In this episode, Eric Malzone sits down with Dr. Steven Boring, the fitness director at the Rochester Athletic Club in Minnesota, to explore the crucial role of onboarding in gyms and health clubs. Dr. Boring shares insights into creating a welcoming environment for new members, emphasizing the importance of personal connections and tailored support. They discuss the club's comprehensive onboarding process, including facility tours, complimentary group fitness classes, and personalized training orientations. Through their conversation, listeners gain valuable tips on fostering a sense of community and enhancing member retention in fitness facilities.
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[00:00:00] Hey friends, this is your host, Eric Malzone, and I'd like to welcome you to a short series
[00:00:06] entitled All Aboard, How to Conduct the Perfect Onboarding at Your Health Club or Gym.
[00:00:12] Brought to you by our good friends at eGym.
[00:00:14] In this series, health club operators share their insights into the importance of the
[00:00:18] onboarding process for their members and their bottom lines.
[00:00:23] Short-form interviews with long-term impact.
[00:00:25] If you'll be at URSA this year, please swing So Rochester Athletic Club, we call it the rack. We're a full service family club. We're a private fitness facility.
[00:01:40] When I say family, like I said, we really bought into it.
[00:01:43] We've got multiple areas to the club.
[00:01:45] We're 260, nobody or whatever.
[00:03:00] I thought you screwed that up, but you know what I mean? Like,
[00:03:03] and is that, why do you think you guys are able to be successful with that?
[00:03:05] I mean, is that because of the market size or amount of staff we have, we've just been able to make connections in a really broad sense and we do our best to do a really good job at it so people keep coming back. Awesome, awesome man. Well, let's get into the relevant criteria for this series here. So obviously we're doing this series because onboarding is critically important, right?
[00:04:21] It's something that can easily be overlooked as just a transaction, but it's not.
[00:04:26] It's much more than that. and the steps it takes to get there. You want them to know how to create smart goals for themselves so they don't come in hoping to lose 50 pounds in the first month, right? On the flip side, from that more, let's say, human standpoint, you want them to be successful. At the end of the day, there are lots of businesses that make money that are a lot easier to run than a fitness facility. So you pick that fitness facility for a reason, whether you're the owner or right down to any of
[00:05:43] the employees there, you picked it for a member. I care about you. I want you to do well, regardless of what your goal is. I mean, if you're not ever going to spend another dollar here besides your membership, I want to know you're getting your value from that membership. So to me, that's where the onboarding really kicks in is it's the initial meeting that we have that initial chance to say, we care a lot about you.
[00:07:03] We want that to hit home and stick.
[00:07:05] Yeah, beautiful. Keeping that stuff in mind that you're dealing with real people here at the end of the day, not all going to be hydrated like we should be. We didn't all sleep well last night. I know I got bags under my eyes. I got a four year old at home and she didn't sleep that well last night. So I didn't either. Right. But it's, it's attempting to meet the member client patient, whatever, where they currently are.
[00:09:41] And I think as an industry, it's hard sometimes to not say we're good at seeing potential and it's hard sometimes to not say, Eric, this is where you can process behind that and then maybe even how you guys are looking to tweak it this year. Yeah, so as I mentioned we our goal is to get members onboarded so that they feel welcome here and they know where the pertinent areas of the club are for them. So in a broader context when you join the RAC you go through a meeting with our member services team they help you sign up. They give you a tour of the club. I would say most of the time you're probably not going to
[00:09:44] remember all the areas. It's going to take you a little while. I like this. I like this. She will actually, she'll go and attend a class with you. She'll take you right to class. It's a free class, right? But it can be intimidating to walk in. Here's a class with 35 people who all know what they're doing and I'm brand new. We want to remove that fear element for a service that's free. On top of that, we do every member on the account that is over the age of 13, we'll get two free personal
[00:11:02] training orientations, PTOs we call them. So a lot of that sort of stuff. We like to say that onboarding process, that initial meeting, say with a trainer or with my member connection specialist, that's the first friend you have in the club. Because if you have a friend in the club, you're less likely to quit the club. There's a reason to come back. Whether or not you're meeting every week or you may never meet again,
[00:12:23] but now I pass you in the hallway, hey, what's up, relationships? A little bit. So, you know, we like things that are going to give us feedback that we can reference, whether it be for your health metrics or just to check up on new things like that. One of them, I know, you know, what brought this initial connection is we have our e-GIM equipment. e-GIM was something that was really, really popular for us.
[00:13:40] I think we brought it in two years ago and that e-GIM equipment is an easy point of initial
[00:13:46] contact for someone, right?
[00:13:48] It's another service. you do have someone who can attend a group fitness class with a new member. If you can literally have a card at the desk that says, do you have a question about anything? And this person does not have a title that appears they're gonna try to sell you something, that's a benefit for your club, right? Because we'll still have, we have, I've got a fitness floor staff person, for example, that works every hour the club is open,
[00:15:01] we have fitness floor staff on.
[00:15:04] One of their jobs is to answer questions about machines,
[00:15:06] equipment, anything like that. Actually, just to clarify a little, the member connection specialist, we are connecting the member with the, let's say, area of the club. So it may be a person, it may be you've got shoulder surgery and you need yada yada. So we're going to put you with this trainer who's a DPT. It may be taking you to, can't hit home enough. We're a really big club.
[00:16:20] We have people who have been members here for two or three months and they're like,
[00:16:23] I completely forgot you had a pool.
[00:16:24] Like not even kidding.
[00:16:26] So it's, you memberships, members taking ownership of that and growing it themselves
[00:17:41] because they feel at home and they feel at ease.
[00:17:43] And that comes from trust, trust of the facility
[00:17:46] from the owner all the way down to the bottom I don't have those people that are coming in, just, you know, hoodie up and work out. Like we love that. I love that you're getting to work, but let's get somebody to say hey to you when you come in too. It's something as simple as that. Yeah. You know, it's these intangibles, right? These human to human things that generally they don't cost a penny. I mean, sure, if you have someone like a connection specialist, you get there on payroll, that costs money.
[00:19:01] But it's like, it's the way that person interacts.
[00:19:03] Like I go into my gym and, you know,
[00:19:04] most of the time someone says hello when I walk in.
[00:19:06] Sometimes people don't.
[00:19:08] And same when I leave, right? So our front desk, they're trained in, they do an awesome job. Again, you're never going to be able to memorize everybody, right? We've got so many people on staff, that little scan. Welcome back, Eric. Have a good workout. You'll keep that with you. And we believe that. Awesome. Well, Dr. Steve, this has been a lot of fun, man. If people want to connect with
[00:20:20] you or if they want to learn more about your athletic club, give us a couple of places to go.