Gym Marketing Activity during the Corona Crisis

Marketing Activity During the Corona Virus Crisis

The biggest question our clients are asking during this testing time is, "should I still be marketing my business, and if so, How?"

My instant response is of course "YES".  Don't stop selling.  Even if you have taken the decision to furlough staff and to mothball the business for the next few months.  You need to keep your business and brand in front of your clients and your potential new customers. 

You don't want to be in a position where you are starting from scratch once the Prime Minister announces are re-opening.  When that happens, the big players such as Virgin, Pure gym, David Lloyds, Banatyne will switch their marketing spends on and as a franchise or independent club operator you simply won’t get a look in as they will simply outspend you on Google Ads, Facebook and Instagram.  So now is the time to build your brand, let people know who are, get more followers on your social media, more clients in your database and make sure you are ready to fire out of the blocks with a solid plan.

I appreciate many clubs are running online classes, virtual PT sessions and even nutrition advice support.  These are all brilliant and great ways of maintaining contact with your members and clients. Don't stop doing this as its important to maintain what you have.  The ideas below are set out to help you move beyond those who are already avid supporters of your business.

So below are just some of the activities you should be considering over the next few months:

Google/Bing Places/Apple Maps

Whilst your website and its SEO are important to your visibility, more importantly is being registered with the various search engines.  Search Engines drive the internet and the maps section is one of the biggest search criteria.  You may not be able to compete with the big companies via ad spend, but you can on ensuring you are visible on the organic searches and on the map’s sections of Google, Bing and Apple.

These are easy to create:

Google - https://www.google.com/business/ & https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/google-my-business

Bing Places - https://www.bingplaces.com/

Apple Connect - https://mapsconnect.apple.com/

Yahoo - https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/local

You should see Google Business an additional Social Media channel and ensure you load offers, images and activity regularly.  Once or twice per week is sufficient. 

Online Business Directories

You want to ensure search engines not only sees your website but also sees your business on as many other outlets and websites as well. The more your business appears in searches the more trusted it becomes, and the more likely search engines will push you to the top.  Below are some of the national sites you should be on but also don't forget about local business directories that are specific to your area.  Almost all of these directories are free and there should be no need to pay for advanced features

Yell.com - https://www.yell.com/

Thomson Local - https://www.thomsonlocal.com/

Scoot - https://www.scoot.co.uk/

Foursquare - http://business.foursquare.com/

Hotfrog - http://business.foursquare.com/

192.com - https://www.192.com/

Cyclex - https://www.cylex-uk.co.uk/

Approved Business - https://www.approvedbusiness.co.uk/

Best on the web - https://botw.org

Yalwa - https://m.yalwa.co.uk/

Brownbook - https://www.brownbook.net/

Bizify - https://www.bizify.co.uk/

Classfinder - https://www.classfinder.org.uk/

Gymsnearme - https://www.gymsnearme.org.uk/

Yelp - https://biz.yelp.co.uk/

Free Index - https://www.freeindex.co.uk/

Locanto - https://www.locanto.co.uk/

Uk Small Business Directory - https://www.uksmallbusinessdirectory.co.uk/

Opening Times - https://www.opening-times.co.uk/

UK Business Directory - https://www.uk-businesses.co.uk/

Tapology - https://www.tapology.com/gyms/country/gb

The above are by no means a definitive list but they are a good starting point.  It will take some of your time to load your club’s details, but the benefits will be well worth it.  It will increase your exposure.

Aggregator sites:

There are definitely reasons for and against registering your business on these sites and this will be covered in a separate blog post.  However, what cannot be underestimated is the marketing impact they can play. 

By loading your business onto their sites, you get to feed off the back of their huge marketing budgets that these companies have.  If you set up your arrangements correctly you won’t feel the negative impact of lost members to a pay as you go system but will benefit from the potential exposure on their site.  

I have personally used all of these business at a variety of sites and never seen any negative impact on the business.  This is not to say, if not managed correctly they could but as with Group-on, wahanda etc, managed effectively they can bring great benefits

These companies include:

Gympass - https://www.gympass.com/uk

Hussle - https://www.hussle.com/

MoveGB - https://go.movegb.com/

If you are unsure how you should be setting up relationships with these companies then feel free to get in touch with us at ryancharlesworth@blackraccoon.org and we will be happy to advise.

Social Media:

Now your social media activity is a blog or even 2 in itself but I will try and give you a few ideas of things you could be doing now that will help you create a following as well as leads for when your business re-opens.

Remember we are focusing on building your brand here and not on member retention

 - Set up a private group page on Facebook for Members.  This allows you to offer those who continue to support you a private service just for them as well as an opportunity to engage with fellow members, many of those who know each other but not well enough to be friends

       i. Discounted virtual PT sessions

       ii. Members only competitions

       iii. Nutrition seminars via zoom

       iv. Encourage members to post their home activity or food images

       v. Post recipe idea's

       vi. Group challenges - set a challenge and get members to post their results and videos

The aim is to create a strong community online.

Other Ideas:

 - Create a regular fitness blog and post 1 article a week. The subject can be anything fitness related
 - Run a competition each week for people to win free months, free PT sessions, free t-shirts (or other stock).  Make them fun, get people to send in their at home training pictures. 

