Measure your members progress to get them to stick around longer

Progression is key to keeping people engaged in any activity, particularly one that is hard, or part of a choice. Measuring progress through school with assessments, exams, or reports, music exams, colour belt gradings in martial arts, or levels on a computer game keeps us motivated to continue.

So, when fitness industry veterans ask, “remember when we used to measure everyone as they joined”, the response is “why don’t we do it so much anymore?”

This is tip 11 in a series to celebrate GGFit’s 15 years in business. We discussed progression briefly in tip 3, but want to expand on this important topic now. Read all the tips here.

There are so many better ways to measure progress now, without using scales, tape, or callipers. With body composition, we have medical grade devices providing so many stats on people’s health and fitness, and 3D (and 4D!) body scanners to show how people’s body shape has changed as they progress.

Gym membership pricing and coffee comparisons

As we approach September, the second busiest month for fitness memberships in the UK, thoughts turn to membership sales, strategies, and price models. 

It’s clear that lots of leisure pricing is stuck in the past. Whether we’re talking about joining fees, memberships, or selling the monthly payment as “less than a cup of coffee per visit”, revolution is needed in many organisations.

How do messages help to retain members?

So we discussed how messages alone don’t retain members (you ideally need staff too), but the process of sending and monitoring messages sent can have a positive effect on a club, and help to support the ethos of the club.

Staff understanding of the communications journey(s), and how they fit into the club’s philosophy is key to success.

I’m going to be a personal trainer

Many gym instructors have high ambitions, and plan to be personal trainers in the near future. This can sometimes lead to arrogance, and a disinterest in inductions, programme reviews and generally interacting with members.

However, to be a successful PT, you need a lot of skills and qualities. Some of these can be learnt at PT school, but the most important ones need to be practiced on the gym floor…

Make gym inductions happen!

The induction is one of the most important appointments you make; if it goes wrong, it can ruin all of the hard work that's gone into signing up a new member. We've covered the member who doesn't want an induction, but it's important to handle instructor's objections around inductions too.

Some instructors will let the member take the easy route, rather than deliver the perfect induction.

I've said hello 5 times, what next?

I've said hello lots of times now to a bunch of members, and it's all good, but I don't know what to say next? I need to step it up, what do I say other than hello?

"Hello" is a great place to start, but you do need to move on after you've said it a few times to the same members. This is why programme reviews are a good excuse to interact.

They don't want an induction

Part of the GGFaqs series, handling objections from new members who've just signed up...

A new member says they've been going to the gym for ever, and don't want to do an induction. We can't make them, but we know people stay longer if they've had an induction...

Yes, in general members who have a getting started session stay longer, and if you want to be very honest with the new member, you could start by telling them that (after all, they don't want to leave yet, they just joined!)

How can I speak to them when they're all wearing headphones?

We're switching the GGFaqs section into an objection handling series through December and January. Not sales objections... there's lots and lots of people handling those already. We want to help instructors to overcome the objections (often their own) with talking to members. We already do this in our retention workshops, but want to spread the ideas wider afield, and get your thoughts too!

Let's kick off with a classic - "Everyone's wearing headphones, which means they don't want to be disturbed, right?"

The answer - "Maybe, but how can you be sure?"

Is our attrition good?

Part of the GGFaqs series: We’ve had a few questions asking if a club’s member attrition (rate of dropout) is good, and this is always an interesting topic for discussion. What most operators want to know is whether they are better than average…

Attrition rate is defined as:
The average number of members per thousand who cancel every month.

Firstly, there’s always some debate as to whether attrition is relevant. Attrition is a good measure because you can look at it regularly (say monthly) and get a gauge on performance. However, it can also be affected or skewed by a good sales month, as this increases the total members used to calculate the attrition percentage.

Social Media for retention?

We've been really surprised by discussions and questions* at LIW and other events over the last couple of weeks about social media about how clubs should use social media for retention. 

Social Media is a useful marketing tool for clubs looking to engage and interact more with members, and while it is possible to run targeted social media marketing campaigns, sending targeted retention messages is practically impossible, and certainly not as cost effective as sms, email or direct mail.

When is an absent member too absent?

How many absent members should we contact, or how dormant is too dormant?

A good question asked when we were speaking at the FitLinxx client seminar at the Lotus F1 facility recently… and a classic frequently asked question. To clarify, when we start contacting absent members, we begin sending messages from around 21 days’ absence (depending on the policy or journey we define with the club). We call these members recoverable. But what about members who are already absent for longer than this; the dormant members? How many of those should we contact?

Will messages make members cancel?

Part of the GGFaqs series: Will sending messages to absent members cause them to leave your club?

The short and honest answer is ‘Yes’. If you send messages out to members who have not visited for a few weeks, then (contracts aside) some will cancel their membership. However, there should always be many more members who return because of these communications, making the overall effect worthwhile.

Here are three details that will help more absent members return and less cancel;

What’s the best way of contacting members?

A great question submitted by Mark on the GGFaq website this week. There are many reasons for contacting members; we’re going to focus on absent members for this answer. 

Considering all absent member communication methods, a phone call is nearly always the most effective, as you are having a meaningful interaction with the member. But phone calls are time consuming, and it’s often difficult to get through. If you encounter voicemail, we always recommend leaving a message, as it shows you’ve made the effort.

Should gym inductions be mandatory?

Part of the GGFaqs series.  The GGFit Frequently Asked Questions page is buzzing at the moment, here's the latest posting hot off the press…

Some clubs let people skip the gym induction process these days. Does this affect sales/retention and what should we do from a health and safety point of view?

Many years ago, you'd struggle to join a gym without having to go through the “gym induction”. This appointment has various names, from welcome session, to getting started. At best, it is a chance to outline exercise goals and get to know the member's needs and build their confidence, at worst, it's a glorified tour and standard exercise programme template.

Does online joining increase membership sales?

Part of the GGFaqs series.
This is one of the most frequently asked questions at the moment, with many clubs offering on-line joining, often trying to keep up with the competition. Here's how to beat them!

The quick and easy answer is “Yes, having an online joining option will increase sales.”
How much by? “Well, that depends…  Read our 4 step process below, or check out the abandoned shopping trolley graphic from dotMailer below. 

"Frozen" Gym Memberships - do you "Let It Go"?

We’re going to kick off the GGFaqs series with a couple of questions that we frequently ask clubs; do you allow your members to freeze their membership, and if you do, how much do you communicate with them while they’re on freeze?

At clubs that do offer a contract freeze, we’re surprised to find that little or nothing is sent to members on freeze.