In a new webinar, Keith Burnet, CEO of global markets at Les Mills, has given insights into how health and fitness operators in China are responding to the coronavirus lockdown.

A global business, Les Mills has been working with operators around the world as the lockdown has rolled from East to West and the Les Mills top team is sharing learnings.

Burnet said some operators had managed to retain the majority of their revenues, in spite of being closed and stressed the importance of adopting a 'business as usual' attitude.

"Your physical real estate may be closed," he said, "but if your mindset is that you’re open and you have a job to do to continue to provide services, then the way you tackle the challenge will be completely different."

He said "Identifying solutions and finding a way through this will only come when you and your team are in 'moving forward' mode – moving to acceptance and making a plan.

"Those that seem to be winning have moved through the change curve quickly with a positive mindset," he commented. "They've taken people with them, and started to ask how to take advantage of the opportunities this situation presents."

Burnet gave examples of Chinese operators who had used the shutdown to upskill their teams, host online education, strengthen their teams through recruiting great people from their competitors and unlock online efficiencies.

"Connection and community are most important," said Burnet - "it’s what members are looking for and you need to manage the connections beyond the class to build an audience."

With membership payments reduced, Burnet gave some examples of operators in China that had managed to create new income streams.

These included Shape China which launched a 12-day weight management programme, charging US$52, per person.

Over 1,000 people signed up for this, said Burnet.

Operator, Lefit, has set up a live broadcasting room with a new digital membership of US$14 a year to develop micropayments. This will sit within the full membership package when the operator reopens.

Orange Theory China continued to sell memberships even though its clubs were closed, by creating a re-opening membership package to drive short-term three-week trial memberships.

People signing up for these will have phased access in terms of when they can use the membership cards they’ve bought.

To hear the whole webinar with Keith Burnet, click here

For an in-depth review of Chinese fitness operators' response to COVID-19, click here to read Jak Phillips in the latest issue of HCM.