Daily deal sites like Groupon and Living Social are great at getting people into your facility. They have a gigantic reach that gets your business in front of thousands of people in your geographic area. However, they’re not always the best at getting people to stay at your facility. This isn’t their fault, it just so happens to be the type of people that are attracted to Groupons. Understand the type of potential gym member that comes in with a daily deal is the first step. They’re going to be a little more fickle on price, but they’re also ready to pay money to get in shape. It’s a slippery slope getting daily dealers to become paying gym members, but it’s not impossible. First step, get people in the door, second step, close the hell out of those leads! However, have no fear, there are some good ways to get your Grouponers to sign long-term contracts, and here’s how.

Offer a Promotional Membership for Grouponers

One of the most common problems with daily deal gym members is that they get sticker shock when they realize the real price of your gym. Most daily deals require you give a healthy discount in order to use their service. If Jane is only paying $45 for per Groupon month, and then is expected to pay $150 for every month after that, you’re going to have a hard time keeping Jane around. Introduce a special membership price for your daily deal members that will slowly help that acclimate to the normal price of your gym. Ease the membership price every month until they’re at the normal price. This will give them a good way to find out if they’re going to enjoy your gym long-term before paying the full price.

Get to Know Daily Deal Members by Name, Fast

It may sounds simple, but one of the easiest ways to get people to stick around at your gym and increase membership retention is to get to know your gym members by name. It’s a lot harder to say “No” to a gym manager who greets you by name every day than to say, “No, I’m not going to come back after my Groupon month.” to a nameless random gym greeter/manager who hasn’t even taken the time to introduce themselves. Make it a point to teach your employees some customer relationship-building techniques. They’ll pay off very quickly.

Soften Up Any Membership Contracts to Increase Appeal

As a gym owner, it’s understandable that you want your members to sign long-term commitments. This is a great way to do financial projections, since you can easily forecast out a year or more of your profit in advance. However, long-term memberships are a great way to scare away your daily deal members. The reason they’re using daily deal sites is because they’re not comfortable signing up long term at any gym in your area, the last thing they want to do is have to sign a year-long contract as soon as their cheap month ends. Make your memberships a little more flexible and you’ll get a lot more people sticking around once their daily deal month is over.

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