January is the busiest period for gyms. Three ways to get ahead — boost revenue with early renewals, start marketing before January, and make sure your internal processes can handle the rush.
2023 is right around the corner and it's time to start gearing up for a busy January; what's often the busiest period for gym owners out of the whole year. While it's a fantastic time to increase revenue and grow your membership base, it can easily become an overwhelming period due to increased admin and membership sales kicking into overdrive.
In preparation for the New Year, we are sharing three ways that you can get ahead of the game and give your club the best chance of success in January 2023.
Boost revenue with early renewals
We're living through some tricky financial times at the moment, so you want to make sure you leave little to chance when it comes to revenue. One way to give your business a last-minute cash injection ahead of the new year is to encourage early renewals for any members that are coming to the end of their contracted membership period.
You can offer a discount, reward or some other benefit that enhances your customers' experience in exchange for renewing their contract earlier. Plus, taking a proactive approach and inviting your members to renew means you stand a better chance of achieving higher renewal rates; which is good news for your cash flow.
If you're stuck on how to run your early renewals campaign, we recommend contacting your customers and letting them know you're running a one-time offer for members that renew their contracts early. Gym owners that use ClubRight have the option of standard email comms, text messages or – most recently – push notifications so you can capture your members' attention right away and bulk-send messages at the click of a button. There's even the option for your customers to renew their memberships themselves, so the heavy admin burden of renewals is lifted from you and your staff.
Don't wait until January to start your marketing campaigns
According to the IHRSA, 12% of all gym membership signups happen in January – but that doesn't mean you should wait until then to capitalise on the number of people with fitness-related New Years' Resolutions.
Starting your New Year campaign in December allows you to get ahead of the competition and tap into people's intentions. Naturally, the language used will be slightly different and it's wise to be sensitive to everyone's financial circumstances; which is why it's better to focus on awareness and education instead of converting. It's a great opportunity to discuss habit-building and educate your audience on the importance of a consistent workout routine so that when January rolls around, you'll have a pool of leads at the top of your sales funnel ready to join your club. It's also proven that educated leads make for loyal customers, so it's always worth putting in the work.
Make sure your internal processes are ready for a rush
There are few things more stressful for a business owner than when something goes awry in the middle of a busy spell, so take the time to make sure your internal processes and systems can handle an influx of leads and new signups. That goes for staff organisation, equipment maintenance and anything else that might hinder your ability to provide a five-star service.
Have your online joining live and ready to go so that new customers can join on their own time and aren't limited to your opening hours to make a telephone enquiry. Ideally, it should take no longer than five minutes for someone to browse your memberships and make a purchase.
Set up automated workflows to follow up with anyone that doesn't complete their purchase so that you don't have to worry about doing it manually. Make sure your sales funnel is optimised so you can track every customer from being a lead through to when they're a member.
Overall, you want to give your club the best chance of success in 2023 and refining your internal processes is the best way to do that. Don't be afraid to test your signup process as if you were a member and consider if there's anything that can be improved. Catch those renewals early for a quick cash boost and kick the New Year off with a bang.
