GYMS ARE NOT ESSENTIAL

Believe me, I wish they were!

But with only 15% market penetration (and even fewer visiting over the last year), gyms are simply not shining brightly enough on the radar, no matter how loud we all shout about it.

Supermarkets and delivery companies are essential. Doctors’ surgeries and pharmacies are essential. Public transport is essential for essential workers. Mental health support can be found in hairdressers, cinemas, record shops and gyms, but unfortunately, they are not essential. Take-away coffee shops have fallen somewhere in between, which I've enjoyed.

A Public Health England Survey says that 7 in 10 people want to make healthier choices in 2021. 

We need to change our tune. To demonstrate that we support health as well as fitness. Be more than a gym, i.e., a building containing equipment used by a few people. Most people don’t want to join a gym, but they do need health and fitness guidance and motivation. Our staff are well positioned to deliver this health support.

MEMBERS ACTIVE DURING LOCKDOWN

Most gym members have continued to exercise while their clubs have been closed. Some because their club offers online support, but in general, these people are motivated to keep fit, whether supported or not. Over the last decade, particularly with the advent of the low-cost gym, lots of members do not get a great deal of support anymore.

Many of your existing members are self-motivated, you simply provide the equipment. Your club is not even essential to them.

SLEEPERS HAVE GONE

Many members who were sleepers (paying, but not visiting) when lockdown began have cancelled their memberships. Clubs have lost 30-40% of their membership over the last 12 months. This is unsurprising, as a typical club used to have 30-40% dormant members. Lockdown has flushed out the sleepers.

But with average fitness industry attrition around 5-6% per month, we would expect to lose more members than this in a normal year. More than ever, we are retaining our engaged members, appealing to the already motivated. If anything, lockdown membership freezes and payment pauses have saved some members. The big issue over the last year has been the limited new joiner pipeline. Your future membership offering will be the key to success or failure over the next 12 months.

RETURN TO NORMAL

As discussed in this column last month, many of your keen members will be back as soon as clubs re-open. The decreased member base will assist with reduced capacity and social distancing. Seeing a relatively busy club will please owners and staff, but we need to become more essential, and supplement revenues.

Essential is not providing kit, or even a place to exercise. 70% of the population want to be healthier, but less than 15% are members. Health concerns post-COVID will not be solved by joining a gym. People simply do not see gyms as part of the health solution, let alone essential. 

THE HEALTH SEEKER’S MEMBERSHIP

A better place to start is a health-check. Give someone a starting point, run a body composition analysis, and talk to them about their goals, motivation, and activity. Don’t ask them to run on a treadmill, to join a class (in-club or virtual), or to lift weights. The majority (80%+) of the public do not want it. And for those that do, it should be clear that you offer it anyway. 

A monthly consultation with health metrics and a discussion is a great touch point for these health-seekers. Help with their motivation to be healthier (exercising more, eating more healthily, losing weight) through their monthly check-in. 

DOUBLE YOUR MEMBERS

A health club with 500 ‘gym’ members could easily have another 500 ‘health’ members by the end of this year. They are not using the gym, but they would pay a monthly fee for their check-in and consultation, as long as you deliver value and motivation. 

Where better to start than with the people who left last year? Re-engagement campaigns usually focus on a re-join offer, but now you can offer the ex-member a health-check, not a membership, initially at least. 

Out-reach through your current membership base is another simple route to the health-seeker. Offer every existing gym member a health-check when they bring at least one family, friend, or colleague for a check too.

PEOPLE POWER AND EDUCATION

The value in these memberships is your people. It is paramount that your staff are proficient in delivering great appointments. They need to educate each member about their metrics, be great coaches to motivate members with their goals, and get them to return for their next measurement. Systems and equipment are important, but great people will be the key to success and retention, as with regular gym memberships.  

You will soon confirm that most of these health seeker members don’t want to join the gym. Many already know that they can keep active or be healthy other ways. But you will also find out whether your health members want coaching, accountability, nutrition advice, or to be part of a community (club) with other like-minded people. Educate them, and they will come looking for more! The upsell potentials are plentiful, just don’t try to convince them to join the gym.

BOOK THE FOLLOW-UP APPOINTMENT 

Booking a return appointment as a one-off (fee) or a recurring membership should be a no-brainer if the appointment is delivered well. For those that do not re-book, promise to contact them 12 months later to offer another check-up.

If your club is going to become more essential, your competition is no longer other gyms. Think about the health-seekers; where do they go, and who do they see? Become the local ‘One Stop Shop’ for health. Create a health club, rather than a gym. You will develop into a more essential business in the eyes of your members, your communities, and your network.

The health seeker membership is one of the ways that our clients are going to recover their business post-pandemic. Get in touch to find out more, or to find out about the next webinars where we will be discussing this, and other retention and attraction strategies.

This article originally appeared in Gym Owner Monthly Magazine April 2021. You can read the full issue here.