Are you sick of hearing the words social distancing and self-isolation?
We are in a frustrating time for the fitness industry however it is important to try and make the most of this time and be as productive as possible.
To be honest, in the first week or two after gyms shut, I was not super motivated with everything going on. It was hard to be productive…
But now the dust has settled I think its time to focus on what we can work on over the coming weeks and months.
Here is a short list of things you can work on over the coming weeks to ensure you make the most of this opportunity and bounce back as best as possible when the tide turns.
- Read a business book
- Some of the best ideas I’ve had for improving our business is from books. A 29 dollar business book can be one of the best investments you make in your business.
Take the downtime to spend an hour a day with a cup of tea and read.
Here are just a few relevant titles for gyms
- Raving fans
- The Membership Economy
- The E Myth
- Good to Great
- Influence
Audible is another great resource if you prefer to learn through audio.
- Do an online course
- Like our first point, now is a great time to learn new things!
In fact, some of the world’s best universities are making their online tutorials and lectures available to everyone during this crisis!
Here is a course we recorded on gym retention.
- Survey your customers
- Understanding your customers at a deep level is fundamental to business success.
By understanding the needs and desires of your customers you can tune your marketing messages to tap into your ideal audience and improve sales and marketing results. You can also ensure you meet your customer’s expectations and deliver a first-class experience.
Here are some questions you could ask your customers.
- Why did they choose to join your gym
- What other options did they consider?
- What nearly stopped them from joining your gym?
- What made them consider joining a gym
- What could you improve?
These are great questions that help you really understand your customers at a deeper level.
- Collect marketing assets
- A marketing asset is something you can use in your marketing again and again.
A classic example of a marketing asset are testimonials.
Now is the perfect time to ask for testimonials for your customers.
Simply email your customer base and ask- If you have been satisfied with service at the gym and have a spare minute we would love it if you could write a few words about your positive experience with us.
One trick to maximising response to such an email would be to first send them something of value first. Perhaps you could send them a video of some kind of training program or exercise they can try at home.
Every testimonial you collect can be used in your marketing to attract and convert more customers.
- Review your new customer onboarding communication plan
- If you don’t have a new customer onboarding sequence now is your time to create and implement one!
We advise including 5-7 touch points with new customers that educate them about your service and how to maximise their results and progress.
Ideally, these touchpoints should include a combination of email, SMS, video, and phone. They should also be automated using a software tool like our FitDesk software.
For more ideas about onboarding search our blog for the term “onboarding”.
- Review your numbers and KPI’s
- Now is a good time to review your numbers and KPI’s.
Are you measuring the right things?
Do you have a stats dashboard or google sheet with all of your key reporting is kept?
What areas need improving?
Here are some KPI’s to look at in your gym
- Monthly attrition/annual retention rates
- Visitation numbers for the 1st month of membership
- % of new members that have a support appointment
- Create content
- We are using this time to create content for our audience and customers.
We are writing articles, shooting videos, creating useful resources.
Could you shoot some videos to include in your new customer onboarding or social media engagement?
Little 2-minute videos shot on your iPhone can be a powerful marketing and engagement tool.
Here some ideas for some video content
Exercise tips
- Tips to maximise progress
- Diet tips and guidelines
- Weight loss tips
- Recovery tips
- Introducing key staff
- Look after yourself
- This is an important one!
Take this extra time to sleep more, exercise more, eat well, and spend time with your family.
I have been sleeping in until 8 am each morning for the last two weeks and it has reminded me of the importance of good sleep.
By taking care of yourself you will be able to think more clearly and work on the things that will drive your business forward once this crisis passes.
- Look for the opportunity
- Look for the good in this whole situation.
What opportunity is there?
How can you use this time to come back bigger and better than before?
How can you get an advantage over your competition?
- Document SOP’s (standard operating procedures)
- Standard operating procedures are the documentation of the key processes the make up your business.
For example, a key process may be the questions you ask prospective members on a sales tour or the things you say to members during a fitness assessment appointment.
Documenting these processes is very powerful because you can identify weak points in your process. You can also use your SOP’s to train staff and maintain consistency in all of your customer-facing processes.
Every gym should have a standard operating procedure manual. If you need to update yours now is a perfect time.
- Review your technology
- Have you been too busy to look at new technology and opportunities?
Now is a great time to arrange a demonstration for a software program or other tool that can help your business. Maybe it’s a tool that can help with your social media, maybe it’s a software for maintaining employee training documentation or maybe it’s a retention program like our FitDesk software.
Whatever your needs, this quite time presents an opportunity to review and possibly implement new technology.
On that point, if you would like to arrange a Zoom demo of our FitDesk software for your gym you can email info@greenedesk.com
By following the 10 points above you can make the most of this lockdown and put yourself in a position to bounce back when things return to normal.