SEPT
2019 ISSUE
FITNESS CLUB
FITNESS CLUB SUCCESS
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Issue 11 - September 2019
Intro - A Warning about your Fitness Club PRICING STRATEGY
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15 Words that will make you Money
4-6
17 Lead Magnet Ideas That’ll Attract Your Ideal Customer
7-9
Audience Specific Offers: Birthdays
10 - 11
Engaging with Cold Leads: Fitness at Home
12 - 15
Monthly League Table: Top 3 Facebook Campaigns
16 - 19
Running a Body Analysis Campaign: Know Your Numbers
20 - 22
Part 2 Referrals: The Customer Multiplier System
23 - 30
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Welcome
to this months Fitness Club Gold
A Warning about your Fitness Club PRICING STRATEGY It’s a sad fact that almost all the problems that fitness clubs get into when running their business is down to self-destructive poorly thought through pricing strategy. It’s very rarely sales process, a lack of marketing expertise or service standards that is the underlying issue. It generally goes wrong because the Club is simply too cheap or that operators don’t think carefully enough about the role that pricing has in the “story” of the Club as perceived by potential members and how customers behave when buying. Here are the 6 main mistakes we see: 1) Discounts and Free are powerful but dangerous weapons that can backfire badly. Handle with care! Timing and utilisation are key and the consequences need to be reviewed. Have you seen many promotions for a “Free Test drive for a Porsche”? It would be incredibly popular I know but Porche would never do it because they don’t think it would help sell more cars. They suspect it may prove to be damaging to their brand. 2) Help your potential members see the “hidden price” of Free or cheap. If you don’t then you will be at a disadvantage. If you are a full-service club offering built in value services inside membership competing against low cost clubs with no added value but offering expensive service add-ons such as Personal Training, you MUST point out the ECONOMICS of both options and why yours is the right one. 3) The Bargain of Cheap price or securing a big discount may satisfy a customer momentarily but only REAL VALUE, quality and service can retain them. If you want to recruit members who need help, you must generate enough revenue to fund the retention service they will need going forward.
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4) There are 2 chains that bind product to price. One is in the Customers mind. The other is in YOURS. Customers are easier to “de link” if you indoctrinate them. You on the other hand may still harbour price reluctance. Be more confident or simply stand on your local High Street and watch the cars drive by to prove to yourself that hardly anyone buys the cheapest anything! If that doesn’t work watch people who buy bottled water (point out its free from the tap) or buy takeaway coffee (Twenty times more expensive than out of a jar!) 5) Never underestimate the prospects perception of the seller. Reputation is everything and it helps if you build yours linked to a profitable price point. How would you like to be perceived? As an expert in your field? The “Go to” option in your area? Are you Harrods or Lidl? Never forget that your price reflects your story and your story MUST be reflected in your price. Can you think of any premium quality product in any sector that’s cheap? Remember what happened to the Pierre Cardin brand when it went low cost. 6) Great marketing, extraordinary salesmanship and fantastic product CANNOT overcome bad economics. If you don’t charge enough, you are dead in the water. Period. No matter how good an operator you are. Enjoy this issue of Fitness Club Gold. As ever, do reach out to us if you want a subject covered or you have questions about articles we have written. Good luck with your Club. We hope September with kids going back to school will prove to be a boom month for you.
Duncan Green
T: 0207 917 2780 E: duncangreen@momentumbd.co.uk W: www.momentumbd.co.uk
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The Art of Crafting Great Content in your Sales & Marketing 15 Words that will make you Money
The words you use to communicate with your customers are very important, whether in brochures letters, advertisements email, on websites or in telephone and face to face conversations.
Below are 15 words that you should consider incorporating into all of your communications.
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Easy
Everyone wants stuff that’s easy. We want things to be easy to use, we want results to be easier to achieve, we want everything easy. If your product or service makes peoples’ lives easier, make sure you tell them.
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2
You
The magic word in all good copy. Using the word ‘you’ forces you to have a personal conversation with the person reading it. Don’t you agree?
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Now
There comes a point when you need to tell your customer what to do. They need to call you, or book on something or ‘click here.’ But you don’t want them doing it tomorrow or next week. You want them to do it now – so tell them.
