Gym matters special launch issue1 2p

GymMatters Fitness Club Success Newsletter ӹӹ 4M Marketing The Results Triangle ӹӹ “The Offer Library“ - The 12 Most Powerful Types of Joining Offers ӹӹ The “WEAR THE SHIRT” Promotion - Engage with your members! ӹӹ Boost Your Sales through a better Understanding of your Customer ӹӹ The Fitness Gift Cards - An Essential Club Marketing Tool ӹӹ The 5 Phase Sales Accelerator Model - Phase 1 “Indoctrination” ӹӹ The Art of “Building Fitness Service Programmes”

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Online Lead Generation

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4M Marketing The Results Triangle All of your successful Club marketing strategies will be largely governed by your ability to manage these 3 key factors that make up the Results Triangle.

What is important to note from the diagram is that the sides of the triangle are identical in length. This is relevant because it underlines the point that all 3 factors are equally important to the success of your promotion in equal measure.

The wrong message to the right market is likely to fail in the same way as is the right message being delivered to the wrong market. Equally the media choice is vital. A strong relevant message delivered to a receptive market is doomed to fail if the media you are using is not popular with the audience that you have selected to receive the offer. It's an important consideration when you are promoting Online particularly to older target groups whose Internet use is not as extensive as younger audiences.

Let us look at these 3 components in greater detail and how as a Fitness Club operator you should be utilising these opportunities.

1. The Audience or Market you aim your particular campaign at.

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2. The Media. The vehicle(s) either online offline or both that you deploy to relay the message to your chosen audience 3. The Message itself .What are you trying to achieve?

Let’s analyse these 3 in more detail.

Your 5 most important Fitness Club Audiences :

1.

Prospects

The collective term for people who haven’t become customers

yet but have shown some degree of interest in joining your club.

What has been fascinating for us to observe over the years is that the “gestation period” for prospects to join a club that they have shown an interest in has lengthened .People can take a considerable amount of time and number of contacts before they are ready to commit.

Potential customers are often referred to as either “skimmers or divers“.

“Divers are people who are interested in joining if they are handled correctly and are receptive to joining offers. ”Skimmers”on the other hand are less interested .They do respond to online promotions (by giving up there email address and contact details) because of the relative ease of doing so,and the lack of emotional investment involved.

However they are much less likely to convert in this current state .Its important to mention that regardless of whether a prospect is a “skimmer or a diver” now; it is not necessarily a fixed condition and one can interchange randomly with the other. Clubs need to understand this in devising successful conversion strategies and an effective prospecting system.

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I hope that the point is clear that segmentation is therefore vital as differing strategies are going to be needed in both the message and the media to move the process along.

The first obvious area of segmentation is the assessment of a prospects likelihood to join • Hot – A prospect relationship between day 1 – 14 • Warm , relationship between day 15 – 29 • Cold - Prospect relationship Day 30 onwards In addition to the prospect history criterion, the other area of segmentation is going to be demographics. Differentiating between age bands and gender types. Clearly attractive messages to a female audience over 50 years old are likely to significantly less interesting to young male experienced exerciser prospects. Similarly experienced exercisers of whatever age are going to respond less well to messages highlighting service programmes for “new to fitness” prospects so psycho-graphic factors are also important considerations when you are designing a campaign.

2 New Members

This is a vital and often under developed audience where fitness clubs are concerned.

They are new to the club. Perhaps even new to an exercise regime.

They have “crossed the river “to the commitment phase and are excited buyers. Once the purchasing has started, then it is a relatively ascension process to get an excited new purchaser to buy additional products and services if delivered via the right message and medium. In next month’s edition we will talk about the type of communications that work best for this group and how to monetise most effectively the opportunity.

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3. Existing Members

We have witnessed a trend to ignore customers once they stop Obviously this group represents coming regularly, on the precept the dominant volume audience that to alert them to the fact will that a club operator only drive them has access to (some “Divers are people to cancel. “The prospect data bases who are interested in sleeping member become very large too joining .. dilemma” as we call as do ex. member’s ”Skimmers”on the it. databases) but this other hand are more As with everything should be the most interested ... marketing wise profitable area for Club the key is in the marketing. metrics …measure the impact Our number one of regular communication and recommendation to Club owners, non-communication in terms of when evaluating how to help lifetime retention, renewal rates them increase profits is always and your answer will lie in the the same. Maximise the lifetime results of that study. value of your current members.

The other consideration if your The money has already been communicating to renewing spent in acquiring the member members is to be solely around so everything additionally that the contract renewal date, is how they purchase is straight to the long after the non-renewal do you bottom line with no overhead stay in contact, how and what as costs attached. Don’t be guilty of well as the lead in time, offers and leaving thousands of pounds of renewal tactics. secondary revenue on the table!

The key to the game is to invent a In future editions we will be covering specific renewal bundle of products and services strategies that you can swipe and that you can retail and up-sell deploy in your own club. to the group. A decent CRM system will allow you then to track who buys what and to 5. Lapsed Members therefore segment any up-sell This is another underdeveloped or cross sell promotions that audience and as a previous you run. Certainly we would buyer they are much more always suggest that you analyse receptive to your messages your Club Member Spend and than “cold prospects”. Not only identify, as a key group, your top do they convert well to re25 annual spenders, and your top joining offers but they also have 100 spenders as specific segment built up (over there active life groups worthy of focussed term) a degree of trust in your development, nurturing and business and a recognition of retention. your “authority“ as a business to buy additional services and products not necessarily club 4. Renewal Members membership orientated. We What makes the winners have seen many operators make stand out from the also runs considerable income from “at in fitness club success is home programmes “ and virtual this understanding of the personal coaching programmes Results triangle and applying it bought by this Ex member successfully to each of the key audience. audiences. Renewing members need a different and more In the next issue we will be sophisticated approach than looking at the message and the other groups. There are a describing the 9 Key Themes of number of decisions that Clubs the “Message”component of the need to take when deciding how “Marketing Results Triangle“ to communicate with this group.

