We often make the mistake of seeing gym upgrades and renovations as a one-way interaction: money goes out, nothing comes back. Don't let this misguided judgement prevent you from making the necessary updates to your fitness facility.
These 5 simple upgrades will not only enhance member satisfaction and retention, but they'll also bring some cash back into your wallet.
Go Green
Thanks to advancements in technology, more and more products now offer eco-friendly solutions. Take Elkay water fountains as an example. These bottle filling stations not only fill bottles 3x faster than other brands and require fewer filter changes, but they also allow you to save on bottled water costs and reduce plastic bottle waste. With a nifty display that tells you how many bottles you've saved to date, your members can also gain some satisfaction from knowing that your gym is environmentally-conscious.
Go Paperless, Too
A big part of the green movement involves cutting down on paper usage. One of the biggest cost culprits at fitness facilities are paper towels. Especially when using them in bathrooms and locker rooms, paper towel expenses have a way of adding up. Instead, switch to a paperless option: hand dryers. When compared to recycled paper, Excel's XleratorEco dryers reduce our carbon footprint by a whopping 70%! Cut down on your paper towel expense all while achieving your sustainability goals.
Switch To Wipes
The second largest area of paper towel use is on the cardio floor. While many fitness facilities have already made the switch to gym wipes, there are still some that rely on paper towels and diluted spray bottles to clean gym equipment. Not only are these less effective than using disinfecting gym wipes, but they also require stock management: making sure paper towels don't run out and that facility staff prepare batches of cleaning solution for their bottles. With gym wipes, you're able to eliminate paper towel, bottle and cleaning solution expenses and replace it, at a lower cost, with easy-to-use, pre-saturated wipes. As a bonus, some wipe companies offer autoship programs so that your wipes automatically arrive at your gym whenever you need them.
Buy in Bulk
You probably read "bulk" and your mind immediately started racing with worries about storage. Fear not - bulk doesn't always mean buying crates of products for future use. It can also mean buying larger size products that offer more bang for their buck. Take your bathroom or locker room soaps for instance: are you buying several 16oz bottles and carefully pouring them into dispensers? If yes, switch to buying gallon bottles. These are not only cheaper by the ounce, but also require less frequent purchases. Want to avoid pouring all together? Try bulk cartridge systems like Gojo. Simply unlock your dispenser, plug your cartridge in, et voila: you save time and money with bulk systems.
Establish a Profit Center
If you're going through this list and have already made these updates to your facility, here's one you may not have thought of: a product profit center. Think of a piece of equipment that you've always wanted for your gym but felt that you couldn't afford it. Say it's a vibration trainer, a now very popular but pricey fitness product: whether you pay for it at the time of purchase or finance it, you can achieve a positive ROI on this piece of equipment by building it into your membership or personal training program. By charging a fee, or by packaging it as a perk of personal training, you can begin to collect money from its use, which goes towards paying off the investment. With a profit center of this nature, not only are you upgrading your fitness equipment offerings, but you're monetizing it at the same time!
Facility upgrades don’t have to break the bank. Learn more about other profit centers you can add to your fitness facility.
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