New 3D Cameras To Help Grow Your Microgym
Operational capacity, marketing and brand consistency all in one affordable solution.
So how did the first month of 2022 go for your microgym?
As someone who now experiences the ups + downs of gym ownership through the experiences of my clients and colleagues, I’ve moved into a very optimistic place for the future of the microgym.
Don’t get it twisted. I was never on the “digital will replace us all” train.
But the bloodbath that COVID left in our industry certainly gave me hesitation for the future of specific business models.
However, I’m seeing microgyms finally get back to consistent 2019 numbers, concept facilities have uber-successful pre-sells, and white space franchise models continue to grow at rapid rates.
This shit excites me.
And I’m fully aware that certain places in this world are still getting their dicks kicked in due to COVID regulations, and I emphasize heavily.
However, if your local government isn’t directly getting in your way, you’re still having financial issues, you need to create a game plan (or hire someone to do it for you) and execute it sooner than later.
Those who lag in bouncing back from COVID are going to find it challenging to gather steam compared to the microgyms who have attacked the past 12+ months like savages, doing anything they can to restore order to their battle-worn businesses.
This line is cliche AF, but it hits home for any struggling owners…
“Life is 10% of what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it.”
- Charles R. Swindoll
xoxo
Stu
Spatial Data + Digital Twins Enter The Microgym Industry
Finally, some fitness technology news that isn’t annoying AF
Last week, Matterport, Inc., the world's leading spatial data platform, and Orangetheory announced they are teaming up utilizing Matterport Capture Services to scan and create digital twins of all its U.S. studios, ensuring design and layout are consistent with global brand guidelines.
Brand consistency for franchises is critical, so at first glance, this seemed pretty cool… but what the hell is a digital twin? Sounds like some Sci-Fi shit.
According to Matterport, a digital twin is a digital copy of a real-world place or object. Artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies enable the creation of digital twins, which are dimensionally accurate 3D digital models that can be updated quickly to reflect changes with their physical counterparts.
The spatial tech combines geometric and geographic data to create a realistic rendering of the space. It will allow adopters like Orangetheory to ensure consistency and brand compliance across its U.S. studios with up-to-date visuals of new and existing locations.
Check out this full digital twin of an OTF location.
Ps. you are already familiar with spatial data whether you realize it or not - services like Lyft and Google Maps use spatial data to calculate distance from you and another location. And in the past few years, real estate buyers and sellers have leaned heavily into 3D virtual tours, which also use spatial data.
With Matterport Capture Services, Orangetheory will also have the ability to capture and test processes and ideas with full visual context, document interactions, collaborate efficiently with teams, and invite prospects to their space virtually and fast-track sales.
So, in a nutshell, the benefits to Orangetheory and their 1,250 studios across the U.S are:
Ensure consistency
Highly efficient collaboration, analysis, and decision making
Saves $$$$ in travel and labor costs
MY TAKE
Although other industries have adopted spatial data and digital twins, this seems new to the fitness industry, and I am excited to see big players like Orangetheory jump in on the action and pave the way for microgyms.
This announcement made my OpCap spidey senses tingle.
I've been passionate about operational capacity and spitting facts to anyone who will listen for some time now.
And I knew it was only a matter of time before operational capacity and digital technology intersected, allowing easy understanding and access to information for the gym owner.
This tech will allow you to perfectly measure distances between equipment, create class flow more efficiently, and, my favorite - create 3D models and tours for marketing purposes.
That last one is especially useful if your desired avatar falls under the 'Evolve My Fitness*' category.
*Remember, there are two types of avatar customers - those looking to 'Start My Fitness' and those who already do something fitness-related and simply want to 'Evolve' it.
Newbies to the fitness scene won't even know what to expect from a facility layout, equipment selection, or brand recognition. However, the more experienced fitness customer is a more savvy consumer, and your ability to create HD 3D models of your facility could easily convince them to tour your facility alone versus trying out every other microgym in town.
While Matterport Capture Services is excellent for multi-unit corporate-owned franchises or licenses, it's also great for a microgym owner looking to dial in their OpCap, enhance customer experience, remotely monitor, or improve workflow.
Let's dig deeper into each of these buckets.
YOUR TAKEAWAY
OpCap - Existing or New Build
So remember, Operational Capacity is the maximum number of clients your microgym can safely and reasonably service and the attached financial truths that arise from this realization.
Every successful microgym needs to consider OpCap. Period.
So with a tool like Matterport Capture Services, perfecting the ideal facility layout becomes easier.
Existing Gym - By creating an exact rendering of your current layout, you can rearrange, tweak, and make adjustments to the gym floor to get an idea of how the changes you might make would affect the entire flow of the gym before ever lifting a finger IRL.
This will save gym owners a crazy amount of time and sanity. How many times have you rearranged your layout, taking three+ hours because that shits heavy, get it all in place, only to hate it? I know I have, and busy owners don't have time for that shit.
New Build - If you're building a new facility, you can save significant money and time.
With a new build, you typically need to use an architect to create CAD drawings to map out your space. And in my experience, it is a pain in the ass. Firstly, this may be their first gym project for most architects, so it can be challenging to verbally articulate and translate precisely what you want to someone with little experience in the industry. Secondly, it may take them weeks to execute your idea, only for you to see it and want to make changes, which, you guessed it, will take another few weeks.
Now, with Matterport, communicating your vision and creating efficient renderings are streamlined. Much of Matterports data is public, so you as the owner can look at other gyms' layouts and use them as inspiration and a jumping-off point for your new build. For example, you'd be able to point to an Orangetheory layout and say, "Hey, general contractor, I really like the layout of this studio. I am going to share their data with you and your team so you can see how we can translate that into this space".
UX - Customer Experience
Creating 3D tours to show prospects what your facility is like before they ever step through the door. After you receive a new sign-up, shoot over a link to the 3D tour in a text message so they can start acclimating themselves to your gym. This will benefit your staff, who will no longer need to spend 10 minutes giving new members directions to the bathroom, and for the newbie, the 3D tour eliminates some of the intimidation that is associated with the unknown of the first day at a new gym.
Eye in the Sky
The resolution and quality of images provided with the tech are unmatched, allowing gym owners to keep an eye on the location remotely. Maybe you try to do this now through your security cameras, but we all know the images are dog shit. With Matterport Capture Services, you could have your general manager scan your facility once a week and check in on how everything is looking. Is the apparel store in an orderly fashion? Is the equipment being properly maintained and organized? Does the gym look good and ready for new prospects? This could allow owners to become more remote in their ownership and not be required to be on-site daily.
Training Your Coaches
The other value area for a gym owner with this kind of tech is training your coaches.
You would be able to create models specific to each class type you run and set up each class exactly as you want, capturing it with your Matterport cameras, and then creating a beautiful, interactive model as to what each unique class should look like, how it should flow, where people should stand, where the traffic patterns should be, etc.
This will absolutely change and enhance the ability to train our coaches on running group classes.
So all of the benefits above are amazing, but what really makes this great for the microgym owner is its affordability.
This is not technology reserved for million-dollar brands. Go check out their pricing. You will see that anybody can get started with this inexpensive technology.
I get it; new tech can be kind of overwhelming, right? I don't know about you guys, but I am so sick and tired of people cramming NFT's and Metaverse into conversations with me that I just could scream.
However, IMO - this is one piece of tech that we should be excited about.
So if you end up using Matterport cameras in your microgym, please hit me up - I'd love to learn more about the experience.