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Leadership

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“The Offer Library“ The 12 most Powerful Types of Joining Offers in Fitness Club Marketing

We’ve all been there.

We’ve run a really strong promotional offer with a pressured close out. The month ends well (with a big push on the final weekend!) and you’ve managed to achieve your sales target. The following week though, nothing much happens.

It’s a veritable sales vacuum!

is how to maximise the latent demand that inevitably lingers on post promotion so that you can fully maximise your campaign?

The answer lies in utilising different but equally compelling tactics to keep your customers in the buying frame of mind.

Common Occurrence Isn't It?

Here is our "Offer Library" – 12 Ways that you can inspire commitment in your prospects.

A reasonable volume of last month’s “interested” prospects responded to your marketing, knew of the offer, but failed to sign up in time.

Even though they’ve missed the “Close out deadline”, they’re probably still “Hot” on the prospect spectrum but on no account are they joining without a compelling offer. Their ego wouldn’t dream of it!

So the question for all operators Special Launch Issue

1. Accelerated Start memberships

Big in the USA, not so widely utilised yet in the UK. The monthly membership fee is severely discounted for the

first 2- 3 months and then the fee automatically triggers to the normal rate after the promotional period.

Very useful in encouraging starters in more off peak months

(October – December)

2.Waiting List Offers

You do need some guts for this one!

This promotion works best when you are getting close to capacity or you’re just being incredibly brave.

The market must buy the idea that your club is going to be full 5

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4. Extended Term memberships ◊ 15/12 ◊ 18/12 ◊ 24/12

and then a waiting list will be initiated and members accepted on a one in, one out basis.

The power of this promotion is in the “authority “that the promotion gives the club.

It is also gives the membership team the ultimate hurry up close...” I can get you in but I need you to pop down and do the paperwork in the next 48 hours or the rules are, we will offer the place to the next name on the list!

In the eyes of the prospects, “You must be a really good club to be close to filling up – I’ll check it out" or "I don’t want to miss out on the best club and have to join a lesser club so I’ll react now.“

3. Term Membership Discounts

These are typically 10/30/42 day term memberships used as a lowcommitment offer to attract leads to join.

Membership conversions are attempted at the point of sale

transaction, during the term and at the end to more formal membership options.

If a club is having trouble attracting prospects to visit the Club then this is a useful strategy. Its widely used in the summer for returning Students and for prospects looking for a quick fix pre-holiday programme.

Care must be taken to avoid a conflict with the membership rates of subscribing members.

The solution is to put restrictions on the term such as making it a Weekend Warrior membership available only Saturday and Sunday, by time of day (only available before 6pm Monday – Friday) or adding value to the term in the way of instructor support, resources, and supervision.

The offer is dependent on the customer paying a minimum of 12 payments before receiving the bonus ‘free time’ Although it IS a discounting option, what’s really attractive about this tactic is that the

financial give-aways are at the back end of the membership – when you have had all of your fees in advance!

We have used these very successfully for years and can also testify that once the free period is used so many re-join on full rates.

5. Deferred start memberships

‘Join today Pay nothing more until January’

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46-56 High Street Godalming, Surrey GU7 1DY

Gym Matters

info@godalmingfitness.co.uk 0148 341 8775 www.godalmingfitness.co.uk

8. Free trial Start ups

Taking Too Much Luggage to the Beach This Year ?

‘Try our club with a 7/14/21/30 day Complimentary membership’.

Get Your Summer Body

In just 6 weeks

Announcing a brand new exercise formula to shed those unwanted pounds, and build an energy packed and youthful toned body in just 42 days! √ 6 Week membership √ Personal consultation

√ Fitness assessment (optional)

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√ Programme card service

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√ New member pack

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√ Exercise programme session

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No cash changes hands so it can be a risky and expensive policy if the club offers a full induction service to trial lists that subsequently don’t join.

Our feeling is that this type of offer attracts a “tourist”, more difficult to convert to membership. Similarly, you have no opportunity to test your price level acceptance and a

√ Dietary analysis

9. Cash Back Schemes

√ Abs blast on the hour

Recently we have seen this grow in popularity to counter act “joining fee issues” The customer pays the Club joining fee but the subscription portion has a delayed start.

Its technically a discount off the front end of the commitment and used predominantly by clubs who want to price test the impact of a joining fee or at traditionally quiet times of the year such as November where they “butt” this type of offer alongside a Joining fee discount or a Extended term membership.

The full joining fee is levied but the monthly subscription has a delayed trigger.

Sign up in the club or Call us membership 7. Bulk 0148 341 8775Discounts These are straight forward,

6. Added Value Offers

Join today – win a Car! No discounts. The offer is value added to sweeten the acquisition of the full joining fee or membership.

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volume saver appeals. ◊ 2 for the Price of 1 ◊ BOGOF ◊ Buy 1 Get 1 50 % off ◊ Buy 1 Get 1 33% off

The offer is based on a full settlement of the first membership triggering the discount on the subsidiary.

These are used as seasonal promotions such as Christmas offers, Valentine’s Day offers for couples predominantly, but can be used all year round as a supplement to other promotions.

Clubs have used the Cash back idea to try to encourage new members into an active pattern of use which will make them more likely to stay as members.

“Train 14 times in your first 6 week and we will refund your joining fee!”

This helps membership staff overcome the price point objection at the front end of the transaction.

