MEMBER RETENTION Archives - Club Management Software - Cloud Based

Any gym can gain clients in January – with ShapeNet Software you can keep them signing up all year long.

Larry King — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 22:19:51 +0000

New Years’ resolutions are to gym memberships what the prediction of snow storms are to bread, egg and milk distributors. It’s the psychological trigger that gets people motivated to participate. But once February rolls around, the frenzy begins to fizzle and people settle back into their daily routines, forgetting all about the promises they made to make this year a healthy one. Successful gym owners know that the best marketing tool at their disposal is a committed member who achieves his/her goal of fitness. Sure it’s great to see that influx of cash from post-holiday membership sales, but that cash flow can quickly dry up as members drop out months later, perhaps a few pounds heavier and obviously disheartened as they stand around the office water cooler telling coworkers that they joined your gym but for some reason or another they just couldn’t stick with it. That ten minute conversation and their failure could cost you thousands of dollars in the long run – so rather than scramble to do damage control, why not be proactive and invest in a gym management software that will help you manage your members and create a path to their success. ShapeNet Club Management Software allows clients and club owners the flexibility to create a pathway to success. The all in one cloud based club management software provides a Member Portal so clients can register for class, schedule personal training and so much more. Perfect for busy people who need to schedule their workout sessions months in advance or soccer parents who need to squeeze their workouts in between children’s sport schedules. For more regimented club members who participate more often, our software generates email and text schedule reminders. Members who rarely train or haven’t visited the club will receive email prompts, encouraging them to participate helping our clients retain their members. Our payment management system makes it easy for members to enroll and for club managers to manage billing, update payment information, handle cancels, freezes and chargebacks. ShapeNet Software also manages collections and is the only club management software to provide profit sharing for late fees collected. In 2015 there were a total of 150 thousand fitness & health clubs worldwide. There are 34.5 thousand in the US servicing 54 million members. Out of 318 million people living in the US, 115 million are obese. Clearly there is room to expand active membership in America’s health clubs. ShapeNet’s Sales CRM is the perfect tool for managing calls, forecasting sales probability, tracking contact history and managing metrics.

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Being a Better Gym Manager

Larry King — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 15:54:20 +0000

Using an awesome club management system is certainly an efficient way to being a great gym manager because anyone that manages a gym knows there are a lot of things to do: employee wages, class schedules, personal training schedules, marketing tactics, products, and member retention, just to name a few. So how can one be a better gym manager when having a club management system simplifies the grind of gym management? There is one thing that a club management system cannot do and that is developing professional relationships with employees and clients. Manage your employees fairly and with respect. Don’t play favorites with your employees. When you hold one employee higher than the others, that creates a sense of inferiority which no one is a fan of. Give everyone the opportunity to prove their worth by assigning tasks on a rotation, so everyone gets to do everything. Treating everyone equally and fairly can help ensure that your employees get along and are willing to work together. Keep up-to-date with health and fitness trends. This is primarily for your clients and to assist your personal trainers. Just as fashion changes with the color changes of leaves, so does health and fitness change with new workouts and medical discoveries. Keeping your clients engaged with up-to-date health and fitness trends means better member retention. Clients are more likely to stay with a fitness center knowing that there are new and exciting things to try out every few seasons. And your personal trainers will have better odds in gaining new clients and keeping current ones by knowing the latest health and fitness trends. Give back to your employees and clients. Your employees help you manage the club and your clients are the blood of your club, so every once in a while, throw a party for them. It can be a Christmas party or a Labor Day party, whatever the case may be, your employees and clients will appreciate that you appreciate them. You can even give out free water bottles or shakes. If you’re unsure as to what to do, then inquire with your clients. As for your employees, perhaps a small bonus or a get together with food and drinks and games. One last thing to keep in mind is to always keep communication open between both your clients and staff. Communication is key to being a better gym manager.