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Free
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No Risk
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Guaranteed
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Yes
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Important
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Person’s Name
Very powerful. People love anything that’s Free. Particularly useful to generate new sales leads.
Anything you can do to reduce the risk for your customers will increase your sales. Your customers may not be consciously thinking about it but subconsciously they’re worrying about risking money and possibly time by doing business with you. Risk elimination is one of the most effective Marketing strategies available to you.
The ultimate risk elimination is the guarantee. Just adding a guarantee to advertisements for example will often increase sales 30% or more.
There’s something about the word ‘Yes’ It just works wonders. When you speak to customers use it a lot. It’s equally important to avoid the word ‘no.’
It’s important to use the word important. People want to know about important things and it’s a word that grabs the reader’s attention. And that’s important!
In many contexts, the most important word you can use is the customer’s name. The more personalised your letters are, the higher the response. Email autoresponders enable you to send hundreds or thousands of personalized messages at the same time.
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Fast
We all want things to happen faster. If you can do it – tell them.
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Proven / Proof
It’s often useful to assume that people reading your message do not believe what you’re telling them. It may not be the case for all of them but it’s likely that a good proportion are sceptical. Offer proof wherever you can.
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New
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Limited
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Simple
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Solve
Everyone wants the ‘new’ thing. We may be bored with advertisements but if they promise us something ‘new’ that can get our interest.
If there is a genuine limit to what you are offering or the number of people who can have it, it’s worth making a big deal about that. Scarcity is an important marketing tool.
People believe that their lives are very complicated so anything that simplifies the process will have their attention.
One of the simplest copy writing formulas is to state the customer’s problem, tell them you can solve it and then tell them precisely how you’re going to solve it.
Next Steps……check all your copy both online and offline and look for where you can add these profit generating words. It’s even worth testing your current response rates against different copy using these words. Also be aware, there will be other specific words, not on this list, that your customer base will respond to.
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17 Lead Magnet Ideas That’ll Attract Your Ideal Customer
One of the biggest differences between Fitness owners who are thriving and Fitness owners who are barely surviving is the ability to attract new customers. Not having a system in place to consistently generate new leads makes for a stressful situation and often leads to otherwise well-run Fitness Clubs closing their doors. A Lead Magnet is the answer.
What Is A Lead Magnet? A lead generation magnet is an irresistible offer that you make to prospects of something that is valuable and usually free in exchange for their contact information - often their name and email address (physical addresses, phone numbers and other information are sometimes collected too). The most important element of a lead magnet is specificity. Solving one specific problem with one specific solution for one specific segment of the population.
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Goal Of A Lead Magnet? The goal of a lead magnet is to maximize the number of targeted leads who see your offer for your product or service. Get them to raise their hand and say, “I’m interested in what you have to offer. I’m interested in your idea and what you’re selling.” Capturing people who are interested is important because the reality is, most people aren’t ready to buy at the time when they first discover you.
Why Are Lead Magnets So Effective? • It attracts response from exactly the right prospects • It boosts the response to all your advertising • It gets prospects to willingly give you complete contact information when they respond to ads, mail, visit websites, etc.
• When it arrives, it immediately sets you and your business apart by looks alone • With a catchy, benefit-oriented title, it heightens interest in what you have to say • It positions you as an EXPERT, not just another Fitness Club hawking a membership • It creates the opportunity for you to sell in a vacuum - where the sole focus is on ONLY the information you provide
• It can establish credibility with supporting evidence, testimonials and useful information • It sets the “buying criteria” in the mind of the prospect... and points to YOU as being the very best possible alternative
• It sets up the following step in the marketing process by explicitly telling the prospect the action they need to take NEXT
Types Of Lead Magnets? • Free Reports
• Resource Guides
• Checklists
• Low Cost or Free Fitness Experience
• Cheat Sheets
• Fitness / Body / Nutrition / Assessments / Tests
• Templates
• Personal Consultations
• eBooks
• Products / Samples
• Club Newsletters
• Case Studies
• Webinars
• Quiz-Survey
• Videos
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What Should Your Lead Magnet Contain? • The primary transformation you can enable in the life of the prospect - all due to expertise, experience and specific product / program / service you offer
• Your story - what you’ve gone through that makes YOU uniquely qualified to create this Lead
Generation Magnet and the struggles you overcame to finally achieve the solution you needed
• A specific call-to-action - Now that they’ve gone through and reviewed the material you’ve provided, it’s important to let your prospect know what you want them to do next
How To Create A Successful Lead Magnet? 1
Be specific
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Deliver one big promise
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The offer has to be irresistible
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Deliver immediate results
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Shift their viewpoint
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Create rapid consumption
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Deliver extreme value
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Write an awesome title
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Create a strong call-to-action for your paid product or service
Follow the above steps that have the foundation for an effective Lead Generation Magnet,
Take Action and Implement!
