Fall can be challenging for club operators. On one hand, you’re dealing with busy classes as more members come in from the cold. On the other, members decide to quit and save money for the holidays or — like 67% of all new members — realize six months after signing up it’s not for them. As you grapple with all of this, it’s important to realize that both member retention and business growth come down to one thing: personal experience for members. Thankfully new technology in the form of intelligent body composition scanning can help. Here’s how.
Personalized Data Keeps Members Engaged
The personal training industry in the U.S. is estimated at $12 billion and climbing. The main reason is simple, clients enjoy highly personalized and ongoing attention for their workouts and nutrition planning. Personal attention keeps them engaged, motivated and coming back to the club week after week. This same concept high-touch, individualized treatment can be applied to every member of the club by promoting regular intelligent body composition scanning. In less than 60 seconds, newer scanners can give each member a highly individualized analysis of their body’s fat, muscle and overall composition as well as personal nutrient macros. This allows members to target workouts and nutrition planning to effect better results with or without a personal trainer, and by encouraging repeat or frequent scans, keep members engaged and motivated.
Generating New Revenue From Tiered Memberships
Once your members choose a membership level and sign the dotted line, upgrading those memberships can be a challenge. But adding body composition scanning can break the deadlock and offer new, intriguing ways to get members to level up. Try offering a free, twice-yearly scan to lower tier members to encourage the idea of body composition tracking through scanning. Offer six scans a year to mid-tier members and monthly scans at the premium level, setting membership fees accordingly. Typical ranges are $20 to $40 a month for packages.Consider charging a flat rate fee for unlimited scans throughout the year. Adopting this strategy can make it seem less like an unwanted additional monthly charge and more like a once a year investment in health.
Make Body Scanning a Part of Your Club’s Routine
Don’t invest in a piece of high-tech equipment like a scanner and expect it to sell itself. The idea will need great and frequent promotion. Hold free body composition analysis events to introduce the tool to members and follow up to discuss tiered membership packages. Make sure members can instantly see and understand the personal benefits of their body composition readouts and nutritional recommendations and have a club nutritionist on hand to discuss additional nutritional counseling and fees. Try holding club-wide weight loss or muscle gain challenges with official scan-in’s to monitor progress — especially around the holidays and start of the year when getting back in shape is top of mind.
