by Gavin Aquilina
D
4
r Paul Bedford is
known in the global
fitness industry
as The Retention Guru
(retentionguru.co.uk). A little
background information
about Dr Beford:
In 2015 he presented a study of the North
American fitness market for IHRSA, which
involved one million members! In this
same year he completed a retention
presentation tour of Australia as well
as presenting and hosting a sold out
European Retention Convention.
VISITS PER MONTH:
THE KEY TO
MEMBERSHIP
RETENTION
In 2014 Dr Bedford completed a four-year
research study on the UK fitness industry,
which involved 340,000 members. In
this year he also completed a study of
the New Zealand fitness market and
during the years 2001 to 2003 he was
a researcher on the UK FIA Retention
Report Dr Bedford is also the author of
the book Why People Join, Leave And
Stay With Health And Fitness Clubs.
In the very first
month of joining a
gym, 28 per cent
of members train
less than one day
per week.
In June this year, Life Fitness Australia
and the Life Fitness Academy hosted Dr
Paul Bedford’s tour in Australia. Some key
findings shared during this tour included:
46
•
In the very first month of joining a
gym, 28 per cent of members train
less than one day per week.
•
In the first four weeks of your client’s
membership, you need to get them
in for four sessions. By doing so, you
can increase your retention by up to
12 per cent.
•
If over a 12 month period, you
can get your members to train on
average 1.2 sessions per week (or
approximately four sessions per
WHAT’S NEW IN FITNESS - SUMMER 2015