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25 Future Deliverables in the Fitness Industry
By Amanda Vogel, MA
As an IDEA member, you probably have your finger on the pulse of this year’s hottest fitness deliverables, those products and services that are all the buzz with fitness consumers. But what’s in store for the future? How will today’s fitness landscape look tomorrow? What long-established practices will need to change if we are to continue inspiring the world to fitness? We surveyed in-the-know experts to compile a top-25 list of key deliverables to watch for in the future of our industry. Here are the first five deliverables for fitness facilities. The complete list can be found in the article “25 Future Deliverables in the Fitness Industry” in the May 2007 issue of IDEA Fitness Journal or in the IDEA Article Archive.
1. Retention, Retention, Retention. Efforts aimed at retention will play a more important role in the industry, as will initiatives that reconnect with people who have recently let their memberships lapse, says Kathleen Rollauer, senior research manager for the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA), based in Boston. She says better retention in the future begins with more emphasis on personalized attention, starting now.
2. How May We Help You? With retention and individual attention becoming more important, fitness managers and owners with a vision for success will more closely emulate hospitality-related industries—restaurants, hotels, resorts—when training frontline staffers (i.e., those employees who have constant face-to-face contact with fitness consumers). After all, says IHRSA, the fitness industry is a hospitality industry. Club operators who recognize this now and in the future will likely be at the forefront of membership retention.
3. That Personal Touch—With Technology. Rollauer forecasts that more technology will be integrated into how clubs create relationships with their members. Personalizing members’ club experiences will become more important, and technology can make this task easier.
4. Taking Better Care of New Members. More emphasis on retention and hospitality will become the norm rather than the exception when welcoming new members into clubs. Right now, the industry is lagging in its effort to care for these incoming individuals. “There’s very little initial education of new users, who represent nearly 75% of all members,” says Michael Scott Scudder, chief executive officer (CEO) of MSS FitBiz Connection, based in Taos, New Mexico. “The majority of members are 40+. They want to be educated and cared for. The present standard system of fitness delivery does not do that,” says Scudder. But future systems will, if our industry is to continue flourishing.
5. Niche Markets. More sharply specialized programming, education and amenities for members of all levels are also on the horizon. “Generally, clubs still offer fitness as though there is one type of client,” says Scudder, who has trained and advised more than 10,000 club owners and managers worldwide. “By my reckoning, we now have seven or more different types of clients inside clubs.”
Future deliverables will better reflect this diversity. “Clubs will create new ways to offer fitness activities in the best ways for their primary audiences, which are women, men, families, seniors, special populations and youth,” says Rollauer.
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