How to Choose the Best Receptionists for your Gym

Operating your gym’s front desk requires the right receptionists. However, you need receptionists with more than just experience managing the front desk. Your receptionists must be able to perform other functions that increase your gym’s profit margin and enhance the customer experience.

Here are factors you need to consider when looking for the best gym receptionists:

Maintain a positive customer experience

Being skilled and experienced in basic front desk work is an essential requirement. While gym users tend to interact briefly with the front desk, your receptionists are still vital in initiating a positive customer experience for your customers.

For instance, the front desk for a gym is responsible for:

• Checking in and checking out customers. Gym receptionists play an important role in managing the flow of customers. They can also prevent unpaid customers from sneaking into the gym.
• Answering calls. Receptionists can answer questions of interested customers who want to know about aspects such as the operating hours, gym equipment, or services of your gym.
• Responding to online inquiries. Receptionists may also answer inquiries from customers through social media or email.
• Notifying gym members about their membership status. They can verify the membership status of gym users and notify them about their expiration.

Knows the basics of fitness

Typically, gym users will rely on your coaches or trainers for fitness advice. Nevertheless, having a front desk with some degree of knowledge in fitness can come in handy.

This is especially true when a tenant has questions and no trainers are available. Your receptionists can serve as a stand-in to guide your customers, especially with aspects such as:

• How to use certain fitness equipment
• The proper technique for an exercise
• Exercise suggestions to target a muscle group

It’s unnecessary to look for gym receptionists with the same level of knowledge or expertise as your trainers, as it can make your pool of potential applicants significantly smaller. Having sufficient knowledge is enough for your front desk to be helpful.

Helping with member retention

Making customers feel welcome at every visit is one of the basic expectations of a receptionist’s work. However, this is even more important with gym receptionists. In a 2019 study on gym anxiety, half of the 2,000 respondents reported being intimidated of joining a public gym. This likely means that half of your gym’s client base feels anxious when working out in your facilities.

Intimidation and anxiety can lead to lower member retention, which can impair your gym’s profitability. Similar to healthcare clinics, gyms require a high baseline of member retention to stay afloat. Fortunately, receptionists can help maintain or even increase your retention rate.

A UK study on gym membership retention confirmed that the more a gym engages with a new member during onboarding, the more likely its members continue their membership. In other words, members stick with a gym longer if they constantly feel welcomed.

Thus, gym receptionists can help by:

• Keeping track of old members, new members, and new gym users.
• Warmly greeting everyone who visits your gym.
• Giving positive reinforcement by cheering on members for their progress.
• When searching for new receptionists for your front desk, ask them how they can motivate gym users. The ideal applicants would recognize the importance of encouraging your customers and be able to provide many ways to cheer them on.

Upselling opportunities

Besides access to workout equipment, your gym may offer services like:

• Membership with benefits
• Trainer assistance
• Weight loss programs
• Crossfit training classes
• Boxing classes

Your receptionists can help increase your gym’s profit margin by introducing and upselling these services to your customers.

However, to access these upselling opportunities, your receptionists must:

• Have deep knowledge of your gym’s services
• Be able to convey the value proposition of these services
• Possess persuasion skills to convince your customers

Aside from services, gym receptionists can also help sell products like supplements, protein powders, shaker bottles, and other items over the counter.

Source talent remotely

The challenge of finding the ideal receptionists for your gym is your access to a pool of good-fit applicants. You can find suitable receptionists that you can train after hiring near your local gym. However, better-fit receptionists who can integrate seamlessly into the role with little training may be out of reach and are unwilling to relocate.

If you’re in a pinch for the best-suited talent for your front desk, consider sourcing your receptionists remotely. With a virtual receptionist platform like WelcomeWare, you can gain access to a significantly larger pool of applicants. This increases your chances of finding the right receptionists for your gym.

By enabling remote work for your front desk, you can also more easily manage front desk operations across multiple locations. This can significantly reduce your headcount while maximizing the utilization of your front desk. At the same time, you can easily dispatch backup receptionists for times when your assigned receptionists are suddenly unavailable or during peak hours when the need to manage the customer experience becomes even bigger.