After a year of at-home workouts and self-coaching, walking back into a fitness floor can be intimidating for your members. We’re sharing our best practices and things to consider as you revamp your personal training program upon reopening or welcoming new members:

• Include your Personal Training offers to new and existing members. As members return, we’ve found that there’s an increased need for expertise and individualized workout support compared to 2019.
• Run a back-to-basics or beginner personal training program. As fitness experts, we know there’s an increased risk of injury when somebody returns to their previous workout routine without working back up to it. Help them go from virtual (or couch) to the real deal with programs to ease them back in safe and effective workouts. 
• Offer small group training sessions and shorter training periods to meet the demand. With limited capacity and reservation time limits in place at many locations, members now have to condense their workouts, instead of spreading them out over a morning or afternoon as they may have in the past.
• Offer both in-person and virtual personal training. Be there for your community by offering both virtual and in-personal training support. While many are excited to get back to in-personal workouts, some aren’t quite ready and others need a combination of virtual and in-person offerings to meet their changing circumstances.  
• Consider more flexibility on your personal training policies. Also, remember your target audience may have infrequent childcare, job insecurity, and a general anxiety over the unknown. Be sensitive to this by allowing personal training clients to have a bit more flexibility on their scheduling and rescheduling. This reassures clients that you’re flexible enough to change with their circumstances if needed.
• We are all in this together. On that note, one other important thing to note is insecurity. We are all entering into a new time with learning how businesses are now operating and that includes our fitness centers and gyms. Some members feel unsure walking back into a club and a personalized workout instruction can ease their anxiety. We suggest that a member's first few sessions back should include any updates around policies around equipment-sharing and social distancing on the fitness floor.

Quick audit: Can members find and book personal training on your website, or at least quickly find contact information to book with you directly? 

Need help driving traffic into your gym? The Active team can help. Our Marketing services include promotional campaign plans, website development, environmental design, email marketing, social media and marketing strategy. Learn more here.

About: The Active Marketing team is an industry-leading marketing team with proven strategies to engage. We partner with fitness sites of all sizes and marketing budgets on efficient and effective solutions to optimize digital spend, drive revenue and engagement through B2C strategy, including opt-in promotional membership campaigns. Opt into our existing promotional membership campaigns customized for your site or let us help develop your B2C strategy. 

Note: Recommendations are based on the Active Wellness Marketing team’s use of these products. Active Wellness pays for subscription to these services and not affiliated with these brands nor receiving product sponsorship or endorsement for our referrals. 

You might also like:

https://www.ihrsa.org/improve-your-club/new-membership-sales-strategies-clubs-are-using-to-reopen/

https://business.virtuagym.com/blog/how-do-i-attract-new-members-to-my-gym-after-the-reopening/

https://www.precor.com/en-us/resources/8-critical-steps-for-selling-fitness-memberships

https://www.activewellness.com/blog/actives-b2c-sales-trends-for-2021

Jessica Isle is the Marketing Manager for Active Wellness and leads our B2C strategy for clients, with a focus on medical fitness integration. Jessica’s 10+ years of fitness marketing experience combined with a background in the community sector gives her unique insight on creating mission-based brand experiences that support membership growth and retention. She has been featured in industry publications like Club Solutions and as a speaker at IHRSA's International Convention, and Club Industry's Future of Fitness 2021. Jessica recently returned to her home state of Tennessee where she enjoys hiking, yoga and time with her two active boys.