Mark Miller, the COO of Merritt Clubs, shares how to keep members engaged during fall months.
During the summer, many people are busy with vacations and outdoor activities, whether it be gardening, hiking, biking, running, swimming, etc. As the weather and time starts to shift, it is critical we start to focus on our retention efforts and avoid the fall cliff that many clubs experience with a drop in usage, an increase in cancellations and a decrease in sales.
Below are three strategies we can use to combat these things from occurring this fall:
- We have a terrific opportunity to reassess and reaffirm our members’ goals and objectives for the last hundred days of 2022. Utilize this time to invite new members and current members to get a reassessment, refresher and plan of attack. Sit down and review their goals and objectives and what they would like to accomplish before the end of the year. What actions and steps will they take to make this year one of their best?
- Utilize this time to determine your high-risk individuals and actively seek out, reach out and reengage with them. Anybody who has not used the club in the last 30 days should be contacted. Dr. Paul Bedford has shown through some of his studies that if we reach out and reengage them, they are more likely to stay and use our clubs long-term. Our members joined our clubs for a reason. We have an obligation and a duty to ensure they are using our facilities and not just paying for them. This is a fantastic opportunity for phone calls among your sales team who signed them up or even your fitness professionals to reengage them. Each call can also be an opportunity to invite them to bring a friend with them.
- Create an end of the summer social event. An end of the summer, a “Back into Fitness” member social is a great chance to utilize your staff to meet and greet all the members, gives your staff a reason to make phone calls to lower usage members, and it is a way of having members and guests bringing others into the facility for free trials and demos. Plus, an end of summer party is just the ticket to social and mental health. Get that last fun in and let off steam before the reality of fall sports, school events, traffic jams and life hits.
Summer is a great season for most of us. Pools are packed, camps are flourishing, food and beverage is rocking, and the social nature of our clubs takes care of itself. But fall is that time we all dread, and we do not have to anymore. With a little planning, ingenuity, reaching out and care, we can reengage our members back into a habit of fitness and a fall of fun, fitness and festive times. It also is a wonderful time to set the stage for the next year and a continuation of success.
The key is a great strategy, a detailed plan, action and measure, sprinkled in with some passion, focus and fun. Set yourself up for a great finish to 2022 and roll right into a rocking 2023.
