With the growing competitive pressures that you face today—whether you are a commercial club, studio, YMCA, JCC, university rec center or a parks and rec facility—keeping the members that you have has become even more important, especially as new options allow people to pick and choose classes at any facility they want without being a member. Your success is dependent on how well you can engage members and keep them returning.
That’s why Club Industry teamed with Chris Stevenson, owner of Stevenson Fitness, to put together a must-attend Retention track at this year’s Club Industry Show Oct. 9-11 at the Hilton Chicago. Some of the presenters in this track have shared videos that give you deeper insights into their sessions. Check out the videos below.
The Retention track kicks off with “Imbed Behavior Change into Your Health Club” at 9 am on Oct. 9. Presenters Allison Flatley, CEO of Allison Flatley Consulting, and Jason Reinhardt, owner of Go M.A.D. Fitness, will share insights on understanding behavior change and motivation principals plus how to use these principles to help your members get results. They will give you 10 ideas to imbed behavior change into your club. Flatley shares more about this session (and the other sessions she is presenting) in this video.
At 2:30 pm, attend this session, “How to Get Your Members into the Gym and Back Again” by Jason Linse, owner of Fitness Business Coach and TAZ Training. In this session, Linse will offer a step-by-step approach to get your members to use your club more often, resulting in higher retention.
At 3:45 pm on Oct. 9, Mia Smith, a fitness industry speaker and professional, will present “Small Changes Make a BIG Difference - How to Improve Customer Acquisition and Retention!” In this session, Smith will take you through a customer journey to show you how the small details can make or break your business while also showing you how the “bigger” areas of focus (the facility, operation, equipment and staff/instructors) are often “underutilized.” Plus, you’ll get takeaways on how to use both the small details and the big areas of your business to drive higher retention.
At 10:30 am on Oct. 10, Kristi Farmer, owner of Intensiti, will present “Build Positive Relationships for Retention” in which she will share simple strategies you can use right away to make a powerful impact on others that will help will engagement and retention.
In the last session of the track on Oct. 11, Bryant Sharifi and Justine Sharifi, co-owners of Perform for Life, will present on “Client Management Strategies Are Your Keys to Retention.” The Sharifis will detail how to develop and master a set of guidelines and practices that will help you retain your clients longer and grow your business. It will cover strategies about how to manage and set expectations with a new client—from scheduling, communications, tracking data and learning how to exceed expectations.
Other sessions in the track include the following:
“The First 90 Days: Strategies for New Member Onboarding” presented by Stevenson.
“What Members Want: Using Feedback to Retain and Dominate” presented by Katie Bossie, senior business manager of health and fitness for Listen360
“Building Retention with Brand Loyalty” presented by Richard Wenner, CE of Toolbox Industries, owner of FitBiz Toolbox, and co-owner of RIEL Fitness Education
“The Ultimate Retention Roundtable” led by Marisa Hoff, general manager at Stevenson Fitness, and Stevenson
“World Class Club Service” presented by Frank Ancharski, COO, American Family Fitness
“Retention Discussion Panel with Industry Experts” led by Stevenson
“Boutique-Level Customer Satisfaction in Your Big Box Facility” presented by Phil Rogers, club director at Germantown Athletic Club
“Staffing, Operations and Technology for Member Engagement” presented by Kerri O’Brien, consultant, Bottom Line Weight Loss