formal recommendation report: yuhas performance training

Increasing Membership at Yuhas

Performance Training:

Through Pricing Specials, with

Enhanced Online Presence and

Marketing Techniques

2 | P a g e I n c r e a s i n g M e m b e r s h i p a t Y u h a s P e r f o r m a n c e T r a i n i n g

INCREASING MEMBERSHIP AT YUHAS PERFORMANCE

TRAINING: THROUGH PRICING SPECIALS,

WITH ENHANCED ONLINE PRESENCE AND MARKETING

TECHNIQUES

Prepared for

Tim Yuhas

Owner

Yuhas Perfomance Training

Prepared by

Tyler Egan

Tyler Lieb

Alden Burns

April 15, 2014


Memorandum

TO: Tim Yuhas, Owner

FROM: Tyler Egan, Tyler Lieb, Alden Burns

DATE: April 15, 2014

SUBJECT: Increasing Membership at Yuhas Performance Training

Here is the report we have been working on this past semester on increasing membership at Yuhas

Performance Training (YPT).

After analyzing your gym compared to others in the area, it is evident that the membership rates at YPT

are considerably less than other surrounding gyms. This is mainly due to the high membership costs and

sub-par marketing techniques. In order for this gym to grow and become more profitable, increasing

membership is vital.

There are multiple steps that can be taken to solve this low membership problem. First, we need to find

ways to attract people who prefer a more traditional gym. To do this, YPT needs to improve their online

presence, lower prices, and optimize marketing strategies to draw in more clients. Also YPT can attract

more customers by focusing on bringing in groups such as families or teams.

During our research we found the majority of the local population is generally older with a high

disposable income. We need to take advantage of this by targeting this demographic and also their

children. With this in mind, we need to consider transforming this gym to attract athletes and families

alike.

We believe that if the gym follows these steps included in this report that membership numbers will

increase and allow Yuhas Performance Training to prosper.

Thank you for the opportunity to work with your company and we appreciate all of the support

throughout this process. If you have any questions regarding this report feel free to contact us at any time.


Table of Contents

Page

Executive Summary ...........................................................................................................................5

Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 6

The Low Membership ........................................................................................................................6

Yuhas Performance Training’s Membership Costs Tower Above their Competition’s ......................6

Problems Obstructing YPT’s Effective Online Presence ................................................................7

Website Lacking Critical Information .............................................................................7

Inactivity in Social Media ..............................................................................................8

Past Ineffective Marketing Techniques .........................................................................................9

Strategies to Increase Membership at YPT ....................................................................................10

Plans to Decrease Membership Costs ..........................................................................................10

Improving Gym Reputation Through Website Enhancements .......................................................11

Increasing YPT’s Social Media Presence ....................................................................................12

Strategies to Improve Marketing to Attract More Clients ..............................................................12

Conclusion ..........................................................................................................................................13

Works Cited .......................................................................................................................................15

Appendix ............................................................................................................................................16

List of Illustrations

Figures Page

1. YPT’s monthly membership

costs six times that of local competition ………………………………………………………... 7

2. YPT’s website is visually appealing

yet lacks key features……………………………………………………………………………. 8

3. Social Media usage has sky rocketed

and optimization is crucial ……………………………………………………………………… 8

4. Median household income of $92,500

leaves many with a surplus of disposable income …………………………………………....... 10

5. The local population is of older age

so attracting families is key …………………………………………………………………..... 11


Executive Summary

This report analyzes Yuhas Performance Training’s (YPT) current marketing plan and strategies and

presents recommendations for increasing membership.

Membership is too Low

The main reason for low membership is the high prices the gym charges. Currently, the cheapest

membership is $199 per month, which only allows the member to work out twice a week. Though YPT is

not a traditional gym, this price scares away many potential members, especially when there are cheaper

alternatives in the area.

Yuhas Performance Training also does not market itself the way it needs to for the gym to increase its

membership. Though it has experimented with newspaper ads, direct mailings, radio ads, social media,

and trial memberships, none have seemed to work. Word of mouth and YPT’s reputation have truly been

the only effective tools that get more people into the gym.

