WHAT’S YOUR POINT:WelcomeToday we want to discuss and brainstorm best practices around membership growth and the success of health and fitness facilities. Whether if you are a for-profit or non-profit facility, growing membership and profitabiliyhis is the name of the game… increase profit either for your business or to reinvest in the community – regardless, we are all about growing membership and revenue.How difficult is it to grow your facility’s membership?
WHAT’S YOUR POINT:The fitness industry has experienced huge growth in the last 40 yearsHealth & fitness facility attendance has become the biggest adult “sport” in the Western world. Bigger than football, tennis and golf combined
WHAT’S YOUR POINT:Also, latest research highlights some serious threats for our industry in the next few years, which could make growth, and even surviving, very challenging.The Future of Fitness White Paper, commissioned from the Nielsen Company by Les Mills International and Better by Design, explores the trends that may shape human fitness and activity, and their effect on the fitness industry. The intention of the White Paper is to provide new insights to help the fitness industry understand what may happen and to guide future decisions. These insights will also help to address risks, rise to challenges and discover opportunities beyond today’s known channels and theories or concepts.After hundreds of hours of research and dozens of interviews with experts and ‘ordinary people’, the White Paper reveals a range of challenges and opportunities for us to either confront or develop.WHAT’S YOUR POINT:We thought the finding of the White Paper would be very positive – the fitness industry has experienced massive growth in the last 40 years. Health club attendance has become the biggest adult ‘sport’ in the Western world. Bigger than football, tennis and golf combined. Surprisingly, the findings of the White Paper are quite alarming.
WHATS YOUR POINTOur industry is at riskRead the slide
WHAT’S YOUR POINT:Budget clubs offer great ‘boxes’ for very cheap membership…When one opens next door, clubs usually loose 10 to 20% of their members…which very often represent their margin…Bottom line is we can’t fight them by offering great commodities or low prices…they win in that space.
WHAT’S YOUR POINT:A lot of clubs struggle in winning the battle against low-budget clubs. The answer is not to drop price and quality, unless you want to become a low-budget club as well. We need to demonstrate additional value. People need to see a clear difference between clubs charging $50 and the ones charging $15. The difference is not in the equipment or box… Most low-budget clubs have great ones. The difference is in the people, group exercise options, motivation etc.Some clubs that are focusing on these factors are being very successful.
WHATS YOUR POINT:The wihite paper has hilighted threats but also 3 opportunities : Exertainment, building communities (social bonds) and health (results)We believe we can combime these under one heading …the missing insight…MOTIVATION
This is the missing insight…When we ask people what they want when they join a fitness facility, they say things like weight loss, toning up, getting fitter, improving their health. Things we can group under the heading of getting RESULTS.People aren’t stupid. They know they can get results by running around the block or exercising in their living room. But they also know that they lack the motivation. They want a kick in the pants.We are in the motivation business. Whether they know it or not, the most successful organizations on the planet design their fitness facilities to meet this need.
WHAT’S YOUR POINT:We need to manage using leading measures which predict what the outcomes will be, not trialing indicators which measure outcomes only.There is one number that has a more powerful effect on success than any of the others, which influences everything else: Member attendance.
WHAT’S YOUR POINT:Facts proving the business power of GX1. Dr James J Annesi: Effects of Minimal Group Promotion on Cohesion and Exercise Adherence2. IHRSA Study 2009 3. IHRSA Retention Report 20074. Will Phillips, The Retention Breakthrough
WHAT’S YOUR POINT:The first tip is to choose the right programming for your clubs.
WHAT’S YOUR POINT:Then, when choosing specific programs and genres to provide the 3 benefits we discussed before, factor in the latest research findings – that only 5 genres drive 75% of GX attendance in world. Do you have best-possible quality programs in these clubs?It also show that offering a large variety of programs with a small number of classes per program is not the solution to achieve ultimate attendance…Usually 4 to 5 programs only drie more than 70% of the attendance so offering 8 to 12 programs is usually a good strategy…Have a solid core offer matching your target market and complete it with 3 or 4 programs targeting niche or new target markets
WHAT’S YOUR POINT:Use the need scope model to identify what programs are most likely ‘core’ ones in your facility, or specialty ones. If you don’t use LES MILLSTM programs, that’s fine. Your cycling program most likely fits where RPMTM fits, your barbell one where BODYPUMP® is etc.