This can also be used as a benefit of renewal in Month 13.

We refund your joining fee on renewal as a thank you from us!

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10. Money back Guaranteed memberships

Membership DEED

The offer is a customer satisfaction driven one. Time frames between 7 and 30 days can be used as a cooling off period.

The use of Guarantees builds credibility and authority. We think it shows a level of confidence that allows Clubs to charge more and retain professionalism.

01903 205000 Members Name

24 Month Full Service

Unlimited Access 7 days per week to Gym and Classes The fee represented by this deed is partially transferable but not refundable.

They can be used against the start up feelings of a membership 14 day Money Back guarantee Against certain parts of the membership …

Renewal Date

Signed on behalf of

IMPORTANT DOCUMENT!!! Do not destroy.

11. Group offers

A myriad of ideas on how to make this type of scheme work.

Corporate groups are common although corporate NOT HAPPY WITH YOUR MEMBERSHIP...? memberships WE’LL GIVE YOU YOUR MONEY BACK, NO QUESTIONS ASKED. are more difficult to sell outside Member Name E MON Y BA the bigger Cities where Date Joined: company size days AR Signed up by: is smaller and ANTEE the take up is reduced.

More recently customer simply pays a small Stirling Leisure Trust permitted admin fee and inherits your any groups of 4 to take advantage membership of a group discount. The rider was that 1 person takes responsibility The whole membership residual for payment and that the scheme can be transferred for a fee. is transferable to the 3 other We have seen this particularly participants. profitably used by clubs retailing different sorts of cash generative 2 or 3 year membership offers.

12. Discounted Joining The transferable condition Fees reduces significantly the barrier The most common and widely to entry. used strategies The Joining Fee certificate can be sold on and you retain the revenue from that. The new

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◊ Nil joining fee ◊ 50% off ◊ No Joining Fee and your first month free In order to add some “gamification” to the scheme introduce some sort of light hearted activity to determine the level of Joining Fee discount once the customer has agreed to join The school fete classic activity “Spin The Wheel “– with various discounts dependant on the wheel stops is a very visual and fun aid for this Join Us this week and Spin the Wheel - Discounts of up to £100 THIS WEEK ONLY! Where Clubs can’t get hold of or build a wheel,then we suggest “Pop and Win!” In the “Pop N’ Win alternative, balloons replace the wheel and each balloon has a number in it.

Each number relates to a specific level of Joining Fee Discount that the member will receive.

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Fitness

Gym Matters

The “WEAR THE SHIRT” Promotion A Member Engagement Promotion When Wellington Health & Fitness Club Commercial Services manager Ian Davis, sat down to devise this promotion, there were a number of objectives he was looking to achieve He was looking to devise, first and foremost a Club recognition scheme for his members that would give them a series of ongoing training targets to aim for, incentivise and increase visits, and improve the already excellent retention rates at his club.

advertising their results online to further establish Wellington Fitness Clubs growing “authority” in the community and provide valuable “social proof” as to the efficacy of the club. ( Ian felt that this was key in the Club marketing strategy as they were a premium club in the area charging significantly higher membership rates than there immediate competition).

He also wanted to create a reason to connect with his current 2700 members and find out whether any of them would benefit from this style of In addition, he Ian based the reprogramming wanted something promotion session. (They didn’t that could be methodology on the have to have take launched to help proven theories, advantage but Ian new members that notably the S.M.A.R.T was keen to see if were starting out his members really who needed a little motivation theory. did “want to do their bit more support own thing” or were interested and instruction with a more formalised programming system. in a different programming protocol). He was also keen to (A way for new starters to have “wake up sleeping members their training sessions tracked with a positive intervention." and exercise gains measured The promotion would help to in the critical first 42 days of re- engage customers who had membership). either recently stopped visiting or had lost the motivation to train.

A by product of the more Finally he was also keen for his controlled visible programming fitness staff to utilise a ready system was that it was hoped made reason to reconnect to easily identify, those who had with the existing members, achieved the most significant establish enhanced levels of improvements with a view to Special Launch Issue

expertise (using the programming component of the promotion) and build more relationships with members they hadn’t previously come into contact with.

The “Wear the Shirt” Concept Ian based the promotion methodology on the proven theories, notably the S.M.A.R.T motivation theory.

The S.M.A.R.T theory says that members are motivated by a principle, best described by description using the S.M.A.R.T acronym.

S – That members MUST have a very SPECIFIC GOAL to achieve to be motivated.

M – That the goal must be MEASURABLE so that its obvious to the that success is on the horizon and confidence is derived from compliance to the system A – The goal must be ACHIEVABLE - ( This promotion was about Club visit frequency)

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R -The goal must be REALISTIC. This promotion involved HOW many times the customers used the Club in a fixed period and was expressively designed to enable members to succeed.

T – The SMART theory concludes that the “goal” must be TIME-BANDED to retain motivation. If the achievement of the Goal is too distant then it acts as a disincentive (for example losing a stone in weight by next year doesn’t incentivise as powerfully as the promise of dropping a dress size within 8 weeks.

(The considered window of maximum motivation is generally considered to be 4 – 8 weeks) The final consideration was the “prize for completion”. In addition to the underpinning SMART theory, well documented research into recognition and customer association schemes were considered and “The Wear the Shirt Campaign” was finalised.

The prize was to be a Club T shirt this was to be UNIQUE to the programme.

The shirt couldn’t be bought if members hadn’t achieved the goal and they looked significantly different to any other “for sale” garment that the club retailed.

It was in essence the uniform of the “Wear the Shirt Graduates” and Wellington hoped that the shirts would be worn in the Club (as a personal badge of honour) as well as being seen in general wear around the community (providing free promotional coverage for the Club!)