Changes are Needed

Yuhas Performance Training realizes that it needs to increase its current membership. Though

membership will start to rise soon due to college athletes and students returning home in the coming

month, changes are needed to the current marketing plan. As inflation in the economy starts to rise, it is

necessary for the gym to turn a higher profit. That means it needs to increase its revenue stream.

Recommendations

Fortunately, there are a number of marketing techniques that YPT can try. YPT has only scratched the

surface of techniques that can bring more people into the gym. Though some techniques and ideas may

prove more costly at first, it will increase membership and revenues in the long run. A few of the major

ideas outlined in this report are:

1. Add New Pricing Promotions – Currently, there is only an $89 one-month trial. The gym needs to

begin using more promotions, such as a possible one-week free trial followed by a reduced one-

month rate. Also, there should be a family pricing discount when families sign up together.

2. Increase Online Presence – Changes need to be made to the gym’s current website. Changes

include adding a list of professional athletes who train there and testimonials from them. Also,

include a biography of Tim Yuhas and the trainers whowork at YPT. Additionally, YPT’s social

media presence needs to be improved. YPT’s Facebook page needs to be more active, and Twitter

and Instagram accounts need to be created

3. Improving Marketing Strategies – By properly promoting the superior training of YPT and

targeting the family sector the gym can bring in more customers. Along with this, YPT can

introduce weight loss and weight lifting challenges to increase an exciting atmosphere helping

YPT’s word of mouth reputation.

These changes are necessary for YPT to increase its membership. It will take time, effort, and money up

front, but they will help the gym in the long run. These changes will generate new excitement about the

gym, and increase its membership, which will increase profits. The current members of YPT love the gym

and new members will as well, once they give it a try.


Increasing Membership at Yuhas Performance Training

Introduction

The low membership rate at Yuhas Performance Training (YPT) has been a constant problem for years.

The gym provides superior quality training, compared to traditional gyms in the surrounding area, and

more people should be taking advantage of the unique training experience.

The main reason for low membership is the high price the gym charges. The cheapest membership is

$199 per month, scaring away many potential members to cheaper alternatives in the area. To make up

for this many marketing strategies have been tested and inevitably failed. Though membership will begin

to rise with the return of college athletes, the gym needs a more stable flow of income. With inflation

rising YPT needs higher revenues, meaning they need more members.

The purpose of this report is to investigate YPT’s past marketing strategies and propose ways to improve

its presence in the community. While the prices could be slightly decreased, they could not be changed

dramatically enough to compete with the large chain gyms in the area. This means the main goal of this

report is to tailor recommendations to make the gym more popular and to convince people this training is

clearly worth the money. However, discounts are needed to get this process started.

Constructing this report meant researching the demographics of New London County and getting to know

the clients we needed to target. According to Nielson, a website specializing in demographics, the

majority of the population is of older age with a median household income of $92,500. Also the highest

percentage of the population lied within the 45-54 age group, which is a positive sign since targeting this

age group can bring in families with high disposable income.

The Low Membership

Yuhas Performance Training’s relatively low membership numbers is a problem that needs to be

addressed as soon as possible. With high prices and little to no marketing a business can only last so long

relying on word of mouth and few loyal customers. Along with this, the focus on training athletes is

beneficial during the summer months, however once school begins the gym lacks the necessary clientele

to bring in profit.

Yuhas Performance Training’s Membership Costs Tower Above their Competition’s

To begin, the high prices at YPT are the main cause of the insufficient membership numbers. The first

thing people usually look into when joining a gym is the cost. This is a problem YPT needs to address as

their cheapest monthly membership costs $199 while most other tradition chain gyms are around $20 -

$30 dollars a month, as you can see from figure 1 below.

Figure 1 illustrates the monthly cost for a gym membership for other local gym, as well as the price for

YPT. As seen in the graphic the price of $199 is six times higher than most of the other gyms in the area.


