Ed Trainor emerges from New York Sports Club in Manhattan after a rigorous morning workout. He peers down at his heart rate monitor to check how many calories he’s burned so far: a little over 1,000. He’s nearly halfway to his daily goal and he’s determined to reach it.
His methods? Well, they’re a bit unorthodox.
“I commute through Penn Station each day,” Trainor says. “If I’m behind on my calories I’ll walk around the block to go up another staircase.” After his commute on the train he reaches the parking lot. He zigzags through cars, taking the most indirect route possible to his vehicle. Every step counts!
“Here I am, changing my behavior because I’m wearing this device,” he says.
The root of his obsession is the perfect marriage he’s found between human behavior, fitness and technology. He even helped start a group of like-minded people from the fitness and technology industries to vet his interests. It’s called the Fitness Industry Technology Council (FITC).
The members of the FITC include Trainor, Kevin Steele, Ph.D., principal of Communication Consultants, Inc., Dave Flynt, principal interaction designer of Precor, Don Moore, embedded fitness market segment manager of Intel, Jon Zerden, chief technology officer (CTO) of Athletes Performance and Arlen Nipper, president and CTO of Eurotech, Lloyd Gainsboro, of Dedham Health and Athletic Complex, Joe Cirulli, of Gainesville Athletic Club and Mike Motta, of Plus One Health Club Management.
The goal of the group is to create a platform that allows for innovation, or, as Jon Zerden likes to say, to create the “plumbing” behind fitness equipment.
In order to create the plumbing, the FITC has split into three different groups designed to solve three different problems: the data standards group has set out to define a precise way to measure fitness data, like how many calories are burned during a workout; the cost-optimization team exists to ensure that any new technology is affordable, to facilitate the scale needed to achieve ubiquity; and, the communications specifications group aims to make fitness data accessible for web developers.
In the software world there is a term for what the FITC aims to accomplish; it’s called an “Applications Protocol Interface” (API). An API is simply a guide to creating a piece of software that can work with another piece of software. Apple, for instance, publishes an API for their App Store, which allows developers to create pieces of software for iPhone users. The set of standards the FITC is setting out to create will serve as the API for fitness equipment manufacturers to create a more seamless user experience for gym members.
The group has launched headfirst into the quixotic search for principal technology standards in the fitness industry. If they succeed, they’d have accomplished a feat that could expand the entire industry. “We could really capture more than the 15 percent of consumers we do currently,” explains Trainor.
Of the companies represented in the FITC, Intel is by far the largest. They have an obvious interest in the group: if equipment manufacturers produce smarter machines they’ll need computer chips to do so. Still, the number of pieces of fitness equipment produced each year pales in comparison to the amount of computers, laptops and net books sold to consumers. When asked why Intel had taken an interest in the fitness industry, Edward Hill, director of marketing for Intel’s embedded computing division, replies, “The volume is still interesting enough for us to participate.”
“I think we’re looking at an opportunity for the fitness industry to move into a new frontier,” says Trainor. “The health care industry is about to break and prevention is the way to go.” Exercise is, of course, what Trainor really means by prevention. Hill thinks when fitness data is available, health care insurers will be less interested in visits to the gym than, say, heart rate, which provides evidence not only that a person visited the gym but did more than sit in the whirlpool for 30 minutes.
“Does that mean every time they’re active they have to walk through the front door of our gym?” Trainor asks the question rhetorically. “Of course not.”
When he’s not working out at New York Sports Club, you can find Ed Trainor surfing off of New York’s coast. “I’m usually in the water for an hour and a half… Never have I gotten out of the water without burning at least 1,200 calories.”
The challenge for the FITC is to take two different activities, like lifting weights and surfing, and capture the essence of each workout in a set of data that says something meaningful.
How, exactly, the FITC plans to accomplish that is largely theory at this point. Questions are in greater supply than answers, but Trainor promises that’s about to change. At this week’s IHRSA convention and trade show the FITC will deliver a position statement that, according to Trainor, “will be the tipping point for us moving forward.”
Ed Trainor emerges from New York Sports Club in Manhattan after a rigorous morning workout. He peers down at his heart rate monitor to check how many calories he’s burned so far: a little over 1,000. He’s nearly halfway to his daily goal and he’s determined to reach it.
