Fitness studio and corona: How to keep your members active as a gym!
Public life is being shut down in Germany.
Gyms are closed. The members are no longer there from one day to the next and the employees must be sent home or on short-time work. Many exercisers in Germany are still in solidarity with their gyms during the corona crisis. But no one knows how long the crisis will last.
For you, it is now a matter of retaining your members, being by your side during the training-free period and thus preventing cancellations and chargebacks.
We have 5 options for you that Our gym customers are already successfully implementing. From discussions with our gym customers, we know that the situation is critical but not hopeless.
We are also at your side, as Socialwave supports your efforts with several measures.
Government aid for gyms
The second lockdown is also hitting gyms hard. Owners must close their studios again for at least four weeks. This time, the state promises rapid, unbureaucratic and massive aid. Companies that have to close their business due to the lockdown will be reimbursed 75% of their turnover. The basis for calculation here is the turnover generated in November 2019, provided that the company has no more than 50 employees and can prove sales slumps. On the platform Applications can be submitted to the Federal Ministry of Energy and Economics. Companies with more employees can also count on support. How much this is may vary.
Socialwave Corona emergency aid
Even if you adapt your offering to the current Corona crisis, your success is still not guaranteed. Because the very first thing you have to do is inform your members about this.
To do this, you can use the features of the Socialwave WLAN Marketing Package. This allows you to contact your customers via email or SMS and tell them about your corona measures.
Actually, these features are reserved for Socialwave customers who have the Premium package have booked. But in the face of this pandemic, everyone must help where they can. We would therefore like to offer these features to all Socialwave customers during this time.
Just give us a call.
Contact us now:
5 tried and tested strategies from our customers for your gym during the corona crisis
The following 5 strategies are already being successfully implemented by our customers. They talk to us about the following positive effects:
- direct contact with members
- few to no cancellations
- strong customer loyalty
- Uncovering new sales potential for after the crisis
- Employment of employees
- strong team spirit in the company
We therefore encourage you to adopt tried and tested strategies from our customers, i.e. your colleagues.
1. Create training plans for home
Your employees and trainers can put together individual training plans for home workouts in consultation with the members. As a result, your customers can keep fit at home and also notice that you care and care about them.
This results in stronger customer loyalty, which means that fewer membership contracts are canceled. In this way, you won't lose any members and you won't lose any revenue.
In addition, your employees are fully employed and have close contact with your members, which will also have a positive effect in the period after Corona.
2. Put training videos and live streams online
Although the gym is closed due to corona, members still want to work out.
You can upload courses from your instructors or live stream them on Facebook or Instagram. Your members train in front of the screen at home.
You can upload the videos to your own website or use public sites such as YouTube, etc. You probably have a few young coaches in your coaching team who seem to be constantly active on Facebook and Instagram. Ask them if they'd like to stream a few courses live on the company site on social media.
At the same time, you can also record the courses with a camera and upload them to your website later. In this way, you gradually create a wide range of offers for your members.
You'll see: Your team of trainers will be happy to help out and the members will be happy to continue training with familiar faces.
3. Use the partner app
Another platform that you can use for these videos is the app from our partner Fitness Nation. There, members can find training videos, share nutrition tips and publish their progress, among other things. You can make this app available to your members free of charge and without any further effort.
The special thing about the app is that it does not compete with your offering, but is also available as a white label solution. You can use your design and name and offer videos from your trainers. This gives your members the feeling that they only have an app from your studio.
4. Equipment rental — a different kind of gym
At a time when studios must be closed anyway, it makes sense to lend a few lighter devices to loyal and trustworthy customers to train with.
You can rent dumbbells, kettlebells, sandbags, balance pads, mobility sticks, etc.
Just make sure to keep a meticulous list of which member borrowed which equipment and when. Always have that countersigned for you. They know for themselves how quickly smaller devices or tools such as mini bands are “lost”.