35 10

35 20 15

0

199

0

50

100

150

200

250

SnapFitness

PlanetFitness

Work OutWorld

AnytimeFitness

HS Gyms(non

students)

HS Gyms(students)

YPT

Cost of Monthly Gym Membership

Not to mention this $199 membership only allows a member to work out twice a week; so if a member

would like to work out more often this gap only intensifies.

Figure 1 YPT’s cheapest monthly

membership costs at least 6 times

the amount of other gyms in the

area.

These other gyms do not provide the one-on-one quality training that Tim Yuhas prides his company on,

so some price difference is to be expected. On the other hand, this large of a price discrepancy is

alarming. This is a big difference over one month but over the course of the year this gap widens.

Comparing YPT and Snap Fitness the second highest costing gym, the yearly amount spent on a

membership would be $2,388 and $420 respectively. This is a difference of $1,968. That scares away a

lot of potential clients.

The price is definitely an obstacle that is proving to be the most difficult for YPT to overcome in

attracting members. If YPT wants to continue to grow and keep up with inflation, they need to address

this issue first.

Problems Obstructing YPT’s Effective Online Presence

Though YPT currently is an active member of the online community, its presence is lacking in many key

areas. Their current website which is visually appealing and easy to navigate still lacks features that could

enhance their reputation. Due to the growth of social media in the past decade their online presence in

such mediums has become just as important as the website itself.

Website Lacking Critical Information

Taking a quick glance at YPT’s website, there aren’t many issues with it. As you can see from Figure 2

below the website is very polished and easily navigated. The website describes different types of training

programs and gives examples of sample workouts. However, there are other areas of the site that lack

information and depth. The website gives no mention of who the owner is and his credentials. There is

also nothing there about any of the trainers that work underneath him. Additionally, it makes no mention

of any of the professional athletes that train there, such as Rajai Davis (Detroit Tigers), Pete Walker

(Toronto Blue Jays), John McDonald (Los Angeles Angels) or Kara Lawson (Washington Mystics) (See

Appendix 1 for list of all professional athletes). The absence of these features reduces the credibility of

the gym which is a problem considering the high prices.


Figure 2 This is a screen shot of YPT’s

website and as you can see it is

visually appealing and easy to

navigate.

Inactivity in Social Media

Social Media is becoming increasingly more and more important for small business as a way to connect

with their customers. As you can see below in Figure 3, social networking usage has grown exponentially

the past 6 years. Furthermore, the increase in usage is also consistent among the older age groups, which

is important later in the report. The growth of social media allows for businesses to interact with their

customers yet this opportunity must be optimized.

Figure 3 Social networking usage has been rapidly growing for all age

groups and optimizing social media is crucial.

YPT currently has a Facebook page, which is updated couple of days with things like videos of members

working out, healthy eating tips, updates on the professional and college athletes that train there, and

general news and notes about the gym. However, these updates are not frequent enough. High school and

college age athletes check Facebook at least once a day. For the Facebook page to truly work, it needs to

be a large part of the updates people see when they scroll their newsfeed. Members and potential

members may go days without seeing anything from YPT on Facebook. This keeps YPT fresh in their

minds and hopefully something they think about often.


Twitter and Instagram are two other social networking sites that have recently become extremely popular.

Currently, YPT does not have a Twitter or an Instagram account. On YPT’s website, there is a link to the

owner’s personal Twitter account, which is not extremely active. Also, the tweets that he sends out are the

same thing that is on YPT’s Facebook page. In each tweet, there is a link to the Facebook post that it

corresponds with. Instagram is also another social networking site that YPT does not utilize. Instagram

allows people to post pictures. Both Twitter and Instagram could be used to help attract new members.