His methods? Well, they’re a bit unorthodox.
“I commute through Penn Station each day,” Trainor says. “If I’m behind on my calories I’ll walk around the block to go up another staircase.” After his commute on the train he reaches the parking lot. He zigzags through cars, taking the most indirect route possible to his vehicle. Every step counts!
“Here I am, changing my behavior because I’m wearing this device,” he says.
The root of his obsession is the perfect marriage he’s found between human behavior, fitness and technology. He even helped start a group of like-minded people from the fitness and technology industries to vet his interests. It’s called the Fitness Industry Technology Council (FITC).
The members of the FITC include Trainor, Kevin Steele, Ph.D., principal of Communication Consultants, Inc., Dave Flynt, principal interaction designer of Precor, Don Moore, embedded fitness market segment manager of Intel, Jon Zerden, chief technology officer (CTO) of Athletes Performance and Arlen Nipper, president and CTO of Eurotech, Lloyd Gainsboro, of Dedham Health and Athletic Complex, Joe Cirulli, of Gainesville Athletic Club and Mike Motta, of Plus One Health Club Management.
The goal of the group is to create a platform that allows for innovation, or, as Jon Zerden likes to say, to create the “plumbing” behind fitness equipment.
In order to create the plumbing, the FITC has split into three different groups designed to solve three different problems: the data standards group has set out to define a precise way to measure fitness data, like how many calories are burned during a workout; the cost-optimization team exists to ensure that any new technology is affordable, to facilitate the scale needed to achieve ubiquity; and, the communications specifications group aims to make fitness data accessible for web developers.
In the software world there is a term for what the FITC aims to accomplish; it’s called an “Applications Protocol Interface” (API). An API is simply a guide to creating a piece of software that can work with another piece of software. Apple, for instance, publishes an API for their App Store, which allows developers to create pieces of software for iPhone users. The set of standards the FITC is setting out to create will serve as the API for fitness equipment manufacturers to create a more seamless user experience for gym members.
The group has launched headfirst into the quixotic search for principal technology standards in the fitness industry. If they succeed, they’d have accomplished a feat that could expand the entire industry. “We could really capture more than the 15 percent of consumers we do currently,” explains Trainor.
Of the companies represented in the FITC, Intel is by far the largest. They have an obvious interest in the group: if equipment manufacturers produce smarter machines they’ll need computer chips to do so. Still, the number of pieces of fitness equipment produced each year pales in comparison to the amount of computers, laptops and net books sold to consumers. When asked why Intel had taken an interest in the fitness industry, Edward Hill, director of marketing for Intel’s embedded computing division, replies, “The volume is still interesting enough for us to participate.”
“I think we’re looking at an opportunity for the fitness industry to move into a new frontier,” says Trainor. “The health care industry is about to break and prevention is the way to go.” Exercise is, of course, what Trainor really means by prevention. Hill thinks when fitness data is available, health care insurers will be less interested in visits to the gym than, say, heart rate, which provides evidence not only that a person visited the gym but did more than sit in the whirlpool for 30 minutes.
“Does that mean every time they’re active they have to walk through the front door of our gym?” Trainor asks the question rhetorically. “Of course not.”
When he’s not working out at New York Sports Club, you can find Ed Trainor surfing off of New York’s coast. “I’m usually in the water for an hour and a half… Never have I gotten out of the water without burning at least 1,200 calories.”
The challenge for the FITC is to take two different activities, like lifting weights and surfing, and capture the essence of each workout in a set of data that says something meaningful.
How, exactly, the FITC plans to accomplish that is largely theory at this point. Questions are in greater supply than answers, but Trainor promises that’s about to change. At this week’s IHRSA convention and trade show the FITC will deliver a position statement that, according to Trainor, “will be the tipping point for us moving forward.”
A major problem in the health club industry is customer retention – it may well be the industry’s single largest issue. Hence the constant aggressive push to get members signed up and in the front door, at a rate faster than they are exiting out the back door. I have seen figures showing that as many as 40% of members churn in the average health club, regardless of the exact numbers, it is a known fact in the industry that it is a higher number than any health club manager wants it to be; and obviously any reduction adds directly to the club’s bottom line.
