Technology advancements occur so fast these days that it can be hard to keep up and make the best decisions for your business. But then again, these advancements can bring innumerable benefits. As a gym owner, one of the ways you can achieve success is by using gym management software effectively. This technology goes beyond processing membership dues and checking members into the gym. It’s already 2021 and we know how such technology serves as an integral tool that gym owners use in managing all facets of the business.
Once you have gym software in place, you’ll be happy to know that its capabilities will far exceed what you need for your gym. And if you know how to use them effectively, your business will significantly benefit from such technology.
Why do you need to invest in gym management software?
There are two big reasons why, as a gym owner, you need to invest in gym management software. These may not be all-encompassing, but they address the ways you can get the most out of such technology.
Membership Management
If you’ve been in the health and fitness industry for some time, you should know that the business’ life-blood is establishing and sustaining membership. Effectively using gym management software will allow you to market your business to acquire and retain members.
1. Acquiring members
Attracting prospects is simple in theory but isn’t easy in practice. It takes purposeful planning and excellent execution. You can’t expect people to automatically flock to your gym by constructing state-of-the-art facilities.
To acquire members effectively, use gym management systems to capitalize on general prospects. Gone are the days that you can simply place phone calls to prospective members. This strategy isn’t as effective as it was 10 years ago. Using gym software, you can contact them through e-mails or SMS, which makes you more efficient. This will help you market the free-trial memberships and other special promotions.
You can also acquire new members by giving them options, such as online membership enrollment, self-service kiosks, etc. This feature provides them with a quick and easy way to enroll, capturing new members without the expense of membership advisors or counselors.
2. Retaining members
While acquiring new members is essential, retaining them is even more important. Acquiring members is usually more expensive than retaining the existing members. However, many gym owners overlook this.
An effective way to retain members is to engage with your members – providing frequent, but not obtrusive communication. Your gym software can help you interact with them by keeping them updated about events like fitness challenges, member referral programs, and more!
You can also give them access to their accounts via a portal or an app that allows them to manage their membership, schedule training sessions, payment information, etc.
Operations Management
Aside from acquiring and retaining members, gym owners are responsible for managing expenses effectively to make sure that more tip-line revenue will flow through the bottom-line profit. With the help of gym management software, you can take care of tasks like inventory management and employee staffing as you streamline scheduling, payment processing, and payroll.
1. Inventory management
Part of your job as a gym owner is to manage inventory, such as ready-to-eat treats, sports drinks, protein powders, and more. Your goal is to minimize theft or shrink and maximize your sales. Your gym management software will allow you to make unique product SKUs and customize product categories to achieve this goal
Within this system, you can establish minimum thresholds for the products that keep product displays full and minimize your back stock. You can also generate and download detailed reports to make accurate decisions on re-ordering products or closing out slow-moving items.
2. Employee staffing
Labor costs are one of the biggest expenses when you run a gym business. But you can use gym management software to make this task easier. Such software can provide robust dashboards that display an hourly visual snapshot for the business areas. Because of this, you’ll know exactly how to deploy your staff to maximize efficiency.
3. Payment processing
Gym owners often express concern for how payments are processed and collected. With a gym management system in place, you can bill your members regularly for personal training, membership dues, and more, at different intervals throughout the month.
In most cases, gym management system providers facilitate this process through an SSL-secure platform. This means that the gym pays royalty or a percentage for this service. This saves you considerable time so you can efficiently manage gym operations instead of performing administrative tasks.
And most importantly, the gym management system provides robust reporting, which allows you or the general manager to identify and assess trends on the business’ financial side.
4. Payroll
Another important feature that gym management software offers is being able to process payroll accurately and timely, so you don’t have to waste money on hiring an external payroll processing service. As soon as you have set up direct deposit and compensation for employees, state and federal tax rates, benefit deductions, and FICA contributions, processing payroll won’t be that stressful anymore.
In many cases, for hourly employees, no manual entry is needed anymore, since your software can pull data from digital time cards. And this is a very important benefit, as it makes the process very easy and seamless.
Do you need gym management software?
Taking advantage of technology has proven to be beneficial, especially for the health and fitness industry. From resistance training equipment to functional training protocols, this industry has embraced the inclusion and the use of such technology. It would seem that having access to all available tools and resources, including gym management software, only serves as a way to succeed and gain a competitive advantage.
A lot of gyms today use gym management systems – even small gyms. After all, these systems help grow the business. And if you know the capabilities of such a system, and you use them effectively, you can make your business stand out.