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Audience Specific Offers: Birthdays
When it comes to targeting customers online, you must think outside the box. Don’t go with the norm and do what everyone else does, or you’ll end up competing for advertising space and then it’s a battle of spending power. But if you advertise at different/more specific audiences, you’re more likely to engage with them and have a message they can relate to.
And what better message than a Happy Birthday gift?! With Facebook’s power, we can target people with birthdays in specific months, upcoming birthdays, even close friends of people with upcoming birthdays. Advertising special birthday offers is a great way of communicating a personable, happy message to potential customers.
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What kind of birthday gift can you offer them? Offering something like a Free 7 Day Guest Pass is an attractive welcoming offer to this potential new customer. You could even decide to run this at, for example, men who are about to turn 40 in September, see Image 1:
(Image 1)
Offering them a full access pass to your facilities for 1 week and making them feel welcome, can make a big difference and perhaps turn an unmotivated exerciser into a potential member. All because you took the time to make them feel valued. And the great thing about running birthday offers? You’re guaranteed to target a different audience every month if you chose to do it regularly.
So, it’s definitely a target market you should always consider with your lead generation…
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Engaging with Cold Leads Fitness at Home Scheme
There are various reasons why around 85% of the population aren’t members of fitness clubs. One main one is the mental barrier they have to get over to want to get fitter. For these sorts of people, having a patient and caring approach to their situation is a recommended strategy. So, if they’re not likely to want to jump and join your club straight away, why not give them something else they can benefit from AND keep you in their minds?
The Fitness at Home Scheme Running a campaign encouraging prospects to register for this sort of programme shows you care about making a difference to their health & fitness and aren’t just in it for the money.
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The beauty with this sort of programme is you can target it at people brand new to exercise or aim it at prospects who have already shown an interest in your business but haven’t converted to membership yet. So, to initially market it, you’ll want to drive people to a landing page containing a breakdown of what the scheme is and how it can benefit them, see Image 2.
(Image 2)
From here, you’ll want them to register their details so they can drop into an automated email chain of programmes and advice they can get for free. This can contain such topics as:
• Walking Programmes • Exercise at Home tips and advice • Nutrition advice • Learning how to set up and use equipment • And much more See Image 3,4,5,6.
