Every gym has two things in common: Customers come, and customers go. Recruiting and retention are the two greatest hurdles that gym owners and their sales staff continually face. Those two factors are also the two things that determine the success of a gym and its ability to sustain club members. By having member data through reporting software, clubs have a powerful tool that can stay a step ahead of their member attrition.
Sales never stops
The same leverage of customer data can be used to track visit history and longevity of the membership. Members who have been in your club since 2008 have a long history with your gym. Knowing that, you can dig deeper into what is leading them to quit, and use that history as support in re-engaging them.
Individual customer data shows you and your salespeople everything that’s needed to know about that particular member’s history. Viewing reports that show 30, 60 and 90-day attendance starting from the member’s sign-up date is a powerful fitness software advantage. You can easily see if your members are on track towards getting the number of visits needed to reinforce their workout routines and build healthy habits. These types of reports also give you the ability to track new members by sales person so you can see who on your sales team has their new members hitting their attendance goals. If they’re not attending, call and find out why. Using incentives along with the customer’s data history, you can offer them a new trainer, free sessions, or a similar fitness option to get them back on track, and most importantly, keeping their membership.
Usually member attendance is most critical in the first 90 days, and that’s what makes a new membership so volatile within the first three months. Having gym management regularly reviewing attendance reports is a good procedure to incorporate into your club to recognize when members are attending less often. It’s a good idea not to wait until members stop coming before contacting them. The sales process should not stop once the member is signed-up. In addition, a good reporting software can track your sales staff performance regarding the tracking of people to whom they’ve sold memberships.
Customer history can also be used to put into place, or re-implement membership rewards that a long-time customer might be eligible to receive, or may have missed out on in the past.
Summary
Every gym member has a reason for joining your club, and one reason for leaving. When it comes time to convince that customer not to leave your gym, membership data and customer history are two necessary tools in reminding members of their initial reason for joining. If anything else, it is a conversation started to get the necessary member feedback to help improve your club for future membership. Leverage customer data through your club management software and keep members motivated through incentives, offers, and building relationships upon what the member’s attendance history tells you.
Stephen Wilson is the marketing manager of ASF Payment Solutions. He can be contacted at 800-527-6898, or by email at steve.wilson@asfpaymentsolutions.com.
