I know you're all excited about the new year and all the fresh new faces that will be wandering around our facilities. But, pump the brakes chief let's not forget where our  bread is buttered. With all the focus on new membership a lot of times clubs make the mistake of neglecting their current clients.

This is a not just a mistake it can be detrimental to the long term success of your business. Our current clients are the ones who are most likely to be with us when the dust settles and March April remind us that very few newbies actually stick around. As much as we would like for our new members to become committed to the gym statistics don't lie and we know that many of them will disappear as quickly as they showed up in January.

Obviously we will do everything we can to attract the hordes of resolution fanatics that pile in during the first quarter and hopefully commit the time and energy and resources it takes to turn them from seasonal visitors to long-term members. Remember, all of the new enrollees most likely have fitness goals and things they would like to accomplish to improve their current health so it's our job to make that happen.

However, just like anyone else your existing members probably become more focused on their goals at the beginning of the year as well and there again we must step in to help them stay committed. That is why it is imperative that each of you are working with all of your members to make sure they received the opportunity to meet with trainers, discuss their goals, the challenges the may have facedfrom last year in accomplishing the goals and  begin to develop a plan for making 2012 different.

When it comes right down to it this investment in our long-term members pays much higher dividends than chasing the next big crowd. In addition to working with trainers members should be introduced to programs they may not be familiar with,  invited to groups so that they can engage with other members and as always surveyed or simply asked what it would take to get them more involved with their membership.

Another strategy since we have already established some level of buy-in from these long-term members is to really focus on the add-ons of additional family members, extension of their membership, and to constantly look for opportunities to upsell into premium level services since a lot of the newer members are just getting comfortable with basic membership it can often be more challenging  to start moving them into higher value programs at this point.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge fan of the New Year's rush but I also want to make sure that I am focusing the energy in the right direction and what will ultimately provide your business the biggest payoff not just in the short term but throughout the year and beynd. The people that started  with you in the past and stayed around long enough to become regular attendees should always be your first priority. Not to say that every year we won't encourage a few new members long-standing members but I at least want my existing customers to know how much we value their business, how much they are appreciated, to and how committed we are to actually helping them live a fit lifestyle.