Hey this is Brian Kalakay the creator of Boot Camp Games™. I am a good friend of Jeff’s. We actually met in San Diego at a seminar. Funny story there:
I only planned on attending the seminar for two days and ended up having to stay for three. So at the end of the second day, we all went to work out at this beautiful gym in San Diego called Fit. If you haven’t been to Fit and you are in the San Diego area at any point YOU HAVE TO GO. I digress…
So we all did this crazy workout with Jeff, Mikey Whitfield, Shawna Kaminski and Frankie. Literally kicked my butt, I mean I was covered in sweat and smelled fantastic if you know what I mean.
So after this killer workout, we all were going to go back to our rooms and shower so we didn’t smell so awesome for dinner. Well, I didn’t really have a room that night because my flight was leaving early morning so I was just going to pull an “all-nighter” and not waste money on a hotel room.
This posed a problem at the current moment, because I had no place to shower except for the San Diego Bay or the water fountains that all of the homeless people camped out around.
Thank God Jeff was a cool guy and happened to be in a giving mood like he always is and he let me use the shower in his hotel room. So thanks to Jeff I smelled fresh for dinner and had a fantastic evening.
Fast forward another six months to September 2012. I met up with Jeff again in Las Vegas for another seminar. This time we got to sit down and talk a little boot camp marketing.
We got to talking about client retention strategies and referral methods and I mentioned how I used games to retain my clients and skyrocket my referrals. He seemed very interested so I figured I would share with you what I shared with him on that day in Vegas.
Here is the NO BS TRUTH about how to retain your clients.
Are you ready?
DON’T JUST TRAIN…ENTERTAIN!!!
Here is what I mean by that.
You can go anywhere and get a hard workout. People don’t know the difference between what you do in your boot camp verses what they do in Crossfit or P90x for that matter. What you need to do is create a TRULY unique training environment that people cannot get anywhere else.
At the end of the day a workout is a workout, but an entertaining experience will be burned into their head and make them want to come back for more. Everyone wants to be part of an entertaining experience because it is fun and it acts like an escape from all of our hellish lives.
Your boot camp should be exactly that. It should be entertaining and should make people forget about how crazy their life outside of your facility is. This not only makes the clients feel more motivated but it makes you stand out and not be comparable to other local competitors.
There are a few different ways you can go about creating an entertaining environment that will help retain your clients longer.
Here are the top four things I do to entertain my clients and boost my retention:
1. Hire a Deejay for a night of boot camp sessions.
I know, this sounds crazy. Trust me it is one of the best things I have done EVER in one of my boot camp sessions. People work harder, the energy goes through the roof and it breaks up the monotony of your facility. Who wouldn’t want to work out to “live mixed” workout music? People will feel entertained all night!
2. Once a week make a healthy snack for post workout
This one always wins people over. Like I have always been taught, there are three ways to win people over: Money, Sex and Food. We can legally help with two of those and that’s why food works so well. You can do something simple like buying a fruit or veggie tray, or you could even bake up some high protein cookies or protein bars. Get creative. While this isn’t necessarily an entertainment technique, it will help deliver an experience that they can’t find at other gyms or training facilities.
3. You and your staff need to be “performing” at all times.
Just like Deadmau5 does when he is standing behind his 12 foot tall cube, you and your staff need to be jumping up and down, slapping high fives, laughing and having a good time. I know this sounds obvious, but ask yourself RIGHT NOW, are you REALLY doing it? Could you bump up the level of performance in your sessions/classes?
4. Increase the “Fun Factor” in your sessions for mind’s sake!
Delivering a good workout that gives results is important for the clients’ physical health, but what are you doing to help their mental health? Do things at the end of your sessions that will make them forget about how horrible their days were. They need to lose touch with reality. Add activities to the end of your sessions that will entertain them and make them laugh and enjoy their time spent at your facility. I am a personal fan of using Games at the end of my sessions for this reason.
Games keep your clients exercising but disguise it in such a way where it feels like they are having boat loads of fun instead of getting their butts kicked with burpees.
Well, I hope you can use these four methods I gave you and start making an entertaining experience that will blow your clients away and encourage them to stick around for years to come.
Keep Rocking it and Game On!
Brian Kalakay, CFT, CTT
Creator of Boot Camp Games™
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