a bit of research and create a program that is fun and challenging for members. Circuit training, High Intensity Interval Training and more cross fit style classes are catching on. Yes it’s a trend, but this style of workout is fun, challenging and is proven to burn more calories and fat faster so members are flocking for a shot at attending. Anytime Fitness in Pflugerville, Tx developed a workout including a Nexersys boxing machine with 3 other stations. The workout included a station where members did push-ups on a Bosu ball for 1 minute, 1 minute doing scorpion bends, 1 minute plank holds and 3 minutes of beginner cardio on the Nexersys. The trainer switched it up for round 2 and increased cardio to the intermediate level and changed u[ the other stations to keep it interesting. That’s just one example of how to integrate equipment into a fun new class!
3) Plan an event
When is the last time you hosted an event or encouraged members to participate in a local fun run together as a team? We’re all made to be involved in community and creating a fitness community only drives interaction and increased participation. Have members sign-up to train for a race in your local community and cover part of the cost or the pre-race carb loading dinner, or plan an event at your own facility that showcases your trainers, classes, individual training session options, etc. Make if fun and have prizes that people WANT to win. Give away a free 6 months of workouts, or $100 toward a training class. Host a ladies night where women can pop in to get a sneak peek at new classes and register to win a spot in the next session. It all leads to more awareness and thus more members!
These are just a few tips to get you brainstorming. Talk to your office staff, your trainers and your members. You are guaranteed to at least get some great new ideas that you can start to plan for!