 - A workout of the week for people to follow

 - As with pre-sale activity, run a campaign for people to register their details for fantastic membership offers when you open. Limited number of places available

 - Push posts about your unique Selling Points (USP's) why are you different, why do members love you so much

 - If you are continuing to run online classes and PT then don't be afraid to advertise this as something non-members can pay for.  Encourage new members to join your club now.  Maybe have an incentive to do so.  Obviously don't undercut those members who have agreed to continue to pay, instead give them an incentive they can take up once you re-open.

 - If you are confident enough run Facebook or Instagram Live events to answer people fitness questions.

 - You should join as many local Facebook groups in your area as possible.  This can include local selling groups, mother and baby groups, fitness groups etc etc.  Many local communities have their own communication groups. Ones I have dealt with before and worth a look are Ruddington Mums and Epsom and Ewell families.  Both these groups have huge influence in their communities and well worth you making a connection with and building a relationship.

Members:

Don't forget to continue to sell to members.  Its great if members are continuing to pay for your online services and continuing to support your business.  You should though:

 - Be sending regular communications to members - possibly as a newsletter

 - Send referral offers to encourage them to get friends and family to join your online classes

 - Offer free trials of online personal training with a discount for those who sign up. Discounting now will mean less revenue but get the client engaged now and they will continue as a full paying client when you re-open.

 - If you have the skill base, offer members nutrition planning and support

Your Lead Database:

Don't allow your leads to go cold.  You have worked so hard to generate these leads over the last 6 -12 months. Don't now leave them to become cold and worthless as you really will be starting from scratch.  There are some easy and low impact items you can do now to keep contact with those potential new members

- Weekly E-mails - Simply send your prospects some fitness updates or articles each week.  These don't need to be long just quick snippets of advice and could include:

      i. A weekly workout

      ii. Link to a fitness article

      iii. How to train through the crisis advise

      iv. Stretching advice

      v. Nutrition advice

      vi. Exercise from home for beginners

      vii. Exercise with your kids

Let’s be honest the key here is to send something that people will read and thank you for sending. It needs to be regular and it needs to be friendly and informative

- Send them an offer to join your club now if you are running online classes.  Many people are stuck at home and yearning to be part of a community.  Give them an incentive and don't be afraid to continue to sell.  The aim though is that these offers should form part of a communication set and not as individual emails.  Start by sending advice, information, help and support articles first to build trust.

- Don't be afraid if you have time to call your prospects and thank them for their enquiry and ask them how they are getting on with their training from home.  They will appreciate the call and your concern.  This is not a sales call but simply a keep in touch call.

Corporate Activity:

Now you might think I am going mad here but here me out.  This really is a great opportunity to start making connections with potential corporate partners.  Remember who your audience is here.  Even those who are furloughed will still be reading e-mails, linked in and other business channels.  The nature of their work and position will mean they will not have switched off.  The big difference now though is your message won’t be a hindrance to their work but in fact a highlight and something they can get stuck into.

There are a number of ways you can start to build your corporate database:

 - LinkedIn - There are a number of ways you can find the right people:

       i. Google search businesses in your area and use this as a search reference for you to use on Linked in.  Once you have found appropriate people look for HR directors or managers in those companies.  They can either support directly or push you to the right person

       ii. Complete a LinkedIn search for your area

       iii. complete a job title search in your area

Remember when sending connection requests, always include a brief comment to explain who you are and what you are looking to achieve.

 - Hunter.io - This website allows you to search for individual actual direct e-mail address if you know the company name.  Be aware that the site cannot tell you whether those people are based in your area and so for large multinational companies this can increase the work required.  It can though give you a good starting point.

 Local Business Relationships:

The above can also be used to connect to local businesses who you would like to create a future relationship with for when you open.  A good connection point is you are trying to create a member’s discount scheme and would like local companies to join you in creating this.  There are benefits for both parties and no money needs to change hands.  You should look to create links first with high traffic businesses who can help you as well in return, independent businesses are also best as there are no corporate chain to worry about

     i. Restaurants

     ii. Cafe's

     iii. Running/sports shops (independent ones are best) - Up and Running are always up for linking

     iv. Barbers, hairdressers and beauty salons

Don’t forget, not only can these companies help by putting out your flyers and maybe putting up a banner in their shops, but they are great at word of mouth but usually have high street or prominent locations for future outreach activity

Review your Website:

Spend a few hours going through your website page by page. Look at how you can improve it.  You should look to revamp it even if just a few minor changes.  Your members, clients and prospects will be spending large amounts of time on the internet.  You need them to want to stop on your site again.  If nothing has changed then there is no reason for them to revisit

The design may be hard to change but you can change some images, update some of text and add some new features

Only you will know how you want the design to look but this is your chance to make it better and more engaging

Your future Plan:

While working on all of the above you should be looking at creating your pre-opening plan.  Everyone will be treating their opening as a pre-sale.  We know we probably have another 6-8 weeks minimum in lock down.  You need to take this time to create a plan. 

We will talk about this plan in a future blog but to get you started you need to start thinking about:

- Pre-sale/Pre-opening offer - launching 4 weeks out

- Members "Thank You" 

- Your Ex-member offer and campaigns to bring them back - a Rescue plan

- Your Personal training offers

- Your Group PT offer

- Your Outreach activity plan - the big boys will be everywhere!