Past Ineffective Marketing Techniques

Over the past couple years YPT has tried many marketing techniques to draw more attention to the gym,

however all of these have come with little to no success. Some of the recent strategies that have been

used by YPT include:

Running ads in local newspapers

Advertisements over local radio stations

Direct mailings to targeted households of a certain income

Hiring someone to manage their Facebook account

Trial memberships

These marketing techniques were a good start, however they were not executed properly, and have not

resulted in higher membership rates. When YPT hired an outside party to run their Facebook account

they ended up getting scammed out of their money. This person simply got people from across the

country to like the YPT Facebook page, and never posted information updating people on the gym. Even

though the increased likes originally seemed like a good thing, it was found out the new likes came from

people in different states who would never actually attend YPT. These actions resulted in YPT having to

fire their manager of their Facebook account causing the loss of thousands of dollars.

The newspaper and radio advertisements were a good start, however they were not enticing enough to

draw in new customers. These ads were mostly run to get YPT’s name out there, instead of promoting

the unique benefits and features the gym has to offer. Had these advertisements talked about what

separates YPT from other gyms then there would have been more interest generated.

Due to the lack of success from these marketing techniques, word of mouth has been the only successful

way to attract new customers. While this has been working to an extent, it is not a reliable way to get a

gym’s name out there. A better marketing technique would generate a buzz about our gym amongst a

much larger demographic.

YPT needs to begin placing the appropriate information into advertisements and direct it at potential

customers. With an effective marketing strategy, YPT will be able to stop relying on word of mouth, and

begin to attract a greater number of people to the gym.


Strategies to Increase Membership at YPT

Increasing membership will involve a committed effort from the owner and employees to take the

following steps and recommendations laid out in the following sections. By providing members with

special pricing options, improving their online and community presence the gym will attract more

members and increase the company’s profits.

Plans to Decrease Membership Costs

Understanding the gym provides unique high quality training from profession level trainers, the higher

price is to be expected. The key is to attract more members to offset or better yet, bring in more money

than is lost by the lower membership prices.

The gym could choose from a number of options listed here, which are all aimed to attract more members

through providing lower prices:

Family membership plans

Group or team memberships

Free trials or discounted first time members

First, the gym should institute family plan pricing. This would be the most affective and beneficial to the

company in attracting both athletes and older aged members, alike. As stated before and illustrated below

in Figure 4 and Figure 5, thanks to the Nielson website, is the demographics of New London County.

Figure 4

The median household income of New

London County is $92,500 leaving many

families with a high amount of disposable

income.

Figure 4 displays the household income of the area in which YPT is located. With a median household

income of $92,500, these families have the necessary disposable income that could be invested in

receiving a safe and effective training regimen. Further research into the population age only increased

the validity of these findings.

As seen below in Figure 5, the age group in which the majority of the population resides is 45 to 54 years

old. This is the age group that would have this high disposable income and generally families as well.

This is definitely encouraging that providing family discounts would bring in more members. This is also

a positive in the sense that this area would be more willing to spend the extra money on a quality gym


membership and training program. Due to this research, the safer and higher quality training provided by

YPT would suit well in attracting families, who have the necessary funds and care for their child’s safety.

Figure 5

The highest percentage of the local

population is within the 45-54 age

group, which is the perfect age

group to target families with higher

disposable income.

Next, the company could attempt to attract groups of friends or even small teams by providing group

discounts. This would help attract customers by lowering the membership price and also give friends to

work out with. Furthermore, this option would help the company’s reputation and gain valuable word of

mouth from its new clients. If YPT is able to attract teams this could also gain a network with coaches in

the community who could recommend his gym, which would again lead to more members.

Finally, YPT could offer new members either a free month trial or a couple month-discounted rate. This

would be an effective method in attracting more clients, as the price is generally the problem in the low

membership numbers. By implementing this plan it would allow people to test the training without being

financially obligated to pay two hundred dollars a month right off the bat. This would also allow the

trainers to work with more people and prove to them this training is worth the investment.

Improving Gym Reputation Through Website Enhancements

The first major change that YPT needs to make to their website is the addition of a biography page about

the owner and the other trainers. A simple head shot and short biography including their college degrees

and which schools they earned them at, past and other relevant work experience, and the sports that they

play will help potential customers see that YPT is run by trained professionals.

