In this blog I will help you understand how to help members master self-control and stick to their exercise goals.
"Self-control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power." This timeless quote by James Allen encapsulates the essence of what many of our members strive for at the start of a new year. They set lofty goals—to exercise more, eat healthier and reduce stress. But by February, up to 80% of these New Year's resolutions are abandoned. Why? The answer lies in understanding how self-control works and how we can leverage it to our members advantage.
The Self-Control Dilemma
Self-control is often viewed through two competing lenses. Is it like a battery that depletes with use? Or is it like a snowball, gaining momentum and strength as it rolls downhill? Recent research by psychologist Marco A. Palma (2018) suggests it might be a mix of both. Recognising this duality is crucial if we want to help our members master willpower and achieve their results.
The...
Helping members successful change behaviours comes down to understanding how we think. You could create the perfect workout, but unless you can get the members to complete it, it will not have the desired effect. While not exhaustive these six actions will increase the likelihood of your members achieving success, and you getting the credit for it.
1. Make It Personally Relevant.
Make sure that any exercises included in a workout can be directly related to the members outcomes or goals. When you teach an exercise, a member will be evaluating the benefit cost of that exercise in relationship to their overall goal.
If I give someone a squat to do and their goal is general fitness, they can recognise the relationship between the exercise and the goal and will continue to include that exercise in their routine. If however, they cannot see the relationship between stretching and general fitness they will drop that exercise in favour of doing more of the exercise that they...
The post-pandemic consumer
A new set of post-pandemic consumer behaviours are impacting fitness operators of all shapes and sizes. Dr Paul Bedford shares the findings of new research, and offers insights into how operators might respond.
Earlier this year, I put together a report into changing dynamics in the fitness marketplace: new post-pandemic nuances in consumer behaviour compared to pre-COVID norms.
The report was inspired by a request from one of my customers, concerned by some of the changes they were seeing and wanting to know what they could do about it. Their question: ‘Are we alone in this?’
My answer: ‘Absolutely not.’
Because – although all the headlines show club operations returning to pre-pandemic membership numbers, and great news that is – some things have nevertheless changed. And they’ve changed across the sector and around the world, with consistent themes emerging around customer usage patterns.
I’ll...
Nike have announced they are to open the first of a series of studios later this year.
We have already seen Hermes, H&M, alo, Resolve and Aviator Nation deliver concept studios both as an addition to their brand offering or as pop-up location to grab media attention.
Nike will launch with two Californian locations the first will both be Nike Training Studios (NTS) with Nike Running Studios (NRS) to follow.
I will be keen to see if this is truly an attempt to enter the fitness studio market or a marketing project to create content for use across platforms. It will certainly attract the one and done influencers and the fitness tourists who will want to post their views of the studios, to their social media following, but have no intention of becoming a regular visitor. I would imaging mainstream media will also jump at the chance to feature this extension of the Nike brand.
Now while the marketing is suggesting all-inclusive the images representing the participants is very much...
Introduction by Luke Carson - Discover Strength
Retention is the period of time between when someone joins and they either stop exercising or when they stopped paying. Depending upon the markets we work in, it depends which one of those two or if we measure both.
Attrition is the number of people that cancel from your business. So one is measured in months and the other is measured in people, so they're not the opposite of one another, Like many people think. They're related, but then they are separate measures completely.
Lots of people say, oh well if your retention is this, then your attrition is the opposite.
We use traditional statistical analysis that's found in medicine insurance companies to actually track and plot what people are doing. Some of the things that the Fitness industry use to measure attrition just have no value. You might as well measure the size of a room with an ice cream.
Retention needs to be measured in people, not percentages.
The approach that's most appropriate, is called survival analysis. Survival...
Each week I get contacted by suppliers who have developed products that claim to improve retention. Some are existing companies and others are start ups. So I have decided to review them and publish those reviews. This is the first is with Shai from CoachAi. I discus the product, how clients are using CoachAi and the result they are getting. I summarise and give my evaluation a the end.
You can also download the one year case study hear. https://www.coachai.com/pub/coachai-one-year-case-study-2019.pdf
Considering the current situation globally I decided to make a short video for my clients to help them understand what they need to do to retain customers at this time. It ended up being a little long than I had planned (14 mins), but in it I describe the three phases of change that need to be managed.
These are the phases you need to manage as a health club operator
As this week progresses I am sure I will have more ideas about what operators can do and will update within our lunchtime lesson posts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
If you have any questions email me at [email protected]
Please share the video
If you are not comfortable sending people to this website to watch the video you can download the video from Vimeo and embed it somewhere you feel more comfortable.
Paul Bedford PhD
Retention Guru Ltd
+44 (0) 7956 311 899 ...
In gaming infinite variability are games that no matter how long you play them for you never repeat the same experience. The highly successful and very addictive Fortnite is just such an example. Many games have finite variability where players can become very accustomed to the landscape and challenges placed in their way. Some of this is by design, so that game producers are able to release further additions of popular titles or new versions every year.
The more niche you are the more finite your variability. The challenges that may be faced by boutiques and single activity studios over the long term is the concept of finite variability, a posh way of saying nothing new. Which can only combated by larger population density and frequent turnover of inhabitants.
Now no business can ensure that its customers will use its products or services forever, however the more limited the options or choices the quicker someone reaches the point where the experience just becomes...
Talk To Retain
The data on member communication doesn’t make pretty reading for the industry, says Dr Paul Bedford – but some simple mindset changes can make all the difference.
There is no doubt about it, talking to members improves retention and reduces attrition. This delivers advantages to the operator: it increase revenue and is good for the member, as it improves the overall health club experience.
How can we say this with such certainty?
Research evidence generated over the past 12 years clearly demonstrates a relationship between staff, member interaction and retention.
This data identifies that health club members interviewed on the gym floor while working out want some level of interaction with staff. The statistics show that staff interactions are a strong predictor of membership maintenance.
Members who are spoken to every visit are 60% less likely to quit than those who are spoken to occasionally and 70% less likely than those who are...
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