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Creating an offer that sells more memberships

Dru Hill
Dru Hill
Published on Tue, Jun 7, 2022
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3 Steps to Creating a Compelling Offer That Sells Gym Memberships Like Hotcakes

Struggling to get more gym members and sell memberships?

As a gym owner, it’s important to be aware of the needs of your customers, and ways that you can add value to your memberships. If you’re not, you might find that you hit a wall with new clients or can’t get people to stick around long term.

The needs of your clientele will vary from person to person. By tailoring your memberships to address their specific goals and desires, you will make purchasing a membership at your club a no-brainer.

In this article, we will be covering changes you can make to your scheduling, offer-stacking to increase the perceived value of your memberships, and ways to create urgency among your staff as well as for new members.

Align memberships with the needs of your members

As you look around your gym, you’re probably going to notice a huge variance in the shapes and sizes of your members.

Everyone in your gym is there with the desire to reach a certain goal, and that goal is going to be very different for a 20-year-old looking to bulk up, and a 50-year-old looking to relax after a long day of work.

As with most businesses, a one-size-fits-all approach probably isn’t going to get you the results you’re looking for. Here are a few ideas that can help you to tailor your membership offers and get them selling like hotcakes.

Scheduling

You could have a state-of-the-art fitness facility that employs the best trainers in the world, but if your opening hours and class times don’t align with your members, your facility will be a ghost town.

Companies that have 24/7 access to their gym offer something that a lot of members are looking for, flexibility. The option to pop in for a workout any time is appealing to a lot of people.

Everyone has a workout schedule that works for them. Whether a person needs to plan their workouts around a hectic schedule or just prefers working out in the wee hours of the morning, 24/7 gym access for them could be a non-negotiable.

Offering unlimited access to your customers doesn’t mean you have to break the bank on employing front desk staff. There is gym management software like GymMaster that was created with these limitations in mind.

It allows you to have complete control over your gym access, allowing unique access times for those that choose to buy a membership. Making use of hacks like these can help to drive up the value of your memberships.

Class options

There are a lot of gym members that have never lifted a weight in their lives, and then there are some that wouldn’t do a yoga class if you paid them.

Having a variety of class and membership options can help you cater to the unique goals of all of your gym members.

A study found that up to 75% of women don’t work out for fear of being judged. Offering these women female-only classes that are geared towards beginners can help them feel comfortable enough to actually show up.

You could also try offering an individualized membership for your up-and-coming powerlifters that offers weekly or bi-weekly training sessions with a personal trainer.

The thing to remember when it comes to classes is that timing is everything.

To figure out which schedule best suits your members you might want to try adding a short survey to your sign-up form. GymMaster can once again help streamline this process by allowing you to easily add and remove surveys and track these reports over time.

Creating offers that are specific to the needs of your members will help you sell more memberships and stand out from the competition.

Throw in a bonus that’s relevant and valuable to the member

Everyone wants to feel like they’re getting the most bang for their buck.

We’ve all had experiences where we end our shopping trips with bags full of things we had no intention of buying simply because the deals were too good to pass up.

And while the goal here isn’t to offer pointless add-ons to your members, there’s something to be learned when it comes to creating an offer that can’t be turned down.

Gym offers

Free training session

Offering a free session with a personal trainer is something that can appeal to everyone.

Whether your new member is a complete beginner or has years of experience, a 1-on-1 session with a trainer is a valuable add-on. It is also an easy way to possibly upsell your new member should they choose to continue working with a trainer long-term.

Product discount

If you have products for sale, offering them as a free add-on or heavily discounted can also help to sweeten your membership deal. Offering things like branded water bottles, or apparel is also a way to sneak some gym marketing in for free and spread awareness of your facility.

Free gym pass

This is another idea that could have a big return in the long run. A lot of members, but especially beginners, like the idea of working out with a friend. Offering a free pass that new members can use to bring their friends for a workout help to add value to your memberships. It also opens up the opportunity to sell even more memberships if their friend decides to join.

Personalized workout plan

This is another offer add-on that is good for everyone but will be especially helpful for beginners. Offering a personalized workout plan can help your less confident members feel brave enough to get off the treadmill and head to the weight room.

Try a few different offers to start, and don’t be discouraged if something isn’t working. Keep switching up your offers, and track the success of each so you know where to put your energy moving forward. If this is feeling like a lot, try a new gym software that can help you easily set up new offers and track them over time.

Add in a dash of urgency to drive action

Have you ever noticed that most ads end with a ‘for a limited time only’? Businesses add this very tiny, but important detail into their offers for a good reason, and that is because it creates urgency.

Having a limit to the availability of your offers, either by putting limiting the amount or the time that they’re available, can be the difference between closing a sale, and not. By adding a sense of urgency you put pressure on your buyer without sounding pushy.

Letting potential members know that they can get great value for their money, but only if they choose to buy now, can be the thing that leads them to make a decision on the spot instead of shopping around.

Sweetening the deal for your employees is another way to get more memberships. You could start offering initiatives, like a free dinner for your team, or individual prizes to the salesman that sells the most memberships in a certain amount of time.

Bottom line

If you’re feeling discouraged by a lack of sign-up at your gym, don’t take it personally. It simply means that you need to be more intentional about your gym marketing, and start playing around with different offers for your clients.

Using the right gym software can allow you to create and track new offers with ease so that this process doesn’t have to be a headache for you.

Running a gym and watching it grow should be a process you enjoy. Make use of services that allow you to simplify the backend of your business so you can focus your energy where it’s actually needed.