MAKE YOUR GYM ESSENTIAL

There has been a lot of talk of how gyms are essential over the last year. Essential to the physical and mental health of our members. Essential for staying fit. But we are less essential than food delivery drivers. Have you thought about how your club could guarantee staying open for your members in the event of future lockdowns?

We have talked about the non-essential nature of gyms here before, but as lockdowns ease, more and more clubs are developing interesting new ideas and enhancing their offering. These pivots are what will help to both grow those clubs, and make them more essential.

Hybrid and the New Normal

Even more webinar hours and column inches have been spent discussing hybrid gym models. Hybrid is just a mix of different services or elements. Mixing it up and trying different membership options was a way of retaining members during lockdown. But now it needs to be the way that clubs grow and evolve. The fitness industry is not returning to normal; it needs to keep changing and becoming more hybrid. 

It is more important than ever to know what your customer wants, and to deliver that. You know that not all your members are coming back, but there are some who are happy working out from home, whether it is with your programme or online class library, or joining in a livestream class from your club. At the moment, these online live members are sometimes few and far-between, however they will continue to be loyal as long as you’re there for them, and others will join or re-join them when the time is right. You need to have faith with this element of hybrid if it is to be part of your future strategy.

Selling Kit, Programmes, and Remote PT

Equipment sales soared in lockdown, the demand forced prices through the roof, and some retailers made a killing on kettlebells. Lots of clubs rented or loaned kit out, showing there was a market for fitness equipment. 

Now clubs that are selling weights, ropes, bars, kettlebells, or resistance bands are getting their brand in front of members and non-members. Include a workout programme or exercise library, either on paper, social media, or your app, and you’ve got an audience or community of ‘members’ who are engaged with you, and likely to do business with you in the future, in one form or another.

There’s also a growing market for Remote PT, with or without an app. People need accountability, from a high-five or fist-bump over messenger, or an encouraging coaching message to give them a nudge to move towards their goals. There is a plethora of apps out there that add a great deal of value to the coach and member, but sometimes, a simple message works wonders, you just need to remember to send it!

Nutrition

Nutrition coaching, advice, and meal planning is a huge growth area for health clubs. Those who have included recipe sections in newsletters will know that they are some of the most clicked and shared parts of those communications. Collating them into a member’s recipe book is the natural next step, then providing bespoke advice and education will benefit your existing members and bring in new ones as well.

Offering healthy calorie-controlled meals for collection or delivery is a nice add-on for members or new subscribers. Clubs are either partnering with local businesses or national suppliers to provide these services to their members. It broadens the health offering and helps your business to become more essential.

Food and Fuel

A popular independent gym in Somerset has sold fitness food to order for a few years now. Members can purchase supplements, protein, meat, vitamins and much more. During lockdown last year, whilst no members were training, they were still able to order and visit the shop to collect food. It was a great opportunity for members to talk to the gym owner and staff, and to see the mezzanine and other developments that were happening in the club. 

So, while the gym itself was closed for training, they kept the business open through these other channels, and maintained a great level of member interaction. Bounce back has been strong, and new member sales even stronger!

Health MOTs

We have discussed the health-check appointment here before, and it is starting to gain traction with clubs. It brings ex-members back and also attracts new health seeking subscribers. Key to the appointment is to provide some measurements for the client, via body composition analysis or a 3D body scan. Explain the results, talk about the client’s goals and plans, and then book a follow-up appointment. 

Many health subscribers won’t ever want to use the gym, but these programmes add to your bottom line, increase membership numbers, yet don’t fill up your gym or physical classes. More importantly, you should be able to deliver one-to-one health-check appointments during lockdown, in the same way that health practitioner meetings and EMS training were possible. They are a new base level membership on top of which you can build other business streams, as mentioned above.

Don’t go back to normal

If you’re going to grow your business, or even just survive the next 12 months, you’re really going to have to think outside the box. Not just outside the four walls of the gym, with some outdoor classes, or digital content, but really think outside the box. 

Let’s hope there are no future lockdowns. But if there are, what will you be doing differently? How will your gym become essential?

This article was originally published in Gym Owner Monthly Magazine. You can read the whole issue here.