Over the past few weeks and months there have been a number of reports released that have been interpreting what is happening in our industry. One thing that struck me was a line within the Europe Active Report by Emma Barry which was; ’motivating the unmotivated’.
With the current penetration rate in the UK at 14.9% [State of the Industry Report 2018 Leisure DB], perhaps one of the major focuses of facilities over the next few years is to start to investigate and implement strategies that ‘motivate the unmotivated’.
This is a huge task that requires both time and effort and a short blog is never going to cover all the factors to consider when moving towards attracting a new client group, but hopefully some of the questions posed towards the end of this article may help to guide and support.
Three basics areas that could be used as a starting point which could support the movement towards ’motivating the unmotivated’, are:
Know your AUDIENCE
What’s your PERFORMANCE?
What’s your MATERIAL?
AUDIENCE:
There are many different client groups within the ’motivating the unmotivated’. To ensure performance and material is appropriate, the starting point would be to know your new target AUDIENCE.
PERFORMANCE:
This is around the type of offering that a facility will deliver and more importantly how the staff will interact, and teach [deliver] to this new client group. Clearly what currently is offered is suitable for 14.9%, not for everyone else. With the growth of Boutique Studios, one of the biggest learnings is how they [Boutiques] tell their story and how their staff deliver the script, this is the PERFORMANCE.
MATERIAL:
This is about how the current science of exercise is analysed, evaluated and something new is created.
Some reasoning questions that could be used to support driving opportunities to, motivate the unmotivated’. [in no particular order and not an inclusive list]
- Who are our new audience?
- Who lives close to our facility that could be a new audience?
- How do we build competence with this audience?
- What would our new audience want from a facility?
- Why hasn’t this audience used our facilities before?
- What environmental factors would most influence a successful engagement for this new audience?
- What does this new audience mean to this facility?
- How would we structure our inductions for this new audience?
- What would this new audience want from the studio?
- Could our experiential offering be adapted to support this new audience?
- What is our story for this audience?
- How does this new audience affect our facility story?
- Do we need to change the fee of our facility?
- How would we support the adoption of exercise for this new audience?
- How do we build confidence with this audience?
- What training do the facility staff require to support this new audience?
- What equipment do we currently have available to us that could be used with this new audience?
- How would this new audience react to the latest trends?
- How do we build trust with this new audience?
- What time of day would this new audience be attending?
- How does this new audience impact on our current offering?
- Do we need support from external partners?
- What is the current science around exercise and this new audience?
- How do we ensure safety and effeciveness for this new audience?
- How do we make this new audience feel safe?
- How do we add value?
What is vital is that a deeper understanding is obtained, that helps facilities and instructors provide safe, effective and enjoyable workouts, in a trusted and valued environment. This supports adherence, which will in turn effects retention in a positive way.