Another addition that could be useful to the website would be adding a “history of the gym” page. Show

where YPT got started, its different locations, and how it has evolved would add a touch that connects

with potential members.

People will feel like they are closer with the gym and the owner with this. Finally, professional and

Division I college athletes need to be mentioned and utilized more. There needs to be a page that lists all

the professional and college athletes that train there. People will be drawn in when they see names of

players from different sports that they recognize. It also will show people that athletes of the highest

caliber train there because they believe it is the best in the area. Another way YPT can utilize it’s


professional and college athletes by having them give testimonials, either written or on video. Currently,

there are video testimonials on the website, but these are only from the adult members who don’t have the

influence professional athletes do (See Appendix 2 for Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning

comparison).

Increasing YPT’s Social Media Presence

The biggest change to YPT’s Facebook page is that needs to be updated a lot more frequently. YPT

should want to flood people’s news feeds, keeping the gym in the front of their minds. At a minimum,

there need to be at least three updates per day. Possibly a healthy eating tip of the day, one video of

someone working out, and another picture that can be anything from a member, to an update about a

professional or college athlete. Another thing that YPT could do on Facebook would be to have an athlete

of the week award. Here, they would select one person from the gym who had a great week and another

person who’s playing sports professionally, in college, or in high school. This again would put the word

out there that they train high quality athletes and make them better at their sports.

Another change that needs to be made is the addition of a YPT Twitter and Instagram account. Social

networking is key to a business’s success and only having a Facebook page does not cut it anymore.

Though there is a Twitter account that the owner runs, one specifically for the gym needs to be created.

An Instagram account also needs to be added to YPT’s social media repertoire. These two accounts, plus

their Facebook page would make it nearly impossible for someone who follows at least two of them to go

a day without seeing anything from YPT.

Strategies to Improve Marketing to Attract More Clients

Implementing a better marketing strategy will help YPT attract new members; some who may have never

known this gym existed. Employing a better strategy will require advertisements and promotions to

include appropriate, intriguing information on the gym. In addition, it is essential that these new

marketing strategies be directed at the correct audience.

The past marketing techniques used the correct mediums for a good marketing strategy, but were

unsuccessful in attracting new members due to the poor execution. So going forward YPT should

maintain using the same channels of distribution, just with a more precise message. The mediums that

should be used going forward include:

Newspaper ads

Radio ads

Direct mailing lists

Advertisements via social media websites (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)

The advertisements that will be in the newspapers and on the radio need to describe what sets YPT apart

from the traditional gyms. It is important to distinguish YPT as a different training experience. By

placing information about the characteristics of this gym, like the turf training area, the audience will

begin to develop an understanding of what this gym is. YPT has to establish itself as an alternate, better

place to train than a standard gym.


Every advertisement should also give the consumer an extra incentive to attend this gym, through trial

memberships or discounted rates for a limited time. This will allow people to try out the gym and get

them to understand the unique experience that YPT has to offer. Once people begin to try it out they are

more likely to stay with YPT, and spread positive word of mouth.

Targeting these ads to the right demographic is just as important as the information contained in the

ads. It is extremely important for YPT to focus a most of its marketing efforts on parents with kid’s aged

12-18 in a 15-mile radius of the gym. YPT should not focus any marketing efforts outside of this radius

due to the fact that it is very rare for someone to travel a long distance to go to a gym.

There are many benefits of YPT directing their advertisements towards adults with kid’s aged 12-

18. Middle and high school students make up the majority of the members at YPT, however it is

extremely rare that they are the ones paying for the membership. Since the parents are the ones who pay,

they should be the audience who sees what benefits YPT has to provide.

Directing advertisements towards parents will also increase the amount of people who are aware of our

advertisements. Since it is the parents who read the newspaper and listen to the radio, it would not be

effective to target students with ads. In addition, advertising YPT’s new family discount rates will entice

parents to sign up their whole family.

