One thing for sure is that you can't box in the professionals in the fitness industry, no matter what kind of adversity they're facing.
That's why they're looking outside of their studios to build engagement with their members. We caught up with our resident expert and industry pulse-taker, Chris Gallo, to get his take on how businesses are expanding beyond their four walls to connect with members and build engagement. Watch the second part of this video series below (watch the first one here) and read a quick Q&A below.
Question: How will recent changes impact the member experience since many won’t be in the studio or in the studio as much?
One of the by-products of this situation is really how do we communicate effectively with the member? Look, you don't need to use your software to do everything. Facebook live, Facebook communities, events, workshops at the end of the day, no matter what you're doing, of course, it's driven by something that occurs in the club. But if we have to take it outside the club and we are in a serious COVID situation where you have an issue with getting in touch with your members face to face, communicating with them remotely can be a challenge. Also, as a studio operator, most of us are dealing with a much-reduced workforce.
So human resources are rather thin. Creating communication with built-in automation is key. So someone attends a class remotely while your software should say "great workout," or it should send you a notification that this person attended the class remotely. You can send them a personalized one-on-one text, prompted by your software. I think it all ties into making sure that there is a CRM play for your customer relationships, using automation to engage your very small tasks and knowing what's going on with members and use that to communicate outward. Because again, the more touches that a studio can have with their members during this time when they can just as easily go get an on-demand workout at some large on-demand workout center, or one of the large brands out there, and maybe never visit the store. The benefit is with your relationship and your local community messages. If you can use your software to expound and expand upon those messages, I think you have a huge advantage.