Firstly, according to Robbie Kellman-Baxter in her book the Membership Economy she defines on-boarding as:
- Providing new members a road map of what to expect;
- Help them get up to speed with your culture, so they don’t look or feel stupid;
- Provide them with knowledge and habits to be successful in their new community.
If you have not read Membership Economy, I highly recommend it and you can grab a copy here: Amazon. What are you doing to tick these boxes in your business?
Dr Paul Bedford says that by conducting ‘an induction session’ you can add up to 7 months to the length of a membership. If each month of membership is just $50 and you can get 7 extra months that’s $350 MORE income for the investment of a $40 wage. To me, that’s a great return!
I believe there is more to ‘inducting’ a new member than just having a session with a trainer and have a few ideas for you to consider.
A simple structure to consider is:
Remove the friction points for new members. This means you must remove anything that will slow the integration into your club culture down. Simple things like:
- Where do I park when the parking is full?
- How do I log in if I forget my key tag?
- How do the lockers work?
- Remembering how to use equipment
- And the list can go on . . .
Deliver immediate value. I would aim to deliver immediate value through my ‘workout experience.’ I want them to get enormous value from their touch points with members and staff when in the club.
Reward the desired behaviour. We need to develop an exercise adherence program and a reward system for members in their first 12 weeks. We want them to feel the love when they do what they are suppose to do.
I have put together a step by step guide to on-boarding your members in my ebook: ‘On-Boarding Members For Long Term Loyalty.’ You can grab a digital copy by clicking here.
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Reminder for Active Management Members: this ebook is available on the Member Hub at no cost, it is included as one of your member resources. Click here to see it.
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