The Nitty Gritty A Special Programme Card was devised for use by participant.

It covered 14 exercise sessions with the aim to achieve completion within 42 days of starting the promotion.

(The club felt that exercising 2- 3 times per week would generate the scale of physiological benefits needed to encourage members. The target visits in the 6 week time banded programme was therefore 12- 18 sessions.

14 was considered OK and was used as the target number as the level deemed to be a reasonable volume for the majority of members to achieve regardless of lifestyle.

Members completed details of there workouts on each visit. Logging the intensity and results.

The Programme Protocol A) The Cardio- Vascular programme Duration -20 -30 minutes 10

Machines – 1- 4 machines Heart Rate – 55- 85% HRM dependant on fitness level and history (The programme intensity designed to facilitate exercising within the heart rate range. Once the heart rate fell below the range so the intensity was increased to ensure that the member exercised within the prescribed level).

B) Resistance Programme 8-10 Machines 1-3 sets dependant on exercise history and fitness level 6 seconds per repetition 8 – 12 reps per set.

(Once 12 reps were achieved with good form so the resistance was increased by 5%).

Members to receive a new exercise programme to follow over a 6 week period.

Members to achieve a milestone of exercising 14 times in a maximum 42 day period.

The achievement of the 14 workout milestone to be recognised by the award of a Club branded T shirt and the member celebrated on a variety of the Club media.

The promotion to be monitored by using a programme card designed to trace both the usage of the customer and the physiological improvements of the exercise programme being followed.

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Retention Gym MattersStrategies

Understand your Customer and Boost Your Sales!

Not all customers are the same.

They are individuals and they belong to tribes. Tribes have characteristics, backgrounds experiences and motivations that link them and make them different. It's only by understanding the nature of these tribes and the individuals within them that Clubs can run effective sales, marketing and service systems.

This diagram represents the Customer Quadrant.

This is a really critical theory and the theory goes that all customers, all prospects sit on this graph in one of the 4 quadrants, according to their characteristics on two criterion.

The first thing is the level of selfmotivation that a customer has Special Launch Issue

Their enhanced motivation to exercise can come from a number of areas. It could be

and really getting hold of their own exercise regime is a way of gaining that level of control they think they need. Now why the source of their motivation is important is because they’re going to be a psychologically different animal to deal with than if it’s a very positive reason for their motivation. So if you’re going to be really successful in membership sales you’ve got to understand the key drivers of why prospects are in front of you in the first place. The fact that they’re highly motivated provides a different challenge (and presentation) than if they’re very low in their motivation and they need you to provide that.

Now the second area that is going to define where people sit on the grid, is their level of experience. And by ‘experience’ we mean they’re confidence to self-manage their whole visits

really positive, in that they just want to look after themselves, or it could be rooted in something negative. The doctor says, ‘If you don’t train you’re going to die.’ It could be that their partner left them and what tends to happen when people suffer some sort of emotional problem like that is they decide they’re going to get in control and joining a gym

to the club. If you took all of the fitness staff and everybody out of the club and your new customer was just left alone, how capably would they survive and succeed?

Do they know enough to be completely familiar with how to work the equipment?

That is the first thing that a fitness club has got to do with its new customer; they’ve got

and the second is the level of experience the prospect has of self-determined exercise in your club.

So in Quadrant TWO & THREE, these people are really motivated for whatever reason. People like you; they’ve just always liked the idea of staying in shape, looking after themselves.

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to make them familiar with the equipment and one of the key reasons that people leave clubs is they simply don’t understand how to work the equipment they’re paying for!

So we’ve got two key things that we’ve got to do when we’re persuading people about joining your fitness clubs. You’ve got to persuade them that the education they’re going to receive in order to understand this and be able to use it without your help is going to be good enough for them. And they will look back to how they were at school and the problems they had at school and the problems they had with gaining knowledge and they will be thinking about that.

Now equipment familiarisation on its own not going to be enough to satisfy all, because just the fact that you can turn treadmills on and off is not going to get you fitter. What they also need to understand is some degree of exercise science. They’re going to need to know how the exercise programme is put together, why it was put together, what it is going to achieve, because when people don’t get that, they’re not as motivated, and they need to really understand.

The third thing that’s really key in order to making people feel very, very comfortable because that’s the other benefit of experience.

They feel really comfortable. It’s like their second home coming to your club, and they must have built relationships with not just 14

staff but other members. They feel part of the club and they know people, people talk to them, they’re known by name.

And yet, surprisingly, when you look at most fitness clubs, we set it all up as a one-to-one experience. Your inductions are one-to-one, your sales process is one-to-one and you’ve just got to ask yourself, ‘Is that the right way to do for everybody? Are there better ways that we could do it?’

The other thing that the Clubs need to provide in order for people to get this degree of experience is they must be familiar with how everything works on site. So site familiarity and we’re talking here about

booking, about how to book classes if that’s what they’re interested in, how to use their lockers, whether it’s coin return, all that sort of stuff which makes people tense if they don’t know.

So we end up with four distinct quadrants.

Let’s discuss those in more detail.

So we’ll start up here in Quadrant Two - 2. So we have got highly motivated people but whose level of experience, whose level of knowledge about equipment, about exercise science, they don’t know anything about the

staff or members because they’ve not joined yet and obviously they know nothing about the site and its booking system. So these are highly motivated but low experience; these are beginners but they come to your club and they’re desperate to change the shape of their body, they’re going to make a lifestyle change but they know, they don’t know, anything about these areas.

Now they require a different handling and a different sales solution to a Quadrant Three prospect. And the Quadrant Three prospect is somebody who is highly experienced, they’ve been members of lots of fitness clubs before, they are thoroughly conversant with the science of exercise, they know their programme they know the way they like to exercise and they’re highly motivated.

