Four Weeks to Quit Quitting (Intro)

Quitting smoking is relatively hard. To keep on smoking is easy (but expensive and bad for your health).
Conversely, quitting the gym is easy. Sticking at it can be hard (and expensive), but it’s good for your health. It’s especially difficult for new members.

This year, we want to help your new members to stop quitting, and stick around as long as possible. We’ve got 8 quick tips to stop your members quitting this February. Each will take 30 seconds to read, will give you a simple KPI (Key Performance Indicator) and some actions that you can take straight away.

January is traditionally the month for high health club memberships sales. Clubs sign up most new members, shaping the business and cashflow for the rest of the year. But February is the month when it can all start to go wrong, if you don’t ensure all your new members are engaged.

We’re going to run through engagement processes for all members, not just January joiners, although they will be our focus. Also, these tips are not just for February, but now’s a good time to start. If you don’t do it now, when will you?

The psychology of the January gym joiner

Everyone knows that the fitness industry has its best month for new member sales in January. These new members are looking for a new start in the New Year, perhaps setting resolutions to get fit, shed the extra weight from the end of year eating and drinking excess, and get in shape for that (distant) summer holiday. 

Are you setting up your new members to fail?

January is a great time of year to get new members. Most people are eating more (we’re not talking about Christmas, it’s winter here in the UK, so it’s just natural to need more fuel). Many want a new start in the new year, everyone’s talking about fitness, and there are some unbelievable offers to join health clubs.

So, what do we recommend they do? We devalue the membership by giving a month free and/or no joining fee, and then tell them they need to visit 3 times a week!

Managing Customer Reviews (Sales & Retention Convention pt4)

We were honoured to have Wayne from Feefo present as our guest speaker at the Sales & Retention Convention. Wayne delivered a very educational half-hour talk on managing online reviews and how to improve your web presence.

We avoided the customary “if you’re not on social media, someone’s talking about you on social media” commentary. Instead, the presentation was packed with fascinating stats, for example:

• 83% of consumers are influenced by online reviews
• 75% of consumers expect to be able to feedback on their experience
• 25% of reviews on open platforms are fake

Get More Referrals, and Better Referrals (Sales & Retention Convention pt3)

Referrals have been a key topic at the last two Sales and Retention Conventions, for good reason. 45% of new memberships sales can come from direct member referral. So, the case for sales is obvious, but how do referrals help retention? 

Put simply, members who join with friends stay longer. If you reward your member for referring friends, and keep reminding them to refer, with more rewards, then members can get into the referral habit, as well as the exercise habit.