Insights That Nudge Your Membership If you are an independent fitness business owner, it always helps to find the simple hacks that get exceptional results. Let's look at some awesome hacks to analyze your operational data in search of small changes that give you big rewards. There is even a new scientific way of thinking about customer behavior that might help find the points where a nudge will get your members to get the fitness results they signed up for in the first place. Hacking Members With Nudges The latest thinking in economics (bear with me) is about applying common [...]
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Fitness In The Healthcare Business Prescription Healthcare and fitness are closely related, as you already know, no doubt. There is also a consensus among organizations like the ACSM and the medical profession that exercise is essential to human health, also that technology changes the way we deliver care. As fitness becomes part of medical prescriptions more frequently, it sounds like good news for fitness professionals who have the knowledge and certifications to capitalize on the trend. Before you rush into any healthcare related business commitments, though, make sure you understand the burden of responsibility you'll take on for data protection. [...]
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When you have the highest possible rate of employee retention it keeps the work and the cost down; it will also reflect in your levels of membership retention too. Unfortunately, hiring staff can be like jumping on a treadmill that's cranked up to eleven; it's hard work that takes all your time and another expense to eat into your bottom line if you have to keep doing it. The point of having employees is to have reliable and competent agents, so you can go home, relax, and sleep soundly at night, leaving them in charge. It is enough hard work [...]
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I recently wrote a post about virtual reality and mentioned Augmented Reality, which extends VR into the real world. When you superimpose digital images onto the real world with AR software that makes them interact with your physical space. So, all of this talk about things likes VR and AR in the gym sound like science fiction, but they are coming at us fast. We still don't know how things will play out, but the technology is largely in place it just remains for entrepreneurs and consumers to figure out what works and what they want. VR Enters Your Reality [...]
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The Armchair Stage Of Starting A Gym Business Do you dream of starting a gym or fitness studio? If so you may have made serious inquiries into what it takes. Like starting a restaurant, founding a gym captures the imagination of people at all levels of experience and qualifications. The fitness industry seems like an easy entry; passion is a great starting point. Running a gym is a consumer service business, and there are many resources available, including software like Insight for Gym Owners. Visit the Small Business Administration website, determine your strengths and weaknesses, set your goals and outline [...]
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Retention, Retention, Retention! The subject of retention keeps coming up on the Gym Insight Blog because it keeps gym owners in the business. In fact, any business that depends on periodic payments and satisfied customers must make retention a priority. As long as you maximize the length of time that you retain your members, you'll minimize the cost of replacing them. Retention touches on issues such as membership turnover and the lifetime value of a customer. So let's review some of the things that you can do to hang on to your clients for the long haul. Build Trust In [...]
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The new technologies of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are set to change the fitness industry if the current trend continues. Both VR and AR have threatened to do something interesting for years now. But this time the promise might turn into VR products that consumers can use. Your gym members may soon demand fitness equipment that allows them to connect to digitally rendered worlds and games while they work out. Digital devices and smartphones have changed the way consumers use technology; they don't think twice about exploring and testing new apps. Keeping up with your neighbor means having the [...]
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The Great Marketing Concepts Are Eternal Channels are big in marketing these days. Not that the concept is particularly new or changed recently, but there are more ways to connect to your customers than ever before. I have already written about strategy and marketing, but I want to discuss marketing channels here. Your communication channels for marketing can be digital such as email, social media such as Facebook and Twitter, text messaging and IM platforms, Slack, et cetera. They are also your telephone lines, your front desk, and the script that you have your staff use to close sales. The [...]
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Sometimes you have to do things that you know will be risky and time-consuming. Risky things are only worth doing if the change that they bring is transformational. That is why Gym Insight has become an expert at helping our customers change from outdated, piecemeal gym management information systems to something that ties your business and membership together. Transitions And Transformations In The Fitness Industry Running a gym is a way of life as much as a job, and if you own the business, you have a calling that takes over your life. If you've been conducting business the way [...]
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The Five Forces of Competition The fitness business offers plenty of opportunities for entrepreneurs and trainers to found startup gym businesses. Your gym can compete against established studios and big box fitness corporations; you just have to be savvy about it. The same factors that define competition within the industry will also show where you can make your entrance and your strategy that will grow the business. Any business situation has potential competitive threats. The gym business is no exception. Michael Porter of Harvard University first laid out a catalog of the Five Forces, which every company faces in one [...]
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Building a small gym business into an asset and an income generator is no small task. You're going to work like you have never worked before when you open a gym. That is unless you have run other consumer based membership businesses then you probably have a sense of what you're getting into. The secret to success is hard work that delivers a club experience beyond the ordinary. The Basics Always Work Every Time There are more ways to do the fitness business wrong than there are to do it right. Fortunately, there's only a finite list of items that [...]
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The New Age Of Getting Hacked Security is taking on a whole new meaning now. There are still all of the general concerns about physical security risks and the need to secure credit card transactions with the new chip card systems. Now, everything's connected digitally too, it's not just a new-age-y saying, it's true that even the smallest businesses depend on either a computer or a tablet to handle business transactions. Arguably, that makes your digital devices and connection the weak points that bring digital security risks into your business. You have to protect customer information and credit card numbers; [...]
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Again With The Experience The digital economy has changed everything about the fitness experience. Your gym membership is now as much about connecting with people as it is about the workout. The workout experience counts most, but the club experience as a relationship is vital too. Everything from social media engagements, shout-outs for results, to the attitudes and demeanor of your staff members count as part of that experience. Look at everything that you do and evaluate it from the perspective of your members. Customer Experience Cycles Within Lifetime Membership Cycles Customers flow through your gym in cycles. There is [...]
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Paperless Contracts and Digital Signatures!: Paperless Contracts and Digital Signatures! We released the paperless contracts and digital signature feature about a month ago to all of our beta testers and today we're releasing it to everyone. No more paper contracts, no more filing cabinets! Create and sign agreements right from the Billing Info tab on any account! For more information and step-by-step instructions click on the link below. Learn More Save
The Gym Insight Blog has already taken a look at 2017 trends in gym ownership. However, as you will find below, I currently have doubts about how wearables will fit into 2017. This post is more of a round-up of what the blogosphere is thinking about for the coming year. The beginning of 2017 marks the third year that this blog has covered the trends; follow these links to the posts for 2015 and 2016. How do they look compared to your personal experiences of the last few years? Tech For Gyms Trends Videos for search engine optimization are now [...]
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