Everyone knows that January is the best sales month in the fitness industry. Most people also think that the new joiners have stopped visiting by March. As a gym owner, it’s time to help debunk this theory and get your new joiners to stick around in 2020.
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.
Double your joining fees in January?
Of course, we welcome them into our gyms with open arms and direct debits. We make it very easy for them to join (have you thought of doubling your joining fees this January?) Some clubs offer incredible incentives to new members in January, when they’re going to join anyway. By doing so, the club devalues the membership, and instantly reduces the commitment of the new member. This means that welcome sessions get rushed or missed, and your existing members are disenfranchised due to the busy-ness of the gym and lack of availability of instructors/equipment.Moreover, you need to consider the mindset of these joiners. In January, it is cold and dark (in the northern hemisphere at least). Our instinct is to eat more to keep warm, so we’re carrying some extra weight already, and that summer holiday is still a long way off. Marketeers will be telling us about blue Monday, how depressed we are, and selling us stuff to ‘cheer us up’. An endorphin hit would certainly be welcome, but you can see that there are many reasons that these members are more likely to drop out of their fitness journey.
So, here’s three ideas to boost your new members’ chances of success, and therefore the success of your business in 2020. You need to think about the welcome session, the 7-day call, and a PT session after 1 month.
The welcome session
A good welcome session is critical to improving member retention. The more welcome sessions you can ‘sell’, the more members you’ll retain. All the research [TRP, Bedford, Griffiths] shows that members who have a welcome session stay longer. (By the way, if you’re still calling it an induction, change the name asap, it will help you sell more.)Not everyone will want one, and that’s fine. But you should try to encourage every new member to book a welcome session, regardless of their experience, knowledge, goals, or any other excuse. This session is not about showing them around the gym (a tour), how to work a treadmill, or to write a programme for them (that can come later if needed). It’s about finding out about them as a new member, building a relationship, helping them get results, and therefore stay longer! Sell it on this basis; it’s not ‘health and safety’, but ‘here to help and save/serve you’.
There’s a lot of things you might build into your welcome session, but look for three key points;
- Why are they joining; aka what are their goals? (don’t settle for ‘lose weight’; find out their real goals and reasons behind them)
- How do they want to exercise, or what equipment do they enjoy using?
- When will they visit; how often, for how long, and when next?
These cornerstones of a welcome session will help to build rapport with the member.
The 7-day call
January will be busy, there’s no doubt. But your 7-day calls are even more important for the reasons highlighted above. If you don’t find time for these calls, you’ll need to be selling many more memberships come April. Check the October issue of Gym Owner Monthly for more stories on the 7-day call.Three things to talk about on the 7-day call:
- ask your new members how they’re getting on (talk about their goals, or find out what their goals are),
- have they had a welcome session yet (or would they like to book one),
- if they’re up for a PT session at the end of their first month.
If all these are positive, then ask if they have any friends that they’d like to bring down to the club on a guest pass. Members who work out with friends stay longer.
30-day PT Session (worth £50-100)
First things first – this is NOT FREE! (Free is a four-letter word that devalues many products in the fitness space).Offer to ‘pay for’ a PT session for new members at the end of their first month. Depending on your business model, it’s a good idea to actually pay your PTs or staff something to deliver these sessions. It may not be their headline rate. But it should be advertised as their headline rate, to give it perceived value. A London club I worked with last year had membership including FREE PT to the value of over £250 in a member’s first month. Replacing the word ‘FREE’ with ‘worth over £250’ changed perceptions (staff and members), boosted sales, and improved retention considerably.
Another couple of clients made the welcome session a pre-requisite to accessing this 30-day PT session. Unless you booked and attended a welcome session, you didn’t get the PT session. Uptake of welcome sessions increased around two-fold at both clubs. As a result, there was a noticeably improved feel of community and connection between new members and staff. One site even had long-term members asking to book a new welcome session in order to access the PT session. If you have the resource, why not? (perhaps not in January!)
Work smarter for better retention
January is always busy, but you need to be smart busy, and pay attention to your new members. Use one or all these ideas to boost the retention of your January joiners, and get off to a great start in 2020.In Summary: The three ideas
- Welcome session – listen!
- Why (goals)?
- What (exercises)?
- When (how often, how long)?
- 7-day call – ask!
- How’s it going (goals)?
- Welcome session (re-book)?
- PT session (book)?
- Referrals??
- PT Session
- Not FREE!
- Worth £100?
- Pre-requisites?
Find out more, and get help or coaching to grow your fitness business at ggfit.com/gom
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