The Fitness Business School – 3 Things That Could Kill Your Business Going Forward

Full Transcript

Hey Pat Rigsby here, and in this episode I’m going to cover three things that I’m seeing is some gyms that are thinking about reopening or getting notification that they’ll be allowed to reopen, that potentially is going to be the death blow to those gyms over the long term. So let’s get to it.

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Hey, Pat here, and in this episode I’m going to be talking to you about a problem that I’m starting to see. Basically, we’re starting to get some sort of, uh, either notification or at least some, some insight that many facilities are going to be able to get back to being open in some capacity in the not so distant future. And for so long we, you know, we’ve been focused here on very acute problems like having enough money to cover rent or being able to cover your own bills, how you’re going to be able to serve clients in the interim until you’re back into your facility. Things that certainly were urgent and important both. But I think what is starting to happen, or at least something that I’m beginning to notice is that there are three different things that are maybe getting overlooked throughout all, all of this as people start to get excited about the probability of being open in the next several weeks.

Now, the first of these problems that I think could potentially kill somebody’s business is not having a plan for everybody. Now, there had been a number of surveys going around to, um, you know, where fitness professionals have said something along the lines of, Hey, when will you be ready to come back to the gym once we’re open? And then they’ll have a brief little survey and talk about, you know, the options like immediately, within a few weeks, within a few months, when there’s a vaccine, not at all. And I think many of the responses that they’re getting, um, would suggest that people will be willing to come back in, in a relatively short period of time, whether it’s immediately or, um, in a few weeks. But the reality is if you get 70% of your people coming back and you don’t have a plan to accommodate or serve the other people because you haven’t really built out something that is as valuable as what you’ve been offering over the last month or so and you’ve not built out something that you can continue to serve those people at that level. And you shift all of your emphasis on trying to make your facility more appealing, making sure that you’ve got the social distancing in place, making sure that your cleanliness is up to snuff and you’ve made people feel safe and comfortable, well that 20 or 30% that may not be ready to come back for a few months or even until there’s a vaccine is going to move on. They’re going to go find something else to serve their needs. And you know, everybody has a different level of risk aversion and everybody’s got their own reasons. And I think we need to honor and respect all of those. It’s not, um, it’s not up to us to decide how people should feel about, um, you know, the level of risk they’re willing to incur or even perceived risk that they’re willing to incur. So the first mistake that people are making, and I’m starting to see it probably more than than I’m comfortable with, is just not having a plan to can continue to serve all of the current paying clients at a high level, no matter how comfortable they are coming back into the facility.

And then the second thing that I’m seeing people really struggle with is thinking that tech, thinking that technology is going to save them, thinking that some magic piece of software or some tool or some app is the reason why their clients are going to stay or um, if it doesn’t work the way that they want, it’s the reason their clients left. When in reality, tech is a tool and it has no more bearing on whether your clients leave or um, whether they stay than the dumbbells you choose or the kettlebells you choose or whatever else. It’s a tool to help you execute your plan. If you’ve got a great plan, if you’ve got great relationships with your clients, you’re going to be able to find a mechanism to keep them involved. You’re going to have a relationship with them that transcends a bug on a tech platform or something that might be slightly inconvenient with an app or whatever else is happening.

But it’s so easy, especially in times of adversity to just pass the buck, to basically blame the, the things that you didn’t do on somebody or something else. So it’s very easy to say that man, that technology was high friction or it was buggy and my clients didn’t like it. And you know, it’s probably no more true that they didn’t like that than maybe they didn’t love the layout of a facility or they didn’t love the way the parking lot was lit if they came to an early morning or late evening session. But they work around it. If they really like you and if the service is that good and the experience is that good, but if it’s not, then you know, the, the tech is just one more challenge. The, the facility is just one more challenge. I would encourage you to think of your technology stack at your online gym the same way that you would think of the building that you’re in, the equipment that you have, everything from the flooring to the racks that you have or the kettlebells or bands that you use. Your tech tools are the same type of thing for your online facility. So if you’re going to have this virtual second location, sure you want to have the best possible, um, online facility you can possibly have. But if you’re doing a mediocre job delivering results and providing experience, there’s no amount of, um, tech quality that is probably going to be able to save you.