So the way that these people are going to buy, the sort of things these people are interested in is completely different to those people for Quadrant THREE 3. These people want to know that you’ve got the facilities that they need at the price they want to pay. They’re not interested in the way that you induct your new customers or all the service issues that you’ve got because largely they’ve covered that, they know all that stuff. So the thing that I want you to get across is that there are lots of different sales propositions to be made and in order to make them you’ve got to understand where people sit on the Customer Quadrant Matrix.

Now the two that we’ve already Special Launch Issue

Gym MattersStrategies Retention

quoted are different to the two that we haven’t. Let’s look at Quadrant Fours - 4. Again highly experienced but struggling with motivation’, these individuals are serial re-joiners of fitness clubs.

And like I’ve discussed they go away on holiday, they put on a stone, they stop going, they get frustrated, they leave. January comes they re-join a fitness club and it’s a completely cyclic way that they operate until somebody is smart enough to think, ‘If we really look after these people and really motivate them what happens to them is that we actually get them into Quadrant Three through our motivational programmes.’ Stable members, staying forever!

they’re dragged screaming by other people who are in other quadrants. Couples, family memberships, that sort of thing, February Valentine offers, and lots of clubs do those, and sometimes you will get these people appearing then. There is nothing you can do with them because at this moment they don’t care and you can’t do anything until people care.

Now what’s going to change is something like they have a medical scare,

here that drives people into a low motivated four. What sort of things could possibly happen?

Normally it’s a change in the member’s patterns of usage.

Most people adopt a ritualistic programme that suits. A group exercise class on a Tuesday and a Thursday and a run Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and that all works well until Member who well call Karyn gets an injury. And then Karyn hasn’t been or hasn’t run for a few months and now she starts to feel slightly heavier and she starts to feel, ‘Oh my

partnership breakdown, something like that and then suddenly they become these beginners in Quadrant Two, these enlightened beginners.

So you’ll see how prospects and members move around the grid.

So once we’re over here in Two , if we educate people properly they come along and they end up as a stable Quadrant Three.

Now what can happen in this grid here, stable threes who know what they’re doing, who like the club, who’ve settled in, who understand what’s going on, they know people, what can change

word I’ll never be as fit as I was,’ and that starts to weigh heavy and suddenly her motivation wanes and now she drops down to Quadrant Four. And similarly for many who take group exercise, your friend who you used to go with stops going and the Club changes the teacher and that affects the way you feel about the class and you start to look for another class but you can’t do it at the time you want it. And suddenly your pattern of usage changes and you’ve dropped out.

Now most of the time Clubs don’t

And

clubs should think about, not only joining these people up but supporting them longer term because there’s a greater good. If you remember those three things that make money, signing more members, staying longer, buying more programmes.

Now we’ve left the Quadrant Ones - 1 until last because they are very low on motivation and they’ve very low on experience.

They’ve never joined a club before, they don’t know and they don’t care. Now they’re on this grid only because they will come to your club normally if Special Launch Issue

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know this is happening.

Wouldn’t it be a great thing if they did?

So what we need to do here is we need to track people. That is the mission for any well run fitness club that once they get their members into this Quadrant Three zone they track them to make sure they’re still using it, their pattern of usage is not changing and that they’re still a comfortable regular attending member.

Down here in Quadrant Four we need to motivate. And we’ll look at the ways that we could motivate people.

Over here in Quadrant Two we need to educate. And if we do all those things then there’s a chance that we will keep members longer, they will be happier and if members are happy and they’re staying longer, they refer there friends.

And if they refer we sell more memberships because the lion’s share of all members is sold on word of mouth.

Clubs have got a choice, they can either run a brilliant service and get a very positive word of mouth or they don’t do such a great job, and instead they play around with offers on the joining fee and new members can say, ‘Well I paid £40.00 last week to join but today it’s only £20.00.’ And they can run the risk that members who paid the most money suddenly doesn’t want to refer their friends anymore because they’ve lost that little bit of trust and you’ve just got to ask yourself, ‘Was that such a great promotion?’

So, the customer quadrant is the critical thing and from the results of the customer quadrant it determines the way that you present your membership proposition to individual customers.

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The first thing that stands out is how do we get the intelligence to know where our customer sits on this grid?

there will be on the price quoted.

This holds true whatever the sum and whatever the competitive market rates.

Once we’ve done that we need to do a thing called qualification and qualification is the intelligence gathering. It’s how you know all about your customer.

Now obviously you’re going to have to show them around the Club facilities but I think what’s happened over the last decade is that the tour is no longer as important as it once was historically. Most Clubs are excellent in terms of facilities and equipment. Everything you see in this club, the gyms, the exercise studies, the spinning rooms are available at another club for a fraction of the price of yours potentially– but what’s not readily available and which is your point of differentiation, is the quality and range of members services that you get

?? Where do they sit on that quadrant? ?? What sort of things are they interested in? ?? What facilities might they be interested in? What’s their exercise history? ?? Is there anything negative that’s happened to them in the course of their exercise history that might stop them joining – that makes them really unduly worry about joining this club? ?? What sort of things might they like to hear? ?? What support will they need? ?? How quickly will they learn all the things they need to? ?? Would they prefer to train alone or as part of a group ? ?? Would they prefer a longer term membership or a shorter term?

Only when you interview prospects properly and you start to really understand them can you then prescribe the right membership. And only if the customer feels that you’ve got that level of understanding do they “believe” you when prescribe option for them.

It also applies when you quote the price. The more “Authority” you build, the fewer comebacks

at the club, the number of people who are available to train you, and whether these services are provided for you within the membership or at additional cost.

