WE SPOKE WITH BRIAN WU, THE GENERAL MANAGER AT COLLEGE PARK ATHLETIC CLUB IN CHICAGO, IL FOR ADVICE ON RETAINING MEMBERS.
Running a health club is a time-consuming endeavor for anyone. Retaining your current members can help ensure you have more time to focus on things at your club without having to worry about your gaining new members due to a high member turnover rate.
One key thing to keep in mind, when it comes to retaining members is the trickle down effect, from the high-level athletes to the low level athletes. If your high-level programs are going strong, it attracts people at the next tier down and the next tier down all the way down to your beginners. Conversely, if your high-level programs aren’t strong, it tends to not attract people at the lower levels. You always want to make sure that your high level programs are going well.
Recently at College Park, I gathered my men’s tennis directors to come up with a few areas of focus that we wanted to work on in our men’s tennis program. We found these three areas can be applicable to any health club in retaining members.
1. CULTIVATING A SOCIAL TEAM ATMOSPHERE
Often times clubs are dealing with former college athletes, former high school athletes and everybody wants to be part of a team. So maybe it’s grabbing dinner after a hard practice. Or making a t-shirt before a big playoff match. Anything you can do to make people feel a bigger part of a movement and a bigger part of your tribe is going to make them feel connected as members and help you retain them.
2. CONNECTING INDIVIDUALLY WITH PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY KEY PEOPLE
People want a connection beyond the surface. I always make it my goal to let people know that they’re really my friends. If your members want you to be successful, then you’ll be successful. People can tell when you care and it’s important that they know that our relationship goes to a deeper level.
3. CONTENT IN YOUR PROGRAMS AND CLASSES
People don’t want to do the same old stale stuff. They want to know that you’re innovating and thinking of new ideas and keeping your programs fresh. Believe me, when they sense that you care in that way, they’ll tell their friends about you
These are the three areas of focus that we’ve learned, you might have different ones. One of the things for me, as a manager of 100 employees I’ve learned is these are not just a way to engage my members more and make them feel more connected. It’s also a blueprint for me to make sure I’m engaging my staff as much as possible as well.