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(Image 3)
WALKING TRAINING PLAN
WALKING TRAINING PLAN
FOR INTERMEDIATE
FOR BEGINNERS Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Week
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
1
Walk 10 mins slow pace
Walk 10 mins medium pace
Walk 10 mins medium pace
Rest
Walk 15 mins slow pace
Walk 10 mins medium pace
Walk 20 mins slow pace
1
Walk 3 miles slow pace
Walk 3 miles fast pace
Walk 5 miles medium pace
Cross training 30 mins
Rest
Walk 3 miles slow pace
Walk 8 miles fast pace
2
Rest
Walk 15 mins slow pace
Walk 15 mins slow pace
Walk 15 mins slow pace
Rest
Walk 15 mins slow pace
Walk 25 mins slow pace
2
Walk 3 miles slow pace
Walk 3 miles fast pace
Walk 5 miles medium pace
Cross training 40 mins
Rest
Walk 4 miles fast pace
Walk 10 miles medium pace
3
Rest
Walk 15 mins medium pace
Walk 15 mins medium pace
Walk 10 mins medium pace
Walk 15 mins slow pace
Walk 10 mins medium pace
Walk 30 mins slow pace
3
Walk 3 miles slow pace
Walk 4 miles fast pace
Walk 5 miles medium pace
Cross training 50 mins
Rest
Walk 3 miles fast pace
Walk 12 miles. Start slow then medium pace
4
Rest
Walk 10 mins fast pace
Walk 15 mins medium pace
Walk 15 mins medium pace
Walk 20 mins slow pace
Walk 10 mins medium pace
Walk 40 mins slow pace
4
Walk 3 miles slow pace
Walk 5 miles medium pace
Walk 3 miles fast pace
Cross training 60 mins
Rest
Walk 4 miles slow pace
Walk 10 miles fast pace
5
Rest
Walk 15 mins slow pace
Walk 15 mins medium pace
Walk 15 mins medium pace
Walk 20 mins slow pace
Walk 15 mins slow pace
Walk 30 mins slow pace
5
Cross training easy
Walk 5 miles medium pace
Walk 3 miles fast pace
Cross training 60 mins
Rest
Walk 3 miles fast pace
Walk 12 miles medium pace
6
Rest
Walk 10 mins fast pace
Walk 15 mins medium pace
Walk 20 mins medium pace
Walk 20 mins slow pace
Walk 10 mins fast pace
Walk 40 mins slow pace
6
Cross training easy
Walk 5 miles medium pace
Walk 3 miles fast pace
Cross training 60 mins
Rest
Walk 4 miles slow pace
Walk 15 miles. Start slow then medium pace
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Rest
Walk 15 mins fast pace
Walk 20 mins slow pace
Walk 15 mins medium pace
Walk 15 mins fast pace
Walk 20 mins medium pace
Walk 40 mins medium pace
7
Rest
Walk 5 miles medium pace
Walk 3 miles fast pace
Cross training 60+ mins
Rest
Walk 3 miles fast pace
Walk 10 miles medium pace
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Rest
Walk 15 mins fast pace
Walk 20 mins medium pace
Walk 20 mins medium pace
Walk 15 mins fast pace
Walk 20 mins medium pace
Walk 50 mins medium pace
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Cross training easy
Walk 5 miles medium pace
Walk 3 miles fast pace
Cross training 60+ mins
Rest
Walk 4 miles slow pace
Walk 18 miles. Start slow then medium pace
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Rest
Walk 20 mins fast pace
Walk 20 mins medium pace
Walk 20 mins medium pace
Walk 15 mins fast pace
Walk 20 mins medium pace
Walk 60 mins medium pace
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Rest
Walk 5 miles medium pace
Walk 3 miles fast pace
Walk 5 miles medium pace
Rest
Walk 4 miles fast pace
Walk 10 miles medium pace
10
Rest
Walk 25 mins fast pace
Walk 15 mins medium pace
Walk 20 mins fast pace
Walk 20 mins medium pace
Walk 15 mins medium pace
Walk 60-70 mins medium pace
10
Cross training easy
Walk 5 miles medium pace
Walk 3 miles fast pace
Walk 5 miles medium pace
Rest
Walk 3 miles slow pace
Walk 20 miles medium pace
Week
YOUR CLUB DETAILS HERE
YOUR CLUB DETAILS HERE
(Image 4)
(Image 5)
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WALKING TRAINING PLAN FOR ADVANCED Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
1
Cross training easy
Walk 3 miles fast pace
Walk 70 mins intervals
Cross training 60 mins
Rest
Walk 10 miles medium pace
Walk 6 miles fast pace
2
Cross training easy
Walk 3 miles fast pace
Walk 70 mins intervals
Cross training 60 mins
Rest
Walk 10 miles fast pace
Walk 10 miles medium pace
3
Cross training easy
Walk 3 miles fast pace
Walk 70 mins intervals
Cross training 70 mins
Rest
Walk 12 miles fartlek
Walk 10 miles. Start slow then medium pace
4
Cross training easy
Walk 3 miles fast pace
Walk 70 mins intervals
Cross training 80 mins
Rest
Walk 10 miles slow pace
Walk 8 miles fast pace
5
Cross training easy
Walk 3 miles fast pace
Walk 5 miles medium pace
Cross training 60 mins
Rest
Walk 15 miles fartlek
Walk 6 miles medium pace
