Clubs & Studios
Recruit Staff Like the NCAA
When college football recruiters started taking an interest in my son’s skills on the gridiron, I came to a useful realization: When it comes to attracting talent and developing winning teams, head coaches and group fitness directors have a lot of parallel priorities.
Phone Etiquette for a New Age
Proper phone etiquette is essential in a health club environment. Many people prefer to call ahead to ask simple questions, rather than physically coming in. It’s their way of getting a “feel” for your facility. As a manager/owner, you want that introductory phone call to translate into a new membership. However, phone communication has degraded among young adults working the front desk, and it’s easy to see why.
Analyzing Flash Deals
Fitness professionals around the world have jumped on the flash-deal bandwagon to try to generate more business and attract new clients. It looks like an attractive arrangement: Flash deals, such as Groupon or LivingSocial offers, put your business in front of a whole new audience, bring some new faces through the door and help you grow and expand your client base and revenue.
How to Set Goals and Build Your Business
You work with clients every day, helping them set goals so that they can see results. Do you give the same treatment to your business? If you’d like to improve your financial bottom line, use this six-step breakdown on now to take what you already know about setting goals and apply it to growing your business.
Opportunities for Fitness Facilities
Understanding why members remain loyal to fitness facilities may help managers and owners with their direct marketing efforts—and beef up retention rates. Here are the top reasons individuals stay members, says the most recent IHRSA Health Club Consumer Report: 2012 Health Club Activity, Usage, Trends & Analysis, produced by the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association.
The Lure of Small-Group Training Programs
In the last few years programming has evolved, and consumers are looking beyond memberships to small-group training experiences for results and solutions. People are willing to pay top dollar for these programs. Let’s briefly examine some successful SGT programs, and then look at what the managers, directors and owners of multipurpose fitness centers can learn from them.
Facility Design and Construction 101, Part Two
In Part One of this series, we discussed the importance of researching users, space and programs before committing to new fitness facility design and construction. We also looked at funding and its effect on programming. The goal of this three-part series is to make fitness managers aware of key elements in the planning and building process, with a focus on group fitness and personal training spaces.
Upgrade Relationships and Upgrade Retention
Many fitness facilities focus on getting new members in the door, providing a basic orientation and setting them free—free to slowly lose interest in attaining their fitness goals and coming to the gym. This pattern occurs frequently, affecting the facility’s attrition rate.
Insurance Considerations for Fitness Professionals
When was the last time you took a hard look at the risks your business faces and the systems that you have—or don’t have—in place to safeguard yourself when disaster strikes? In this article you’ll learn how to manage the most costly risks to your business and how to stay ahead of the risk-management curve as your business grows
Fitness Facilites Are Enjoying Growth
It’s a good time to be working in the fitness industry. According to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA), 2012 proved profitable for fitness facilities.
“Improvements were recorded in all nine performance indicators measured,” said Jay Ablondi, executive vice president of global products for IHRSA in a press release. “Significantly, the greatest growth was achieved in non-dues revenue and EBITDAR
(earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and rent).”
Attrition: Your Business’s Biggest Expense
If you think your biggest expense is payroll, which is what I often hear when I ask fitness facility owners and managers, you’re wrong. In my experience, attrition—the number of members lost compared to the number of members overall—is the real financial sinkhole.
Mobilize Your Personal Training Staff
The fiscal year is coming to a close, and you have a chance not only for a successful final push but also to connect with your personal trainers in a way that inspires them. Use the following tips to build a cohesive team, empower your trainers and, ultimately, sell sessions.
Quick Tips for the “Barefoot Studio”
You’ve been asked to reinvigorate—or create—a mind-body program at your facility, and you have no clue where to start. In addition to being a freshman at this task, you run up against a few unforeseen obstacles. How do you create an amazing mindful program that supports membership and the bottom line?
Facility Design and Construction 101, Part One
Shiny, solid floors. An upgraded stereo and microphone system. Brand-new equipment. Many fitness facility managers look around their club and can rapidly envision what needs to be acquired or improved.
“Do you regularly analyze your competition? Why or why not? If so, how do you do it?”
?In the Clearwater/Tampa Bay, Florida, region, there are a large number of competitors in the Pilates industry. Competitors are other Pilates studios, gyms that offer Pilates mat classes and even personal training studios that offer other exercise modalities such as yoga, TRX® and CrossFit®. I feel it is part of my job as a studio owner to be constantly evaluating the competition. My assessment includes comparing services offered (privates, duets, trios, group equipment sessions, mat classes or other offerings, such as barre classes), as well as products and clothing sold on-site.
Selling Yourself (Without Selling Out)
Social media marketing is extremely popular among trainers. Some fitness pros have cultlike followings on Facebook. Others offer workout routines to subscribers through YouTube. Many pros blog about health and…
A Better Way to Determine Class Value
Class value is in the eye of the beholder. Depending on where you’ve worked and what you’ve learned over the years, the metrics you use to review, modify or cancel a class can vary significantly.
Purchasing Used Fitness Equipment
Exercise equipment ranks high on the list of fitness facility costs. From navigating the maze of manufacturers to negotiating price and financing options, purchasing equipment for your club is a complex process.
First-Session Success
“I’m terrified of change, even if it will improve my life.”
“I hate asking for help or admitting that I do not know something.”
“I avoid environments that are unfamiliar or that make me feel out of place.”
“I don’t believe that my own personal shortcomings are a source of my problems.”
“I will defend what I believe, even though it may not be right.”
For many people, those statements are true.
Saving a Sinking Ship, Part 4: Understanding the Financial Structure of Your Business
When you’re looking to build a successful personal training business, having a sound understanding of finances is a must. Most fitness experts possess exceptional interpersonal skills and are able to transform lives. But they often lack the ability to effectively manage and balance a budget and to use it to forecast and take advantage of financial trends. Financial mishaps and misunderstandings can lead to business failure in no time. In this article, I will share several simple strategies that you can implement today to get your business on track to financial freedom.