16 Nov 7 New Year’s Resolutions FitPro’s Should Make
As we draw an end to 2016 and welcome in the new year, many of us will also look at making some personal New Years resolutions. But don’t stop there, creating resolutions for your fitness business can be extremely beneficial too.
In this post, we are going to cover 7 resolutions for 2017 that will help transform your business and take it down the best path for the New Year.
1. GET TO KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS
Sometimes keeping clients can be a struggle, but one crucial way of keeping them is by getting to know them better. The more you know about your customers, the higher the level of engagement and the greater your member retention will be
Maybe try to encourage your clients to stay after their session just to chat. Or you could even arrange a bonding session each month with all of your members, that way they can get to know each other too.
Hopefully, you are already connected to your clients on a social network, but you need to do more and make sure you engage with them on a personal level. Try sharing a post with them tagged into it, or give them a shout-out on their recent good work. All of this will make a huge difference to your client, and can really serve as a major factor in retaining members.
The critical lesson here is the more communication channels you have with your members, the better you can get to know them and serve them.
2. UPGRADE YOUR PROFESSIONAL ATTIRE
In our industry – looks are important. It has been said before that as a Fitness Professional you have to be in good shape, and we agree. You don’t have to have a super ripped physique, but if you don’t take care of yourself then why would clients expect that you’re going to take care of them?
However, this doesn’t just come down to your body. You also need to ensure you’re wearing the right gear. We are sure that your professional clothing has taken some beating over the last year. Try to keep your look clean with some new attire. This could be more effective than you could think.
Don’t forget to also update your pictures on social networks of you in your new gear to show your professionalism and to create more channels of engagement.
3. ADD A FREE CLASS EACH MONTH
If you’re not doing this already, we suggest trying this out in the New Year. Offering a free class can be a great way of giving new potential members a taste of your service and convince them why they should be using you in the future. Try promoting your free class on your website and social networks; this is where the majority of people interested will visit first.
However, the one thing you need to remember is that your free class shouldn’t just be for newcomers. Make sure you also offer it to your regular clients. This could help give your regulars more enthusiasm and boost their moral, (and after all, who doesn’t love a freebie!)
Free classes can help grow your clients base – if done right. Still, you need to ensure that you try to follow up with potential new members within at least 48 hours after your free taster session. Better yet, you could stick around after the class and hand out some promotion flyers if you have any. This gives you the chance to communicate with potential members ensuring them that your fitness classes are exactly what they’re looking for. However, if you don’t get the chance to catch up with them at the end of the session, try dropping them an email in the following days, this can be just as effective.
4. MODERNIZE YOUR WEBSITE
Chances are if your fitness website is over 3 years old, it’s already out-dated. Ten years ago just having a website was enough. For the most part, it simply acted as an online placeholder for your business giving basic info and a way to contact you.
However, time and technology have certainly changed. Just having a basic website really doesn’t cut it anymore. Your must show your business services clearly and needs to engage with users. Ultimately, it must sell, and it needs to do all of this quickly and concisely. To enable it to do this, you’ve got to have an up-to-date feel. Otherwise, you may risk losing your visitor before you even get a chance to win them over.
Yes, modern website design can sometimes be costly, but if you look in the right places you can find some real gems. Take a look at Pro Blueprint – our website platform is not only affordable, but it’s developed specifically for fitness professionals, ensuring your website works for you and generates more leads! You can find out more here.
5. GIVE YOUR BLOG SOME LIFE.
We’ve said it many times before – blogging is essential for your online business. However, we totally understand that blogging isn’t always on the top of your list. Being a Fitness professional is demanding enough as it is, without having to create new blog posts.
However this, unfortunately, doesn’t change the fact that it’s still an essential commodity to the growth of your Fitness business.
Try to find an hour or two in your schedule every couple of weeks to create and publish posts or news that will be beneficial to your clients and target audience.
Blogging is essential in bringing new visitors to your website, and this means potential new clients. So to keep your business growing, you must blog.
6. LEARN TO SAY NO
This is a big one and one it seems we all struggle with, and that’s saying ‘no’. However, to make your business as successful as possible, sometimes it needs to be done. Especially when it comes to saying no to training sessions with clients on your days off.
You’re probably thinking – ‘but it’s only an hour session, I could do with the money.’ Technically it may only be one hour out of your day off, but it will instantly turn that day into one that feels like a full work day. Rather than relaxing, recharging your batteries and spending time with family or friends, you will more than likely spend the entire time clock-watching and waiting for that session time with your client.
You need to learn to say ‘no’. It’s difficult, especially when you are just starting out, but not giving yourself the appropriate time off each week will ultimately become apparent in your other sessions with clients, which is something you really don’t want to happen. It’s important not to burn yourself out. Stick to your schedule, and you will reap the rewards later.
7. DELVE INTO THE WORLD OF RETARGETING
Once your website is up to date and your social media is buzzing, you should try and look at running retargeting campaigns.
Retargeting ads are more straightforward than they sound. These ads are created by placing an invisible JavaScript tag in the footer of your website; which then leaves a ‘cookie’ in the browser of every visitor.
This will then enable you to theoretically target each visitor with relevant adverts when they visit other websites, or even when they are in social media platforms.
On a basic level, every time the potential customer sees the retargeted ad, or even a retargeted email, it reminds them of their former visit to your website and possible desire to purchase and will possibly steer them back.
This is an excellent way for turning website visitors into customers days or even weeks after they’ve visited your fitness website.
FINAL THOUGHT
We all know that New year’s resolutions can be tough to stick to. Though the resolutions we have given above can be extremely beneficial for your business and help you have a successful 2017. Once you put these actions into play, you will see your fitness business begin to grow.
If you are looking for more ways on boosting your business online in January, book in for a FREE strategy call with one of our team, we will go into more detail on how you can generate more clients in the New Year.