Ta l k b ac k
BREAKING NEWS Neil Randall has been appointed CEO of Train More and Clubsportive at Urban Gym Group See page 24 for more details
Neil Randall
photo: Anytime Fitness
The majority of gym members still need coaching and support
Anytime Fitness
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Issue 9 2022 ©Cybertrek 2022
wider population, staffless gyms project the opposite impression. The majority of the population are under-equipped with knowledge when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle, and staffless gyms wouldn’t give them the necessary coaching, motivation and support to make lifestyle changes. Furthermore, research from within our sector has shown many people are intimidated by setting foot in the gym, something staffless gyms would heighten when visitors are faced with a room of equipment they don’t know how to use. For a mid-market operator, such as ourselves, a key selling point is the availability of highly-trained teams and personalised coaching, so a move to going staffless is going completely in the wrong direction. A key part of our future strategy is transitioning our clubs to an employed coach model, meaning coaches would spend more time within the club and are able to build greater relationships with our members.
photo: Anytime Fitness
T
he industry has been heading in this direction for a while, removing the membership advisor role in favour of driving online joiners. Although Anytime Fitness clubs are unstaffed overnight this isn’t something we’re looking to extend into the daytime hours, as coaching, community and culture are such integral parts of our member experience. Consumer feedback has shown there’s still so much value in having a friendly team present to welcome members and provide support and our feedback reveals members consistently rank the friendliness and performance of our teams as one of the highest metrics. Over time I think staffless gyms would lessen the appeal of the fitness industry by simply providing a facility for people to exercise in, when we should be more of a hospitality-focussed industry. At a time when our sector is striving to demonstrate its essential status to the government and the
Our sector is striving to demonstrate its essential status. Staffless gyms project the opposite impression