The gift of good health is quickly becoming one of the most popular and widely purchased during the holidays. From fitness trackers and other technological devices to gym memberships and personal training sessions, the opportunity to engage new and existing customers is key.
Making sure your club is ready for the post-holiday rush is important to launching and growing your club’s business and your community wellness footprint. Maximizing your club’s ability to encourage customers who may have received memberships, sessions or other fitness-related holiday items to use and persist can have lasting benefits for your customers and for your club’s success.
Here are a few ways you and your club can make the most of the holiday season:
Promote the Health Benefits
Creating marketing material and club-based programming that informs new and existing members of the benefits to exercise and healthy lifestyles reinforces the concept that the gift of good health is essential to quality of life and well-being, not to mention the added benefits exercise can have on stress-management, workplace performance, and self-confidence and self-love. Individuals who utilize gift memberships and other options, like gifted training sessions, and see value in them, are often the best repeat customers.
Catering to New Members
Many individuals who receive the gift of fitness may have never set foot in a club before, or have been out of a fitness routine for a long time. Creating specialized programs for newbies to help maximize the return on their gift can lead to additional revenue opportunities for your club. Creating individualized or group exercise programming to ensure new holiday-based customers maximize their results and engagement with your club can allow you and your staff to upsell training sessions, gain referrals for friends and family, and expand the positive word-of-mouth marketing for your club.
Creating Long-Term Customers
Many holiday fitness gifts may be short-term or temporary memberships to your club. Creating a unique and rewarding experience for these new members is important. Offering discounted or pro-rated long term memberships for these new customers can create a year-long fitness habit that will help you retain these folks and prevent new member melt rates. Make the most of your new holiday customers this year!
Ryan Barnhart is the associate director for online programs at California University of Pennsylvania, a current Doctor of Health Science candidate at Cal U, and a NASM certified Performance Enhancement Specialist. He can be reached at barnhart_r@calu.edu.