- Your social media plan

- Your staff training strategy

- Your Business plan/Budget numbers for the rest of the year

- Your brand design material, internal and external.

- Start to interview for new staff or new freelance PT's

I will attempt to expand on all the sections mentioned above to give you more ideas and support at this time.  If you would like more a more personal approach to how I can help, please don't hesitate to get in touch.  We offer remote support for businesses from Just £349/month and with no onsite visits at the moment we have the time to take on some new clients and support your efforts. Get in touch today

ryancharlesworth@blackraccoon.org
07929369658
www.blackraccoon.org

Get your gym ready for success - Now is the time to get ready

The Covid-19 Gym closure should be your opportunity to shine

You are right to be thinking that this pandemic has had an incredible impact on our industry.  Despite all the efforts there will be casualties in this crisis and business owners will lose their clubs.  As we know know, the industry is not awash with cash, many clubs are independent operators living month to month and the loss of revenues that this will cause could very well send them under.

However, that does not have to be you and there are ways to ensure you survive and thrive once we are able to re-open. The key is to take a pragmatic view of your business and work out what works for you and then ensure you do this well.  I have tried to highlight a few options that you have available:

Should Members continue to pay?

You should be able to answer this question by simply asking whether you are still providing a service?  If you are maintaining an online service with at home workouts, online classes, nutrition advice then you are well placed to ask members to continue to pay.

I am not sure you can enforce this contractually though and so should be offering people the option to freeze if they prefer.   The best way to ensure that only those paying receive the services you offer is to create a private Facebook group and only allow access to those members continuing to pay.

The point to stress here is, if your services won't live up to expectations then don't deliver them.  A poor service, poor deliver will only cause members to leave, if they cancel their Direct Debit getting them back will be very difficult.

Stopping your main source of income is a massive decision for your business and should not be taken lightly.  However, if you cant maintain or deliver a service continuing to take money may actually be more detrimental in the long term.

The industry is about to undergo a massive change, with online services taking over, well at least for the next few months, the challenge now is how you manage this short term change so it does not impact you long term

What help is available?

We all know the Government has attempted to put in place options to help businesses.  Not all these are working as they should and we hope that in the next few weeks action will be taken to change this.  However from what I can establish the following options are there

The following link highlights everything the Chancellor has set out:

Government Guidance

Should you offer online classes?

For obvious reasons almost every clubs is getting their teams to deliver online classes.  I have seen some amazing efforts and some that lets say, do not offer the best version of the clubs personality.

The question as to whether you should offer them really comes down to whether what you are delivering is worth while and drives your brand and member retention.  The other challe

If what you are offering is not the best reflection of your club, its staff and the clubs personality then surely you would be better to point your members in the direction of online sites that do deliver great online classes.  There are plenty out there that would not push your clients into the hands of competitors but would offer a better service for members than possibly you can provide.

This does not mean you don't continue to communicate with members, what it does do though is offer them training tools that allow them to maintain their training

Should you offer online Personal Training?

Absolutely!, there should be no reason why your coaches/trainers can't continue to offer 1-1 services. This may take some practice and planning but every personal trainer should be looking to continue their sessions and services.

Where clients don't like the idea of a zoom session, then home workouts, nutrition planning etc should be the main products.

You may have to review prices and the deliver but I strongly believe that online personal training will see a massive boost by the end of this.  Personal trainers should really be looking to jump on board or they will miss a massive opportunity

What communications should I be sending out?

You should be looking to send out some form of communication every week.  This can include:

- Newsletters
- Nutrition advise sheets
- Work outs of the week
- Members questionnaires
- Offer free home work out advice
- Ask for positive news stories

Should clubs should look to continue their social media activity

In a world ruled by content, social media and internet marketing this has to be a definite yes.  Don't slow down your social media activity, keep posting regularly, keep your business and brand in the face of the consumers.  With huge swaiths of the population now stuck at home, social media use is sky rocketing.  You need to get out from the norm and try different things

What this closure does do though is allow you to be more creative with your posts

You don't have enough club content anymore to drive your social so look for new idea's

- Positive news stories from round the world - people love to share the
- Member challenges and encourage them to post their own videos
- Great content you have seen from other pages
- Motivational words
- Funny stories/Memes
- Don't forget to sell your club
- Talk about your USP's
- Offer free advice
- Share you members stories
- Encourage people to sign up to your mailing list for insider news and offers
- Run weekly competitions to win t-shirts, online personal training, free class passes, 1 month nutrition advice, protein powder you have left that could go out of date etc etc
- Put out club videos such as club walk throughs, image carrosels

What Marketing should I be doing?

Lets be honest, most clubs are struggling to pay their rent, let alone find money for marketing. There are though plenty of things you can do that will cost nothing:

- Ensure your Google Business, Bing and Apple maps accounts are up to date
- Load your business onto online business directories such as Hot Frog, Free Index etc
- Work on your corporate activities - with people spending more time at home getting people to respond to link in contact requests should be so much easier.  A simple message is all it takes. Corporate relationships can take months to establish so now is a great time.
- Local business contacts.  As above make connections to other local businesses.   Everyone will be open for ways of building relationships when you open back up.  Why not start now
- Look at taking this time to create your marketing plan and this should be treated like a pre-sale plan.  Give me a shout at ryan@blackraccoon.org if you need support
- Upgrade your website - now is the time to make those much needed tweaks. Especially if you build it yourself and there is no cost associated to it.
- Contact your members and get them to sign up to your newsletter.  Offer an incentive for when you open for them to refer friends
- Treat the next 2 - 3 montsh as your clubs pre-sale.  You are starting again. what should you do, how should you build up the excitement

What Planning should I be doing to re-open?