So understanding your customers is the key to both attraction, and retention and a systemised approach for interviewing to get that information should be a vital management role.

Like many things which govern Fitness Club Success, it requires a combination of a replicable and consistent system, staff training and coaching and management quantification. Measurement tools to analyse the process effectiveness.

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Lead Generation Offline

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The Fitness Gift Card Concept

Image Source www.creativeplasticcards.com.au/

Clubs print up plastic laminated cards with units of value printed on them.

For example a club may issue £25 gift cards and £100 denomination cards. The recipient of the Gift Card can redeem the value against the costs of joining your club. You decide denomination’s and conditions.

Gift Cards

Gift Cards are hands down one of the most straight forward and powerful marketing strategies available to Fitness Club owners.

Not only are they inexpensive, they are unbelievably powerful and they can be used in any number of ways. Your only limitation is your creativity .

Here are 12 ways you can utilise the Fitness Gift Card Promotion

Joining Incentives

When you incentivise a prospect to join, offering the standard first Special Launch Issue

month free or 50% off enrolment etc… is sure to sweeten the pot with 3 VIP Gift Cards they can give to their friend’s .Working out is a social event and they will be more likely to join if they can hook up their friends and family.

Member Referrals

I’ll bet you’re still handing your new members a plain old business card guest pass at the point of sale sin the vain hope that hey will give it to their friend? Imagine how much more perceived value a plastic gift card has. When the member hands their friend a £100 gift card with your Club details printed on it , the friend is much more likely to come in and use it because it has so much more perceived value associated with it. And of course if there friend ends up using the gift card they will receive a gift as well!

Fund-raisers

How many people approach your Club each month looking for

donations to auctions or donate something to their cause? Gift Cards are the perfect solution! Or you can take it one step further.

Reach out to the organisation such as the local junior soccer teams or scouts group or guides and brownie packs. Allow them to sell your £25 gift cards for £5 or £10. They can keep all the money they make and you get a group of qualified leads looking to redeem their cards in your Club. When the group sells the cards, they capture the buyer’s details so you can follow up whether they attend the club immediately or not!

Early Renewal Incentives As your members near the end of their membership term, you should consider doing an early renewal campaign .What better way to incentivize your members than by giving them a special 2 month free bonus card to use towards another term membership .

Referral Contest Give Always

We are always on the lookout for good ideas for referral contest.

Why not use gift cards for prizes and let the winners redeem them however they want. Member scan use the gift cards to redeem for personal Training , free time on their membership , to give as gifts to there friends to apply towards massage , spa treatments or any other profit centre that you might have.

Corporate Events and Health Fairs

Are lead boxes dead? Not if you combine them with a Fitness Gift Card Give-away!

You can collect names to give away a grand prize of something like a Free Annual membership.

For everybody who enters the draw they can receive a £50 gift card towards the cost of membership. Let’s assume your joining fee is £20 and your first 17

Membership Sales

Gym Matters

day membership card or 2 week card will get traffic through your doors.

Birthday Presents and Special Occasions

month is £30, you won’t lose money because many of your promotions will be zero joining fee and your first month free! This comes to about £50 so you’re not worse off and your customer thinks they are getting a deal.

Expired and cancelled members

It’s very likely that you have a stack of expired and cancelled members. It’s also very likely that the majority are still in town!

Put a gift card in the post to them along with a “We want you back so badly were prepared to pay you! Letter. A £100 gift card is often enough to get the exmember back again. Of course always follow up with a phone call. "Hi Mr Smith, I just wanted to follow up with you to see that you received our gift we sent you What day would you like to come in and redeem it?"

Prizes for Reaching Goals

Gift cards are the perfect way to congratulate and reward your members for their hard work.

You can give them a £50 gift card to any member who achieves success in your club recognition 18

programmes.

Christmas Presents/ Stocking Fillers

Gift cards are very inexpensive, so what you might want to do is a couple of designs with different denominations on them. For example, you might want to do is to use a £50 for existing member birthdays. But you might want to save the £100 gift cards for non-members. (since it could be applied to the joining fee). If you know someone’s birthday, how powerful would it be to send a nice letter with a gift card inset.

Telemarketing

Yes, business to business Everyone wants to give the gift telemarketing still works … of health at Xmas time. Sell and it works especially well your £100 gifts at 90% off. Your when combined with a gift card members will feel like they’re promotion. When you call a local getting a really super deal, you business to offer them something will make a little money off the special, offer them a £100 gift cards, and you will have tons of card just for answering the phone. referrals coming in. You could You can then arrange to visit the even announce this offer company and try to to your community as an retail or give-away The recipient of online promotion. Nonthe Gift Card can more gift cards to members can come in redeem the value the employees. and buy for their friends against the costs At a time when the and family (and likely industry is highly even themselves) .These of joining your competitive and its club. You decide make great stocking becoming harder fillers at Christmas time. denomination’s and harder to attract And for those that want and conditions. and close new to give a champagne members and clients gift on a beer budget … this promotion is they’ll look like they spent £10 simple to run and very powerful. when they actually only spent Aim to put out 1000 cards per £10! Perceived marketing at its month into your community and finest!! watch the impact that this has

Hand Out with Guest Passes

Instead of putting a pound value on your gift card, put a free membership on it. See how a 30

on your fitness business. Your return on investment will be huge and you will be able to sell more memberships, more personal training, and more boot camps, more everything immediately.

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Lead Generation Offline

Gym Matters

emails. The prospect will unsubscribe if there not happy and you can use email technology which shows who is looking at which emails. √√ Use a sales system (preferably online) that allows easy follow up and prospect management. √√ Promote Testimonials from your satisfied customers that the you and clubs in the same price claims you make stand up to point then your mission is to scrutiny.