And then the third that I think potentially could cause people a lot of problems, the third thing that may even be the, uh, you know, that final nail in the coffin for many businesses is failing to appeal to prospects in this new kind of new economy and new social landscape. Because the thing that the surveys are missing for the, the fitness professionals that are posting them, they’re asking when will you be willing to come back to the gym? Right? So when will you be comfortable to adopt or will re adopting your previous habits, the things that you missed, the things that are part of your life, the things that make you feel normal and fulfilled. And those people have a much stronger likelihood of coming back and they’re probably willing to overcome more fear, more uncertainty than most because this is something that they’ve already deemed an important part of their life. It’s something they’ve already given a lot of time and probably a lot of money too. So you know that’s one segment of the market.

And I think of myself, um, you know, I was talking with my, my wife Holly about this. I think of myself as kind of that person for like Disney World. My family’s gone to Disney dozens and dozens of times and it’s just our default vacation spot. So sure. I may be, um, you know, I’m probably not the person who would be willing to go back immediately as soon as they were open. I’m sure I would let people kind of go be the guinea pigs and run through it and see how the process works and let Disney kind of optimize the process and see what the results are before I would expose my family to it. But I’m also not going to be the last person to be willing to go. And in, in the case of prospects, well, those prospects don’t already have that relationship with you. They don’t already have that relationship with your business. It’s not already part of their life or their routine. And so if they’re more risk averse, then you know, if you’re not appealing to that person, then that marketing that you typically have been able to use to refill the population of your clientele. Whenever you do have some attrition, you’re not going to be strong enough to do it. You’re not going to have the ability to attract that 20 or 30% that you may need to if you don’t do what it takes to retain those people who aren’t as eager to come back in the gym immediately.

I know for me, like I said, I would be more likely to probably go back to Disney than the person who’s never been. So, you know, we have to accept that. We have to understand that in fact, I commissioned a survey, like an independent survey that is still processing to get enough, um, responses to be statistically valid, but it’s just, uh, the general population, not people who already necessarily have a gym membership. It just a general cross section of people in the United States. And the numbers would bear out that far fewer of those people would be ready to go back to a gym immediately or even in that first couple of weeks. And now we’re not at the end of this survey, so certainly things could change, but I mean we’ve had several hundred replies so far and at this stage it would, it would suggest that a few months or even when there’s a vaccine, seems like the more popular answer for the average person, not necessarily the person who already is an active avid gym member.

So three things to think about. Three things that I feel like you need to address in a, a really meaningful way if you’re going to be able to move forward and thrive in the landscape that’s going to come. Whether or not you know, there’s a full blown recession that we’re going to deal with or whether or not, um, there is some sort of indication that it’s maybe safer to embark on some of our, um, previous activities then, you know, then we’re currently experiencing still there. There’s going to be a change. The old normal will not be the new normal and if you’re not proactively adapting to that, if you’re just trying to go back to the, the way you used to operate minus making sure the facility’s a little cleaner and people are a little bit more spaced out, that’s not going to be enough for you to build the type of business you want and succeed in this new landscape. So hopefully those are some things to think about. If you need any help with it, please reach out to me. I think we’ve got some really strong things in place that we can provide the support and guidance you need to succeed moving forward.

Thanks for listening. I’m giving away a bundle of my bestselling books, the ideal business formula, the fitness entrepreneur handbook in the path. All you have to do is go to patrigsby.com/podgift to get it. Also, make sure to subscribe to The Fitness Business School with Pat Rigsby so you don’t miss an episode and you get yourself on the fast track to creating your ideal business.