Communication
Overheard in the Locker Room
You just finished teaching what felt like a seamless kickboxing class. The stereo system cooperated, the music was right on, your cuing flowed, and so did your sequences. Everyone seemed…
Increasing Professionalism: Building Relationships
As a fitness professional, you are in the relationship business. Just as the food you eat fuels your body for exercise, relationships are the fuel that feeds your business. But growing your business requires more than having strong interpersonal skills with your clients. Your business success is also influenced by your relationships with your colleagues and competitors. For example, cooperative marketing efforts and co-promotion can help your business grow. Also, solid business relationships can help you work through personal and professional challenges.
[subhead] Prioritize
Increasing Her Visibility
Certified personal trainer Kimberly Linton. , MBA, loves helping people improve their fitness levels—and their lives. As owner and manager of Fitness 4 Life Studio in Springfield, Virginia, a suburb…
“What is the biggest communication challenge you have with clients? What have you done to improve it?”
The biggest communication challenge that I’ve had with clients is trying to figure out their personalities. Working with a variety of personalities can be challenging. In the past it was…
Effective Verbal Feedback for Older Clients
Senior exercisers learn differently than younger ones do. They also process information differently from younger exercisers, and they react differently to the same information. This means trainers need to know
whether to give feedback, and how to give it;
when to give feedback—whether during a movement or once it’s completed; and
what exactly to focus on and what to say.
Giving effective verbal feedback during exercise—knowing what to say and when to say it—is essential to the fitness success of older clients.
Client Challenges on IDEA FitnessConnect
You are excited about helping your clients adopt healthy behaviors and achieve new goals. However, as you know, making changes can be really difficult! The more you do to set…
Measure Social Media Efforts
Wise fitness professionals take advantage of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter™ to increase Internet presence and enhance revenue potential. But how do you know if your efforts are hitting the mark? These social media measurement tools, courtesy of IDEA author Melissa Spraul, will help you gauge whether your message is being heard:
Radian6 (www.radian6.com). This paid social media listening, tracking, monitoring and engagement tool allows you to understand how social media and social customer relationship management can impact your success.
Facebook and Negative Body Image
Facebook. You log on to connect with friends and colleagues, post pictures and market your wares. But could that daily networking session be hurting your self-esteem?
According to the Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt, in Baltimore, the answer is yes. Researchers reached this conclusion after surveying 600 Facebook users, aged 16–40.
Here are some insights:
The Core of Creativity
For years, group exercise instructors have been debating the topic of creativity. The controversy usually arises when facilities license preprogrammed classes. Some instructors argue that preprogramming limits creativity. They feel that “free-style” classes are more creative and are better suited for advanced participants, who “crave complex movements.”
Get On Online Radio
Sample Guest Introductions
The following intro bios worked well because they are concise, easily read aloud and written to be heard, which is different from written to be read silently.
Promote Your IDEA FitnessConnect Profile
By now you know it is to your distinct advantage to set up a profile in the IDEA FitnessConnect online directory. Whether or not you use all the features, it at least ensures you one more point of contact for potential clients. Why not take things to the next level and maximize how you promote yourself and your business? Here are 10 ideas (plus a bonus tip) on doing just that.
Top Twitter® Tips
According to a 2010 report posted on the blog of the social networking site Twitter™, the organization claims 145 million registered users. The number has surely increased since 2010, and the users are not just individuals keeping their “followers” up-to-date with daily happenings; many business owners log on to market services and generate profits. “I have found Twitter to be helpful in enhancing my credentials and reputation with fitness consumers,” says Alexandra Williams, MA, IDEA author and co-creator of FunandFit.org.
Generate and Follow New L.E.A.D.S.
The term social media typically refers to popular online tools like Facebook and Twitter™. However, social media broadly includes any form of media used to communicate and interact with an audience. When fitness professionals leverage social media tools to engage clients, colleagues and fitness enthusiasts, the resulting increase in the pros’ online presence can further their career opportunities. This is why IDEA FitnessConnect offers a range of social media tools to assist fitness professionals in generating new business.
The Centralized Portal
Whether you’ve been forced to overhaul your current communication strategy or you’re just making minor tweaks, it’s time to bring this column to a close. Here’s the new reality: If you expect to stay relevant as a manager, you need to think of staff as your “main audience.” Employees will react to your “performance” as any audience would. The challenge, however, is that your audience isn’t captive! You have to be crafty in your delivery and diligent in meeting each person where communication culture exists today. Otherwise, your messages may fall short.
Creating an Online Community
Group fitness is the heartbeat of the facility, but not because of the blaring music or sweaty bodies. People exercise in groups for the motivation, accountability and energy it brings them. Wouldn’t it be great to capture this energy outside the studio? As instructors, we’ve tried almost every trick in the book to influence more end users, get more bodies in classes and help educate members. Despite this, we’re still reaching only a handful of people.
Expanding Your Audience Reach
IDEA FitnessConnect (IFC) is reaching greater audiences by syndicating its information to top health and fitness websites. Think of it as embedding the directory within a third-party site, making it easier for fitness professionals to reach potential clients in high-traffic areas. This also positions many fitness pros in front of new markets.
You can select which websites display your profile information. By clicking on “Privacy Settings” in your profile page, you can enable (or disable) your profile on each website.
Winners Tell All
FFitness professionals often use success stories and client testimonials to strike an emotional chord with potential clients. Personal trainers who incorporate these elements into their pitches (often via “brag books”) may find them powerful during new-client interviews or business development meetings, according to Derrick Wilburn, MBA, IDEA presenter and director of education for Achieve Fitness USA (Wilburn 2010). But what if potential clients or business partners do their initial research about you over the Web?
The Benefits of Streamlined Communication
The previous three installments of this column have given you a bit to think about regarding your current communication situation. As the group fitness manager (GFM), you must balance multiple streams of input and output. You face daily communication challenges with instructors, club members and upper management. There’s no doubt you could be more productive if you spent time revamping protocols. However, it’s hard to find the time to set up those spiffy protocols when you have the weighty administrative tasks associated with being a manager.
A System to Manage Clients and Leads
A list of current and prospective clients can be invaluable to fitness professionals promoting upcoming events, distributing newsletters and cultivating member relationships. IDEA FitnessConnect’s client management system makes it convenient for fitness professionals to manage and grow their clientele directly from their profile pages.
Polishing the Facility Profile
Fitness professionals are not the only ones maintaining profiles on IDEA FitnessConnect. Program directors and club owners are also leveraging their clubs’ presence in this directory to feature staff, increase member leads and reinforce marketing efforts.