Equally plenty of members renew their memberships year in, year out. Accordingly, any member retention strategy should involve two key components: 1) identifying those members at risk of leaving and 2) targeting those at risk with appropriate interventions.
It is beyond the scope of this article to go into intervention methods. However, I will address the identification of members at risk of terminating their memberships (‘at risk’ members) – and how predictive analytics can be applied to help with this.
Like all businesses health clubs have limited resources, and it is absolutely pointless for a club to invest resources to try and retain each and every member, when a good deal of them are not at risk in the first place. If a member is identified as ‘at risk’ there is a strong business case to be built around investing resources in trying to retain that specific member (theoretically you could afford to invest up to $1 less than the cost of acquiring a new member, and still be ahead of the game), conversely if they are not ‘at risk’ and are going to re-sign anyway, you may just as well burn the money as hand it over to that specific individual in the form of an incentive or time invested.
The other consideration is, it is far easier to pro-actively try to retain 2,000 members than 4,000 member, so by segmenting, and making the size of the task more manageable, it increases the likelihood that a health club will do something – and if we know nothing else, we know that doing something is usually better than doing nothing.
So we have a clear business case for identifying which members are most at risk of churning. Our next mission then, would be to take our database of current members and identify which ones specifically are ‘at risk’ and which ones are ‘loyal’. Ideally we would take it one step further than this, and be able to rank our whole customer database in rank order from those statistically ‘most at risk’ to those ‘least at risk’. The benefit of doing this, is that it provides our sales/retention staff with a sequenced work list, which they would start at the top of and work their way down sequentially. This simple act in itself would give us comfort that our resources are being focused on those that most require them – a form of retention triage if you will. This can even be taken one step further, and we can – again using statistical methods – determine the statistically optimal place in the list to stop.
Though we have a business case, and a reasonably clear vision of what would be useful, the problem is that for the managers of most health clubs, the scenario outlined above is closer to science fiction, than something they perceive they can practically deploy within their club. So the status quo prevails: 1) do nothing, 2) treat all customers as equally at risk, or 3) perform some random haphazard interventions with no real science behind who is targeted and who is not.
So to get to the point of execution, and movement from theory to reality, let’s discuss how we would take this utopian vision and turn it into an actionable reality. Ironically for many health clubs this vision can be actualized faster than it took me to write this article – literally.
Most health clubs have a reasonable amount of data on their members. Let’s imagine that we have all the data about every member of our club for the last five years, lined up in an Excel spreadsheet. Every row is a unique member, every column is the information we know about that member. The columns we call input columns as they are the inputs that help us make our prediction about that persons future behaviour, these would contain things such as: her age, her marital status, change of marital status, # of visits in January 2010, number of visits in January 2009, etc. payment method, # of address changes, average time she spends in health club, etc, etc it would be no problem to have 100 or even 500 columns, and in the very last column (our target column) we add a label ‘loyal’ or ‘at risk’. Anybody that terminated their membership previously is labeled ‘at risk’ and ‘anybody’ who re-signed is labeled as ‘loyal’. We would eliminate from the spreadsheet anyone who had not had been with us a year yet, as we don’t have any conclusive information about their behaviours.
Now I will skip over the math here, which nobody would want to try at home, but you can take it on good authority that there are patterns within all the input columns that can help to predict the customers propensity to churn. This is as you would well expect, for example prior to terminating a membership, a member may start coming in less frequently, and if this data is recorded this would show up, or a change in marital status may impact an individuals propensity to re-sign, and most likely it is an aggregation of many factors. Typically a human cannot detect these patterns, but there are software applications that can, and once the patterns are defined, the software can look at the patterns in an unseen group of members and make a prediction as to each individuals propensity to churn, and then output these members in a sequenced list as described previously, complete with the optimal point in the list to stop making interventions.
To explain it a slightly different way, we are: 1) consolidating historical data about behaviours that we think may be correlated to an individual churning from historical members 2) we are letting software examine that data for patterns and how they relate to how a member churned or did not 3) that relationship is frozen in a ‘predictive model’, and finally 4) the model is applied to unseen members to statistically predict their behaviour (vis a vis churning or not).