6
Cross training easy
Walk 5 miles medium pace
Walk 95 mins intervals
Cross training 90 mins
Rest
Walk 10 miles medium pace
Walk 8 miles fast pace
7
Cross training easy
Walk 5 miles medium pace
Walk 70 mins intervals
Cross training 90 mins
Rest
Walk 15 miles fartlek
Walk 10 miles medium pace
8
Cross training easy
Walk 5 miles medium pace
Walk 95 mins intervals
Cross training 90+ mins
Rest
Walk 10 miles medium pace
Walk 10 miles medium pace
9
Cross training very easy
Walk 3 miles fast pace
Walk 5 miles medium pace
Cross training 60 mins
Rest
Walk 15 miles fartlek
Walk 12 miles medium pace
10
Cross training very easy
Walk 3 miles fast pace
Walk 5 miles medium pace
Cross training 60 mins
Rest
Walk 20 miles medium pace
Walk 12-15 miles medium pace
Week
YOUR CLUB DETAILS HERE
(Image 6)
The more free and expert advice you pass onto them, the more respected your brand becomes to them. And when they are ready to join a gym, yours will be the first place they’ll think of, because you’ve already built that initial trust. It’s for this reason why it’s a good idea to include links on the bottom of these emails containing joining offers and appointments to book a tour/consultation. Don’t fall into the trap of just looking to sell memberships at the cheapest price and hope people bite. Take the time to build a relationship with your prospects from the start and they’ll be much more likely to reward you with their loyalty.
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Monthly League Table Top 3 Performing Facebook Campaigns
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Parkwood Health & Fitness (Spin the Wheel Competition) Target audience: Fitness Amount Spent = £200.00 Reach = 8,338 Click through rate = 3.49% Number of leads = 434 COST PER LEAD = £0.46 See Image 7 for Advert and Image 8 for Landing Page.
(Image 7)
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(Image 8)
2
Lordswood Leisure Centre (Children School Holiday Offer) Target audience: Parents Amount Spent = £30.00 Reach = 1,554 Click through rate = 2.49% Number of leads = 10 COST PER LEAD = £3.00 See Image 9 for Advert and Image 10 for Landing Page.
(Image 9)
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(Image 10)
3
Champneys Health Club, Forest Mere (30 Summer Trial Offer) Target audience: Women 40+ Amount Spent = £100.00 Reach = 2,702 Click through rate = 2.26% Number of leads = 27 COST PER LEAD = £3.70 See Image 11 for Advert and Image 12 for Landing Page.
(Image 11)
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(Image 12)
Fitness industry average click through rate for Facebook adverts – 1.01%. (ref: Wordstream.com June 2019)
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Running a Body Analysis Campaign Know Your Numbers
We’ve discussed in previous editions of Fitness Club Gold how important Member Retention is to your club. This means offering engaging and attractive offers/programmes to your customers. We’ve covered things like Personal Training and Small Group Exercise Offers, but what about Body Analysis…
Know Your Numbers Giving your members the chance, for a limited time only, to get a comprehensive Body Analysis check for free is something we have found to be a very enticing offer. For one client club in Weston-super-Mare, they were able to get nearly 200 members to put their hands up for their body checks during a specific time period, see Image 13 and 14.
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(Image 13)
(Image 14)
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It’s an opportunity for members to get free, expert advice and testing on such things as:
• Body Composition • Nutrition • Exercise • DNA The result of all this to the member is not only does it give them a better understanding of their current plight, but it makes them more likely to be motivated to do something about it if they can see the facts for themselves, see Image 15.
• Helps increase motivation • More likely to invest in personal training at your club
• More likely to show an interest in any nutrition/diet programmes you have
• More likely to invest in any special
(Image 15)
fitness programmes you may have (e.g. 6-Week Transformation Programme)
You can see how offering one free service for a limited time can eventually lead to a more motivated and happier member at your club. And with that, comes more opportunity for you to profit from their willingness to get fitter.