You will never get a better opportunity to plan and create the club you have always wanted.  You will have been running your club from the trenches.  Now you have an opportunity to sit back, survey what is great and what needs changing.  Then plan for those changes.

Whilst most clubs will be engrossed in delivering their online classes, not many will be looking 3 months ahead and think...."What do I need to do to be better than I was before I closed"

We will go into this subject further in my next blog but I meet so many clients who tell me "I just don't have time".  Now you do, don't waste it!

Strip your business processes, offers, plans, structures etc down to the bone and ask yourself.  Is this the best i can do?  if its not, then change it

Finally, you should create your sales and marketing activity plan, more on that another time


So What Now?

This is your time to shine.  this is new ground for every club in the country and despite what you may feel.  Indpendent and smaller clubs really do have an advantage here.  Your brand is way more flexible, the owner is often the general manager and so certainly isnt being furloughed.  Your business is still live and can make the required changes
No, you may not have the same financial resources but you do have the passion, the on the ground experience and the relationship with your clients that most of the big clubs don't.

So go out there and grab your peice!


If we can support in any way please get in touch

ryancharlesworth@blackraccoon.orgwww.blackraccoon.org07929369658

Why should you consider a Consultant for your Fitness Club Pre-Sale?

They could just be the missing piece!

As a fitness professional, investor or entrepreneur you have invested in a new business venture to open your own fitness facility.  First of all, CONGRATULATIONS!  You have an adventure ahead of you that you will never forget.  Fitness is an exciting and hugely rewarding industry to be part of and to be a business leader in our industry can not be beaten.

For many, this investment is no pocket change and so whilst the end product is exciting when fully operational and paying back its investment, getting there can be filled with many ups and downs.  What I want to try and do with this article is ensure you have the relevant skills, resources  and support to deliver your project on time, on budget and with the maximum success.  

So what should you consider:

1) Are you going alone or have you bought a Franchise model.

There are benefits to both models and I have covered this in previous articles (Is buying a Fitness franchise right for me?).  What is important to understand is what level of support do you have access too?  

As an independent club you will rely on your own knowledge as well as that of colleagues you have connected with over the years.  As a Franchise you will get support from the Franchisor.  Be mindful that this support may not be as much as you require and some are better than others at providing on the ground support.  

I have worked with many Franchised clubs over the years as they still believed that having access to a third party with their interest and not the franchise business interest at the forefront was important.

2) What are your own skills?

Its rare to find a fitness business owner or in fact any business owner who is a professional at all the elements of business they need to run a profitable business from the start on their own.  Just for consideration these include:

• Business planning, modelling, funding and finance
• Target setting, pricing decisions, yield management
• Project management 
• Club design, equipment decisions and supplier management
• Sales and Marketing
• Fitness service delivery
• Client Journeys and customer service planning and delivery
• Staff recruitment
• How well do you know the industry, your competitors, and how you fit in 

It is not a weakness to not be an expert in every field.  The strength is being able to identify what are your skills and ensuring you have access to someone with the skill sets that you need.  If this is through the staff you hire, people you know or hiring a specialist for the short term, its important you know where to look.

3) The workload is always greater than you initially expect.

Building a club as well as setting up and selling a new business can be a full time job for not one person but for a whole team.  Its important not to underestimate the effort that is required to get a new fitness club of the ground.

Unwise investment or lack of investment in a strong team or support network can have a massive impact on your success

4) Your pre-sale is the first and only time your club will be brand new

If there is one stage of business you don't want to take a risk on and that’s your pre-sale.  You get one chance to be brand new.  You get one chance to set the tone and your initial impression on the community your about to serve.  Making mistakes at this early stage can be the death nail to a new club. 

That may sound dramatic but having a successful presale not only makes you feel great about your project and gives you a busy, bustling club but it also has massive implications on the clubs financial position

For example:

A club opening on 200 members with an average yield of £50 would provide you with £10,000 in monthly revenues.  If you missed your target by 50 you would lose £2,500 per month until you reached your target.  However, it is not just the 50 members you have to find but also the next months budget too.  So chances are it could take 2-3 months to claw back the deficit.  For every month you are short you are losing money against your revenue forecast.

Not only does this shortfall impact your monthly subscriptions but it will also impact your secondary revenue such as personal training, retail items as well as the possibility of referrals and thus easier membership sales.

A club that opens short of members also runs the risk of not being able to create an inviting atmosphere that again impacts your ability to sell more memberships and again impacts your financials.

On the flip side, a club that opens ahead of target is clearly more likely to be in a better financial position both short and long term.  With an average membership length of  say 12 months, being 50 members ahead of target is not only £2,500 but in fact potentially £30,000 better off in year one just on membership revenues.  add the additional secondary revenues, referrals, personal training and that figure could be far higher.

