If you have opened a new gym, you must know that it is, after all, a new business. So you should be prepared to run and develop that business as a business. To do so, you must acquire knowledge about the fitness business industry, and also be aware of the pitfalls of why new gyms fail so you can be sure to avoid them. In my opinion, here are the top 10 reasons why new gyms fail... #1 - No proper business plan No business plan can be fatal to your new gym. Before starting a gym know: Successful gyms watch finances, [...]
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What is awesome gym customer service? Customer service is important for any business to succeed. If you own a gym, your revenue source will be directly linked to your membership base. In order to ensure your gym business survives and remains competitive in today's fitness industry market, you have to consistently provide your members with high quality service. Customer service plays a vital role in member acquisition and member retention — research by IHRSA shows interaction with fitness staff significantly decreases member dropout. Gym members that are satisfied with the service being provided by your fitness business will automatically come [...]
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Third Party Confirmations I was just reading the results of a really interesting small business survey, and the discussion about it, on the Club Solutions Website. The point was that community and reviews lead as the driving forces for growth across the spectrum of small businesses. Of 6,000 survey respondents, eleven percent were gym members. The survey showed that there is growth in the economy, small businesses get the most return by providing community, and that small businesses, including gyms, get a lot of mileage from reviews posted by members. The article went on to say that these reviews provide [...]
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Some Thoughts Based On Recent Events Human resources issues may seem like a long stretch for the Gym Insight Blog but this is a serious set of issues that could easily cause any small business to lose the farm. I'm talking about the fast changing and very sensitive issues of equality and diversity in the workplace and the gym. Recent incidents in fitness centers, where the key issues were the poor handling of diversity and the rapidly evolving legal environment, have made this something that every gym owner should be prepared to confront. That basically means getting along with people [...]
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Give Great Customer Service To Secure Your Business Future I've come to the conclusion that there's one simple key to effective customer service. It's a principle that's so obvious that it is quite simply missed most of the time. Sometimes genius lies in the simple, the unsophisticated and the literal. The key that I'm talking about here is the practice of hiring only people for customer service roles who are naturally inclined to help others. One of the best business practitioners of this sort of policy is Southwest Airlines, which has long known the importance of finding the right person [...]
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The Fitness Experience Companies like SoulCycle and Spartan Race are focused on the experience you have during training or as goals to meet for preparatory training. Other systems like CrossFit demand much of your body and even with proper supervision by certified staff you can easily strain muscles and joints in practice. SoulCycle is a great example of a fitness business carving out a niche because it defies the trend away from spinning classes, which are apparently in decline. By matching charismatic instructors and style with what might otherwise be a limited format the company has created an enthusiastic base [...]
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There is nothing more worthy of celebrating, when you own a gym, than bringing in new memberships. It gives you hope for the future as you watch your list of members grow. This so-called on boarding period is a highly critical time that you can use to secure your relationship with customers. You have the perfect opportunity to assure a high lifetime value for you, and positive experience for them. Selling Means More Than Surviving This transitional time period can determine how long new members stick around and how they present their experience to friends and on social media. It [...]
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This month, Gym Insight had the honor of welcoming our two thousandth customer! This is big news for us because we still pride ourselves on bootstrapping our company. We believe that the focus is customer service and providing innovative software to keep even the smallest fitness studio two steps ahead of the big-box franchise down the street. Our reputation and the the quantity of customers that we service, speaks for itself. This family business grew organically and is here to stay. Come on aboard with us to enjoy personal communications and streaming updates and features of the next generation gym [...]
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A while back I wrote an article about the ten reasons new gyms fail. It was well received by the readers of Gym Insight and the discussion was very gratifying for me. But as a believer in fitness and getting results in a positive way I feel compelled to balance it out with an article about the positive side of gym startups and success. I admit that there is likely plenty of overlap between this and the previous article. These things are worth saying over and over again and doing more reps never hurt anybody. Arm Yourself With The Most [...]
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The concept of experience marketing is generating a lot of buzz among business consultants and academic thinkers right now. It encapsulates the emotional and subjective associations that come with using a product or taking part in a service. It is how your members feel about how they get along at your gym. It is all of the subjective associations and emotions they have relating to everything from the hygiene levels to the staff's attitude and the results members get from their workouts. A State Of (The Customer's) Mind As long as members are happy enough to keep coming back, whether [...]
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Did you ever hear the old story about two shoe salesmen who were sent by their employers to one of the poorer countries of the world? The first rep sent back a telegram that said "No good here. Coming home. Nobody wears shoes." The other one also sent back a telegram: "Great opportunity here! Send shoes! Nobody wears shoes!" That ringing phone in the back office or at the front desk can be so annoying. But you have to remember that the phone is at the heart of your business. If you want that heart to keep beating for a [...]
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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 [...]
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This week I felt inspired to write about handling membership cancellations. There are several reasons that they come to mind right now. It's the season for peak sign-ups, which will be followed later by a wave of cancellations as the faint hearted drop by the wayside. Also, there have been some stories in the news about companies taking it very badly when customers cancel and complain. I think it's worth mentioning because you can't be too prepared when it comes to dealing with customer service crises. Mishandling complaints can lead to a vicious cycle that, in this age of Twitter, [...]
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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 [...]
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When running a fitness center or any other business for the matter, it is only a matter of time till you have to deal with a disappointed or angry customer. This is when you face the challenge of handling the situation in such a way that the customer discovers the best qualities about your gym. If you get lucky, you might even end up earning a lifetime member with several recommendations. Let's see how you can take full control of the situation and turn an upset customer into a loyal member. Controlling Various Forums of Complaints In addition to getting [...]
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