When you consider the demographics of your recreation center, we often see a more varied population than any other health and wellness space. From young kids simply seeking activity outside their home, to seniors who likely wouldn’t be joining any commercial gym in your area. The hard part is in my experience, the senior population can often be the hardest to engage and get involved in your programs. So what are the best ways to go about making engaging seniors a priority within your center?
1. Build Social-Focused Programs
Seniors often seek more than recreation — they want meaningful connections. Years ago, I was running multiple fitness centers across a broad variance of towns. The town with the highest senior population had the simplest answer I had found on engaging seniors.
Once a week, we provided free coffee and donuts after one of the senior-specific classes. After the first couple months of getting to know the few people who were coming, we encouraged them to bring friends from their other social groups. This got one lady to bring her whole bible study group, another to bring her bingo friends and one member even invited all of her friends from a recent class reunion. Socialization can be the biggest lever to winning this older population.
2. Invest Relationally
For seniors, relationships often trump all other aspects of your program. In my time leading these types of programs, I made it a point to get my instructors, directors, and even front desk staff to take senior classes, co-teach for instructors or to be a part of the special events we held at the facility. I even made it a point to take the class myself once a month. The investment means so much to your senior members. It often is much more rewarding to have fun with your members as well.
3. Trust the Process for Growth
Many facility owners or directors I’ve had conversations with around senior programming can feel stuck. They may feel their program isn’t growing as quickly as they would like. So, they plan outreach to senior centers or clubs, and attempt to promote their program to drive numbers up.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with advertisement. However, our target demographic here tends to like a more personal touch as opposed to a flyer in the mail or an announcement at their center. When you grow a senior program mainly through referral basis not only will it grow steadily, but your seniors will be your most loyal members and most consistent as well, giving you a great boost in retention and revenue.
Bringing It All Together:
Successfully engaging seniors can be one of the biggest wins your center has in creating consistent growth, revenue, great reviews and regular attendance. But most importantly, you’re making a difference in the lives of those who have so much to give and a quality of life that can give families memories to cherish for years to come.
