Inductions for Everybody

How can we be more efficient and offer a standard service when onboarding new members? And how can we deliver more? The standard industry term is still induction, but many clubs are changing to ‘activation’, ‘welcome appointment’, ‘step 1’, ‘getting started’, etc. If we’re shifting mindsets, let’s use new terminology.

“All of our members have an induction” is often the response when we ask about retention strategies, particularly onboarding.

Club operators and owners believe that they really are doing their best to ensure all new members have the maximum chance of sticking around.

But when we dig under the bonnet, either through further discussion, or analysis of club data, it often transpires that fewer than half of new members actually attend some kind of onboarding appointment.

 

We’ve looked at this issue many times, with many clubs; from leisure trusts and councils, private clubs and independent gyms, even low-cost, low-staff gyms, where inductions really aren’t popular at all.

Balancing Retention Efforts and Resources: Making It Work with a Smaller Team

Retention has always been more cost-effective than acquisition, but in today’s climate, it's no longer just a smart strategy, it’s a financial necessity.

With rising operational costs, including increases in employer National Insurance (NI) contributions, many clubs and gyms are facing the hard reality of needing to do more with less. Staffing budgets are tighter. Teams are stretched. Yet the pressure to deliver results, including higher member retention, is greater than ever.

So how can your club maintain or even improve member retention without adding headcount or burning out your existing team? The answer lies in working smarter, not just harder. Here’s how...

Challenge for Change - boosting activity in communities, with 7 tips for clubs, schools, and workplaces

Participating in the Challenge for Change can lead to increased community engagement, support for meaningful causes, and enhanced motivation and collaboration within the organization. It's a great way to promote physical activity, foster a sense of unity, and make a positive impact on the community. 🌟

You can take part in Challenge for Change as an individual, but it's much more fun, and you'll go much further if you take part with your club, school/college, or workplace.  

Find out more at ChallengeForChange.org.uk or read on to get 7 tips each for clubs, schools, and workplaces, and let us know your ideas to boost participation in the comments below...

Boost Member Retention: The Power of Group Exercise for New Joiners

Looking for new ways of getting your new members to stick around longer? Group exercise could be the key.  

This article explores why group fitness classes are a game changer for retention and offers practical strategies to engage with more of your new members.

Onboarding focus

While onboarding often focuses on individual inductions, integrating group exercise into the process can significantly boost engagement and retention.

It may not be easy – many popular classes are full, and the timetable can be a bone of contention with members trying to book, so staff might avoid exacerbating the issues. But you have to work on the harder stuff to get greater success.

Class members stay longer; an average of 2 extra months

But most operators know that class members stay longer. Our research shows that booking a class is as effective as, or more effective than an induction at increasing engagement. 

Members who attend at least one class in their first month make 1-2 more first month visits (FMVs) than those who don’t attend any classes, and they will stay around 2 months longer on average. 

Choice, Loyalty, and the once-a-month visitor

Some positive fitness industry numbers announced this week in the Leisure DB State of the UK Fitness Industry Report. 

The Headlines... 15.9% penetration, over 7,000 gyms, and 10.7 million members. 

There was lots of positive talk of health and pivots, yet some of the rhetoric around the report was still stuck in the past, particularly with respect to engagement and retention, and AI. We’ll cover the former in this article, leaving the latter to the experts.

People have more choice than ever when it comes to improving their health and fitness, which is both a blessing and a curse. As more clubs open, they compete with each other for the same members, via more channels, creating more churn as members chop and change. 

When should you focus on retention efforts?

When is a good time to focus on gym member retention? 

Since loads of people join the gym in January, and “will be gone by April”, surely March is the month to work more on retention? 

Time for some myth-busting…

It’s true that lots of members join a health club in January, and even in the fitness industry, there’s an acceptance (at bad clubs) that they’ll be gone by April. Admitting this as the norm is poor business practice, and incredibly short sighted. You need to constantly work at getting members to stay (and therefore pay) longer. The days of retention through a 12-month contract and 3-month notice period are thankfully nearly all extinct, and nowadays most clubs work on retention through good customer service, added value and communication.

Motivation, Behaviour Change, and Health Coaching for the Fitness Industry

I’ve been thinking a lot about motivation over the holiday season, reading articles and listening to podcasts from inside and outside the fitness industry. Conversations with clients, partners, and trusted advisors feed and reinforce my thoughts on this, so here they are.