Another possible form of advertising to grab customers’ attention is to hold in-house challenges. These

could include weight loss and weight lifting competitions. Providing prizes for these competitions would

truly excite the members. This will provide a fun and encouraging atmosphere in the gym, and provide

the gym with promotional opportunities. To begin, YPT can promote the challenge to bring in more

clients and those participating are likely to spread the word of this competition helping the gym’s

reputability.

By aiming YPT’s advertisements at the appropriate audience with exciting information on the gym, YPT

will begin to see an increase in membership as a direct result of its advertising.

Conclusion

Yuhas Performance Training’s low membership rates have been a pressing issue that needs to be

addressed. The company’s high prices scare away potential members, who would benefit from the unique

quality training, hurting the company’s profits.

This low membership problem is something that can be overcome if the company adheres to the

following steps:

1. Provide discounted memberships: Primarily family discounts that will attract the entire family.

Group or team discounts to attract more members and build a network with coaches in the area.

Also free or discounted trials in an attempt to expose people to the quality training provided by

YPT. These discounts will allow for the company to compete with the surrounding gyms.


2. Update Online Presence: Improve the current website through the addition of trainer

biographies, a history of the gym, and utilize the professional athletes that train there. Also,

update the Facebook page more frequently and create Twitter and Instagram accounts for the

gym.

3. Improve Marketing Techniques: New marketing strategies need to be implemented that focus on

advertisements towards parents with kids aged 12-18. These new advertisements need to show

the audience what separates YPT from a traditional gym. By using improved newspaper and

radio advertisements YPT will be able to attract more people to their gym.

These recommendations may take some time to implement but if the owner and employees at Yuhas

Performance Training dedicate themselves to following these steps the membership numbers should

improve.


Works Cited

"Adult Performance Programs." Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.

<http://www.bodybyboyle.com>.

"Athlete Alumni." Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning. Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning, n.d. Web.

23 Apr. 2014. <http://www.bodybyboyle.com/athlete-alumni>.

Madden, Mary, and Kathryn Zickuhr. "65% of online adults use social networking sites." Pew Research .

Pew Research Center, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. <http://www.pewinternet.org/2011/08/26/65-of-online-

adults-use-social-networking-sites/>.

"MyBestSegment." PRIZM. Nielsen, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.

<http://www.claritas.com/MyBestSegments/Default.jsp?ID=20&menuOption=ziplookup&pageName=ZI

P%2BCode%2BLookup#>.

"Programs." EXOS Formerly Athletes' Performance. EXOS, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.

<http://www.athletesperformance.com/programs/>.

"Welcome to Yuhas Performance." Yuhas Performance. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.

<http://www.yuhasperformance.com/>.


Appendix

1. Professional Athletes Rajai Davis (MLB, Detroit Tigers)

Pete Walker (MLB, Pitching Coach, Toronto Blue Jays)

John McDonald (MLB, Los Angeles Angels)

Andrew Carignan (MLB, San Francisco Giants)

Anthony Giansanti (MLB, Chicago Cubs)

Eric Campbell (MLB, New York Mets)

Kara Lawson (WNBA, Washington Mystics)

Adam Rand (MLL, Chesapeake Bayhawks)

Patrick Sharp (NHL, Chicago Blackhawks, expressed interest in training this summer)

2. Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning Comparison Yuhas Performance Training was designed to model Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning

(MBSC) in Boston, Massachusetts. YPT is basically a scaled down version of Mike Boyle’s gym,

but offers the same type of workouts to both athletes and adults. However, YPT did not mold its

website after MBSC. MBSC offers pages where they list all the professional athletes that train

there, as well as testimonials from these professionals, trying to convince people to come to the

gym. Another gym similar to both YPT and MBSC, Athletes Performance located in Phoenix

Arizona also, uses this strategy with its website. If YPT could do something like this with their

professional athletes (See Appendix 1), it would benefit the gym and bring in more members.

formal recommendation report: yuhas performance training

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