As a gym owner, you know that there’s often a direct correlation between your retention rates and your gym member check-ins. If members are showing up consistently, they’re likely to stay for the long run.
Kenzie Presnell has seen this at work in her own gym. Presnell owns Fixed on Fitness in Milton, FL, a strength and conditioning, and functional-bodybuilding facility. Her business started as an outdoor bootcamp before she opened her current location in 2008.
The gym currently has approximately 180 members and Presnell manages operations as a “two-man team” with her husband.
Fixed on Fitness recently won the PushPress Check-In Challenge with the highest average check-ins per member, a whopping 15.62.
Over the years, Presnell says she tried every gym CRM software under the sun. She found some weren’t user-friendly, while others just didn’t work well. She recalls that it sometimes wasn’t uncommon for apps to just fail to work as needed.
“You know, someone might go to sign a waiver and the system would crash,” she said.
The Switch to PushPress.
About a year ago, Presnell switched to PushPress. As a result, she said she couldn't be happier with its effectiveness and ease-of-use for her members.
“Grow is my favorite part about PushPress,” she said. “Just the constant communication (with leads and members); It takes a lot of steps away from me that I don’t have to deal with, like the follow-up and the texts. We were doing all of that manually before.”
The Grow 90-day workflow has been particularly useful for her. As gym owners can attest, the first 90 days are crucial for a strong membership foundation. When you nurture leads properly, you can significantly increase gym retention numbers.
As such, the Grow workflow provides members with constant email and text nurture during those 90 days. Whether for sharing info or celebrating gym member check-ins, Presnell’s clients feel connected and appreciated.
“It really helps pull people into the community,” she said. She then added that it goes a long way in ensuring her gym becomes a habit for her members.
She also credits PushPress Grow automation for help with new leads. From the moment a prospect reaches out, until they’re a member, automated workflows are there to help.
Presnell says this has increased the gym’s conversion rate, noting that before Grow, many of their leads would “fall through the cracks.”
She recalled, “We’re running classes all day. So I very rarely would remember to text someone that came in for their trial class until a day later. So I love that now, as soon as they come in, they do the class and then they automatically get that check-in.”
A Gym Culture of Consistency.
As a result, Presnell said she’s created a culture at her gym where most people show up consistently. Ideally, that’s four days per week, she explained.
With that in mind, however, she said she had no idea how her gym member check-ins stacked up among other gyms.
That’s when she decided to sign up for the PushPress Check-In Challenge.
To her surprise, Fixed on Fitness was one of two winners of the challenge. 2020FIT in Prairie Village, KS was the other, with an incredible 4,427 check-ins in one month.
Presnell said she couldn’t be happier about being awarded a victor.
“I feel like our members are very regular and very consistent,” she said. “But I didn’t have anything to really compare our gym to as far as, what does attendance look like in other gyms. So it was nice to see they really are consistent.”
First, she said it validated what they’re doing at Fixed on Fitness. Second, it was a great way to keep her community focused on why gym check-ins are important.
Prior to the challenge, she admitted many people didn’t reserve a spot or check in for classes. She often just let it slide.
“Did they check in? Or did we make sure they checked in? Not always,” she admitted.
The PushPress Check-In Challenge became the catalyst. It got her members into the habit of checking in on their phones prior to class.
Pro Tip: Want to learn how PushPress Grow can help you with lead generation and creating the ultimate member experience? Book a demo with our team today!
Encouraging Gym Member Check-Ins.
Already, Presnell said, it has made a world of difference for her gym. Not only does it hold people accountable, but it also helps her keep track of members. She can see who is showing up and who isn’t.
When someone isn’t showing up, Presnell can once again use PushPress Grow to reach out. This can be done manually or with the at-risk workflow.
“I use that feature in Grow all the time,” she said. “If they haven’t been here in seven days, I just populate them in a list and that way I can shoot them a text. ‘Hey making sure everything’s okay.’”
Presnell added, “It helps for our retention. I can see how many days a week people are here. And we really try to get our members in four days a week. Because we know that if they’re showing up regularly, the likelihood of them staying for a long period of time is really high.”
Ultimately, she said her main goal for her gym is to be “a place people want to come to versus always having to drag their feet to be here. We want this to be a place where if they don’t show up, they miss it.”
The various PushPress tools make managing her gym easier. Not just for bringing on new clients, but for creating the ultimate gym member experience as well.
Presnell noted one last thing: She’s been consistently impressed by the PushPress customer service they’ve received.
“Y’all stay on top of us the first few months,” she said.
Not only has she and her husband noticed, but members have as well. And as a team of gym owners ourselves, the PushPress team is always ecstatic to celebrate the wins of our clients.