I’m talking primarily about motivation to be active, or to be healthier, of course.

It’s worth noting that behaviour change is very difficult, particularly when it comes to being active. It’s becoming more difficult too. Fast food or anything else we need can be delivered on demand to our door, while TV or social media sticks us to our couches, and AI is doing more of our actual thinking of us, while we sleep less. I’m not sure if we’re turning into the human characters in the film WALL-E, being softened up so that we can’t fight the Terminators.

So, behaviour change is difficult… we need more support and more motivation, to combat the evil kangaroos driving us towards an early grave.

Challenge your members – to stay longer!

Once you’ve onboarded all your new members (and returning members) at the start of the year, you’ve hopefully looked at upselling, referrals, and rewards. By March, the motivation of some members will start to wane, so it’s time to challenge their fitness.

This is tip number 6 in a series to celebrate GGFit’s 15 years in business. Stay tuned for more

What makes a successful challenge?

A great challenge is one that most of your members take part in.

Contrary to what many fitness instructors think, a hard challenge is not a good challenge, since most of your members either won’t take part, or will, and then will never join a challenge again.

What Happens Next? 2 tactics to reinforce your onboarding journey.

Use one or both of these strategies to take all your new members to the next level

January was a good month, and if you've followed the first 3 tips in our series of 15, you’ve Sold Retention, Onboarded Everyone, and Promised Progression. All your new members are super-engaged, building up their health habits, and feeling great about being a member of your club. 

What Happens Next?

[my favourite round on Question of Sport, read in Sue Barker's voice, or for older readers, David Coleman or David Vine]

While the first month, or first 7-10 visits are most important for your new members, you can boost their loyalty and enthusiasm further with a couple more steps. So don’t take your eyes off your new recruits this month, but do take your graduates from last month and try one or both of these tactics.

These are tips 4 and 5 in a series to celebrate GGFit’s 15 years in business.

Gym Membership Sales Ideas - Nov 22

September member sales weren’t as good as many clubs hoped. If you’re holding out for redemption in January, you need to think again. 
2023 is the year to focus more on retention (we would say that!), but if you want to talk sales for a minute, here’s a tip.
January is (traditionally) a busy time in the fitness industry. Many clubs will have a new member joining offer, when you could actually double your joining fees, and still have a good sales month. 

WFH, Health, and Health Clubs

This article talks about how health clubs can help improve corporate wellbeing, without selling classic gym memberships.

The effects of the COVID pandemic will be felt for many years after the last positive test result. One of the big business and cultural shifts has been the fast-track evolution of working from home (WFH). While many have been doing this for years, not everyone is benefitting. There are some serious repercussions on health, both physical and mental, as described by this report in HR Magazine, which claims remote working is “as dangerous as smoking”

Clubs losing members who are WFH 

Health clubs and gyms have been hit hard by the changes in working practices, with fewer people in towns and cities for a 5-day working week. On the flip side, some independent clubs have benefitted slightly from people wanting to train closer to home, twinned with the general trend of supporting local, smaller businesses. But the big city gyms are feeling it the hardest at the moment.

REALITY BITES

The fitness industry has buckets of positivity as clubs start to reopen. You need to plug the leaks now more than ever to ensure your fitness business survives.

New member sales at gyms in England have been very encouraging since reopening on 16 April. We expect to see a similar trend across the rest of the UK and Europe as lock-down restrictions are eased. Adding indoor group exercise will also bring a good boost to member numbers.

The fitness industry is enjoying the best April ever... but it's nothing compared with a good January.

You need to do two things to plug the leaks and fill your buckets. But first, let’s consider the problems…

GYMS ARE NOT ESSENTIAL...

... I WISH THEY WERE! 

But with only 15% market penetration (and even fewer visiting over the last year), gyms are simply not shining brightly enough on the radar, no matter how loud we shout about it.

Supermarkets and delivery companies are essential. Doctors’ surgeries and pharmacies are essential. Public transport is essential for essential workers. Mental health support can be found in hairdressers, cinemas, record shops and gyms, but unfortunately, they are not essential. Take-away coffee shops fall somewhere in between, which is nice.