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Extending Your Reach and Retaining

Larry King — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 13:52:35 +0000

Your fitness club has likely signed up lots of new members earlier this year, and that’s certainly great for business. However, now that some time has passed since the New Year, some of these “New Year” members may have realized that starting the resolution to gain a fitter lifestyle was much easier than committing to fulfill it. Perhaps they do not have the commitment, time, planning, and hard work needed. And this realization may cause them to cancel their membership, which is certainly something you do not want. So how do you keep these “New Year” members? One of the critical elements that play into member retention is engagement. “New Year” members joined your fitness club with the best intentions, but without knowing what to do or how to start after joining. In addition, a new environment can make some people uncomfortable. It’s up to you and your team to welcome them, to talk to them, and to help them however possible. For instance, if a member is unsure on how she or he should start working out, direct them to a personal trainer. Or if a member needs some help with time management, some friendly word of advice give to him or her can increase your odds, as a fitness club owner, to keep that member. Communication is key in any relationship, business or otherwise. Now while retaining membership you can also extend your reach by offering a service which can garner the attention of potential clients. Two birds, one stone. “New Year” members joined your fitness club in an effort to lose weight or gain a healthier lifestyle, most likely. So it is imperative to give these new members what they want! Introduce a weight-loss program specifically catered to members with little to no experience with fitness and promote this program a few weeks prior to the New Year and during the month of January. Make the resolution of losing weight a simple task because simplicity is what most people need after a long day at work. Always focus on the reason why members joined your fitness club because when you know the reason, you can provide the path that members will walk on and in all likelihood, attract others to walk that path. Member retention and potential revenue growth!

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A New Feature: CRM

Larry King — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 14:56:30 +0000

What is CRM? It is an acronym for ‘Customer Relationship Management,’ which in layman’s terms means a must have tool for fitness centers looking to grow their business. And ShapeNet’s club management software now offers this essential tool. Our CRM provides your business with a system that manages customer interactions, for current clients and future clients. The system will organize sales data, marketing data, and customer service data into a simple summary which you can utilize to improve whatever areas of your business is needed. And the best part of all, our CRM can organize the data on a day to day basis or a month to month basis. You can always backtrack and see how your business did in the past, so you can possibly use past techniques for future plans because why fix what’s not broken? To give you an idea as to what the CRM summary reports would entail, there are several sections that provide specific data. For instance, one of the sections provide a series of questions with answers. These questions are vital to a business’s overall well-being because they are commonly asked. For an idea as to what we mean, please see below. How did you do yesterday? 1 sales (Membership & PT) Are you ready for today? 4 appointments Are you ready for the week ahead? 5 appointments (2-7) Do you have enough leads? 1 added this week The first question is a quick summary for yesterday’s work. As a club manager, knowing where you were yesterday provides with a goal for today. The second question is so frequently asked among co-workers, primarily sales representatives, that we knew providing this information would lessen the ‘wondering’ and start the ‘working.’ Now that you know the past and the present, it’s obvious that you should know the future. This leads us to the third question. Knowing ahead of time means greater efficiency because planning accordingly means lesser chances for mishaps and confusions. Lastly, all the work done must lead to something. So it’s important to know if you have leads. Leads are extremely vital as they can make or break a deal. Knowing how many leads you have means knowing who to contact and possibly close a sale. Please visit our Club Managers features page for complete details on what our club management software can offer for club managers.

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Did You Know?

Larry King — Wed, 08 Oct 2014 15:23:12 +0000

At ShapeNet, our club management software offers so many awesome tools that it can be a little overwhelming, so we have made a series of images that showcase some of the tools you’ll find within our gym management software! Your fitness center will definitely want these useful perks. Did you know that…

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Restoring Stability to Your Club

Larry King — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 14:12:42 +0000

There are a few signs that your fitness facility may be failing: the decline of membership sales, the increase of membership cancellations, and/or the disapproval of your facility from members. If you are experiencing any of those signs, and hopefully not all three signs, you’ll need to ask yourself as a fitness facility owner and a business person a few questions and you’ll have to be brutally honest with yourself.

