- Quarterly two-day event
- GF as main draw card
- 48 new members secured
- 38 new members due to GF
- Cost of AUD 570
- Payback of over 80 times
- Contra deals for give-aways
- Management support for the event
- Cross club involvement
- 4,400 members
- Been open for 11 months
- 28% of total attendances from GF
- 56 classes per week
- Competitive local environment
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Fitness First Adelaide (“FFA”) knows how to get the most of its quarterly events. It’s a win-win for everyone - existing members feel appreciated and love the party buzz while the club makes a huge return on investment. At a recent Open Day/Mega Launch, FF secured 48 new members, 80% of which were due to Group Fitness (“GF”) and exceeded normal foot traffic by 15% with 1756 people coming through the facility during the two days of the event. Overall payback was huge at over 80 times, due to savvy promotional strategies, which reduced the cost of raising awareness about the open days.
Management support as critical success factor
A vital factor in FFA’s success is the mindset of the management team. National GF Director, Yvette Flacke, actively encourages these events, due to a keen desire to prove that GF can generate revenue directly from its activities. Add to that the “can –do” attitude of the FFA club manager, Michael Vodopianoff and GF Manager, Kim Haynes and you have a dream team. Michael describes Kim as “the most enthusiastic Group Fitness Manager ever” and backs her to ensure GF is the main draw card at every open day FFA holds.
Club management support for these events means that Kim had cross-club buy-in to the event. As a result there were 5 membership consultants available throughout the two-day event and specific scripts for reception to help them sell the experience into non-members. The club was also decorated from reception all the way upstairs to the GF studios, with streamers and balloons plus a DJ playing constantly to enhance the party feel. Michael also sets aside the time to keep the sales team up to date with what’s happening in GF and regularly communicates the differences between programs. Consequently, membership consultants find it easier to sell relevant yet exciting fitness packages to member prospects.
A focused, low cost event strategy
Kim’s main promotional tools were free passes, which Instructors gave to members so they could bring a friend for free. Instructors were given a specific script to advertise the open days in class, for two weeks prior to the event. All promotion was internal so the timetable retained the same class format as normal but had big yellow stars all over the open days, so that people couldn’t miss it! The timetable was posted on the GF notice board and also on the website, while posters and flyers were placed all over the club to help spread the word.
Food, drink and give-aways were financed by ‘contra deals’. A member provided food and wine for free to help promote his business. A local food franchise also provided more free food to drive awareness that they had recently opened. And attendees could drink as much Red Bull as they wanted to keep them maxing out in the GF studios. Prizes for raffles, cardio bingo and the lucky door prizes were FF branded T-shirts, caps and bags, which had more perceived value than cost for attendees.
A large return on investing in the event experience
Team teaching is a must at FFA open days. Each of the 7 Les Mills programs are taught by two Instructors who are both paid the full hourly rate for their time. Instructors practice for free with such intensity that re-launches of the Les Mills programs occur just two weeks after the Super Quarterly. Profiling all 7 programs during the two open days, wage costs totaled AUD $320. When added to the cost of the DJ - AUD $250 for 2 days – the total investment in the event was only AUD $570.
The number of new members hit FFA’s target, with 48 new joiners signing up for their promotional offer. FFA waived the joining fee of AUD 100 so that the average annual membership fee was AUD 1000. This equates to AUD 48,000 of revenue from the event for a discrete cost of AUD $570. Michael noted that GF was responsible for 80% of the new members, concluding that group exercise created over AUD 38,000 of turnover. The rest of the new members came from people who just dropped in to check out the party or existing prospects that the sales team converted during the open days. Michael states that in the 11 months since FFA opened, each event has delivered this level of revenue for the facility. Very impressive work.
Group Fitness as a core competitive advantage
It’s clear that GF is one of FFA’s critical success factors with 28% of visits from its 4,400 members being delivered by group exercise during 56 classes per week. The management team really understands their local market and mixes 45-minute lunch classes with standard class formats, to meet the needs of their time-pressured members. Being a city-based facility, FFA has 3 competitors within 10 minutes walk, all priced at a similar level including one club, which also offers Les Mills programs. With average class usage being at over 65% of capacity, Kim sees their winning GF formula being in the quality of the fitness experiences they offer. “We lead by example and have a passion for teaching and are determined to demonstrate the potential of GF in the fitness arena.”
Michael, Kim and the team are always looking to improve. So the next event will have an extra BODYPUMP® class to meet demand and free passes will be given out only a week in advance to ensure the message stays fresh and exciting for members. Beyond events, Kim aims to bring GF attendances as a percentage of total attendance to over 30%. Given what Kim, Michael and the team have achieved in the 11 months FFA has been open, we imagine this goal will be met very soon! Congratulations.
Fitness First Adelaide is a member of the Fitness First Chain in Australia and has 7 Les Mills programs
Phillip says……
FFA’s success shows the power of having management support for GF driven promotional events. With Michael’s backing and Yvette Flacke’s strong encouragement, success became much more probable. Further, increased cross-club buy-in has helped to create very substantial returns on investment.
The FFA team has implemented the key learnings of Key Element 6 of the Group Fitness Management System – “Create a Group Fitness Marketing Plan” where the impact of quarterly events is emphasized. Add to that, Kim’s commitment and passion for getting the best out of GF for her members and her team, demonstrates key qualities of a top GF Manager as outlined in Key Element 8 – “Hire or Be a Great GF Manager”. Excellent results from a great team!