Operations: What’s in Your Retention Plan?

We often hear mention of marketing plans that help drive membership sales at health clubs. This usually consists of how the business will attract new customers to the club. It will consist of monthly activities such as social media campaigns, specific advertising and referral programs. If we give retention an equal billing to sales, then surely we should have a retention plan?

If you haven’t got one then maybe you should start considering developing a plan that helps keep your customers from giving up their membership? Here are some tips to help you develop your plan, which will add some real value to your bottom line by keeping hold of your existing customers.

Retention needs to be planned, implemented and reviewed like any other plan. It should be discussed with all employees to gain their input and the importance explained to them. Decide what things you are going to do to retain your customers. These could include activities such as social events or gym challenges that encourage participation. You may want to set up some focus groups or deliver some educational seminars that reinforce the benefits of regular exercise. Importantly you need to look at your customer journey and the process of smoothly integrating them into the club.

Your retention plan will list various activities that should improve your retention statistics and therefore it is vital that this is measured to ensure that it is having a positive impact. You will also need to provide some training to employees, as well as allocating some resources to your retention plan for it to be successful. Try to be imaginative and devise different retention strategies each month.

The old saying goes, “If you fail to plan – you plan to fail.” Get your retention plan up and running and start planning for success.