INDOCTRINATE √√ Advertise results! Weight To convey an impression of your loss by our new members last club to the customer online week/month. Calories burnt which will stimulate the email this month. enquiry, the telephone or ideally √√Titles matter! Give your the appointment to tour. staff job titles that establish Here are the questions EXPERTISE. Replace “fitness you need to answer in the Instructor “with a specialism INDOCTRINATION phase online. like “Muscle Conditioning ◊ WHO are you aiming at?

Specialist “, Gym staff with ◊ WHAT is your U.S.P (UNIQUE “Fitness Guru”. Receptionist SELLING PROPOSITION)? with “Customer Service CoWhy should these Ordinator” .

Your mission is to √√ Utilise the facilities people join you? ◊ Explain HOW you INDOCTRINATE - on Google PLUS to deliver the U.S.P to To convey an establish AUTHORITY the people you are by member Club impression of aiming it at! reviews. your club to the ◊ Provide PROOF that customer √√ Utilise YELP! With you deliver it positive Club reviews So, the solution to √√ Be seen in your successful INDOCTRINATION is Community as The Go to as follows ( it’s a pretty complex “EXPERTS” in fitness phase so forgive us for simplifying √√Write articles for local it but hopefully you get the main websites, magazines and tenets of it blogs. √√ Test different ideas to get the √√Present regular webinars on most Effective data capture health and fitness issues of prospects details online. √√Create an “At Home Fitness Give away FREE information Service” (programme service, in exchange for a prospects nutrition advice, home email address equipment consultancy) for √√ Create Video and audio people who are not ready / representation of your club, interested to join you YET ! and the STORY of your how √√Focus on ONLY ONE your club works for people like COURSE of ACTION at the THEM! conclusion of the phase – GET √√Link these presentations PROSPECTS TO VISIT YOU to your online enquiries FOR A TOUR!! via a series of sequential

Phase 1 Managing a Effective “Indoctrination Phase” One of the key changes that have happened out of the rise of the internet compared with traditional fitness marketing is that it’s become possible now for customers to find out a lot of detail about your club online without leaving there place of “personal security”.

Many Clubs have produced Websites (mistakenly in our view!) packed with facility detail, and (unhelpfully we think ) with their membership prices quoted online. This is more than enough detail to satisfy UNEDUCATED BROWSERS and the danger is that prospects use this information to build a FALSE or at best NEUTRAL personal impression of your club.

If you are the cheapest Club in town then the challenge is straightforward. QUOTE your prices big and bold and point out how cheap you are compared to the competition. If you want to attract people who are buying largely on price then that’s the best plan.

If you are at the other end of the fee spectrum OR you want to establish clear water between Special Launch Issue

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5

4

3

2

1

if they got away bring them back if not email them...

1. Integrate 2. Educate 3. Achieve Referral 4. Cross Sell 5. Retain

Sell them into membership

No

Ascension Phase

Yes

The Recovery Phase

New Member Support Phase

Commitment Phase

Make sure they show - ideally with a friend

• Maintain the commitment to visit • Reduce the barrier to entry • Engineer Partner Referral • Establish Enhanced Authority

• Confirm Buying Decision • Check Vulnerable Area • Nomination Follow Up • Check Programme Intensity • Check Satisfaction feed • Reprogramme • Regain Trust + Confidence • Take away fear of buying • Congratulate on their good fortune • Extend the hand of friendship • Legitimise future email

Day 1 Thank You Card Day 7 First Visit Follow up Call Day 21 Progress Call Day 35 Nomination & Reprogramme

Day 1 Thank You Card Day 3 Thank You Call Day 14 Win Card/1Day Guest Pass Day 28 + Get More Active Enrolment Day 42 Get More Active Emails Day 42 + Montly Member + Guest Invitation Day

• Thank You Cards • Win Card • Get More Active Video • Active@Home • Email

The 7 Step Process • Establish Greeting • Qualification • Tour • Price Presentation • Ask to join • Nomination & Referral • Follow up

Deflect Price Build Credibility Build Authority Capture Lead data Initial Qualification Create Appointment

Aims

• Newsletter • Email • Reactivation • Upsell Video • Referral Voucher

The Tour

• Appointment Set to Tour Visit • Confirm the Appointment prior to the day

Email Partner Upsell Pre-eminence

• Programme Resources • Personal Need Analysis • Starter Programmes • Money Back Guarantee • Transferable Enrolment • Transferable Membership • Price Presentation • Nomination Scheme • New Member Pack

Cold Lead to Appointment Set

Timeline

Email Video

Sales Tools

Indoctrination Phase

Phases

Get them interested in you as a serious player!

Objective

The Membership Sales Accelerator Blueprint

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The Art of “Building Fitness Service Programmes” The No. 1 aim for every fitness club operator should be to MAXIMISE member value.

Each and every club has a revenue target that helps keep “the wolf from the door”. How that figure is achieved is based on the relationship of 3 key factors: 1. New Customer Sales - the number of new customers that the business introduces each year 2. How much they pay per month -The Average Yield from each of the above based on what they subscribe to contractually and purchase independently.

3. How many months the member stays as a member.

The costs of acquiring the customer (probably the chunkiest of all expenditure values in fitness club operation) have been absorbed. When a club persuades a member to upgrade or buy additional services, then most of the new revenue goes straight to the bottom line.

That is the point and why this is “the golden egg” of fitness club marketing.

Hopefully, it’s now obvious why the ability to successfully develop Fitness services programmes which can be retailed separately or in addition to, the main core membership is such a valuable technique and can 22

generate significantly to the overall financial success of the club.