A Public Health England Survey says that 7 in 10 people want to make healthier choices in 2021. 

We need to change our tune.

The Hybrid Fitness Model - Gym Owner Monthly Article October 2020

The future of the fitness industry is a combination of in-club and online experiences. This hybrid model has been forced on many businesses and members during lockdown. As clubs re-open, we are all adapting to new needs and uncertain about what is in store next. Health and fitness are high on many people’s agenda, but not everyone is willing or able to visit a gym.

What is Hybrid?

Hybrid is a combination of two different things. It is also a buzzword, covering everything from cars to bikes, golf clubs to genetics. It sounds cool, which is another reason why it is generating a lot of discussion in our industry right now. Hybrid fitness has been developing for years, the pandemic has simply accelerated things.

Inductions – This time it IS about health and safety (and retention) - Gym Owner Monthly Article

It will soon be time to welcome many of your members back to your club. This presents you with a huge opportunity to make a fresh start with all members, regardless of their experience or expectations. First impressions matter, and this time around they matter more than ever.

Inductions are a cornerstone of good member retention that I often talk and write about. Articles in GOM Feb20 and Oct19 both reference onboarding and inductions, but not as mandatory health and safety appointments. As we re-open, we can use the health and safety argument to ensure all members get this key interaction. To be clear, this is not a 45-minute one-on-one appointment, more of a fast-start speech that you deliver to all members.

Why is the induction more important than ever? 

Ask The Expert (The Collective) Ep 19 - Retention Special

This week, Guy Griffiths joined Paul Bedford in a Retention Special, hosted by Alina Cooper on The Collective.

Member retention is on everyone's agenda at the moment - will people return to our clubs, and when? Paul and Guy discuss the opportunities thrown up by the COVID pandemic to improve health club member retention, from inductions to digital engagement.
What does the future look like for retention, and do they think there will be more of a focus going forward?

The Collective is a group of fitness industry people who come together to share, collaborate and grow.. This is the first double bill "Ask the Expert" session on the Collective. Click here to join and learn more.

How to win the January gym battle (and retain your new members)

This is a copy of the retention article from Gym Owner Monthly Magazine November 2019. You can read the original article and the rest of the magazine here.

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.

Why gym rejoiners need an induction

Have you been a member before? The question to a new joiner seems so innocent, but it is potentially opening up a big loophole* to dodge out of one of the cornerstones of member retention…

A couple of new clients this year, when asked about their new member induction** rate quoted “around 80%” (a figure based on feeling, rather than data). They go on, “and we’ll be hard pushed to do any better, because the other 20% are re-joiners”.

Why don’t re-joiners get an induction, we ask? “They already had one”.
This opens up so many questions… When was their last induction (last year, 10 years ago)? How was it? Did they really have one (can you prove it)? And so on.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Gym Members

Habit: a settled or regular tendency or practise, especially one that is hard to give up!

Let’s talk about habits. Some of the time we are trying to give up habits, whereas other times we’re trying to form or develop habits. There’s confusion here straight away – are we talking about a good habit or a bad habit, and isn’t good or bad subjective anyway?

A favourite ‘management’ read of many fitness industry people is Stephen R. Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. Today, we’re talking about habits of new and regular gym goers, in particular those members who join and stick at it.

In the fitness industry, we often talk about ensuring people build the exercise habit, but what exactly do we mean by this, and how do we measure how it is working?

Here’s our version of the 7 habits of highly effective exercisers…

The New Member Challenge : FWQQ #1

You have some form of new member challenge, right? A simple, getting started programme that checks visits, classes
How many of your January joiners started your new member challenge? And how many completed it?

Call it what you like, FitStart, Zero-to-Hero, your new member challenge should appeal to all new joiners, so that they all enroll as they join. It can be as simple as you like, but there are a bunch of ideas in our Zero-to-Hero article.

So for example, if you have 100 joiners, maybe 80 started the challenge, and 50 completed it. Give the 50 ‘winners’ a t-shirt, water bottle, or a pat on the back. You can also give the 30 non-finishers an extension of a week, or another chance to do the challenge. And then you should find out why the other 20 new joiners didn’t sign-up, and think about how you can improve the numbers next month.

Click here to read the intro to #FWQQ : Four Weeks to Quit Quitting, or click here to see all the #FWQQ articles