I would encourage anybody interested to visit www.11AntsAnalytics.com and watch the 11Ants Model Builder QuickStart tutorial video, which will better show the process (the data is different, but it won’t require much imagination for it all to make perfect sense). Feel free to email me if you have questions about this – doing this sort of thing is ten times easier than most people imagine.
In today’s world of fitness crazes and new-fangled exercise tools, many fads come and go. But, occasionally, an idea is hit upon that really works! An exercise machine is created that actually does what it says it will do. It promotes fitness and wellness. It helps fitness enthusiasts reach their exercise goals. It has ‘staying’ power!
Two of the most popular fitness machines used today are the treadmill and the elliptical trainer. What makes these machines so popular? Why are they favored over other exercise devices?
The treadmill has been around for a number of years and remains popular among experienced and new athletes, alike. Obviously, the appeal is that it accommodates both runners and walkers. Two of the most popular forms of exercising.
A newer exercise machine, the elliptical, is gaining on the treadmill in popularity. How do treadmills compare with elliptical training equipment? What benefits do each type of machine offer? Which one is right for you in obtaining your fitness goals?
Treadmills
According to Webster’s Dictionary, a treadmill is “a device worked by treading an endless belt.” That sums it up briefly. However, there is much more to most of today’s treadmills than merely “an endless belt” to be treaded!
Treadmill machines are created for performing functions such as walking, jogging, or running, as well as simulated hill climbing. (Some treadmills are better suited for walking and are not made to support users over a certain weight limit.) Higher quality treadmills tend to be suitable for walking or running and can handle larger and heavier users. Commercial units that are found in gyms are generally capable of supporting more weight than most home units. However, high-end models of home treadmills can be quite sturdy and comparable to a commercial unit.
Exercising on a treadmill is a great way to burn calories, build bone density, maintain good cardiovascular health, and increase your energy level. Of course, if you engage in a less intense workout, you will have to increase the length of your workouts to get the most benefits.
Most power treadmills offer a number of pre-set programs and intensity levels from which to choose. On these particular machines, you may program in your personal information (i.e. age, weight, height, fitness level, etc.). Then, you may choose a pre-set program (such as ‘killer hill’ or ‘weight-loss’), and the unit will automatically adjust the workout to fit your specifications.
If you’d rather manually control your treadmill, you can bypass the pre-set programs and adjust the incline, speed, and the duration yourself. And, even if you’ve chosen a pre-set program, you have the option of changing the incline level or speed level at any time.
If you’re just beginning a treadmill exercise program, you should begin at a lower intensity level and work your way up to a higher one, as your fitness improves. For the seasoned athlete, increasing the incline and the speed to accommodate your level of fitness can challenge your body and produce the benefits you desire.
Running on a treadmill with a nicely cushioned running surface provides less impact on the knees, shins, ankles, back, and joints than does running on pavement or concrete.
As a result, the runner who uses a treadmill is less likely to sustain a running injury than a runner who runs upon a harder surface. (Nonetheless, a runner’s body will still experience impact when the foot lands on the belt. Up to 2 1/2 your body weight)
When running in the great outdoors, you could possibly trip over a rock or twist your ankle in an unseen hole in the ground. You don’t have to worry about road or trail hazards when exercising on a treadmill. You need only maintain your rhythm on the moving belt.
It is true that some people have a difficult time feeling at ease when treading on a constantly rotating belt. If you’re a little nervous about keeping up with the belt’s motion, try holding onto the handrails until you feel comfortable about letting go. And, keep your pace nice and slow until you are ready to pick it up. However, try not to depend upon the handrails forever. By doing so, you are limiting the benefits your body will receive from your exercise sessions.
Another fabulous reason for working out on a treadmill is that you can do it indoors …regardless of the season or weather. You don’t have to brave the extreme heat of summer or the brutal cold of winter to get your walk or run in. You can work out in a climate-controlled environment and be comfortable. (To learn more about treadmills go to Treadmill Ratings and Reviews)
Elliptical Trainers
Elliptical trainers are relatively new to the family of fitness equipment, as compared to treadmills. They have increased in popularity during the last few years. And, perhaps at the rate they are going, these fitness machines will someday surpass the treadmill in popularity! But, do they deliver what they promise?
