If you don't yet have a social media presence for your gym, you really should start now. Your business might have a passionate and active membership out there on Facebook or Twitter, just waiting to engage through social media as a community. Of course, that's the holy grail of social media in business; you want to use social to drive your business. Realistically, you're probably going to have to work at it a bit but once it picks up momentum it'll be much easier than doing promotion all by yourself. Your gym has a community of members and employees. People [...]
Read more...
Leadership has an element of theater and what are we as gym and fitness center owners if not leaders? Personally, I got into the gym ownership business out of an urge to follow my passion. I had a burning desire to make a positive impact and make a living doing something that shares that passion with other people. All of the trainers that I've worked with over the years also appear to have been just as determined, as far as I can tell. I think that you really only get into a career in fitness to make a positive statement [...]
Read more...
Gym Insight is pleased to welcome Larry Francis as the head of our Customer Service Department! Larry has great enthusiasm and passion for the fitness industry. Larry is an avid fan of all the fitness heroes in our industry and will use his previous experience as a gym operator to help you build and grow your fitness business!
The fitness trainers that I've worked with over the years have been a very diverse range of people. They share a love of fitness and the drive to help others achieve it. Of course, I'm speaking in very broad generalizations here, but there is another thing that all too many certified fitness professionals have. I'm talking about student loans. It could sometimes be that they followed their dreams and went all out on a bachelors degree relating to fitness, followed by fitness certification. Alternatively, perhaps they majored in something like real estate management, only to find out that they didn't [...]
Read more...
Keeping your gym clean is a topic that I like to return to occasionally. I do so because it's one of the keys to success in gym management. It's vitally important to your business success. This is a review and a reminder about this topic and I'm sure that I'll come back to it again in the future. This time I'm going to relate cleaning to the core values of your team. "Values" is one of those topics that sound like business school buzzwords (because it is). But it's a buzzword because there's a lot of truth to it and [...]
Read more...
Pre-Sales Fill The Void In the lead up to the Christmas holiday, members and prospective gym members have their thoughts elsewhere. This always means less foot traffic into gyms and fewer inquiries for memberships. So, you need some sort of seasonal boost to your small gym's revenue stream. The bills still come in, of course, and your staff needs to have something to keep them motivated and sharp. You don't want your trainers looking elsewhere for income and making connections that may lead them away. You can't afford resignations, right as you need your trainers the most, when the members [...]
Read more...
Targeted studios are the young guns of the fitness industry. As a small fitness center owner or manager, you have to respond to their potential threat, or they may figuratively eat your lunch. This type of fitness business represents a significant threat to the conventional gym model. But there are actions you can take as a small fitness center owner or manager. Read on and I'll explain how. If you have a small conventional gym with a small selection of group classes or no classes at all, you must start considering how to fulfill members' needs. Be prepared to respond [...]
Read more...
Over the past week I learned a very important lesson. For my small gym, I wrongly thought that my manager and personal trainers were enough. What I realize now is that this isn't true. Having one employee dedicated to member retention is a necessity. I had a revelation: Member engagement, satisfaction, and overall care must be the responsibility of one person alone. This role has to be completely separate from anyone that has a sales, customer service or training role. As a team that operates a small gym my staff understand that selling memberships, other services and products piggybacks every [...]
Read more...
You know that you need to establish your brand name and image in the fitness industry, but how will you do that? Giving excellent customer service and providing state-of-the-art gym equipment and facilities are just some of the initial steps. You also need to create some buzz about your gym and appeal to the public at large. While we strive to get creative promotion ideas, we tend to overlook one of the simplest and most effective promotion technique - giving out promotional products. Using branded promotional products are one of the sure-fire ways to increase brand visibility and ensure member [...]
Read more...
Flyers and leaflets give you an inexpensive way to promote your gym and attract new members. Whether or not they offer an effective solution is up to you and what you decide to do with them. Not every flyering campaign brings you the reputation that you want or the clients that you need. If your campaign is not done correctly, you might end up running at a loss and dealing with a bunch of agitated residents complaining about the littering. To ensure that your flyering campaign brings you the good exposure and business that you need, you need to ask [...]
Read more...
Like I've mentioned before, the fitness center market is highly competitive (as if you didn't know that already). To gain any leverage in the marketplace you have to be extremely creative in the way you attract new members. I've developed some enticements for members by experimenting, building on what works and letting all the rest go. Gym Membership Management With Self Service Marketing There's one promotion that's worked particularly well over the years. I let members work for discounts on their monthly rate by bringing in referrals, down to a certain amount. It works like this: my monthly membership amount [...]
Read more...
It seems like everybody has such a hectic schedule these days that more and more services have to be offered around-the-clock. Stores, gyms and even fast food restaurants are open 24 hours a day, to cater to the late-night crowds. Large numbers of people now work nontraditional hours. Shift workers like emergency services workers, doctors and nurses and security staff. Then, of course, along with the blurring of traditional work patterns, there are people who just prefer to be active at night. As a fitness club owner or manager it is very important that you capitalize on this market segment. [...]
Read more...
When you're aiming for success in the fitness industry, there are a number of factors to consider during the start-up period. That's why it's always a good idea to have a checklist in place for everything to ensure smooth business operations. A detailed checklist helps you keep the gym organized without unnecessary effort and also improves your chances of establishing a name in the industry. Let's find out why each of the following checklists play a role in the growth of your fitness business: Supplies By having a supplies checklist for your gym, you can see to it that every [...]
Read more...
Getting your certification as a personal trainer can propel you into a new and satisfying career. But before you launch your website, start your Twitter feed, and begin to look for clients, there is something you need to do first. Pass your certification exam. Okay, so that may seem as easy as doing 50 one-armed pushups. Which exam should you take? ACE? ISSA? NASM? AFAA? ACSM? Or one of the many other accredited personal trainer certification exams? What should you know before you take the exam? What's the exam like? Where should you start? A Beginner's Guide to Personal Trainer [...]
Read more...
As the Southern hemisphere experienced a change in season - from winter to spring - on September 22nd, the Northern parts of the world entered autumn. The transition, known as the autumnal equinox, from summer to fall in the North marks the beginning of a season filled with festivals and celebrations in the United States. With important holidays like Thanksgiving and Halloween around the corner, it's time to draw up plans for promoting your brand and bringing in more members to your gym. Here are a few ideas to help you with your fall promotion: Halloween Although fitness and Halloween [...]
Read more...