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Part 2 Referrals: The Customer Multiplier System
1
Quarterly Voucher Offers This is a “bundle� promotion where a group of individual offers such as 30-day membership term, group exercise classes, PT sessions, Family swim session, Joining Discount voucher are packaged together on a single promotional card and sold at a compelling price. The vouchers can be used by the buyer or given to friend’s family and colleagues to sample the club. This vehicle can be used as a fund raiser and the vouchers sold to members at an even better price for them to sell on or donate to friends. The other referral strategies are to use them as a simple introductory offer for local company employees or as a charity fundraiser where members can sell these vouchers on behalf of a community sports team, or community group and the cause retains the revenue from the voucher sales, see Image 16.
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(Image 16)
The benefit for the fitness club is that the vouchers are being distributed for them free of charge, there is a good will factor of supporting local causes as well as a very good source of qualified leads when a prospect comes to club to activate one or more of the vouchers.
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Speak to Groups No matter where you live there are dozens of groups, clubs, and organisations who will have gladly have you along to present your fitness Club. – So long as you are not tedious and dull they’ll have you back time and time again. Typical venues are garden centres (which have their own gardening clubs), church groups, WI, British Legion and many more. The idea is that you attend the event, give a short informative and compelling presentation to the group and then make an irresistible offer at the end, see Image 17. (You can tie this idea with The Voucher Card promotion or the Digital Leadbox System. Both promotions work great).
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(Image 17)
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Become “Resident Counsel” on Fitness Reach out to your membership and see if you can get opportunities to Involve yourself with bigger local businesses and offer to talk to their staff or act as a free Exercise consultant and offer advice to their staff. The idea is to create a free or low-cost offer which the employees of the business can avail themselves of. In return, the business itself agrees to promote your club to its employees. By using your existing membership to provide the “in” you save considerable time and effort.
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4
Formal Referral Organisations Let’s not forget the formal business referral clubs and breakfast meeting networks like BNI and the Chamber of Commerce networking events. These are often worth joining for Clubs. However, treat it like any other marketing activity and test it. The thing to bear in mind about these groups and clubs is you’re involving yourself to grow your business and not have a jolly. Ensure that you have a compelling message to say and a simple offer to gain traction.
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Weekly One Night Member Referral Desks One of the simplest and most effective methods of referral lead acquisition. On a repeating cycle, each week have a set time when you set up a desk in the gym with a clear sign stating Referral Offer available for one day only. Then have a special offer for the friend’s family and colleagues of the members who give up names in that promotion. To power up the promotion even more, advertise the referral desk nights in newsletters, emails, texts and posters around the club.
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Digital Lead Box System This is what we call an offline to Online promotion. Brilliant for collecting leads and getting awareness of your club in your local area. Here’s how it works. Think about the nature of the people who usually become members of your club and identify the type of shops, pubs, clubs and clinics that they go to. Once you have a list of potential venues your prospects go to approach the proprietors of those units and ask them if you can place one of your Digital Leadboxes in their reception or on the public facing counter or writing room, see Image 18. (Image 18)
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The lead box is an A4 stand up Perspex advert for your club with the headline of WIN A FREE MEMBERSHIP. Embedded in the artwork is a special invisible code which when the prospect scans the artwork, the code registers the phone and automatically takes the prospect online to a landing page where they can enter a competition. Better still you capture the name, mobile and email address of the prospect and it also complies with GDPR legislation so that you can use the data in future promotional activity.
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Raffle Prize Draws You have probably often been asked about donating gifts for auction and raffles. Here’s how to maximise the opportunity. Firstly, ensure that your members are aware that you positively encourage them to ask you for raffle prizes or auction items for good local causes they make fel strongly about. This builds a degree of loyalty to the club by the members for the goodwill you have shown. Create some off the shelf products that you can present ready packaged to give the best impression of your club to anyone that sees it. For example, you may use the voucher card idea or a crafted letter of introduction. Don’t forget to maximise the option by stacking the letter with publicity that build your authority. Newsletters and guides of ow you help new members re valuable assets for this purpose. Hers a final but by no means irrelevant strategy when donating gifts for auction. Instruct the organisation that when your item is presented that they Must-read out the words on the printed sticker that is on the outside of the envelope. “ The next prize is a 42-day Body Transformation Programme donated by Gym and Tonic Fitness Club. Gym and Tonic is Stafford’s only Award-Winning Family fitness club. Gym and Tonic specialises in being the friendliest and most welcoming of all clubs in the area with a well-earned reputation for speedy transformation programmes for beginners and for men and women restarting on a regular exercise regime after some time out. ” You can tweak the words to suit your own USP and advantage but hopefully you understand the psychology of the gift when it’s presented like this. The verbal statement increases the coverage of the gesture as now everyone in the room is aware not just the winner and the organiser. Sweat the asset is the unwritten rule here.
