Starting a business in a recession

patw

Hi All,
I hope this is ok of this forum if not sorry. Basically I am starting a new gym in Cork and would love to get some feedback from boards before going ahead. First and foremost have people noticed a slow down in there current gyms?
I want to get a gym up and running where customer service is first and foremost our priority. I have read your forum and there are some great points raised by your members. I am not aiming for a weight lifting based gym but rather a good cross mix with very good equipment. I have personally found that a lot of gyms I have attended have let themselves down by not participating more with there customers. Maybe this isn’t as important as I think I will leave that up to you. One thing to mention here is that my club will be a dry club, no pool but will have steam room and sauna and possibly a hot-tube. Would this stop many of you from joining a new club?

Kind regards,
Pat

ownknee

Well best of luck with the new business venture, I hope it all works out.
In my area there has been a huge drop in people renewing gym membership because of the cost. Also there is a lot of GAA clubs upgrading they're facilities that include a fully equiped gym. To join one of these will cost about €150. €100 for a yearly membership to the club & €50 to use the gym. Considering most gyms charge approximately €700 annual membership I can see more people turning to they're club.
However what I would reccommend is to give advice on how to diet properly as well as excercise properly. There is plenty of diet books out there but some of the recipes & snacks reccommended can't be found easily in Irish shops. Basically if you can give someone a realistic diet plan with food that can be easily bought & cooked you will have an edge over the competition.
Also encourage people to bring a gym buddy free of charge. Like one membership allows someone to bring a friend free of charge maybe four times in the year. This will hopefully lead to more memberships once they see the facilities & service provided.
And don't forget the ladies. Most gyms have cheap, useless hairdryers that usually take ages to actually dry hair. Salon standard ones are way better & faster. Maybe think about providing hair straighteners too. Helpful if someone wants to go to the gym before work without having to drive home again to make themselves presentable. You could charge a small amount for usage but I'd nearly provide them as part of the service.
I hope that helps. It's what I think my gym should do to make life a little bit easier.
When is it opening?

Heres my advice for you, Ive been training in gyms for years and all kinds of them

1. Cater for all - your weights area needs to be top notch. The guys who are big into weights training will be your best clients because they are often the most dedicated. Have a separate weights area for the hardcore dudes that might intimidate some other people -have your heavy weights in there and regular weights in a more open area.
Then have your aerobic setup and machines etc in the same open area

2. Have a good rate for one off sessions where people can bring their mate for between 5-10 euro. Dont just expect to make your cash from yearly memberships. For example I live abroad now and would like to nip down to dunlaoghaire gym (where I used to be a member) when I get back for a few weeks but they dont have a reasonable rate for a one off session

3. You need to a have a full range of supplements catering for the body builders, fitness fanatics and people who are after weight loss.
Aside from that you need to have a bar that prepares fresh protein shakes, fat burning drinks etc. for people before and after their workout.

4. Have a good stretching area, and attract yoga people etc. Have a room for yoga classes, martial arts classes and various other things of that ilk

5. Some novel ideas that might grab in the client that might be a bit self conscious - for example, a middle aged woman might feel a bit self conscious in a gym but if you could group them together at a specific time twice a week they might be more comfortable, the same with overweight people.

If you go around a lot of gyms now, most people aren't training properly in them, and spend a lot of time looking around and posing and wondering whos looking at them. Ive often seen people doing really bad exercises that will cripple their back in the future, and no-one to tell them otherwise.
The problem you'll have is a lot of people dont like being told how to do something in the gym when it comes to weights. To solve that problem if you had a huge body builder as your man around the weights area to interact, that mightnt be an issue because everyone would be scared shi_less of him! or at least respect he knows what he's doing

Your trainers you hire would be the key to the interaction your looking for. If you get a skinny dude and he is telling guys what to do with weights he wont be taken seriously. Experienced people who live and breath health and fitness would be the key

nk23

just wondering did you go ahead with your idea or make any more developments, i am thinking of doing the same thing.

i think competitive rates and a good range of classes are key.

also, how are you funding your venture if you dont mind me asking?

patw

Sorry for not getting back sooner. Thanks for all the replies the advise is very helpful. As I said customer service is the big one for me so as such I would like to provide more focused on our clients training. Our club format will provide a set number of personal training sessions to all our annual memberships that will cover diet as well as training. Also I have always liked the idea of the buddy system it is definitely one I would like to take on board, insurance permitting
I understand what you are saying Ownknee about heavy lifters. I suppose the problem really is to get the space to provide for these guys without scaring others. All for the equipment I will be putting in the club will be new, so no junk. If there is one thing that has always drove me up the wall in the past its bad quality equipment. I also strongly agree with having more interaction with people to insure they do things right, its amazing what some people put themselves through unnecessarily.
We are currently getting drawings put together and are paying a hell of a lot of attention to layout. Considering this will be a purpose finished space I am hoping we can fit each activity ( stretching, weights, aerobics, etc ) in there own area rather then lumping everyone into one big open area.
We will be submitting planning soon so all things going well it will probably be towards the end of the year before we run our presales. I am hoping to fund it using my own savings along with a bank loan, if the banks are still lending that is

[FONT=&quot]Thanks again for all the feedback.[/FONT]

W204

just finished Duncan Bannantyne's book 'anyone can do it' - one chapter focuses on his gym sector, 60 gyms in 8yrs, well worth the read and plenty of tips and advice

Borzoi

patw wrote: »

Sorry for not getting back sooner. Thanks for all the replies the advise is very helpful.

I have to say that IMO you'd be made to go ahead with this in the current economic climate - everybody is feeling the pinch, and the first thing people will cut back on is discretionary items. And gyms are a big outgoing, with little tangible results for most people, so expect it to be cut form the average punters wage packet

patftrears

Borzoi wrote: »

I have to say that IMO you'd be made to go ahead with this in the current economic climate - everybody is feeling the pinch, and the first thing people will cut back on is discretionary items. And gyms are a big outgoing, with little tangible results for most people, so expect it to be cut form the average punters wage packet

+1

* Gyms make big money on people who pay for membership and never visit.
You want to have all your members constantly using the gym, this means you will encounter capacity issues.

* You want to give a more personalised service, this means you will have much higher staff costs than other gyms.

* how are you going to get customers, take them from other gyms or first time gym users, this wil require a massive marketing drive.

* all new equiptment, means big startup costs how long do you think it will take to recoup this investment.

You seem to basing all your ideas on what you want not what customers want.