The two things that successful club owners and gym managers will be doing in January 2021
Boris Johnson brought Blue Monday* forward by three weeks this year. Traditionally the third Monday of January, when Christmas has faded, debts are at their worst, and it is dark and cold. He moved it from 18th Jan to 4th Jan, starting at 8pm, with the announcement of the return of lockdown in the UK. This meant the closure of gyms, and a return to home schooling. The idea of dry January was kicked swiftly into touch by many people, not just parents of schoolchildren.
Social media groups were flooded with talk of grant applications, petitions to classify fitness facilities as essential and how to bend the rules to support people’s fitness. Thumbs scrolled and heads dropped. Virtual timetables were hastily resurrected, and Joe Wicks checked his schedule. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays this time around, 5 days a week was a bit much for us all before, to be honest.
Club owners and operators are now sitting in an empty club, which would normally be packed (or at it's new capacity at least) with members; new, existing, and returning members. January and February are the best months of the year for attracting new gym members, but they cannot visit, so many will not join. Once the petitions are signed, the grant applications submitted, and staff furloughed, what is next?
1. Talk to Your Members
A problem shared is a problem halved. Reach out to your members and find out how they are doing. Sure, you need to let them know about membership payments and what’s available online, but proper communication is a two-way process…
Talk to as many of them on the phone if you can (un-furlough, or part-furlough some staff if you need to). Conversations are best, but a bulk option can be an alternative, or way to prioritise member calls.
Include a simple “How’s It Going” survey in your email, SMS, or social media communications to your members. Here are three simple questions which show you care:
• What are you doing during lockdown to stay active?
• How are you feeling at the moment? *
• Is there anything you need from us to help you?
No options, angles, or steers, just open format questions that will enable you to understand and support your members, and perhaps come up with ways of keeping more of them engaged. Which leads on to Making Plans.
We are not going to make the calls for you, but GGFit does send member campaigns on our client’s behalf. It is relatively simple to do, but we add value by analysing and summarising the campaign data across multiple channels; engagement, responses, follow-up actions, and feedback.
2. Make Plans
How can you support and retain more of your members through lockdown? What are they doing, feeling, and needing now? [Walking, running, family workouts, stress, back pain, headspace, routine, new goals, equipment, motivation, challenges, community, etc.]
Make plans to do what you can for your current members, ex-members, prospects, and future members. It does not have to be a new revenue stream, but it could be… renting or selling equipment, remote coaching, online programmes for exercise/nutrition/mindfulness, classes, other events. The more you listen, the more ideas you will have, and the more members you will save.
Some fitness businesses maintained their membership revenue, and even signed up new members during lockdown. Sometimes it is about being innovative, but it is always about understanding your members needs, and meeting them with a solution.
Plan your recovery campaigns. Keep communicating with members regularly (suggest weekly). But be clear on how you will maximise member return once you can re-open. Hopefully, you have learnt lessons from the end of the last lockdown(s). Which members will be back the moment you open the doors, and who will need more persuasion to return? Which channels work best, what are your member confidence levels, and how can you get back to capacity as quickly as possible?
As well as members who are slow to return, you may have a segment of members who did not yet return from the last lockdown, or only returned once or twice. You need a plan for these people, along with your recent ex-members. Over the next month, you need to double down on the calls or surveys to them, and find out how you can help… you might not get them back into the club soon, but there are ways of supporting their health and fitness, and building new membership models that will help with your business recovery.
Please get in touch if you need help with your future membership models, recovery campaigns, or any other member retention strategies. Comment below, or send me a direct message to arrange a call.
* “Tell me now how do I feel?”
Alternately for readers who aren’t New Order fans, I recommend Tubthumping, by Chumbawumba, as a theme song for the Fitness Industry in Jan 2021.
“I get knocked down, but I get up again,
You’re never gonna keep me down”
[It might not help you stick to dry January though]
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