Curves Smart To Host Open House

Many of us have hosted an Open House to help generate interest in our health club. Although an Open House is usually tied to a grand opening, there's no reason why you can't have an Open House any time of the year! The Curves Community of fitness centers know this, and many Curves locations are using this knowledge to their advantage.

For example, check out this article about how a Curves frachise set up their Open House.

There are many good Open House ideas out there. For example, the Lincoln City Curves location mentioned in this article got it right by offering a membership discount valid during the Open House only. They also hit a home run by issuing a press release to the local media and getting some FREE publicity.

We would also suggest that you purchase and give away some FREE gifts at all Open Houses in your health club. Everyone loves to win something, and just the mention of a drawing or gift will bring in potential clients. The gifts and prizes don't have to be expensive, either! For example, you may want to consider some small candles from Candle Bay


When planning your event, don't forget to send out Open House invitations to everybody on your lead list. The more you can send out, the better! If you have a regular email newsletter that you're sending out (and you should!), then be sure to include an announcement there. You should also mail out postcard invitations. Mail these out to all previous gym members, as well as to everyone who has visited your fitness center but did not become a member. You can make these postcards yourself or use a service like PsPrint to get 50 4"x6" Postcards for under $20


Be sure to create a real Open House party atmosphere with decorations, music, and even some healthy treats. More is better, and remember that the goal is to bring people into the gym!

Finally, don't forget that on the day of the event you should be putting up Open House signs all over the neighborhood. Hey, it works for realtors! If you're planning to host two Open Houses each year (and you should!), then it might be worth it to invest in some professionally made Open House signs. Any local sign company can help you with that, or you can Shop Custom Signs Online at BuildASign.com!


There are countless other Open House ideas you can use to make your event successful. You could consider bringing in a guest speaker to offer a FREE seminar for clients and potential clients. Another tactic is to invite your members to set up booths for their businesses! It will generate excitement for the event while at the same time create member loyalty.

The cuecd.com team recommends that you sponsor an Open House party twice each year. The first should be in January, which is by far the most profitable month for most health club owners. The date of the second Open House should be based upon your own local circumstances. It could be the anniversary date of when you opened your business. It could be tied to a local event like the annual summer parade, the local Cherry Festival, or whatever. It's up to you.

The bottom line is that many Curves locations are taking full advantage of Open Houses to gain new members, and you should be too. A well-planned Open House is an inexpensive way to gain some FREE publicity and boost health club revenue!

24 Hour Fitness Locations Offer Free Student Access

Savvy circuit training health club owners can learn a lot by watching the 'big guys' and copying them when it makes sense to do so.

Now may be the time to do so.

In case you missed it, many 24 Hour fitness locations recently announced that they are offering free gym access for student athletes. Here's part of their press release: "Access to the right fitness equipment can make a difference in your athletic training and your success as a student-athlete. Our Varsity Program helps student athletes gain FREE access to 24 Hour Fitness facilities during the school year (September 15th, 2008 - May 31st, 2009) from 2:30pm - 4:30pm. 7 days a week."

Why are they doing this? Is it because this counts as a school donation and they're receiving a tax write-off? Is it because they know that some of those athletes will eventually become paying gym members? Is it because they know that parents will be dropping off their kids, and that some of those parents will join the health club? Is it because of the free media coverage they're getting from this program? Or is it because 24 Hour Fitness centers really do care about people?

My guess is that it's a combination of all these reasons. The folks at 24 Hour Fitness are no dummies, and they know that allowing students to exercise for free is a win-win situation for them.

Notice that the free student access is restricted to two hours per day. These hours are strategically placed to be right after school and before paying members get off work. In other words, it's one of the slowest times in the day.

24 Hour Fitness also does a great job of putting together tempting offers to join their health clubs. Check out these examples:

$0 Initiation and Processing. Join 24Hour Fitness Today! Use Promo Code: AFMPW4WN5R


$20 Off a 90-Day Memberships. Join 24Hour Fitness Now!


$50 off a 1 year limited term one club membership. Use promo code: AFLMSJV8FQ


$50 off a 3 year prepaid ALL CLUB membership. Access to over 380 locations. Promo Code: AFPPAHPVXJ


2 personal training sessions for $99 at 24Hour Fitness


Save 10% when you spend $50 or more at Mystore by 24 Hour Fitness. Use promo code: AFP8128


Login now for a free 14-day guest pass!


So what can you, as a circuit training gym owner, learn from 24 Hour Fitness and these promotions?

First of all, be creative! Think outside the box. It's certainly an unusual move to get more paying members by offering free gym access to kids!

The second thing to learn from 24 Hour Fitness is that you should be varying your advertising. Don't always run with the same old tired advertisement. The seven examples above are just SOME of the recent advertising that 24 Hour Fitness locations have used. They know that different people will respond to different ads, so they vary their advertising constantly.

Finally, you should notice that 24 Hour Fitness is offering a FREE 14-DAY PASS. We're big believers in the free pass concept! It costs you nothing to allow somebody to use the facility for two weeks, and once they're in the door you have 14 days to sell them on a full membership! Even if they don't join, you'll still get their contact information for future marketing efforts.

The moral of the story is that you can learn a lot from watching the 'big guys' and how they operate. Don't hesitate to copy their moves when it makes sense!