GX SKILLS
BUILDING RAPPORT
TO KEEP ‘EM COMING BACK!
The community aspect of group fitness is what makes participants
return to class – and remain members of their club. Instructor
Mel Morony looks at how to foster the connections that create this
sense of community.
he instructor enters the room, a
couple of minutes before the
class is due to start. They greet
their participants who are already waiting
for them while they set up their music. As
they start their class, they trot out the
requisite ‘injuries and medical conditions’
spiel and then ask if anyone is there for the
first time. A couple of people timidly raise
their hands, so the instructor gives a quick
nod of welcome and continues with the
class, hoping that the newbies will like the
class enough to return the following week.
Afterwards, while the instructor is packing
up, they check in with the new participants
to see how they went. The response ‘Yeah,
good’ sounds positive, but could just be
politeness. And that is that. Will they be
back next week? Maybe, maybe not.
While our group fitness instructor has
done all that the gym might have asked
them to do as far as delivering a class is
concerned, they are running the risk of
making their focus all about their product
without getting to know the people that the
product is being directed at.
T
58 | NETWORK WINTER 2018
As group fitness instructors we are often
reminded to build rapport with our people.
Seldom, however, is it explained why – and
even more seldom taught ‘how’. Generally,
if any rapport building training is given to
team members, it’s focused on those that
sell memberships, and maybe those working
at the front desk, with little attention paid to
those in other areas of the club.
So, why is rapport building so
important?
To understand the importance of rapport
building in group fitness we need to look
at the reason that a fitness club provides
group fitness in the first place. The reason
is not to be nice. It isn’t even to give people
a better ‘shot’ at achieving their results than
if they were to do it by themselves. Rather,
it’s to increase the proportion of people
that the club will retain as members. From
a marketing perspective, it is a lot more
economical to retain an existing member
than to sign up a new one. One UK study, for
example, found that people who participated