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Corporate Get More Active Scheme Earlier we touched on the benefit of getting your members to refer you into their employers once you are a trusted friend. The bigger organisations will potentially be right for Corporate memberships but all organisations when set up properly will have a commercial upside for you. Here’s how we suggest that you do it, see Image 19.
(Image 19)
The approach to your Members (email, text, letter, phone call etc.) “ We are taking part in a National Fitness Initiative to raise the number of people who are physically active. We are asking our members to help us get your colleagues involved by enrolling your company as a Corporate Get More Active Ambassador. The great news is that there is no charge at all to the company and we have agreed to sponsor up to 20% of your workforce for a 14-day Membership pass. Please can you let us know who we should contact at your workplace. ” Now you have acquired qualified contacts within several local companies you can now get in touch with. Explain to the new contact the scheme in exactly the same way and arrange a time you can visit to tie up details on how to get the offer out to the staff. Simples. Once the leads start to come to the club you can convert them like all your prospects and regularly go back to the company and reactivate the offer.
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Fitness at Home Scheme When you pitch the Corporate Active Scheme to companies there is an inescapable truth that you need to be completely mindful of. The current adult take up in gym memberships averages 15%. This means that if your targeted employer has 10 staff only 2 are likely to subscribe to your programme. There is also every possibility that some of staff members are already catered for or simply don’t live near your Club and couldn’t therefor use it. Despite this, there is still work to do and benefit to be had. The “Fitness at Home scheme” is designed for all prospects who are very unlikely to use your club for whatever reason. You instead will offer them “paid for” services that they can access via the internet and use at home or take with them to another club of choice. This promotion is about monetising your effort whether they become members or not, see Image 20. Heres are some of the areas that we have seen successful revenues generated from:
• Downloadable walking programmes • Online fitness coaching programmes • Online diet and exercise programmes • Nutritional evaluation • 21 Pre-Gym Programmes • Iron Tribe – Online Exercise support for men over 40 • Pre-and Post Natal coaching
(Image 20)
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12 Days of Xmas Member Offer Christmas is a time of opportunity for fitness clubs. December is traditionally quiet and usage patterns are broken by the festive season which can be detrimental to retention. You send out 2 special 12 days of Xmas passes to your current members as a festive gift from the club). It has a perceived financial benefit so ensure that you quote the value o the promotion as it adds to the authenticity. Members can give the passes to whoever they want, and the pass holder can use the club for 12 consecutive days from the first day of use. A lot of members will use it for returning sons and daughters from university or Xmas house guests so membership conversion is unlikely from these users but don’t neglect the good will you have created that it engenders for the member and this feeling will be repaid in full in the new year with more profitable referrals.
Summary Having devoured the contents of this report I just want to give you a summary of what you need to do. Your most overriding mission is to create and to advertise your Referral Mission statement in every communication that you do. Emphasise that the club is special because it is largely formed from the friends of your current customers. Here’s your script: “ This protects the special atmosphere that exists, and we hope you will do everything to uphold it by introducing the club to your friends. ” So now you have established that the members must take responsibility for driving new business, you must also make it easy for them to do so. This is engineered with the help of good systems and processes.
• Timetable well in advance the referral events. • Manage the processes effectively. • Make it very easy for your current customers to access the online and offline tools to make the introductions for you.
If you take the time to implement most of these strategies, think of the saving you will make in your marketing budget? It’s got to be the number 1 marketing focus of all fitness clubs.