|
Competition was getting tougher in Sitges, a small Spanish tourist town, 30 minutes from Barcelona. With 6 local competitors in its 4th year of operation, GSS Fitness Centre (“GSS”) felt it was time to show appreciation to the club’s members. With 80% of GSS’s total attendances occurring in their main GF or RPM studios, GSS management knew that the way to say ‘thank you’ to their client base was with a GF relaunch event over 3 days for members and their friends. |
- First relaunch organized
- Payback of > 2 times in 30 days
- Costs of €750
- Primary objective - retention
- Secondary objective - new members
- 40 new members secured
- Small club – 440 members
- Multi-tasking management team
- 80% of club visits in GF
- 4th year of operation
|
The right promotional mix
With Sitges being a town of only 20,000, it takes less resource to get the word out that a special celebration was soon to occur. So for this first-time event, GSS advertised only 2 weeks in advance utilizing word-of-mouth, online and newspaper advertising alongside poster and banners in the club. Consequently, of the €750 spent on the event, only €50 was devoted to advertising. The rest of the investment was on food, instructor wages and outfits. No free guest passes were used because as a small, intimate club, the owners, Jordi Fuste and Lidia Bodoque and their team know all their members by sight!
With 15 classes on the relaunch timetable, members had to booked in advance to be sure of a space. Classes were at 90% capacity during the 3 days and the 5-strong management team was delighted with the excitement the relaunch created. Not only had they succeeded in showing their members how much they appreciated them, they have discovered a very powerful way to create growth for their club.
Premium priced
The results are very impressive given the local competitive landscape. With an annual membership fee of €540 per annum and a one-off enrolment fee of €50, GSS is at the top end of the local market in terms of price, where competitors’ fees range from €300 - €600 per annum. Add to this, the familiarity of a small town can make it harder to create an event from within the community, which feels genuinely different and attractive.
GSS overcame both these hurdles by tapping into the member’s appetite for Group Fit and choosing to include external advertising in the marketing mix. The result was that GSS incidentally secured 40 new memberships due to the event. The club waived the enrolment fee as a special offer, and secured €21,600 of annual revenue from the relaunch, or monthly revenue of €1,800. This adds up to a payback of 2.4 times in 30 days and a 10% growth in membership from 400 members pre relaunch to 440 members following relaunch initiatives.
3-day event
The 3-day event profiled all 7 Les Mills Programmes in a dedicated timetable. This worked well as it gave members choice of timeslots. All programmes were team taught by 2 or 3 Instructors to create extra energy in each class. Given the owners, Jordi and Lidia are also National Trainers, the GF experiences delivered to the club’s GF attendees are world class. Hence members keep coming back.
GSS demonstrates that small clubs can enjoy big wins from relaunch events. When asked what they would do better next time, the team is focused on drawing more people into GF off the cardio floor for the relaunch and setting targets in advance for new membership sales from guests. No doubt their member acquisition success will inspire small clubs around the world.
GSS Fitness Centre is a privately owned club in Sitges, Spain and has 7 Les Mills Programmes
Phillip says….
This is a excellent story of how relaunches can be a hugely effective tool for smaller clubs to refresh member experience and attract new clients. The payback GSS secured through new memberships is superb. Jordi and Lidia have obviously recruited a great team and have played to their strengths in making GF the cornerstone of their club’s success over the last 4 years.
GSS is gaining benefit from the management team focusing on Key Element 6 of the Group Fitness Management System “Create a Group Fit Marketing Plan.” I have no doubt that as relaunches and further GF promotions become intrinsic to GSS’s operations, we will watch them enjoy a growing member base. Good luck!