Database management is crucial for retention. The number of fitness businesses that do not have a good, usable database of their current, much less past, customers always surprises me.
You must find a way to keep track of all your clients — past and present — so that you can easily and quickly contact them. Sure there may be features in most POS systems to look up members or even pull reports. The good ones even allow for exporting the information; but are you really using the tools available to you?
Get a database, contact manager, digital address book, whatever format you need to actively begin communicating with your members and past clients. It’s been said the list “database” is where your money is. This is especially true in terms of retention as it’s easy to lose touch with members who come in during off hours or infrequently. Sometimes we can’t interact with our members in person, so you must rely on other forms of contact, which is the power of your data.
Frank Emanuel
Health Club Marketing Contributor
