As a gym owner, I’m sure you’re very well aware that getting more gym members is one thing, and retaining them is a whole different story. Many gym owners that we have worked with here at FitnessTexter seem to think that once you get a member in your gym, they’ll never leave. Unfortunately, that’s not how the world of fitness marketing works these days. Gym owners are constantly trying to poach clients from other gyms. Here’s are five ways that you can encourage your members to stick around and increase membership retention.

Hold Member Social Events and Cookouts

Let’s start out with the most fun way to increase gym member retention; create friendships amongst your current members. If your members are friends, there’s a good chance that they’ll be working out together and encourage the other to come to the gym, even if they don’t feel like it. Plus, they’ll probably be talking about your gym when they’re around their other friends, thereby increasing your word of mouth marketing. Have a twice-monthly cocktail/beer/BBQ at your home or at your facility(if space permits). Provide all the food and liquor and let your members get to one know another. They’ll enjoy the event and you’ll be boosting community amongst members.

Make Sure Employees Know Your Members

Piggy-backing on the idea of holding social events to boost fitness membership retention, make sure that your employees start to learn customer names, routines, family members, etc. There’s no better feeling than walking into a coffee shop or gym and having the person behind the desk know your first name. The ubiquitous, “Hey Pal!” just shows that they don’t know your name. However, if they know your name, you feel a bit more like family. So, make it a point for your employees to start knowing faces and names and watch how many more smiles you get from current members.

Hire Trainers that Give Great Service

If you’re the type of fitness center that has personal trainers, please, for the love of god, don’t hire trainers that sell steroids!!! Beyond that grievous hiring mistake, hiring good trainers is super important. People are paying top dollar for personal training, and if your trainers aren’t giving them the kind of personalized attention they require, you better believe that your underserved clients are going to be high-tailing it to your nearest competitor. How many times have you heard horror stories about personal trainers not giving enough attention to a client and the client deciding that the personal trainer wasn’t a good fit. You need to make sure that the trainers you hire are giving personalized attention to each and every client. Let your trainers know that you are sending out anonymous surveys to their clients to check in with how everything is going. Trainers that give a damn will create gym members that want to stick around, because they’re scared of losing their trainer.

Don’t Charge Crazy Stupid Membership Fees

For starters, if you’re currently charging $24,000 a year for membership, I don’t think you’ll need FitnessTexter to get more members. But let’s me honest, many gyms are charging too much for the services they provide. Figure out just what level of service you’re providing and offer it at a reasonable price. There’s no better way to lose gym members than making them feel like they’re paying too much for membership. That said, charge a reasonable fee and get MORE members, instead of charging an exorbitant fee and losing members.

Offer A Wide Variety of Fitness Classes

Last, but definitely not least, make sure you’re offering a few classes to keep people excited. Most CrossFit boxes don’t need to worry about this, since they offer a daily WOD, but other fitness centers could learn a thing or two about offering fun classes. It doesn’t make much time to get Zumba-certified, and once you’re certified, you’ll instantly have a new revenue stream coming in. Women love fitness classes, and if you’re offering fun classes, you’ll have happier, long-term, members.

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Shawn Garcia
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