T he prime asset of a gym are its members. Losing your gym members is losing your business. This can get frustrating considering the time and effort you have put in setting up your gym. And the one question that keeps haunting you is why am I losing my gym members even after putting everything in place and doing my best?
Losing sleep over dwindling members?
As a gym owner you must have noticed that retaining existing members is far more difficult than pulling in new members. The main reason behind this being that once the novelty wears out, the members start noticing cracks and flaws in your gym, their attendance drops and eventually they stop coming. And thus, you are never able to reach your target number. A sudden downhill graph of your gym members will leave you wondering whether it was the new trainer you hired? Or the remodelling you did at your gym? Or worst the music playing at your gym?!
There may be times when a modification without taking into consideration the members may not go down well with them and then it's too late to undo the error.
Hello! Where is the owner?
The lack of communication between the owner and the member fuels the above woes. You need to make people comfortable right when they walk into your gym, and get to know them. They'll have grievances and suggestions which they could probably communicate with the trainers time and again, or not as some shyness might kick in. Also, it may so happen that one particular member or a group of members want to connect with you, but can't because you are not available round the clock and their preferred time does not intersect with your availability. Point is, you never know what's keeping your members from reaching out to you and even if they try to reach out to you via the trainers in the gym, you can't possibly ensure that every word reaches you as they had intended to. You should encourage members to raise greivances and address them as they come. Be it a complaint, suggestion or pat on your back, it should promptly reach you.
Too bored to workout alone!
An ideal gym environment should keep the gym member motivated and offer ample socializing while working out. A member at your gym needs to be trained and entertained at the same time. There is a good chance that a good number of people might be learning for new friends at the gym but might be shackled by inhibitions, few might not find like-minded people in their workout time-slot, few might not be good at breaking the ice; whatever may be the reason, there's a possibility that a passionate member at your gym eventually gets bored because of lack of friends and leaves. And we all know that making friends and sharing workout ideas and progress is an added incentive to hit the gym.