Quest Club got the best of both worlds at its recent quarterly relaunch. Existing members were happy because 90% of spaces were allocated to them. With 5 of 7 classes fully booked in advance of the day-long party, demand was high. 10% of spaces were specifically set aside to allow non-members to enjoy the energy hit of this GF extravaganza. And on the day, 14% of relaunch attendees were guests and >20% became members.
Refine your quarterly relaunch system
Relaunch day – called Les Mills Day - delivered €7,370 of annual revenue from new memberships and €1,630 from drinks sold to the 278 attendees. This total of €9,000 generated a payback of 4.9 times on the costs of the relaunch, which stood at €1,825. Yet Quest only needed to sell 9 memberships to get this result. The message is clear. You can build your income from quarterly relaunches gradually, while you refine your system for attracting guests to quarterly parties. |
- 22% of event guests became members
- Payback of 4.9 times on investment
- Total revenue of €9,000
- Costs of €1,825
- 278 attendees
- 40 Guests
- 90% of spaces for existing members
- 5 of 7 programme classes fully booked
- Hired a star instructor for the event
- Class pre-registration system for the relaunch
- 3 National Trainers on Instructor team
- 15 staff present for relaunch
- 1 sales person available all day
- GF Manager in charge of the event
- No price discount offered
- Competitive local market
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Quest understands how to get the best out of group exercise. The club has 1,600 members and 55% of total club visits by them are to attend GF classes. Yet the studios only take up 16% of the Quest’s 1900m² floor space. As you'd expect, excitement is combined with professionalism to create a great GF show that ran with muscular precision from 9 am to 6.45 pm, with a 1.5 hour break for lunch. The event’s success was partially due to Klaus Werndl (Quest’s owner) having a world class GF team, which includes 3 National Trainers, one of whom is the full time GF Manager – Oliver Weinrich. Oliver leads Quest’s Instructors to create world class Group Fitness experiences every day and to max out the energy at every relaunch. None of the Instructors are paid extra for their time at the event – they love it so much, they are happy to do it for free!
Celebrity Instructors and cost effective promotion
With an eye for event management, Klaus paid for a guest National Trainer to attend the relaunch to add to the buzz. Part of the promotion strategy highlighted performances by a guest ‘star instructor’ to foster greater interest in the event. The cost for the National Trainer was €465 for the day, which is less than the value of one new membership.
Even though the event was mainly for retention purposes, Oliver invested in a range of marketing tactics, yet only one added to the budget for the event. Quest had 2 large adverts in the local newspaper costing €960. The rest of the marketing mix created no additional outlays for the club and included free guest passes, SMS messaging to all existing members, word of mouth promotion in classes by instructors,
posters in the GF and RPM "Arenas" (studios) and a special announcement on the Quest website. Beyond the investment in a National Trainer and newspaper adverts, the only additional spend was lunch for all guests at €400.
On the day the GF and RPM Arenas were decorated with a theme of “Street-life”. All Instructors wore Les Mills programme branded clothing and 15 staff managed the event including one sales person. Oliver ensured everyone knew their roles plus the goals of the day: 1) increase member satisfaction 2) gain new members and 3) boost the profile of the club. Given the popularity of the classes and the return on investment Quest enjoyed, they hit every target with a bullseye.
No membership fee discount offered to non-members
Surprisingly, Quest didn’t discount their membership pricing for the event and so new members signed up for the enrolment fee of €99 plus the monthly charge of €59.99. It’s noteworthy that Quest’s pricing is on a par with two competitors in the same street and a third competitor just 700 metres away. Klaus believes he can maintain his pricing strategy because Quest differentiates itself a) through having a modern new facility opened 3.5 years ago and b) by offering exceptional Group Fitness to its clients. It seems to be working.
Despite meeting their goals for the relaunch, Quest is planning improvements for the next event. The theme will be taken beyond the 2 GF studios into the main facility and booking lists will be used only for RPM and BodyPump. Quest aims to create a different buzz for the other 5 programmes from the competition to get a space! Lastly, they plan to set sales targets in advance of the next party, so everyone has a clear quantified goal to work towards.
With their desire to hone their quarterly event system, we expect to witness ever increasing rewards for Quest’s existing members, its staff as well as attending guests. Go hard!
Quest is a privately owned club in Rosenheim, South Germany and has 7 Les Mills ProgrammesPhillips says…
Quest proves you can be cost efficient and still create an event with huge energy and impact. Further, the team demonstrates how you can incrementally improve your relaunch system to offer ever more powerful GF experiences.
This clubs highlights the option clubs have to gradually utilize relaunches to deliver new members to the business. With their 90/10 balance between existing members and guests attendees, Quest secured a healthy payback of 4.9 times on its investment. Typically we recommend leaving 20% of spaces for guests and imagine Quest will move towards this target over time.
Quest brings to life a range of the 8 Key Elements of the Group Fitness Management System. For example, their ability to attract and retain 3 National Trainers as Instructors shows they are very skilled at Key Element 3 “Recruit World Class Instructors and Keep them”. The event itself shows the power of Key Element 6 “Create a Group Fitness Marketing Plan” where relaunches are explored as critical tool for both member retention and acquisition. All round, a smart operation.