The big question on everyone’s mind: How can members be enrolled in weight-loss programs if they don’t know how the program works? It goes against everything we know about the consumer. The best way to sell someone is to prove to them how beneficial something is prior to their purchase. This idea made me think about AOL CDs back in the late 1990s. Remember those? Households would receive these 90-day offers from AOL in quantities that made some people go mad. Regardless, I remember in the beginning of using the Internet, we continually used these free 90-day offers until we realized how important the Internet was and started paying the $19.95 a month.
Many of your members perceive weight loss the same way they did the Internet in 1997. It’s a vast world of useless information that can’t make their lives any better — McDonald’s french fries are still amazing. Think about it this way, if you’ve been overweight and eaten whatever you wanted for just a year, you are already getting close to not remembering what it was like to not feel bad — you don’t know what it’s like to be healthy. When a fit person in a cool looking workout suit comes strolling up to you and tells you they can help you look good and feel great, you don’t even see the point — it will never happen.
This is where you use your AOL tactics. Give them 90 days of the whole system. Let them see exactly what you can do for them. Once they do, they will be more inclined to pay for a program that can help them transform their bodies and their lives.
How to fight obesity:
1) AOL Solution
– When a new member signs up at your club, offer them a 90-day free trial of your entire program — training, nutritional guidance, the works. Let them see how this program works and how it can be essential to their life.
2) Accountability
– It’s probably hard to see 90 days worth of training dollars escaping, but don’t look at it that way. See it as the possibility of getting someone locked in for a full year, as opposed to a month or two. When they enroll in the trial, give them guest passes. Allow them to use the guest passes on days they aren’t training. It will push them to come in on those days and give them the opportunity to bring a friend. Not only will this create a mild level of accountability, but it will also give your club the opportunity to gain another new member.
3) Goals
– It’s easy to set an end goal for your client or member, but what if you only had 90 days to get them results. Surely, in 90 days, you could get some results, right? But, it’s a short time, so make the goal reasonable and tell them you’ll reevaluate after the 90-day period. Use goals that aren’t body weight oriented. Instead, measure their increase in strength. For example, say the person can only bench press the bar during week one, but by the end of week two they have moved up to bench pressing the bar plus 20 pounds. This small amount of improvement will help the new member feel accomplished and motivated — and it can happen quickly.
4) Awards
– Everyone loves getting awarded when they do well. Give your new members awards when they hit certain milestones. Let’s stick with the bench press scenario. They begin only benching the bar, but you say by benching the bar plus 25 pounds they’ll get a free 30-minute massage or a free shake at the juice bar. These awards that occur throughout the 90-day trial will push the member to work extra hard.
5) Celebrate
– Celebrations are the biggest source of excitement in peoples’ lives. All around the world people celebrate practically everything, from birthdays to marriages. You should help them celebrate the end of their 90-day trial. Sit them down and bring a list of all the goals they met during the trial. Show them how they can lift more, walk further, run faster and feel better. Celebrate with juice bar coupons, guest passes, t-shirt and a water bottle, then approach them with the next deal. If they sign up for a training package right then, they will get a special deal, but it is off the table after this meeting. Tell them it is part of the celebration of their new active lifestyle. It proves to this new member that your club and their trainer really do care about their success and helping them live a better life.
I realize that 90 days in your mind seems like a long time to be giving away free training. However, look what happened to AOL — they became a household name and one of the biggest Internet providers in the world. They gave away 90-day trials and became huge, why can’t you use the same formula?
Tyler Montgomery is the Editor of Club Solutions Magazine. Contact him at tyler@clubsolutionsmagazine.com
Right on, Tyler. Tennessee & North Carolina gym chain The Rush 24/7 (www.therush247.com) does a great job of this. I just relocated to Chattanooga, had a 2012 resolution to get back on track with personal fitness after nearly a decade of indulgence and was looking for the right place. In this city there are a TON of gym options from small to large and many niche service providers (yoga studios, etc.), so it’s SUPER competitive. I visited several places but what really attracted me to The Rush was their offer of a 21 day free trial. That level of confidence in their facility really struck me. That’s almost a month; plenty of time to get the lay of the land, try it out at different times, etc. When I walked in the door for that first meeting with the salesperson I was immediately warmly greeted by everyone I met there. Bottom line, at the end of the meeting I’d signed a two year agreement, had my Rush paraphernalia in hand (coffee mug, juice bar and local coupons, etc.), and now worship nearly every day at the altar of sweat and pain.
From the perspective of a consumer of fitness facilities, they do it right. Only thing better would be a magical alarm clock that would make it easier to crawl out of bed for 5am workouts!