Being a new club in the community only lasts for so long.  After a while you will become the brand that you have created, whatever this.  By being the new, exciting, shiny club is great to attract new clients and so its at this stage you need to maximise this affect.

5) Its important you enjoy the process

I won't lie to you.  Presale is hard work, long hours, plenty of stressful evenings but they are always FUN.

It will be up to you to create that fun for you and your teams but ultimately that’s what will keep you going through the hard work, the days spent handing out flyers, making hundreds of telephone calls.  Your project should be exciting so if its not then why are you doing it.  

Even as an owner/investor the project are fun and I have not met and owner yet who has not got more involved than they planned.

So Why Hire Someone to Help?

1) First of all the cost of having support is never as expensive as you may first think.  For instance Black Raccoon has packages from remote support from just £349/month to a full service pre-sale package for £3999.

2) A consultant has the experience to advise on or will know an expert who can advise on all the points in point 2 above.  Any good consultant will harness your skills and add value to the areas you need additional support.

3) A consultant is often and expert in Pre-sale.  they will have seen what has worked elsewhere, what pitfalls to avoid and how to set up your club for success.  By avoiding mistakes that others have made you to achieve success without the same level of pain.

4) The support will reduce the pressure on you as a business owner and allow you to enjoy the process

5) You will have a sounding board throughout the process allowing you to think big whilst still maintaining focus on what your original goals and vision was.

Having worked with a range of clubs from franchise business to independent clubs and company owned businesses I have really seen the value that a consultant can offer.  Don't see them as a cost, but instead as a resource to achieving success.  If you would hire a builder to build your club, why not hire a professional to help ensure you business is also create on solid foundations

Is buying a fitness franchise right for me?

So having worked with a number of Franchise brands over the past few years you would expect me to be a completely sold by the Franchise model that is sweeping the UK. Whilst they do have huge benefits for potential new business owners they are not always the right solution for everyone. I will try and cover the benefits of both angles as to to give you a better insight into what could be the best choice for you if you are thinking of setting up your own gym business

So lets start with what the Benefits of the Franchise model. Its important to note that these are the generic benefits and the quality of the service and support delivered can vary massively across the brands. Some for instance will provide you with a pre-sale manager to guide you through the site up process, others with provide you with telephone support. I will cover another time of what you should look for when doing your due diligence on a franchise business

Benefits of Joining a Fitness Franchise:

• Franchising has been proven to have a higher initial success rate than those businesses setting out on their own. With upwards of 70% of new businesses closing within the first 2 years this can be an important factor
• The Franchise will have already established a certain percentage of market share
• You have a brand name to use and promote
• Often no prior experience is needed
• You have access to a supplier network with pre-agreed favourable terms
• Many will provide national marketing initiative to drive the brand and company promotions
• Techniques, workouts and training methods will have already been created
• Operational guidelines, staffing structures, cost analysis etc will already be in place
• Funding channels will be in place to enable you to access leasing options for equipment. Banks and finance companies are more likely to lend to a Franchise supported business than as an individual
• Dedicated Franchise support
• Technically you don’t need any fitness experience.

Then disadvantages of a Franchise Model

• Your upfront investment is often higher than if were to research and find suppliers yourself
• You are restricted by the franchise model and so are expected to follow the model to the letter
• You are obliged to maintain the investment protocols they set
• There will be restrictions on the suppliers you can use and sometimes this actually leads to higher running costs
• You are restricted to the programs and activities you can perform
• Less opportunity to add your personality to the facility as the brand will always come first
• It is harder to create independent relationships with other businesses
• You may find over time that franchise support/audits become intrusive
• The inflexibility of a franchise model can restrict your ability tom adapt to local market conditions and changes
• Your vision for the future direction of the brand or business may differ and as you are not a shareholder in the main business your say is nothing more than just feedback
• Selling a franchise business does not yield the same returns as you do not own the intellectual property, the brand or ven the members.

The other things to remember:

• A Franchise will have commercial arrangements with almost all their key suppliers. This means that everyone from the builder to the software supplier is paying the Master franchisee a kick back to provide you a service
• You have to pay a significant fee upfront to purchase a territory as well as the monthly fee which is often a set fee or a percentage of your revenue
• Your upfront investments are almost always more expensive than originally quoted. This is not directly the Franchises fault as costs will vary depending on the location you get. However, I can guarantee that they will sell the package based on the lower estimate.
• Not all franchises have a national coverage and so a franchise business with a predominantly London set up is unlikely to have any brand presence up North. This being the case are you benefiting from being part of their brand? In fact the Franchise is probably gaining more out of the bargain than you
• Not all franchises invest in National marketing campaigns and use the franchise network growth as the way of growing their brand presence
• Don’t go into the process believing they are the best value for money. A successful independent club has the potential of making higher profits.
• Franchising is definitely not risk free and success is not guaranteed. Whilst the risk is lessened there are certainly may examples of Franchise businesses failing in all of the major Fitness Franchise chains.. Don’t convince yourself the Franchise will save you if you run into trouble as they simply wont as that is not their role
• While no experience in the chosen industry is essential it is recommended

I have worked with some amazingly successful franchise clubs who are incredibly happy with their decision to do so. I would also recommend anyone that does not have a fitness business background to open up communications with the variety of Franchise businesses to ascertain one that suits you best.

