Have you thought about reducing someone’s dues for them bringing in their friends and family to get started with you? I have tried many different referral programs, and one of the most effective I have used is reducing a member’s monthly payment by X amount dollars for every referral that signs up. Oh my goodness I am going to reduce someone’s dues? Yes!
Let’s say your membership fee is $30 per month. For every member that refers a new member who joins, you offer $5 off the current member’s dues – the current member will obtain a free membership after six referrals. Look at the math. We have reduced our Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) by $30 per month for the current member who referred us six referrals, but in that process, we have added $180/month ($30/month X 6 new members) of new EFT on the books with the current member’s six new referrals. That is a net gain of $150/month to your draft. That is a good ROI. The main rule that I put in place is that they will receive this reduction as long as their referrals stay active in the club.
We have all probably tried the free month for each referral, but with this program it spreads the month out over a period of time. You have to make sure you have variety in your member referral incentives and this is a new and fresh idea for your club.
Eric Vyborny
Fitness Marketing Contributor
