In most part of the country, membership sales are harder to make during the summer months. I live in Minneapolis, where we have two seasons. Inside season and outside season. Or Winter and road construction, depending on who you ask. When the weather is nice, folks love to be outside, especially in states where they just spend a few months getting cabin fever.
But this doesn’t mean you have to accept low sales May through September. You can still add new members, and more importantly, get them paying for coaching. You can pull this off by following these 3 steps.
1. Work your leads. Since the club isn’t as busy, your membership salespeople will have plenty of time to go through the database and contact their leads. There is good old fashioned telephone and email. But I strongly recommend sending these leads something via United States Postal Service. Maybe an offer for the rest of summer for free, with a small joiners fee.
2. Educate using social media. The main reason people need a gym membership year round is to keep up with their strength training. Cardio alone is not the solution to reaching individual fitness goals. So, on Facebook, be sure to share articles about the benefits of strength training. On Instagram, post pictures of your members doing deadlifts, squats, and kettle bell swings. On your webpage, share testimonials from members who accomplished their goals by working with coaches and learning how to pick up something heave, place it over their heads, and put it back down.
3. Have a barbecue. If you don’t have a lawn at your gym, use a local park. Grill up some meat and vegetables, have some water, beer and wine, and have some fun. Offer a free group session 90 minutes before the barbecue starts outside, on the lawn, or in the park. Strongly encourage your members to bring friends and family.
4. Enhance your referral program. The basic playbook for maximizing referrals is to first have a process for getting names and numbers from your members. Email jason@jasonlinse.com with “referrals” in the subject line and I will shoot you back a 12 minute video that teaches you the best referral process to implement. But when referrals actually join, you need to have a program that rewards the member who provided you the name and telephone number. My favorite is to give them a choice between a bottle of wine (you can have some bottles on hand, or use wine.com) or a gift card to a local restaurant, for $15.00. Many gyms give a free month, but you will see more excitement and therefore more effectiveness by providing something tangible that allows for immediate gratification. Also, a $15.00 bottle wine or a $15.00 gift card is less than giving away a $39.00 membership for that month. Okay, so during the slower and tougher summer months, enhance your program by doubling or tripling the reward. For example, in June, July, and August, each referral earns a bottle of wine AND a gift card, AND a free small group session.
5. In club signage. Let your members know about things that are going on via e-newsletters and emails, but understand that many folks don’t pay attention to those. Help inform your members with in-club signage. And be sure to inform all staff of things that are going on in the club, and events that are coming up.
Sales don’t have to decline in the summer if you work a little harder, get creative, and keep educating members and prospects about the many benefits of strength training and coaching.
Keep changing lives.
Stay ahead in the fitness industry with exclusive updates!
Jason Linse is president and founder of The Business of Fitness, a consulting company. He also owns a personality assessment company called People Plus+ Fitness. Contact him at jason@jasonlinse.com or 612-310-1319 for resources on scheduling more tours and personality assessments, or visit www.jasonlinse.com.
