You have taken the leap of faith, you have updated your fitness center, added more fitness staff, and carved out a great place to host group fitness classes and programs. Now what?
It is important to understand that simply adding all of these things will not make your program successful, although it is a great start to doing so. While it may seem obvious, do not let sales fall to the back burner when building your fitness program and operation.
In a private club, members join to be spared the hustle and bustle of the daily grind and to avoid being nickel and dimed and sold on all the extras. They want a place where they can be with like-minded individuals, feel safe, and make connections. This is important to understand when talking about sales and how to engage your members in your fitness offerings. Below are several tips that are key in successful selling of your fitness programs.
1. Identify your brand
Determine what it is you want to offer (your why), who you are targeting, and how you will deliver this message and experience
2. Sell without selling
Make sure your staff understand the importance of building relationships and trust amongst the membership. Encouraging members to try classes and offering complimentary training sessions on the fitness floor are two simple things that can be done to add value to the members fitness experience while getting them to engage in programs.
3. Remove Barriers for Members
Ensure their experience is as simple and as easy as possible. If members express frustrations with operations or using the facility, be attentive and work to correct things when possible. Ask yourself, is the operation smooth, is there anything that can be done to make things easier and more user friendly? Put yourself in the members shoes and ask yourself, what can I do to remove barriers so my members want to be involved in our programs?