Important Questions to Ask Yourself

1. Would you consider your facility a viable business? Take a look at your equipment. If you have equipment that’s worn out and patched with duct tape, your members won’t be motivated to work out and may be disgusted. There are a lot of gyms with new and clean equipments. 2. Do you have the time and money to restore stability to your club? If you noticed those grim signs early on and have a decent cash flow, you have a higher chance of turning things around. If you were late to notice, then you’ll need professional help. We recommend The Retention People. They are leading providers on improving membership retention. 3. Is your current management team truly committed to the success of the facility? Your current management team may be the reason for your facility’s downfall. Assess your management team and replace the malfunctioning pieces. 4. How do you envision your facility should operate? This is crucial because without a definitive idea on how your facility should operate, you will waste time and money. It wasn’t easy being brutally honest as we like to think that we’re not as bad as we think, but this honest brutal assessment is a necessary step in order to restore stability to your club.

Tips to Restoring Stability to Your Club

1. Get a grip on your finances. Remove all unnecessary spending and only pay what will keep you in business. 2. Establish a marketing plan. Do your research and find out why certain facilities are successful and others are not. Go with what’s proven and remove what is destructive. 3. Look into a complete gym management software. You will save yourself a lot of time (more than we can quantify) if you have a complete gym management software. You’ll be able to: see day to day activities, manage contact management system, view detailed reports, reduce management staff cost, and increase online membership purchases. 4. Communicate with everyone involved in the process of restoring your club. Communication is KEY as you’ll reduce confusion and save yourself valuable time. Restoring stability to your club is not an easy process. You’ll have to manage everything with caution and know the risk moving forward and always be prepared to deal with the challenges.

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Are you a Billing Company or a Health Club?