What I would say though is that you do your research, not only on the brand but on their future growth plans, what support you will receive and how much they invest on growing the brand themselves.

Franchises definitely have their place in the market and for many are great investments for the right people. However, if you want control on the brand, style of service you deliver and you have the business acumen and the experience in Fitness they may in fact not be the right choice for you..

Final thought is, if you have the confidence and desire to own your own fitness business then why be part of someone else’s success when you could create your own. I would strongly advise running your plan past a fitness business consultant who would happily advise on what they though was the best route for you and your experience.

Why Hire a Consultant for your Health Club or Gym

Now I know what you are thinking:

“Consultants are a waste of time and money as we already hire staff to get us results”

In all honesty that is exactly how I felt as a club manager and business owner back in the day.  I was protective of my business, I felt a consultant would criticise and look to mock what we were trying o achieve and thus I never looked to improve further that what I knew I was capable of.

Now this is a very honest and admirable approach, believing in your own talents and that of those who you employ should be a high priority in your business.  Otherwise why would you employ them?

However, I urge you to look at consultants like myself in a different way.  We are in the success business, we work with clubs to improve on what they are currently doing.  We help find solutions to the challenges that affect you most and work within your own framework to improve your processes and maximise your success.

In any field of business, experience can expensive to hire. For many clubs, especially within hotels and independent clubs the managers are often inexperienced and whilst incredibly enthusiastic do not always have the skill set to deliver the budget targets expected.

This is where Charlesworth Consultants can make a difference.  We work with clubs on both a short and long term basis to implement training, improve skill and knowledge base and ensure that those running the clubs from the owners, general manager and club manager are aware of what is required to maximise their success

As consultants we do not take over the running of your club and dictate terms of engagement.  We act as an impact team to first determine with you what your aims and objectives are, we then aim to put in place a strategy for your team to deliver and put in place the required set of skills and processes to enable the team to deliver.

Every club differs and so some simply require membership sales training, others require a bespoke set of strategies to deliver results.  Some we work with as a one off, some we work with for years.

The Key is, we are there to support and guide your teams to deliver the success your business needs.  We will help identify these business needs which could range from:

-          Membership Sales Training

-          Membership Management and marketing strategies

-          Business reviews and management

-          Service deliver, standards and audits

-          Mystery shopping

-          Systems reviews

-          Operational standards delivery

For more information and to see how Charlesworth Consultants can support your 2018 success message me direct or e-mail ryan.charlesworth76@gmail.com

www.charlesworthconsulting.co.uk

January is Here but its not too late to get your marketing Plans in Place

Leisure and Fitness Club Marketing Strategies

January maybe upon us and most clubs will have spent the quite period in December preparing their club for what is the most important time of the year for any fitness business.

It is important to point out straight that January & February are important for more reasons than simply driving new member sales.  

- For most fitness businesses this is the start of the new finacial year and so a solid start verus your budgtes and forecasts with set you up for a solid year.  A poor start will always mean you are chasing the ball all year.

- Any membership sales taken now allows you to maximise those monthly revenues for the full 12 months of your budget.  Every month delayed reduces the revenue potential in this new financial year by 1/12th

- Getting your club operations and service right is vital as with every club in the country providing great reasons to join them you do not want to give your members and excuse to try somewhere new.

- January is often very successful due to the additional motivation of your clients to want to achieve their goals. As a club you wnat to make sure you have programs in place to facilitate this success.  This does not have to be free and can include personal training, weight loss courses and seminars.  You do however need to provide support tools for clients

With all this said, your number one priority is to deliver on your membership numbers. Membership revenue will account for anywhere from 60-95% of a clubs annual income.  It is therefore imperative you get this right.  

The old saying could not be anymore true when it comes to membership sales

Fail to plan, Plan to Fail

So, it is very easy for us to say we need to plan but what are planning:

- Your offer - what are we doing to gove potential clients a reason to enquire? 

- Your marketing activity - how will we spend our marketing budget to attract new clients to come and see us or pick up the phone?

- Your outreach plan - how and where will the team go to actively find new clients?

- Your referral activities (In-Reach Activity)- we want our members to bring friends to join.  What is our offer and how are we telling our members?

Most importantly of all:

What is your club & teams targets?

Your plans mean nothing unless you know what you need to achieve.  Starting with the revenue you need to generate you can create your monthly membership targets.  From here you can then work out your activity targets to include:

- Number of new prospects 

- Number of completed calls 

- Number of appointments made

- Number of appointments shows

- Number tours in total including Walk ins

- Number of sales

- Number of referrals

By knowing your targets you can manage your team and ensure there is a consistant focus on the task in hand.  There is no point spending a penny unless your team know their goals and expectations and then these are managed daily

Some basic rules when setting targets:
- The average club will sell on a 4:1 prospect to sale ratio.  Meaning in order to achieve 100 sales in January you will need to generate 400 new propects

for more details read Setting up your Memberships sales team

Your Plans:

Your marketing plan is your back bone to how you will achieve the numbers required.  As a business we encourage all our clients to take time to create comprehensive plans to cover all the key area's.  These activities are then highlighted on a monthly day by day calendar for the team to follow through on.