WHAT’S YOUR POINTRecruiting people who naturally fit in the essence of a program means they are naturally able to deliver the experience people have told us they want from each program. For example, recruit candidates naturally able to teach with power and to coach people how to achieve perfection in each program. You are looking for strong candidates, natural leaders.
WHAT’S YOUR POINTExplain the LES MILLSTM training system and that clubs partnering with Les Mills get access to the same training system, a world-class one.Explain what training actions fit under the local Les Mills agents and what fit under the club responsibility.SUGGESTED SCRIPTThis is the training plan we use with Les Mills’ instructors. It is well known for turning new talent into 20-year-experienced teachers in only a few months.Explain the plan: first we carefully select the new recruit. Then, we take them through a 2 to 3-day initial training specific to each program. They are introduced to the 5 keys in relation to the program and, more importantly, they teach and get feedback from top trainers several times.Then, after 12 weeks of teaching, we watch on video a full class and eventually give them their official accreditation to teach. We don’t stop here. Our instructors are ALWAYS in training. We ensure they work on every new release. They also receive regular feedback through the quarter. And recently, we have added an additional 3 days’ training to our system (AIM) to ensure we can take instructors who are already doing all of these to an even greater level.The advantage of using LES MILLSTM programs in your club is that you and your instructors access to the same world-class training plan. Your local Les Mills agents take care of the initial training, the certification and the ongoing and also the advanced training.Your role is to select the best possible candidates, ensure they send their videos post training, then make sure they get regular feedback, even a brief version, on their teaching. Training instructors is a shared responsibility. However, partnering with Les Mills allows you to outsource most of the key actions and to access to world-class quality tools and training, for your instructors but also for you, as managers.In the GFMi module we show you how effectively to get your instructors ready to teach a new release, how to perform in-house assessments and how to deliver great coaching feedback. We give you some forms you could use to assess the classes easily and to progressively build up your instructors to mastery.
WHAT’S YOUR POINTAs a GF leader, you need to ensure your studio is a great destination. Your role is to create a WOW space.
WHAT’S YOUR POINTOr like this…?
WHAT’S YOUR POINT:Your GX studio is the easiest place to create energy. Britomart Studio – highlight colors, lighting, design, position of stage and use of circles to lift up energy but also to show where to put equipment and optimize use of space.
WHAT’S YOUR POINT:Use of lights – another cheap and easy way to create great atmosphere. And easy to use to change mood of room.And example of the same GX studio with use of different lights.
WHAT’S YOUR POINT:Highlight use of natural light, size as big as possible, colors, great stage and video screen
WHAT’S YOUR POINT:A great example of indoor cycling studios – RPM™ studio, Les Mills Hutt City, New Zealand
WHAT’S YOUR POINT:LES MILLS AUCKLAND’s new RPMTM studio.The impact on business of improving the environment can be MASSIVE. When they swapped to the new studio 2 years ago, LesMillsAuckland jumped from 1,200 RPMTM attendance a week to 2,000. Each person pays $5 per ride… It’s an additional income per week of $10,000. We’d love to be able to say that the instructors improved, RPMTM got better etc, but truth is the main difference was the change of studio quality, sound and the number of bikes (60 instead of 40).
WHAT’S YOUR POINT:What’s your message:Events are great to relaunch member’s motivation but they are also a great way to generate new sales…Here are the type of results (conservative) that most clubs achieve post training and after 2 or 3 events
WHAT’S YOUR POINT:We provide our partners with a simple but effective sales process to apply. Give a high level view of what we train clubs on:- Event pre-bookingCalls to guest pre-event to confirm attendance, pre-qualify and eventually book for an appointment on event day3 things to do post class to close the sale
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WHAT’S YOUR POINT:SUGGEST 3 READING: Start with a why. Drive. The upside or the irrational.