Crush or Be Crushed
Five Variables of Group Fitness Performance
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Jeffrey Pinkerton
Group fitness can and should be the shining star of your facility. Few experiences under your roof create the same energy and excitement, camaraderie and community as a well-managed, well-organized program. And, to maximize its impact, your goal should be to make your group fitness rooms as full as possible, as often as possible. Imagine your favorite restaurant: the crowd is lively, the patrons are diverse, the energy is palpable, the vibe is cool, the staff is professional and passionate, and everything on the menu is high-quality. If this doesn't sound like the group fitness experience at your club, it's time to take a hard look at these five variables of group fitness performance: the programming, the place, the people, the playlist and the promotion. Get these right, focus on them with intention and energy, and you'll Crush It in group. Get these wrong, get distracted by flashy fads and terminable trends, or just be satisfied with a sinking status quo, and you're likely to Get Crushed.
P1: The Programming - What's on your menu?
We are all in the business of selling exercise. And, ultimately, your customers need to choose your facility as the best place for them to push, pull, squat, lift, shift, run, jump, curl and press. These are the "ingredients" we all work with. The question is, how well can your team put these ingredients together to create "great tasting" workouts (the physiology and psychology of program design), that have mass appeal (every member feels welcome in every workout), and that keep your customers coming back for more (members feel as successful as possible as soon as possible).
Crush It: To stay relevant and broad reaching, the workouts on your group fitness menu need to be innovative, inclusive and inviting.
P2: The Place (and the Paraphernalia) - What's the vibe?
Your group fitness room design (or lack thereof) impacts participation. Again, consider the restaurant analogy, but this time, imagine that you are searching for a restaurant online. Do you look at the photos first or the menu? Do you make a judgement about the experience based on the aesthetics and decor? In Theodore Kinni's book on Disney, Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service, he discusses the importance of the environment and its effects on the customer. He teaches us that the setting and all its elements, either intentionally or unintentionally, send messages to your members about the perceived quality, the level of service expected and even the price they are willing to pay.
Crush It: If your group fitness room is dated, consumers may assume that your programs are, too. To attract more members (and to compete with and beat the boutiques), you need a group fitness space that is a gender-neutral, up-to-date training space, not an old, over-mirrored, outdated aerobics room. You need strength training equipment that can help draw in men and women (we prefer barbells over bands and balls), and you need a great sound system and stage to enhance and elevate the experience.
P3: The People - How dynamic and diverse is your team?
There is no shortage of research on the importance of your people. And, in the service business of our industry, your group fitness instructors are the people who bring the workouts to life. They are the coaches and motivators. They are your first-time member meeters and early morning greeters. They are the connectors and community builders. And, they need to be your best influencers and brand ambassadors on social media and out in your community.
Crush It: You need a diverse, energetic, engaging, exclusive team. Diversity on your team ensures that you can attract a wide audience into the room. If you want to attract more Millennials, you need more Millennials on your team. If you want to attract more Gen Y'ers or Gen Z'ers, you need more of them on your team. And, if you want to attract more men, you need more men on your team.
Crush It: Your instructors are the face of your brand in your building, online and in the community. Find people who are passionate about your brand first and foremost, and then teach and train them to deliver the experience. Don't share them with the competition. They are one of your most important assets, and when committed to your facility, they'll deliver both the member experience and your marketing message.
P4: The Playlist - Does the music have reach and range?
The power of music and the performance gains from synchronized, coordinated movement to music (a phenomena known as "social motion") gives the group fitness experience a massive advantage over working out alone. In addition to the science of editing and engineering and matching music and movement, the art of selecting music is critical in calculating who will be attracted to group fitness. Too often, music playlists are based on the instructor's personal musical preference (often age-based) and his or her preferred genre. The problem? It's rarely broad reaching or inclusive, and it certainly isn't inviting.
Crush It: If you want to attract a broad audience, you need multi-generational and multi-genre musical playlists. We recommend that you use music engineered to drive the experience, and if you send me an email (jeffreypinkerton@mossa.net), I'll send you some of the science and specifics on that (and how we do it).
P5: The Promotion - What are you actually selling?
A lot of businesses struggle to articulate what makes them unique over their competitors, and the fitness industry is not immune. In fact, many websites and Facebook pages I visit are still "selling" the old and obvious list of things: state-of-the-art machines, "great" group fitness classes, free weights, such-and-such machines and a free so-and-so with all new memberships. It's the features without the benefits. And, the focus is on what they have, instead of what someone will actually do.
In addition to your message, you need to consider the medium. The most effective marketing customizes the ad to the audience and then delivers that ad through a channel where that audience is most likely to see it. (Want to reach younger members? You'll find them on Instagram and TikTok.)
Crush It: If you want to reach a broad audience of new members, you need to market through a broad spectrum of channels and formats – images, videos, reels, and social stories delivered through Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. If your marketing is a one-type, one-channel approach, your membership will be as well.
Crush It or Be Crushed.
It takes work and effort, but the work is worth it. An investment in group fitness will pay dividends to create members that have higher retention rates, refer more friends and are less price sensitive than those people working out on machines alone (yes, literally alone). By investing and building a thoughtful menu of workouts, delivered in a great room, brought to life by a diverse and energetic team, driven by wide-reaching playlist of music, you'll discover that what you are actually selling is a combination of fitness and friendship, of accomplishment and accountability, and your sales conversations will be less about the expense and more about the experience.
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Whether you're crushing it (that's awesome; we want to hear about it) or feeling a little more crushed with every competitor's arrival, get in touch with us! MOSSA delivers a solution to ditch the sinking status quo and get to work on all five variables (and then some). Let's fill your rooms, retain or reclaim your members and uncover your group fitness program's shine.