Elliptical trainers allow the athlete to burn a similar number of calories as jogging…but without the risk of injury to the back, knees, hips, or ankles. Your feet never leave the pedals. As a result, this type of machine is quite low-impact and goes easy on the joints. In fact, whereas exercising on a treadmill requires your body to absorb the impact force of walking or running, exercising on an elliptical can be compared to running in midair.
Because ellipticals are so low-impact and easy on the joints, this type of exercise equipment may very well be one of the best choices for older people or for individuals who are recovering from a joint injury.
Elliptical machines mimic the normal elliptical motion of the foot, the extension of the leg, and the rotation of the hip during walking or running. This motion uses all the leg muscles, giving you a total lower-body workout.
But, WAIT! There’s more! Elliptical motion machines ALSO simultaneously work the upper body (unlike the treadmill, which works only the lower body)! As the feet go through their elliptical motion, the hands grip the moving handlebars, exercising the arms. The movement of the dual handlebars mimics cross-country skiing. Now, this particular type of workout may not necessarily pump you up to look like a bodybuilder. However, because you are including the upper 30% of your body in your workouts, the results will be more efficient. (And, those arms will be toned in no time!)
Because elliptical trainers DO work the upper and lower body simultaneously, the heart rate climbs more quickly. Thus, less time is required to achieve more results. The amount of energy expended is optimized. As the legs are being worked, the back, shoulders, chest, biceps, and triceps are also working …making it possible to burn more calories in less time. (An optimal workout need only be about 20-30 minutes long.)
Some elliptical devices offer the option of shutting down the handlebars and working only the lower body. Even when this option is available, it evidently is not used very often …likely because individuals appreciate being able to work the entire body at one time.
The foot pedals can be worked in a forward or reverse direction. When you change the direction of the pedals, you’ll target your lower body in different ways. It is nice to be able to add versatility to your elliptical workouts, and such a change works to ensure optimal training of the leg muscles.
The intensity level can be adjusted on elliptical equipment to fit your personal level of fitness. Resistance may be added as desired to increase the workload on your legs throughout the forward or backward stride. With such an efficient workout, you can say ‘goodbye’ to flabby thighs and derrieres!
Previous studies have shown that working out on an elliptical unit can trick the body into believing it is working easier than it actually is. Therefore, as you’re burning more calories in less time on an elliptical trainer, your body feels as though it doesn’t have to work as hard to achieve its goals. This phenomenon is known as the “Rate of Perceived Exertion.”
Additional benefits of elliptical training include its ability to build bone density and to inhibit the onset of osteoporosis. Everyone needs strong, healthy bones. This is especially a concern as we grow older, and our body’s bone mass begins to deteriorate. Elliptical exercise can inhibit bone deterioration and actually improve bone thickness.
An elliptical device is safe to use (i.e. it stops when you stop). It uses very little electricity and is economical to operate. Because of its lesser impact, there is less wear and tear of the machine, making maintenance quite low. It has a small footprint, so it takes up less floor space than other fitness equipment. And, as with the treadmill, it allows you to exercise in a controlled environment for more comfort and convenience.
With all the benefits and the practicality of elliptical training machines, they just might end up exceeding the treadmill in popularity!
Reminder
No matter what type of exercise or fitness equipment you may prefer, remember to always consult with your health professional before beginning any exercise program!
What was it about the Washington Sports Club brand that prompted Barack Obama to choose to join its clubs over all others when he came to Washington after his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004?
No doubt, the brand, marketing, and advertising relayed an important message to Obama, now the 44th President of the United States: ‘this fitness club has what you need and we can offer it to you in a convenient manner at an acceptable price.’
No need for high pressure sales here. Senator Obama found what he was looking for and signed up.
Wouldn’t you like your branding/marketing/sales effort to be this effective?
Of course! It is hardly an overstatement to say that sales and marketing are the lifeblood of your health and fitness club. To keep your business healthy, you need to keep a constant flow of new members joining to grow your membership while replacing any who leave because they move away or change jobs.
Stephen J. Tharrett and James A. Peterson authors of Fitness Management (Healthy Learning, 2006) estimate that, to be successful, most clubs have to sell between 800 and 1,300 memberships on an annual basis. Larger clubs need to recruit as many as 5,000 new members each year.
