Gym managers should treat their role like that of a theatre manager and focus on getting the public through the door by promoting and selling an unmissable experience.

That’s the view of Les Mills UK chief executive Martin Franklin and global markets COO Keith Burnet, who say gyms need to be able to tell a story that engages and excites their customers if they are to succeed in a competitive market.

Speaking to Health Club Management at the recent LIW show in Birmingham, the recently-promoted pair warned of painful changes ahead for fitness businesses not aligned to meeting and anticipating consumers’ fast-changing expectations.

They said a reluctance to ‘get digital’ and re-engineer a business towards innovation and experiences can prove fatal, citing the example of one well-known brand which lost 90 per cent of its capital value in less than two years, simply by failing to adapt to market changes.

“As an industry in general, we’re very short term and I think club managers are too bogged down in the minutiae of running a club to identify threats coming from up ahead,” said Burnet.

“Managers might be able to tell you where the threats and opportunities are coming from, but very few are in a position to produce a strategy that can deal with them. It’s scary to think that a business can fall away so quickly, but these are the dangers if you fail to embrace digital.”

The pair praised Ray Algar’s LIW keynote speech calling for fitness entrepreneurs to stand up and help the sector take a giant leap forward through innovation and authenticity. But they said there’s a sense of déjà vu in the need for evolution and innovation, with the fitness industry perennially sluggish to adapt to market factors.

“We’ve been doing this for over 20 years, but it feels like very little has changed,” added Franklin, who was formerly Les Mills UK customer experience director.

“The entire customer journey from start-to-finish needs to be experiential. As Ray (Algar) points out, it’s hard for the mid-market clubs to emulate boutiques in certain respects, but there’s nothing to stop them creating an authentic experience for their customers. We’re the fitness industry – why do we find it so hard to make things fun?”