By taking this measure, your members realize that you are really investing work in maintaining the customer relationship. In addition, your members will then be able to continue training at home and stay fit despite the corona crisis. As a result, they remain satisfied, continue to use your services and have the feeling that their gym contribution continues to receive something in return.
5. Attach/credit gym contribution
Another way to ensure member satisfaction is to credit them for the time of the corona crisis and attach the equivalent of the gym fee to the contract period.
For example, if the contract is extended, they can add the months in which training could not be carried out to the contract period free of charge to members who remain loyal despite corona. Therefore, it is Secured liquidity and members receive fair compensation for their gym fee.
Here is a video of a gym operator who has used this option for himself. Since this opportunity was very well received by his members, he thanks his loyal customers. This significantly strengthens the cohesion between studio and members.
The corona crisis — and the time after
Gyms will reopen at some point. No one knows when that will happen. The only thing that is certain is that you have to take action to get through the shutdown. The longer this lasts, the lower the general solidarity of the members, because they too will have to accept financial losses at some point.
During the crisis, lay the foundation for a successful future by quickly adapting your gym. All measures you take now will help you twice and threefold after the crisis.
They may have discovered new sales potential, created new marketing channels through live streams, significantly increase member loyalty and drastically increase the recommendation rate.
No matter what you choose — we're with you Help and advice at your side.
But many gyms feel neglected when it comes to current political decisions. That is why he sits German Industry Association for Fitness and Health e.V. (DIFG) for the overarching interests of industrial companies in the German and international fitness market in the form of an initiative. A concept for the reopening of fitness studios was developed by TU Munich in cooperation with IST Hochschule Düsseldorf. In this concept, a 5-point plan set out for a responsible reopening. These 5 points describe:
— The training of gym employees
— Information from members
— The adjustment of gym operations
— Protecting COVID-19 risk groups
— Procedural planning in case of positive corona findings
With this plan, the DIFG is appealing under the hashtag #GesundheitBrauchtFitness to the federal government, the federal states and their ministers to reopen fitness studios in Germany in a timely manner for the benefit of the physical and mental health of around 12 million members — with uniform standards throughout Germany and the highest possible level of safety. The report by TU Munich and IST Hochschule Düsseldorf confirms that a responsible reopening of the studios is possible, including a scientifically based concept of measures.
conclusion
In this article, we have 5 field-proven options of our customers who enable you to continue your gym even in times of the corona crisis.
On the one hand, you can create training plans for your members at home by telephone. You can also publish videos or live streams of courses or training sessions, or even rent smaller devices to loyal and long-standing customers. You should also consider adding the missed training time to your members at the end of their contract period.
Whatever action you take, your members need to know about it. The easiest way to do this is through the Socialwave system.
How Socialwave is helping you now
In addition to our Corona ticker and the overview of Contact person and federal help in your respective federal state, we will also help you directly.
Regardless of how you decide to act during a crisis, you need to let your customers know that you're still there for them and support them. You can use Socialwave's services to do this. The email and WhatsApp features can currently be used free of charge by all Socialwave customers.
Here's how it works:
- Contact Socialwave Support: Contact our support team to get more information about emergency corona aid
- Create a campaign for your customers: With the help of our customer service, you can create custom campaigns
- Your guests can reach: Through these individual campaigns, you can inform your customers about your new offer
- Emerging stronger from the crisis: Optimized communication allows you to get more customers and increase your turnover
Contact us now!
Contact our support team to receive information about Socialwave Corona emergency aid
Financially Is the corona crisis hitting us all. We're sitting here all in the same boat and become a Find a solution. Every company (including us) must pay rent and employee salaries. A solution from Socialwave: The lost corona period can be added free of charge at the end of the term. Please contact us by telephone to make a specific arrangement.
For more information about help, see a general article about Funding from the respective federal states during the corona crisis, as well as an industry-specific Help articles for restaurateurs.
Related Blogs
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