Positioning is key
Branding, marketing and advertising help to create and nurture relationships with consumers in your community who are contemplating lifestyle changes, or, like Obama, want to keep up the good work. This is your reservoir of sales leads, people you hope will take the next step—tour your club as a prospective member.
To encourage people to walk through your door, you need to position your business to differentiate it from other clubs with strong branding.
Are you a new, no-frills Planet Fitness franchisor offering a special, one-year, prepaid membership for just $99? Or, is your club part of a well-known mid-range chain, such as the Washington Sports Club, with facilities clustered near home and office. Or, are you, like the Sports Club /LA, known for luxury?
Mere mention of brand names like these and others like Gold’s, Crunch, Lifetime Fitness, East Bank and 24-Hour Fitness communicate to consumers what the club stands for and will deliver for the price of a membership.
Paving the way for sales
Marketing and advertising—whether they utilize print, radio, television, direct mail or the Internet and email—need to be ongoing and relentless to generate the number of leads and prospects you’ll need to meet your sales goals.
As Tharrett and Peterson point out, sales is quite the numbers game. “While the percentages tend to vary from market to market and club to club, the average club can expect to convert 20% to 50% of its leads to prospects, and 20% to 80% of its prospects to actual members.”
It is up to your sales staff to identify what prospects are looking for, and communicate well how your facility, your programs and your staff will satisfy those needs—and close the sale.
Ben Midgely, who once served as team director of corporate sales at 24-Hour Fitness, and is now executive vice president of Planet Fitness, says that hiring sales people with passion is vital.
“You can’t teach passion, you have to find it. Look for people who are committed to fitness, and who care enough to want to spread the good word about its benefits, and help others succeed. If you focus on the member first, rather than the money, the money will follow.”
A: Closing rates will be different for different sales staff and different clubs. My best sales person closes 73 percent of all prospects. New sales staff with little experience can be lucky to close 30 percent. The average for all staff across all clubs is 53%. Clubs with highly trained sales staff and low staff turnover will maintain closing rates of over 70 percent.
Of course, you also need to look at total monthly sales. A sales person that does very little prospecting and only sees highly qualified walk-ins will tend to have a higher closing rate than a sales person who is actively involved in prospecting. In other words, selling 50 percent of 100 prospects is better than 80 percent of 20 walk-ins.
Also, clubs sometimes pick their closing rates out of the sky. The only way you can get accurate closing rates is if you have a 100 percent fail-safe system of recording all tours, walk-ins, and guests. I once looked at a club claiming 85 percent closing rates but they were not including guest passes. They were getting approximately 140 people on guest passes every month. When these were included their closing rates were only 36 percent.
A: A membership consultant’s “hit rate” will never be as good as it could be as long as it is referred to as just that… a “hit rate”. Members aren’t units, points or numbers, they’re people and each has a story and a reason for coming to us and the best consultants assume every single guest has a need to fill and consequently has come to join. We change people lives every day through fitness and as consultants our job is to remove all barriers and causes for hesitation, more often than not in people who have already gone through several stages of consideration before visiting a club.
It’s a competitive world and true to say not everyone who visits will join your club. Many factors will influence their final decision, so the ultimate percentage of those who join can vary from club to club, however globally I can say we at Face2Face aim to average in the high 60’s. I see many clubs claim much higher but often investigation reveals not all guests are counted as “prospects,” skewing their true conversion and indeed limiting their success.
Paul Brown
Firms spend millions of dollars to discover how to get consumers to purchase their products, and invariably, the companies that succeed most impressively are those that understand the importance of appealing to the senses and psyche. Sight, sound, touch, taste and smell — all play major roles in getting someone to make a purchase. In addition, companies must also cultivate strong positive associations with their product, and do their best to eliminate any negative ones. Consider how a few industries utilize such techniques.In supermarkets, for instance, the bread and milk – the two items most frequently bought – are deliberately placed at opposite ends of the store. In order to pick up these two necessities, the shopper must travel through miles of aisles, and, as a result, inevitably winds up buying more items than they had planned. By simply positioning two items strategically, the store increases its sales. Clubs can do the same.
