When it comes to retention, too many clubs aren’t concerned enough with the person who just signed up. Instead, they are still keeping all eyes on the next person walking through the door; after all, membership sales are most important, right? Just sell, sell, sell!
Frankly, I’ve never believed in that approach, and now more than ever it may be time to reevaluate your club’s strategy. It’s like a degenerative disease; too often, people don’t worry about doing the right things nutritionally until they become sick. Once they wind up in a critical situation, they finally begin eating the right things to try and get better – the very things they should have been eating all along. If we listen, it almost seems like our bodies are trying to tell us to start doing the right thing… or else! Similarly, our economic woes are much like a degenerative disease – they are an illness that is affecting us all. Perhaps it is time to reevaluate.
Ask Yourself
Why do members stick around? There are many reasons, but they all are interconnected. Here are some of the big ones:
• State-of-the-art equipment
• Relationships
• Habit
• Ancillary services like personal training, group fitness, youth programs and juice bars.
Believe it or not, you are in control of most of the points mentioned. For example, when it comes to building relationships, cultivating good habits and helping members to achieve performance goals, including a juice bar in your facility can have a strong positive impact. I have been giving nutritional seminars for a decade, and there is always one common denominator that seems to be present everywhere I go; from Aberdeen, S.D. to Miami, people are confused about diet and continue to make poor food choices that either slow or completely halt the progress of performance goals. The lesson: Nutrition is indeed up to 80 percent of the battle.
Juice Bars in Transition
Juice bars have come a long way since the 70s. The stigma that was attached to juice bars back then was present largely because gyms primarily catered to individuals who wanted one thing – to be like Arnold. So, they willingly bellied up to the bar to drink synthetic, scientifically engineered protein drinks. Taste didn’t matter because results were what they were looking for – that is, until their bodies began to reject all of those chemicals.
Today, many clubs still offer the synthetic drinks made from a pouch or automated blender system, but more and more clubs are also making healthier versions out of ingredients that you can recognize and, more importantly, your body can recognize. If you are considering a juice bar, don’t take the easy route; do some research. Know that this is just like any other business and it is necessary to do a business plan and ROI.
Follow These Simple Guidelines:
• Use the healthiest products available.
• Develop a simplistic approach to preparing and serving the drinks.
• Make the product in front of the customer; it shouldn’t be a secret what’s going in his or her beverage.
• Educate members about nutrition.
Benefits
• Profit – if done correctly, juice bars can increase your bottom line.
• Members can achieve their performance goals more quickly by adopting a healthier diet.
As the demographics of health clubs continue to become more diverse, with whole families joining and folks becoming increasingly more educated about health and fitness, choosing to offer a healthy nutrition option can help clubs retain more members by supporting one of the most important aspects of fitness.
Dan young is president of Performance Food Centers Corp.
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