Personal Fitness Professional - March/April 2015 - 18

BY JOHN HERINGER

STRATEGIES TO AVOID CLIENT BURNOUT
IN YOUR GROUP FITNESS PROGRAM

o your clients seem disengaged or bored? Are they
tired of the same thing? Are
you seeing your bottom line
being impacted by clients
leaving to try other programs or other facilities? Client burnout can be the Achilles heel
of your business if you are not staying on top
of keeping your members engaged and loyal
to your program. Here are nine strategies you
can begin to implement today to avoid client
burnout and keep your group ﬁtness program
turnover as low as possible.

Do a reality check

A quick reality check. It starts with YOU.
You are the owner and head honcho. If you
don't change, nothing will. You have to be
open to change and you must listen to your
clients and your team with an open mind. As
Stephen Covey says, "seek ﬁrst to understand,
then to be understood."

Survey your clients

Surveying your clients is incredibly
easy to do and yet many ﬁtness professionals
and studio owners don't take advantage of
this powerful tool. What is it that your mem-

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bers want? What will help them achieve their
goals? What are they struggling with? What
do they like most about your programs? What
do they like least? What other classes would
they be interested in? With this knowledge
you can formulate a game plan that speaks to
the heart of what your clients want and need.
Use a free online survey website like www.surveymonkey.com to simply create your survey
and collect responses.

Incorporate new equipment
and fresh exercises

Even with minimal investment in ﬁtness equipment, you can create a new exercise experience for your clients; while being mindful to
never progress a client beyond their means.
Using tools like BOSUs, stability balls and slam
medicine balls can keep exercises fresh and
exciting and get your members smiling.

Consider adding new classes
(but remember who you are
and what you are good at)

Think about your target market, think about
their goals and remember who you are and
what you do best. Add complementary classes that make sense in the overall program-

ming for your clients. For example, yoga will
help them with recovery from other, harder
boot camp-type workouts and provide good
reﬂection time, while upbeat, more cardio-based workouts keep it fun and give them
the "feel-factor." It's a win-win and will keep
your members engaged. Don't know where to
start? Remember the power of the survey...
and don't forget to survey your team as well.

Survey your team and play to
their strengths

Upgrade your studio

Often we hire people and just put them where
we need them. Consider if teaching a specific class is truly the best ﬁt for that particular
team member. When was the last time you
asked each team member if they enjoy what
they teach? Focusing on the strengths and
passion of each team member will help them
gain more enjoyment from their job and in
turn they will deliver awesome service to your
members; a key factor in member retention.

Still have the same ﬂooring from 10
years ago? Did you take care of those paint
touch-ups? Members notice. One of the
quickest and easiest ways to add some "wow"

Personal Fitness Professional - March/April 2015

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