Every New Year begins with good intentions. Many make resolutions to lose weight and get in shape. Whether these resolutions are met or not, they mean big business for the health and fitness industry.
“January is one of our busiest months of the year,” said Debbie Cedeno, the vice president of sales and marketing at The Alaska Club, which is a network of 16 clubs across Alaska. “Not only because our volume is so high with new members, but also many of our members who haven’t been using the facilities or who might have been exercising outside come back at that time.”
Before members start flooding through the doors, you should ask yourself what can be done to prepare for the New Year’s rush. Whether it’s purchasing new equipment, developing a new marketing strategy or launching additional group exercise programs, it’s never too early to start preparing.
“We have our best offer of the year in January and we have the heaviest media placement in January,” said Cedeno. “Not only are we looking for new members at that time, but we also put together a special corporate offer with our business partners.”
Getting new clients to come into the club is only the first step. Once they have signed up for a membership, it is crucial to keep them involved with various activities and programs.
“Our theme [in January] is heavy engagement in educating our members to the services that they have available for them,” said Cedeno. “We look at every touch point, from the front desk staff to group fitness and personal training to membership and management. We look at all the ways our members interact with us and make sure that it’s not confusing in any way and that we are reaching out to them as opposed to them waiting for us.”
It never hurts to think of unique ways to help new members become acquainted with everything the club has to offer and get motivated to workout. Cedeno explained how every January, The Alaska Club launches a fitness challenge.
“The challenge incorporates all aspects of the club,” said Cedeno. “So if you fulfill a certain amount of activities you are entered in to win a prize. If you are a new member and you come in, we want you to try a lot of different things — from going to your consultation, learning to use our website, trying personal training, trying a hydro massage — we really want you to try everything that is going on in the facility so that you can figure out what it is that you enjoy the most.”
The Alaska Club strives to keep its clientele in mind and create programs catering to their lifestyle. The focus this year seems to be on family and youth engagement. The club will soon launch its youth wellness program, Strong Start, and recently started a new department for family recreation.
“At many of our locations what we have done is taken our very popular group fitness classes — an Insanity class that has 65 people in it — and in one of our other group fitness classes we will have youth yoga so that parents who are involved in the Insanity class know their kids are right next door in a yoga class,” said Cedeno. “What we’ve really tried to do is think about family behavior and try to put together a schedule that mimics that behavior or complements it.”
Preparing for the New Year’s rush in advance can help stave off any unwanted mishaps when all those members start rolling in. There is nothing worse for business than disappointing new clients.
Still feeling a little anxious about the New Year mayhem? Cedeno offered a little advice regarding what is most important when dealing with a surge in membership. “Staff training,” she said. “That is something that we really learned because we get an influx of people who have been away from the gym or new members and it is super important that the staff is knowledgeable on the services we have available — trying to make it as least confusing as possible for people.”
By Emily Harbourne
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Rachel Zabonick-Chonko is the editor-in-chief of Club Solutions Magazine. She can be reached at rachel@peakemedia.com.
