Health Club Success Tips for the New Owner
Fitness and exercise has always been a passion of yours. You have finally decided to turn your passion into a career. You have the location picked out, the name decided, and you are ready to open your own health club. Before you open your doors and let the first member in, it is important to have a strong business plan. This business plan will set you apart from other local gyms. It will encourage fitness enthusiasts in the area to choose your health club over other ones. Your business plan should include the following factors.
Important business information
Once you begin to gain some interest in your health club, you will find that local community members have a lot of questions. What are your business hours? What are the package rates and what is included with each package? Can the gym members bring a guest? Are classes included in the price? Will there be daycare? What else is included and what is the member expected to bring? These are all questions that need to be carefully considered, as they can be the deciding factor of which health club your local residents choose to join. It can be helpful to identify what other local health clubs are offering.
Implement a strong marketing campaign
Have you ever driven by and noticed a health club in your area? You have lived there for many years and yet, you never noticed the health club. This is common, especially with smaller fitness facilities. However, according to a Nielsen Global Consumer Exercise Trends Survey, approximately 45% of millennials exercise regularly. There are likely many people that want to exercise in your local area. You will need a strong marketing campaign to reach these potential members. Know where your customers are and market to them there.
Cater to the undecided members
It can be difficult to encourage fitness enthusiasts to leave their preferred health club and switch to yours. There are, however, a good number of local residents that want to work out, but feel intimidated when visiting gyms. You can still reach these potential members by fostering a comfortable environment. Offer beginner classes to new members. Give a free personal training session. Introduce your new members to the health club management team. All of these steps will bridge the gap of non fitness members to become regular facility members.
Offer the customer a good value
With approximately 30,500 gyms and health clubs in the United States, you need to find what sets you apart from the rest. Why should local community members choose your fitness club over any other one? This might be a reduced monthly membership. It might mean free group classes or free daycare for fitness members. The key to success is offering your customers a good value. Find out what your customers want the most and offer that. They will become loyal and willing to pay their monthly fee.
Make visiting the gym convenient
The gym experience also needs to be extremely convenient. Your health club management should offer a check in and check out process that is quick and easy. With advanced health club software programs and a knowledgeable health club management team, you can offer check in software for gyms. This software to manage a gym lets member?s scan their card to quickly enter and exit the facility. This same level of convenience should also be applied to monthly payments. An advanced member account management software program can make a huge difference. Billing systems for gyms will automate the payment process and allow your health club management team to focus on more important tasks, like exceptional member service.
About 58 million people go to a gym or health club annually. This means that there is a huge market for gym businesses. A successful health club knows what their members what, provides them with a great value, and makes the entire gym going experience extremely convenient.
