HealthSeekers Education - Reaching the 85%

One of the most positive shifts during HealthSeeker discussions is the focus on the 85% of the population who do not have a gym or health club membership.
To push this movement forward, we need three tiers of education, along with collaboration and coaching.

Today, let’s talk about education.

Rethinking the Fitness Industry

The fitness industry has traditionally focused on the 15% (now 15.9% according to the latest Leisure DB report) who are already active. The goal has been to help the fit get fitter, competing for the same demographic and often poaching members from other clubs. The low-cost model has exacerbated this, with budget clubs 'stealing' members from incumbents who then try to win them back.

Many see the ‘pivot to health’ as a way to bring ‘the 85%’ into our leisure centres, gyms, and health clubs. However, as Andy King suggests on The Conveners podcast, the term pivot could be replaced with "broaden" or "transform." Most HealthSeekers are not interested in working out, exercising, or ‘doing sport.’ No amount of pivoting, transformation, or special offers will change that.

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. 

The Paradox of Choice with Retention Initatives

One of the problems that clubs face (and to be honest, that we retention consultants sometimes create) is that there are so many retention actions and areas to look at, it can be challenging to know where to start, or where to best focus your efforts.

This choice overload becomes harder still when you’re also looking at sales targets or dealing with day-to-day operational issues. Some lucky organisations have a retention manager, but for many it’s only part of their role, or the responsibility is split across several people. So, it’s no wonder that retention rarely comes to the top of the to-do-list. 

Putting it very simply, the key to good retention is talking to people. 

However, the secret to great retention is talking to the right people, in the right way, at the right time. 

What's Your Experience?

We’ve been talking a lot about selling experiences recently. 

As competition intensifies for people’s reducing disposable income, we’re seeing a slow rise in attrition from clubs.

Price increases are needed to meet rising operational costs, including increasing minimum wage.

Most readers will know that reducing service is a false economy – we need to maintain or increase customer service to retain more members.

Understanding, experiencing, and measuring your key customer touch points is critical for all stakeholders in your business. It’s no longer enough for gym staff to be the ones who know about inductions, group exercise instructors to understand what goes on in a class, or for the body composition device to be the domain of the exercise referral team.

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.

Choices & Coaching for Health

“I don’t want to tell people what to do (e.g. join a gym, don’t eat takeaways), but I do want them to be healthier… how do I do it?” asked Kim Leadbeater MP at #ActiveUprising last week.

This was the best question in a whole lot of brilliant speeches, panels, pitches, and discussions at the ukactive annual conference. Kim has a passion for health and fitness, and is a force for change in the work she does. 

We love her “Healthy Britain – A new approach to health and wellbeing policy” paper from March 2023, and also enjoyed listening to her talk at the Why Sports conference last year.

Kim's speech and subsequent panel debate at Active Uprising really talked to the need for more of a coaching approach in health and fitness, rather than the traditional prescription or programming methods we are used to.

Simply put, if people choose their own pathways, they are much more likely to follow them, and succeed, than if they are told what to do.

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.

15 Retention Tips for 15 Years

To celebrate 15 years of GGFit, we’ve published 15 retention tips across our articles in 2023. As the year draws to a close, here’s a summary of all 15 tips, click to read the detail on the blog.

1. Sell Retention
2. Onboard Everyone
3. Promise Progression
4. Upselling for Retention
5. Referrals & Reviews
6. Challenge Your Members to stay longer
7. What do Communities mean?
8. Absentees Are Back!
9. Saving Cancelling Members
10. Making the Most of Ex-members 
11. Progression as a Retention Process
12. Dormant Members – Do Something!
13. People Power – Culture & the 3-metre rule
14. Experience Your Experiences
15. A Culture of Feedback

Expand, Franchise, or Sell - The Independent Gyms Winter 2023 Panel Debate

The opening panel at the Independent Gyms Conference is designed to get delegates thinking, interacting, and sharing ideas. The session introduced three gym owners who spoke candidly about their businesses, their experiences, and the lessons they've learnt along the way. 
We heard all about the details, drivers, and motives that lead gym owners to expand their operations, to franchise, and to sell the businesses they've built. 
There was some great audience interaction and questions as always, and delegates were talking about the session all day.

Expand, Franchise, or Sell - Independent Gyms Winter Conference

People Power - culture as the cornerstone for great retention

Great member retention is only really possible with great staff. There are lots of strategies, tools, and systems that help, but without good people, they are just not as effective.

A whole chapter is dedicated to people in the book Stick Around (strategies to keep your gym members motivated). Staff is also a recurring theme discussed by many guests on the YourDreamGym podcast, and is often prioritised above certain equipment, spaces, or types of gym.

Motivating and inspiring staff is also one of the hardest nuts to crack, in any industry. There’s a wealth of articles on this across the internet, so we’re going to focus on three key areas that you can look at in your business, that will help with your member retention.