Grand Opening Gala, the next 100 to 200 members

Believe it or not the extent of some grand openings of fitness businesses merely involves placing a "now open" sign on the door. Some go the extra mile and run a newspaper ad promoting the "now open" theme. Other new owners may even go as far as to offer an open house. These clubs are doomed to fail. The fitness business, like any other industry, has to be promoted, but more than that, it has to be promoted in a specific manner. If you are considering a fitness franchise or independent equipment supplier, you must ask the question: "How am I going to get the 300-400 memberships I need to reach my financial goals?" If you don't receive a confident and cohesive reply, you better reconsider your options. The "Grand Opening" is a unique one-time opportunity to pull out the stops and aggressively market your fitness business. A Solid Marketing Strategy: One Step Builds Upon the Preceding Step You must allocate sufficient funds to a well-planned, proven marketing strategy or you will never get off the ground. The plan involves leveraging referrals from your Sneak Preview memberships combined with a predictable grand opening market blitz centered on a "first 200 membership" special offer. The ROI (Return on Investment) for a grand opening ad budget should be 5 to 1 minimally and upwards of 10 to 1. In other words, if you spend $10,000 to launch your business, your goal is $100,000 in gross memberships sales. Gross memberships sales is defined as your total number of members times the annual contract rate. For example, to achieve $100,000 in gross membership sales, you would need to book 250 memberships valued at $400 per contract ($33 per month x 12 months). To achieve this at an effective 10 to 1 ratio, you would have to invest $10,000 in advertising.

The "Grand Opening" is a unique one-time opportunity to pull out the stops and aggressively market your fitness business.

When it comes to deciding how much to spend for advertising always use this ROI format and ask yourself if you feel confident to be able to generate a good return.

Direct Return Advertising

If done right your direct return advertising can work to build your image and business awareness, and get twice the bang for your buck. There are many low cost advertising vehicles that can be used for awareness based campaigns such as a standing offer: two-week "Try Before You Buy" trial membership.

Daily Sales and Marketing After your highly successful grand opening event, you must settle into a systematic and well planned daily sales and marketing strategy. The fitness industry has been built upon a referral based strategy that expects happy members who have achieved results from your fitness studio to help you spread the word to their friends and associates. Our marketing manual and business academy teach you how to setup this marketing system. Your business will ultimately succeed or fail depending on how well you can adapt this simple yet highly strategic system. I have wandered into many fitness businesses in my 20 years as club owner, industry consultant and marketing specialist and it amazes me to see owners and managers sitting behind their desks "waiting on new prospects to come in".

Build Accountability Into the System for Success

When you turn the key to open the door each morning you should be able to sit down at your desk and predict with precision what your sales are going to be for that day based on the entries in your Master Activity and Planning Calendar.

About Marshall Madden

He's focused on the express gym business for the last 5 years incorporating what he learned running big health clubs to the smaller express gyms and studios. Marshall is an accomplished, speaker, writer, and teacher on matters of effective health club marketing and management.


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