Larry King — Thu, 08 May 2014 13:28:28 +0000

Management software plays an important role in the effective growth of your business. A major component of your software is the billing process and many fitness facility owners are confused about this component. A commonly asked question is ‘Should I manage my own billing or should I let someone else handle it for me?’ If you align yourself with the correct software system and billing process, and ask the right questions, you will be able to retain members and minimize your processing costs. There are nine important elements that are part of an effective and successful billing process for your fitness facility. Understanding each one will empower you to operate a more successful business. 1. Processing your billing You can run your billing once a month, multiple days, or every day. Companies will charge from 2% to 7% of the monthly draft to provide this service. They will also handle the time-consuming task of contacting members to get updated billing information, which involves phone calls, emails and letters for up to 90 days. Please note that some billing companies will include the merchant fee in this charge. Most will not. BEST OPTION: Having your billing run every day and look for rates under 3%. This will provide your business with better cash flow since money will be deposited in your account every day. 2. Settling money in your bank Credit cards can have money settled by next day, 2 days or can be held for up to 15 days. ACH (bank debit) can settle in 2 to 5 days or up to 15 days. This is extremely important and sometimes overlooked. Any money that you process that is held over 4 days should be questioned. BEST OPTION: Having your money settled as quickly as possible. Reasonable settlement days for credit cards is 2 days and 2 to 4 days for ACH. 3. Merchant account (credit cards) This can become your biggest expense. Fees can range from 1.65%-3.25%, depending on the type of cards that are used. Some companies force you to use their merchant processor. There are other fees ranging for 10-20 cents per transaction. Don’t worry about all these little fees. Just find out what the collective cost to you will be based on your monthly draft. Some companies can provide a cost-analysis. Best Option: Have the option to use another merchant account to ensure that you can always get the best rates possible. Look for rates around 2.5%. 4. eCheck processing (bank account) Rates can range from 10-35 cents per transaction. Additional charges can include a percentage of the dollar amount of transaction. Best Option: Look for a fixed transaction charge and settlement in 4 days or less. 5. POS processing Rates can range from 1.65%-4.50%. Obviously, some software companies are charging extremely high rates. Best Option: Look for rates averaging about 2.5% for all POS transactions. 6. Late Fees When trying to get members to pay their monthly dues, late fees are a way to make sure they pay you on a timely manner. A typical late fee would be $15 to the member. If there are no late fees, then the member will not worry about missing a payment. Some billing companies will waive the first late fee. If a gym has 1,000 members paying monthly, and 10% paid late fees, that would total about $2,000 in revenue from the late fees. Most billing companies keep 100% of these fees. Best Option: Look for a software that allows you to control the late fee amount. Also, look for companies that would be willing to share some of this late fee revenue with you. 7. 90+ day collections After a billing company exhausts all efforts in trying to get a member to pay his or her dues, that individual will no longer remain a member of the gym. Now it will become a clear collection effort. These members will be sent to a more aggressive collection process where the gym will keep about 60% of any money that is collected. Most gyms do not have a good plan in place for this. Best Option: Look for a billing company to handle this process for you. Also, make sure that these members are clearly marked in your management software with a status of COLLECTIONS. 8. Handle membership cancellations and freezes Not all billing companies offer this, but some will handle all membership cancellations and freezes. Whenever a member wants to cancel/freeze his or her membership, that member will handle the process with the billing company. The benefit of this is that the gym can focus on selling memberships and providing better customer service to existing members. Best Option: Look for companies that will handle the cancellation or freeze process the exact way that you want it handled. 9. Customizing the process to reflect your values Most billing companies will handle the billing process exactly the same way for every client. They have their rates and their ways and will rarely deviate. They will tell you this is the way it has to be. Best Option: Look for companies that will have a core framework of a working process. Then, they can work with you to adjust the process so that it reflects your company values. These nine important elements of the billing process is a good list to follow. Some gyms manage their own billing and do a pretty good job. But that is the exception to the rule. The average decline rate for a well-run club is about 10%. If you are near that number AND not spending much time on a monthly basis updating payment information for failed members, you can keep on handling the billing on your own. If not, find someone who has experience handling this and can provide you with many of the BEST OPTIONS.

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Management Software and Member Retention

Larry King — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 18:03:32 +0000

How are your membership sales working out for your team at the club? Let’s say, for example, you are meeting your monthly sales goals of 30 new members a month. That should position your gym to grow very nicely. But wait !!! You need to ask one other very important question:.

HOW IS YOUR MEMBER RETENTION?

If you are selling 30 memberships and losing 30 every month, you will have a hard time growing your business. Selling 20 and losing 10 a month, is better than selling 50 and losing 50. I think we can all now see how important Member Retention Management is. One of the best ways to improve your member retention management is to communicate effectively and consistently to your members during their first 2 weeks as a member. Make sure you are meeting their needs and bringing to their attention services that you offer that could be of interest to them. Now you can have a great staff to put procedures in place to handle this manually, but there is one fool-proof safety net to handle this: Have your management software AUTOMATICALLY send out emails and text messages during that critical first 2 weeks in the gym for EACH new member. I have heard many gym owners tell me they are developing a retention plan but just haven’t implemented it yet. There are a few software companies that provide member retention services and have the data to confirm the effectiveness of it. Basically, once a membership is purchased through the system, the software will queue this member to automatically receive emails and text messages about your services for the next 2 weeks. The order and content is designed by the gym owner to make sure the information is relative to your gym. If this is done right, you will end up turning your clients into raving fans that will be loyal and help you more easily and effectively grow your business by keeping your retention rates lower. Clients that enjoy your services will ultimately become long time members AND will encourage their friends to join your gym. Look for club management software provides member retention services because this is a must have for any business. Larry King is the Founder and CEO of Shape.Net Software. He can be contacted at 800.381.2082, or by email at sales@shapenetsoftware.com, or visit www.shapenetsoftware.com.

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