Roundtable Recap: Digital and Virtual Revenue Streams

On March 24, Club Solutions Magazine presented the third installment of a monthly virtual roundtable series on thought leadership, surrounding digital and virtual revenue streams.

Panelist included Scott Gillespie, the owner and president of Saco Sport & Fitness; Tiffany Marie, the owner of Trampoline TRIM; Greg Maurer, the vice president of fitness at Workout Anytime; Landon Burningham, the founder, president and CEO of Physiq Fitness; and Mary Edwards, the fitness director and a professional fitness trainer at Cooper Fitness Center. The discussion was led and moderated by Rachel Zabonick-Chonko, the editor-in-chief of Club Solutions Magazine. Sponsored by Intelivideo.

The following is a summary of top takeaways from the discussion, centered on digital and virtual revenue streams:

Digital and virtual offerings have to fit your business model.
Virtual can be an outlet to attract members who typically wouldn’t come to the club.
Know what your community wants and needs.
Virtual is a necessary evil.
- Many clubs shifted to virtual quickly to keep revenue coming in during shutdowns. While the offering will stick around it may not continue to be a huge revenue stream for all clubs.
Virtual is an absolute necessity, but will look different club to club because of different business models.
Virtual offerings are now an expectation. It is not an either-or situation.
Use virtual as a way to attract 80% of the population who do not step into gyms.
Clubs are working on creating virtual-only memberships.
Instructors can make or break virtual fitness.
Virtual is not one size fits all.
Don’t undercut yourself. Don’t offer virtual fitness at a discount if the content is just as great as it is inside the club.
Including virtual in your membership offering can help significantly with keeping members.
- Adding it in your top tier membership offering is a great revenue driver.
You can cater your content to your at-home members. For example, giving them modifications if they don’t have equipment at home.
If your online software allows you to offer pay-by-use options this can allow your members to choose the way they want to consume.
The software you use matters.
Have a way to measure who is utilizing virtual offerings.
Don’t get stuck in a corner because you don’t have the right technology to offer certain things.
It has to be easy on and easy off for the members. Make it seamless.
Open your playbook. People have the tools they just need coaching to get there.
Use virtual as a tool of simplicity for your members.
You can pick and choose what you want to offer. You can solely offer content or add on virtual personal training, telemedicine, etc. Do what works best for your club. The more you offer, the more complex it will be. However virtual isn’t going away so start somewhere.
Spend time with your team on the details of properly offering virtual fitness. Don’t assume they know everything.
Virtual fitness has to be authentic. If it feels like your trainers don’t want to do virtual offerings it will never be successful.
Without tailoring your virtual options to your staff, you will not successfully serve your members.
Make sure you are setting up your staff to put the customer first.
Ask yourself, “How does this virtual strategy not only affect our customers, but how can it better the lives and reduce the stress of our employees?”
As you expand your virtual offerings, consider adding an employee to solely run your virtual offerings.
Make sure virtual offerings don’t create more stress for your team. DOn’t make it two separate business, but rather one that feeds each others.
Be ready to adapt. There is a learning curve you have to take on.
Be open to other people helping you be successful virtually.
If your team doesn’t fully back virtual offerings, you will not be successful. You need staff buy-in.
You need to change as quickly as your consumers demand something new.
Virtual can allow you to serve more people, conveniently.