Below are some ideas that can form part of each section.  Unfortunately you will have to do the research yourself as to what the exact options are available for your club but hopefully it will give you a guide:

Marketing:
As a basic rule marketing will include the things you put out to get your message out to mass audiences and include:
- Flyers - Whilst the return on a flyer is only 2-5% it still pays divident to book a slot for solus flyer drops in the peak periods.  Your competitors will be doing this so you shoukd do.  It depends on your location but 15-30,000 is the norm. Try and keep this within 5-7mile radius of the club
- Banners - these can be placed on the outside of the club, on the road side, at round-a-bouts, with agreements with other local businesses.  You may require permission from your local council so check first.

If you have a road side location then banners, flags and A-boards are essential to draw people attention to your location and your offer

- Static and Mobile Bill Boards - these can be costly but a well placed bill board can drive real traffic into your club

(The message on the bill board above got National coverage as complaints were made about it "Fat Shaming".  I dont believe that was the intention and they actually tried for humour,  The fact however a £750 bill board was on the national and local TV as well as being discussed over all social media outlets goes to show the impact a well positioned campaign can have)

- Print Advertising - Newspapers, Glossy agazines, Community free papers, business newsletters, school newsletter

- Other advertising options - These could include Taxi cab window adverts, flyers in local businesses  and coffee shops, 

- Social Media Advertising - Our suggestion is to pay to boost your posts.  The most effective ones to do this with are videos that people are likley to share.  a simple club walk through can work, however ones that are funny or interesting will support your investment with greater natural shares.

- Google Adwords - I am personally not a fan unless you are part of a large chain of clubs who have the financial clout to cover the costs centrally.  A small independent, franchised or a club supporting their own marketing spend cannot compete with the pay per click costs that ammount in january.  Some key words such as Gym and your town can cost upwards of £2.50 per click.  No w a wsie investment.
You can however, invest your time and ensure your Google business page and your website are up to date with your offers, information and contact details.  A strong website and Google business page can ensure you always appear 1st page of Google and always on the google Maps

Google my business information

- Classified Listings - These are Business Directory websites that with further expand the range of websites your information appears on.  They are largely free, although some you can pay for an advanced listing.  It is also worth checking for local business directories.  Here in Nottingham we have a few such as inottingham.co.uk.  Your area is likley to have some too.  Below is a list of a few that are worth using:

- bizify.co.uk
- Yelp.co.uk
- hotfrog.co.uk
- businsslinedirectory.co.uk
- Freeindex.co.uk
- Classfinder.co.uk
- Gymuser.co.uk
- thefitmap.co.uk
- mylocalservices.co.uk

As we are talking online marketing, it is also worth placing your club details on the day pass gym site such Payasyougym.co.uk.  It is a good way of driving people into your club but also adding revenue.

Also you discount sites such as Wowcher, Group-on, Living social all allow you to offer discounted passes to yoyr club that allow you to increase traffic.  Dont devalue your facility, but by offering a discounted trial pass it will provide you with additional new leads for you to aim to convert. Remember you are not trying to make money on these passes but provide prospects, Any revenue you do make is just a small bonus.
Offers such as 10 Days for £10 - this is 10 consecutive days and so once signed up you have a set end date to be able to follow the client up with.  Remember you will only make about £3 or £4 from these by the time commission is taken.

Your Outreach Plan:]

Outreach differs from marketing in the way that this is your teams opportunity to get out and about, be visible and attract new fans and new prospects.  The aim for any outrach activity is for the tean to return with a minimum number of new leads for them to invite to the club, either for a tour or a day pass.

The key is never use it as a way to hand out flyers but to obtain genuine names and numbers from clients.

Outreach activity includes:

- Text Messages - Text to all prospects and ex-members including all your blowouts.  Its January and their mind set may have changed
- E-mails - E-mail all prospects and ex-members including all your blowouts
- Erecting a gazebo in the street and attracting people to tlk to you, sign up for a challenge or take a free pass.
- Outreach in high trafiic areas such as train stations, town centres, bowling alleys and cinemas, shopping centres and supermakets

• Supermarkets are a great way of getting high traffic yield.  be bmindful though you are likely to need a solid pull to ensure people stop to talk to you.  Try having competitions (use spit bikes or gym equipment), wellness surveys (Heart rate, Blood Pressure and body fat measuring), or even a wheel of fortune for a chance to win a free membership amongst other prizes.

- Corporate companies - Send E-mail, fax backs to all companies 10 emplyees or more within 10 miles of your club.  It may time to gnerate the leads but will be worth it. You can offer free  passes to your club and even health awareness days or weeks.
- Attend local fayres, park runs, 10k's
- Speak to your local schools regarding creating a relationship so that you provide suppoird for their healthy eating or activity week and they place your flyers in their bag
- Run a free bootcamp once or twice a week at your local park to get leads

In reach (Referals)
Referrals are your cheapest and most effective way of generating solid leads.  An effective referral program will generate 30%+ of your membership sales each month.  There are 2 ways to achieve this

1) Point of sale referral - this is where new members are encouraged to provide you names and numbers of those they believe may join your club.  Done at point of sale is the most effective as the client is excited and noyd by their own new purchase.  There is a skill in asking for this but as with all great skills they can be learnt.

2) Post sale referral - This is often more difficult a the contact points with clients are often more brief and as with all marketing people can become blind to messages posted in the club.  Keep your message brief but pointed.  What are you asking for and what do they get in return.

