Growth Strategies that Actually Work for Your Health Club
Are you interested in leveraging unique ways to procure more leads, bring in more traffic to your fitness center, or increase membership signups? You’re not alone!
The strategies we see and use are typically pretty standard in the startup stage of your health and fitness company. Establish a website, build an strong social media following, and keep your space clean… these are some starting points for growing your club from the get-go. Sometimes, it’s necessary to use new and unique ways once you’ve exhausted strategies that have helped you in the past, but might not be serving your future.
We’ve put together a few of our most effective growth strategies for increasing business and member sign-ons. These are the methods that we’ve seen create real results for real clubs. Read on to learn more.
Invest in Tech
Has it been years since you’ve added an element of new technology to your club? The absence of advancement might actually be a risk to reeling in new, potential customers.
Don’t let improvements to the tech-side of your gym fall by the wayside. Potential members are looking for gyms with high-tech amenities, like free wi-fi, bluetooth-synching equipment, and tracking softwares. If you’re looking to make upgrades for your wellness center, your first focus should be investing in technology.
Consider upgrading your equipment and including new technology that assists your personal trainers. Technology that focuses on showing clients a visual representation of how their body looks and how they’ve improved help increase retention rates.
Upsell When Possible
If you’ve established a strong base customer group, you need to start seeking unique ways of improving their member experience, and increasing your bottom line. For us, this is all about creating brand advocacy more than just improving your sales. The ability to upsell is simply leveraging your existing customers and showing them what else you can provide for them.
Practice your upselling skills by simply striking up a conversation with potential members. Ask them if they’ve heard of the new class you’ve started, or if they knew about a current promotion you’re running. Once you’ve invited them into the potential of a sale, you should be able to grasp if they’re happy with their current membership status, or in need or an upgrade. These are the customers your focus should be on if you’re interested in growing your business, as reaching them will be the easiest way of targeting new business – they already know and support you!
The Power of the Local Search
The vast majority of your clients will enroll in your club because of your close proximity to their work or home. Make sure that you’re easy to find and active on apps and websites like Google Maps, Yelp, and YellowPages. After creating profiles on these apps, make sure you’re involved in responding to reviews and critiques of your business online. This will help potential members see your dedication to customer service and is a huge selling point for visitors.
Follow up with every cancellation
Put in place a standard practice for how you continue to stay in contact with members after they’ve moved on from your gym. You want to make a final attempt at seeing what you’re able to do to win them back over. If you fail to follow up with lost customers or members, they may be taking offense to your lack of initiative. Simple exit surveys will help you gain necessary feedback and help maintain a stronger base group of customers that feel comfortable offering critique. If you’re successful in maintaining the relationship, it can help your bottom line immensely.
It’s in your best interest to keep them as a contact in your filing system. That way if you’re ever hosting promotional events or make a change that impacted their decision, you’re able to easily send them a follow up email asking them, “Are you sure?”
Offer helpful content
Does your gym write unique and insightful blog posts on your website? Do you host panels or discussions about health and nutrition? These are savvy talking points in selling to potential members because of the entire brand experience you provide.
This is a growth strategy that can bring in new customers that are simply searching for “easy healthy lunches” or “yoga moves to do at home”. This will eventually increase conversion rates with the hopes that those visiting your blog will click through your website to sign up. Plus, content writing is pretty fun, if we do say so ourselves.
Giveaways, Promotions, Challenges
One of the easiest ways to increase membership signups and growth as a fitness center is to offer fun and engaging promotions and challenges. These really allow you to get creative with your team, and will eventually create a stronger fitness community.
Some examples of promotional material could be giveaways with merch, summer fitness challenges, or flash discounts on memberships. Get the word out that your club hosts amazing promotions and watch your tours and closing rates escalate.
Interested in learning more about how 3D body scanning can take your gym to the growth level you’re seeking? Check out Styku today.
