3 Sure Fire Tips To Make Your Gym Members Happier
The competitive world of fitness center management is one that calls for creativity and innovation. Not only do you have to offer the latest fitness classes and provide top-notch equipment and training methods, but to stay ahead of the competition, you have to continually find new ways to make your members happy.
If you’re unsure what to do to boost the happy-factor at your club, try these sure-fire fitness center management tips to get your members smiling:
1. Solve Membership Problems: There’s no quicker way to turn members off than to have them speak with sales staff who are unwilling or unable to help. It bears repeating that the fitness industry is a service-based industry and the time and attention you pay to your sales team will directly affect referrals and member retention.
Give your sales people the power to provide a variety of offers that work for varying customer needs. Allow your reps to provide student discounts, one-month trial memberships, and extend discounts to customers who’ve contacted you with complaints.
Empowering your sales people can give you a bump in member satisfaction that lasts long after the phone call is over.
2. Get Friendlier: Sometimes the only difference between your health club and the one across town is the connection members feel to you.
Try reaching out to potential and current members through a variety of channels:
- Offer discounts and promotions on Facebook
- Provide value-added services through your email newsletters
- Promote new class offerings via text message to members’ mobile phones
- Use compelling signage at your locations to inform members of new events and promotions
3. Spread Some Fun: Health clubs have an added bonus when it comes to engaging with their audiences, a large part of club populations are naturally competitive. Consider this statistic – nearly half of Internet users expect incentives and rewards for engaging with a brand online and over 200 million played games on Facebook in September 2012 alone.
Put these together and you’re working with fertile ground for spreading fun and increasing connection with current and prospective members when you create games and contests to capture their interest. (For more information on social gaming for brands, check this resource from Oracle (PDF).)
The name of the marketing game for any health club is connection. Use these tips to connect more strongly with your membership and you’ll benefit from happier followers.
Learn more ways to improve your fitness club management. Learn about how ABC Financial’s health club software can benefit your business with a free demo.