In the modern era, few businesses can get by without taking advantage of all the myriad technology upgrades available. Utilizing the best business software can propel your gym to a new level of productivity, security, and success.
What can great gym management software do for you?
Save time and money
When your software takes over the automation of menial tasks and shoulders the burden of the everyday work load, your staff is set free to do more important work that only humans can accomplish. Your employees’ time is much better spent in face to face interactions with clients and trainers than caught up in scheduling or updating member information.
The latter tasks can be quickly and effectively managed, streamlined, and automated with appropriate gym management software. Employee shift scheduling, trainer session scheduling, staff meetings, staff questions and answer sessions, and more should be accessible from a central hub available to all relevant parties to eliminate potential miscommunications or double-booking.
In addition to reducing the monotonous work load for your staff, good management software handles important functions on the client end as well. Members can find information and enroll in fitness classes, existing clients can request and schedule sessions with trainers, and potential interested customers can set up trial memberships and seek out programs that may be right for them, all without taking up any time from your employees.
Bring in additional revenue
Allow members to use their gym membership profile and payment system to buy programs, fitness classes, training sessions, locker rentals, merchandise, energy bars, and any other products and services your gym offers. This eliminates the need for members to have credit cards or cash on hand if they decide to make an impulse purchase.
Business models that can take advantage of quick and easy impulse purchases generate far more revenue and are often quicker to expand into new realms of revenue generation. Allowing and tracking member purchases from their profiles allows you to analyze purchasing trends over time and develop new ways of optimizing your services, classes, and storefront.
Boost your security
It takes time and manpower to have an employee at a check-in desk during all available business hours. Consider upgrading to an NFC check-in system that provides members and existing clients a secure and quick way to check in and out. Your gym may choose to issue NFC cards for members to swipe upon entry, or you can take advantage of the wide availability of NFC software on most smartphones.
The benefit of using smartphone technology is twofold:
For one, busy clients are much more likely to remember to bring their cell phones than they are to toss a membership card into their gym bag and then have to track it down every time they need it. And secondly, you may choose to make NFC check-in available through your gym’s downloadable app, if you have one. This serves as additional encouragement for users to download your app and interact with the automated services you provide. In turn, driving focus toward your automated services saves you further time and money.
NFC check-ins and check-outs are a secure way of monitoring when your members access your facility, without adding complicated or inconvenient steps in the process. You can lock or unlock main doors for qualified people and restrict access during certain hours for others.
NFC card swipes or cell phone transactions also provide an easy way for your club to grant access to lockers or restricted areas of the facility for premium members. Your members will appreciate that they don’t have to remember any special codes or passwords in order to use their premium membership benefits, and your staff will appreciate how easy it is to measure traffic and usage patterns for different classes or areas of the gym.
If security is a concern, consider using biometrics, such as fingerprint recognition, as an added layer of safety. Perhaps your gym is in a dangerous area, or maybe your gym has a problem with members sharing key cards and lockers. Either way, biometric logins cut down on unwanted activity and keep your gym members safe and protected.
The security of your members’ information should also be paramount. With powerful software should come powerful software security, including the latest in tech support, antivirus and antimalware programs, and top of the line encryption. Though it sounds expensive, and you will have a higher up-front cost to implement a complex system, the security and convenience you can offer your gym members, not to mention the hours saved for your staff, will likely make up the difference in the long run. Don’t forget to advertise your state of the art security so members feel safe storing their payment methods and biometric profiles in your system.
Make your job as a business owner easier
Whether you are in charge of your accounting and records, or whether your gym has a department dedicated to that purpose, you as a business owner will want to understand that data and be able to translate it into actionable goals to improve for the future.
Great management software makes it easier to crunch numbers, keep organized records, and generate clear, concise reports. For example, it should be apparent at a glance whether your latest marketing campaign performed as well as ones in previous years, or whether client retention rates have dropped for a particular trainer lately. Likewise, you should have a clear picture of how much revenue your business generates from each department: one-on-one training sessions, group fitness classes, gym merchandise purchases, meals from your snack bar, or even community events hosted in your building.
Elevate your business
From the tiniest operation to a multi-location franchise, no gym can afford to stay analog in this digital age. Yes, the up-front costs and the thought of implementing new technology can be intimidating. But by taking advantage of all the opportunities technology offers, you guarantee that you are setting your business up to be future-proof, streamlined, and organized for the best growth possible.
Sources
https://www.precor.com/en-us/resources/how-a-club-management-system-can-boost-gym-profits