Each month we ask club customers and managers of others fitness facilities what are the burning issues, the questions on their minds:
QUESTION OF THE MONTH:
Q: My team is so busy at this time of year with summer, but how can we get a jump on preparations for the even busier Fall season?
A: Treat the coming fall as a reset for member offerings
It’s no news to say that Fall presents a change in schedule for just about everyone. Kids are back in school, changing parent pickup and workout schedules. And the return of cooler weather in many states means more members using the gym as their primary outlet for daily workouts. All of that means more volume of members on-site and a shift in the kinds and times of classes they attend. To optimize your operations for the coming shift, think about three things as the weather begins to turn.
1. Review class offerings and scheduling – it’s tough when we’re all focused on what’s right in front of us today, but find time to look at classes scheduled for the fall weeks and months. Do you have enough capacity in stationary bike classes to handle the influx of road cyclists coming back indoors? Do you need to make an adjustment to class times given school scheduling and after work conflicts? Conduct a thorough review, compare to last fall’s class attendance numbers and plan for an incremental increase in volume.
2. Optimize your digital workout offerings – newer on-demand fitness platforms including SO1O by FitnessOnDemand are designed to bring digital content workouts out of dedicated studios and into multi-functional areas of your club. Doing this frees up studio space previously dedicated to on-demand only sessions, creating more bandwidth in your studio schedule, and also represents an easy way to introduce new members to your on-demand offerings that they may not have experienced in-studio. As you do this, conduct a full review of the kinds of content that you may want to make more openly available to more members around the club: exercise circuits and short form workouts that many members can try in a day are often a good idea.
3. Meet with members – and listen – as the seasons shift and member needs change too, ramp up your member communications in all areas to solicit feedback. Fall can be a good time to conduct a short email survey for member feedback on classes and other club offerings. Or do personal outreach to members to get input on what the club can do better. As members re-set their schedules and behaviors for the fall season, so we should all see this time of year as a perfect opportunity to assess what’s working and adjust club offerings as appropriate. Do it now before the snow flies.
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