In addition to putting up posters and banners, regular new member and member calls will give you opportunities to ask for referrals.  It is also a valuable tool to create a newsletter that can be e-mailed monthly or bi month. This 2-4 page newsletter needs to be brief, exciting and full of content not just offers.

If you do not already have a plan in place then don't dispair. January doesnt really start until the 3rd week of the month when pay day arrives.  Most people are like you and me, all spent up at Christmas and so dont have the opportunity to join right now.  Take this first week to create and devise and train out your plan to your team.  Most importantly of all dont be afraid to get the team involved in the plans.  If they have supported its creation they are more likley to buy into the plans.

Managing your Leisure Club or Gym Membership Sales Teams

Managing your Leisure Club or Gym Membership Sales Team

Contrary to what many Club Managers and buisness owners believe. Members do not simply join our clubs.

I hear all the time excuses like.

- The competition are cheaper

- The competition is newer

- Our location stops us getting walk-ins

- Weve spent thousands on marketing but they don't work

- We don't have enough leads

The list of excuses as to why a club does not succeed with membership sales are endless.  However, in my experience they come down to one main cause.  There are few if any processes in the sales strucure and what is there is not being managed.  

I hope to give you some understanding of the minum expactations required to ensure you are set up for success.  This will in no way gaurantee it but it will definately ensure you are managing the team to make the most of your marketing initiatives.

So where to start:

Targets 

You should have already set your club target for the month.  This now needs to be broken down between the team members.  My suggestion is to base individual targets on the number of shifts they are rota'd for.  Even full timers may do a different number of days even just by 1 day.   This means the individual is now responsible for their own performances.

Simple equation:

Target 100

Add up the total shifts your staff are working between them

divide 100 by this total

then multiply the number by the number of days each individual is working

This will create their sales targets.

We break down our team target for a number of reasons.  One is to make the staff accountable for achieving their fair share, it allows for their performance to be managed and finally allows you to break the larger target down into more achievable chunks. 

As a basic rule of the thumb the following activities should be a minium expection from every individual

- 20 Completed calls (this does not include left messages or those calls that were attempted.  Attempted calls are those where the advisor actually makes contact with the prospect)
- 10+ New prospects per advisor per day.  This could be referrals or 

- 25%+ of these calls should book an appointment for a free trial or a tour
- 70% of the appointments should show up.
- 70% of appointments should join
- 2 referral name per joiner on average. If their sales target is 25 then their referral target should be 50.

If you already have statistics of your clubs current conversion stats you can actually work out your clubs personal targets on all the above. For example,

If your target is 100

You tour to sale percentage 50% meaning you need to do 200 tours
Appointment show percentage is 50%, you now need to book 400 appointments
Calls to appoitment ratio is 50% meaning you need to book 800 appointments

You now realise that a target of 100 required a significant level of activity.  You will be right in thinking, the higher you can get the conversion rates the easier the workload becomes and so the importance of setting up your team and ensuring regular training takes place is vital.

Importance of a membership and prospect data base system

There is a very important point to make here.  Every club from the small independent to the large commercial gym should have a membership system that they can manage their activity.  We recomend Club Right but there are a range of other suppliers. 

This allows you to manage daily activity of your team as well as new joiners, contact details, referrals and usage statistics.

What you days should look like?

A membership sales team does not need to be in any earlier than 9am unless you have a specific clientelle that requires any different.  The same applies to the evening in that 9pm should be the latest. 

The following activities are a must for every club:

- Outreach every day - up to 4 hours per day
- 2 Call drives - set between 12-13.30 and 17.00 - 20.00.  These whould be done as a team where possible and be as exciting and vibrant as posible.  have challenges, set targets, play games between the team to get results and ultimately reward success

- In Reach activity - to be carried out during peak periods,  have a referral desk manned in an attempt to ask for names and telephone numbers of those looking to join.

The Sales Board

This is a vital tool for you to manage and for the tean to self manage their progress.  An example can be see below and shows all the details required for you and your managers and team to understand where they and what still needs to be achieved

Meetings and Training:

I cannot count how often i see underforming teams that do not have regular individual 1-1 and group meetings.  These are vital to address shortfalls in training, to focus the team on the challenge ahead and to discuss the daily activities and targets.

Every sales team should have a group meeting at the start of the day or before the first call drive.  This is discuss yesterdays performance, what could have been done better and to discuss the objections and have a small group role play o training on those specifics.

Every week each individual team members should also have a 1-1 for 20 mins to go through their performance.  This allows you to praise good performance or discuss actions for poor performaance.  The individual performamnce statistics should be reviewed along side all of their prospects, where each is on the buying cycle and what do we need to do to get them joined.  Including maybe a call from you as the manager.

Sales in any form is not rocket science, it is a people games.  What is ofetn neglected is the discipline required to keep the basics moving.  If you dont manage the team and the processes the team will quickly become lazy and your performance will drop.  High performing teams always know the goal, the route and the expectations.  Your job is to know they are wehere they need to be, delivering what is expected of them.

Despite all of this, make it fun. Sales people are often your influencers, they like to be praised, they like to work in fun environments and they like excietment. keep them hyped and motivated and you will be well on your way to smashing targets