The great news for you Club operators is that no matter what you have been told or read elsewhere, Pricing is NOT RIGID Pricing elasticity is available to you in many areas. You have just to ask for it.

Historically prices have been formed by copying your competition or by plucking a number of the air. Here is the TRUTH. Your customers will decide on the prices based on what's best for them, so: 1. Test a price increase 2. Or change the product 3. Introduce a deluxe or premium version 4. Introduce a payment plan 5. Bundle packages together So how does all this theory apply to adding more revenue to your club and what exactly is a Fitness Service Programme?

The simple answer is that it’s a member experience concept aimed at a particular defined market ◊ It has a theme ◊ It has a defined outcome

◊ It involves particular facilities and equipment ◊ It is or related to active health & wellness ◊ It has a set structure ◊ It is built around a number of variables: ◊ Target Market ◊ It has a target market aimed at a particular experience level Size of Group ◊ Duration - 10 minute session, 30 minute, 1 hour etc. ◊ Term length – On-going, 6 weeks, 12 weeks ◊ Frequency of experience – Hourly, Daily, weekly, ◊ Facilities and Equipment ◊ Staff Contact Type –Online / Face to face / Telephone/Audio ◊ Resources – Progress packs, T shirts , Badges, Certificates, Programme cards, Diet Plans, Supplements, Accessories, videos, audio, Online programmes. ◊ Delivery style – Each session coached, First session only coached , ◊ Conclusion – On-going , Closing Ceremony By mixing and matching combinations of the variables it’s straight forward to create a menu of interesting programmes for members to buy or to include into added value memberships Here’s a selection of our current favourites in U.K. Clubs right now. It’ s called the “Triple Starter Programme” and it works a treat.

The Point of Sale Starter Programme Up-sell (See left)

Almost all fitness clubs will offer members a programme session at the front end of the membership.

Here’s how we add value to that process to leverage greater revenue from new members.

Conclude the membership sign up process and then produce a TRIPLE price plan as in example on the previous page - What we Special Launch Issue

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are offering is a series of 6 week experiences (the VIP doubled up to 12 weeks) with various feature included or left out for each package.

Customers pick one of the options as the joining fee of their membership sign up process.

1. The fast Track option aimed at a an experienced self-sufficient exerciser 2. The Gold option for new to exercise or reacting members in need of support 3. The VIP option for members who need help and support and will pay the premium fee for a 12 week service.

Important notes

1. There is a group of Members (approximately 15%) who ALWAYS BUY the EXPENSIVE OPTION REGARDLESS OF PRICE. (Offer it and they will buy!)

2. There are people who will always buy the CHEAPEST option. Don’t worry about them.

3. The VIP high price serves to make the mid-price look more attractive 4. The Mid price makes the lower price look cheap by comparison 5. Most people buy the midprice option (particularly when you add a graphic stating that this is “The Best Seller“ or “Most Popular Option“ people want to run with the herd!)

So that’s the Joining Fee Programmes explained. Like dining in Mexican restaurants, it doesn’t matter what you order, you are going to get guacamole and sour cream on the plate. So in the same way we can reuse these 6 week experiences in other markets ӹӹ To prospects as a noncommitment 6 week trial programme ӹӹ To Current members as” Reprogramme options” Special Launch Issue

ӹӹ To Ex members as Reactivation programmes ӹӹ To Current members as Personal Coaching replacing the face to face contact with enhanced phone and email support ӹӹ To all members wrapped up as an upgraded membership paid on DD as a member contract So that’s the secret ▷▷Design the programme ▷▷Work on how to get the concepts to the attention of your members both online and offline ▷▷Create a sales system where you organise the opportunity to systematically make presentations and the opportunity to close the deal either face to face or online.

Here’ s The Guacamole Principle in greater depth ӹӹ 1:1 Induction programme – Standard gym fare . ӹӹ Adding a PT session and some resources equals ... ӹӹ The V.I.P triple option ӹӹ Make it online and the face to face replaced by email /phone and video equals... ӹӹ a Personal Coaching Programme Specialise the workout for a defined outcome and target group and you create individual and group sessions around a theme : √√Ski Fit √√Beach body √√Transformation for women √√Anti -Aging workout for seniors √√Anti- Cellulite Programme √√Trim Belly √√Tone and Sculpt √√Rapid Recovery Vibration training Take the gym standard….

• Group Induction • Add some resources, progress packs, programme cards, online mentoring and it’s a • Mentioned training group

• Add some demographics • Wednesday Seniors Morning , or ladies morning and you now got a targeted branded session • Focus the equipment familiarisation to something very specific e.g. sand bags, kettle bells, TRX, Free weights, advanced cardio, spinning, back care, abs training, stretching and you then have a profitable bookable programme of • Weekly Clinics • Make it supervised and run at the same time each week and you’ve got ...

• Small Group Training Group – defined by day and time ( Wednesday 7 pm group ) or fitness standard ( advanced training group ) or equipment type ( Strength Training group ) Once you’ve exhausted your imagination on how to recycle your current services in the formal fitness area, then look at the other more social options.

What do people who use your club like doing when they are not going to your gym?

Leisure activities like Golf societies, walking groups, triathlon clubs, football teams, book clubs.

Never ever overestimate the circle of friends your members have. Many are looking for you to organise their social life!

Organised Holidays – Skiing, Retreats and Beach activities Trips out – Horse racing, theatre trips, Fitness Challenges – London to Brighton Bike rides So, hopefully you can see now how very straight forward it is to create a range of very profitable fitness service programmes with a defined target market without incurring massive development costs. Just apply these simple principles and collect that mass of uncollected revenue from the table !

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