Ep 127 - Al Noshirvani: Coronavirus advice for gym owners.

This is a special episode of the Escape Your Limits podcast in response to the impact that the coronavirus is having on the fitness industry.

Both consumer and commercial audiences are searching out gym advice during closures from COVID-19. We hear important advice from Al Noshirvani, founder of Motionsoft, about remodeling your business, ensuring member retention wherever possible, staff and pay issues, and how we can come through these pandemic challenges together.

Watch and listen for how to cope with everything during these challenging times, including staff, billing, cash flow, members, marketing and administration.

For more information on the Escape Your Limits podcast visit https://escapefitness.com/podcast

Watch the full episode on YouTube

Al Noshirvani founded Motionsoft – a membership management software and billing company – in 2004. In addition to being a fitness industry software specialist, he’s also a gym owner. Al heads up three health and fitness clubs in the Washington DC Metropolitan area in the high-value low-price space.

All of this means that he’s primed to offer the best advice for other gym operators, senior leadership teams and directors in fitness facilities so that we, as an industry, can continue to be the voice of wellness for members, even when the doors to the gym are shut.

 

Motionsoft is a leading provider of software and financial services for the health, fitness and wellness industry. Motionsoft's award winning club management software and membership management solutions have helped organizations like Equinox Fitness, CRUNCH, The Bay Club Co, US Fitness, the Steve Nash Clubs and thousands of other gyms and fitness facilities around the world.  Since its inception Al has completed five acquisitions and grown Motionsoft to become one of the largest software and full service transaction and accounts receivable software companies in the fitness industry.

 

Episode highlights -

• How the coronavirus effect within fitness started out as a pause in business of about two weeks, but has quickly escalated to at least two to three months or longer.
• What the challenge is of open-ended closure calls from governments around the world, and how it’s hard to plan without a timeline.
• Why, despite challenges and difficulties, your members will appreciate every bit of help that you can offer during this worldwide threat.
• What are the practical things to think about immediately to ride out the coronavirus pandemic as effectively as possible?
• Why your decision whether to bill members or not over the closure period will make a huge difference to other decisions come the time to open.
• Why it’s vital that you speak to your technology partners to see what business effects can be improved and how these will benefit members regardless of when your gym is opening again.
• What government benefits are on the way to help the fitness industry and how it may be information overload, but there’s a lot to consider to get us through this.
• How there are plenty of things you may not have thought about in terms of knock-on effects, what these are, and what you can do about them to survive this period.
• Why administration excellence is key during the coronavirus closures.
• What the difference is between short-term challenges and encouraging member loyalty, compared with long-term disruption from COVID-19 and the unavoidable effect on cash flow.
• How your marketing, messaging and social activity will be the difference between staying strong during closures and being forgotten about as member behaviours change.
• What your staffing decisions will mean for your future, and why you need to be careful about the wording or organisation of redundancies, lay offs and furlows.
• What support there is to business in the fitness industry and why you should look out for initiatives such as relief funding, small business loans or deferral opportunities around the world.

 

Join Matthew Januszek in conversation with Al Noshirvani…