Opening hours of your gym is considered your income and it’s up to you how effectively you are going to use it. This is why group class schedule is so important – it can generate significant sales, be a member retention factor, be a cost issue etc. You have to take many aspects into consideration in order to build the best timetable possible. The best timetable has few advantages: it enables you to have a high turnover, interest potential new members, use your instructors time effectively, grow your business not requiring extra investment in new equipment. But whatever we wish and dream about our business, it is market and our customers that should dictate rules.
Demographics
This is why you should always start from the basics meaning ask yourself who your target customer is. Check if your assumption and plan reflect the reality. Best way to do so is to pull a report from administrator panel in PerfectGym software and look closelyat numbers depicting what gender, what age, when, how often your customers attend the gym.
Time
You don’t have to have only one target customer group for your fitness centre. In fact you would have to run a specialized place devoted only to martial arts or yoga. You can target business people early mornings, lunchtime and in the afternoon and during the day focus more on senior groups or young mothers with children. The clue is to have your schedule time optimized – lessgaps and possibly well suited classes for all target groups.
Ask
You may think you know what your customers want. Reality can be brutal sometimes and before it hits youand harm there are 2 ways to test if you are on the right track. Before the season starts it is always a good idea to do trial week for the members so they can check if they like the new schedule, instructors, new type of classes etc. You can also run a survey and simply ask all those things. Put most emphasize on what type of group classes would be most interesting and also ask for any new ideas regarding this subject. Maybe you have missed something out along the way. You can send out a link and communication about such survey through automatic centre in PerfectGym software so the task seems easy.
Trends
While planning your schedule look closely at what is happening on the fitness market and what are the current trends. You cannot run your business without knowing what group classes are getting more attention, what is emerging on the market, what is losing the attention. Here we have to also mention the knowledge about what your closest competitors are doing. Of course you don’t have to copy everything but such an overview can give you an idea on how the business is being handled and on what the current demand is. Your members need some refreshment in the group class schedule. You should keep them interesting and exciting. New classes introduced to the schedule are just an answer to the great need of diversity.
Staff
If you decide to go into dance based classes you have to think first if your staff is well prepared and is able to carry out such classes properly. It may turn out you either need to hire new people who can handle your vision or you may need to retrain your existing staff. Nevertheless, you always have to check your resources and possibilities before moving into something completely new.