Gym reopening in ‘a to vaccinate or not vaccinate' world

With lockdown easing measures commencing in Victoria, Mel Tempest, owner of the Ballarat Body & Soul Genesis 24/7 gym, explains that relaunching your fitness business post-COVID is about more than sales.

When lockdown commenced in March 2020, we decided to refurbish our club like many gym owners.

We re-upholstered many machines to match our Genesis branding; put new flooring in; re-modelled the male and female toilets, and purchased new equipment from Life Fitness Australia, new group fitness equipment, a new floor in our group fitness room and more boxing equipment for our HNR zone. 

We then revamped the merchandise with clothing, beanies and home equipment for members.

Finally, we landscaped the front of our building, and yesterday our new signs went up out the front

I have the best graphic designer in the world - Jack Lee from Novu Creative - and whether he is doing work for the gym or ‘Mel T’ work, he understands my objective, can read my mind and delivers what I need. He is always willing to listen to my ideas, and he never says, ‘we can't do that’.

Looking forward, it's time for club owners and frontline teams to think about how they will open their frontline business in a to vaccinate or not vaccinate world.

There is no point going out there and launching ‘we're open’ if your frontline team are not ready, and if you think they are, it's highly likely they are not. Nobody is prepared; no person has done this before; sales training and culture is no longer 2019.

Relaunching your business is more than sales. It's about the environment, the offering, and being able to have comfortable conversations about vaccinations. Irrespective of our personal opinions, our teams need to hold down mature discussions. They need to be trained to handle and avoid conflict and objection both in person and via the phone. Though this is not what they signed up for, this will become part of their new onboarding experience when you re-train your team; what was new is now old, job descriptions and sales procedures have changed, your business model has changed, and so have you. Get this right and you add value to your business. Get it wrong and your appraisal drops.

The consumer's desires and dreams have not shifted and they never will we as professionals just need to learn how to meet their goals on many different levels with new profitable business models.

Images: New signage at Ballarat Body & Soul Genesis 24/7 gym (top) and Mel Tempest (below).