Similarly, fast-food restaurants utilize the environment to maximize their returns. Colors are used to trigger desired impulses (e.g., red prompts people to “stop and take action,” while yellow triggers hunger), and the seats are made uncomfortable on purpose to discourage lingering.
In the health and fitness club industry, there are five basic areas of concern involved in selling a prospect: They are the information call, reception, interview, tour and close. Some of the most important conclusion that I’ve reached about each are outlined below.
The information call
Every person answering the phone in your club should be doing it the same way. “Good morning (or evening), (the name of your club), this is (person’s name). How may I help you? they should always give their name because callers feel more comfortable dealing with someone whose name they know. The prospect will usually indicate his or her reason for calling (perhaps they saw your ad in the Yellow Pages and would like additional information.) The stafer’s response could be, “Great, and your name is? and your number is?” Note that these are statements, not questions. In order to respond to a question, people have to stop and think, if only for a second, which explains why it’s sometimes difficult to get a person’s phone number. (“Why should I give them my phone number?” they wonder.) Try this technique: make statements. People respond to statements. “My name is (your name).” The other person will nearly always respond by saying, “I’m (there name),” Does this technique work every time? Of course not, but it works most of the time.
The reception
You never get a second chance to make a first impression. How a visitor is greeted by the staffer at the front desk sets the tone for the entire sales presentation. The receptionist should greet the guest with a warm smile and say, “Welcome to (the name of your club), my name is (person’s name). How may I help you? Following the introduction, the visitor should be asked to fill out the guest register (printing clearly), while the staffer gets someone to show them the club. The receptionist is the link, the common denominator, here – seeing to the quest’s comfort and helping them connect with a membership director (MD).
An important part of the MD’s job is to deal with questions regarding cost. When doing so, don’t forget that, in this industry, we sell a percieved-value service. We have to help the quest visualize the changes that they want to make – physically, psychologically, even emotionally. We don’t sell a tangible product that can be delivered the same day, so we need to eliminate this potential objection to joining before it arises. We do so by presenting the “agenda.” Welcome the quest to the club, shake their hand, and ask if they’ve ever been in before. The MD can they introduce the agenda by indicating that they’d like to gather some information to find out what the guest hopes to accomplish by joining club. “Then I’ll take you on a tour of the facility, show you everything we have to offer, and, afterwards, we’ll come back and discuss membership rates, okay? (When asking a question that you’d prefer to have answered in the affirmative, nod your head up and down; when you’re hoping for a “no”, move it from side to side. People often mirror the images in front of them. If, for instance, you smile long enough, the person in front of you will generally start smiling.)
Every presentation should follow this basic agenda. It’s very difficult to show the club properly if you don’t know what the prospect is interested in, which makes the interview crucial. The idea is not to take them to the area they’re interested in first … but to take them there last. As a result, the level of excitement will be highest at the end of the tour, setting the stage for a successful close.
The interview
The purpose of the interview is to determine what the prospect’s goals are, their most likely objections to joining (e.g., time, money, spouse, or “I want to think about it”), and the most appropriate way to effectively respond to their reservations. This can be accomplished by asking five simple questions:
1.) “Are you married? If so, is your spouse in favor of your getting started on an exercise program?” If the quest answers yes to this question, it’s going to be a lot more difficult for them to use their husband or wife as an excuse to not join.
2.) “How long have you been considering an exercise program?” Most people will say they’ve been thinking about it for at least six months, which makes it difficult for them to later say that they need more time to make a decision.
3.) “What stopped you from getting started then?” The answer to this question will probably be their primary objection.
4.) “If I’m able to set up a program that will help you achieve your goals, would you be willing to commit three hours a week to your health and fitness?” The answer will more than likely be yes.
5.) Finally, “in an average week, what do you do for entertainment?” The reply, of course varies, but most people spend money to rent videos, have drinks with friends, etc. “I don’t know about you , but I know I could find $1.50 a day, out of that, to apply towards improving my health.: People don’t like to have things taken away from them, but they do like gifts, so we’re suggesting that they use some of their entertainment money to purchase the gifts of fitness and good health.
The Tour
Every club should have a tour agenda all employees follow that covers everything from how long the club has been in business to how many aerobics classes it offers a week. It’s not uncommon for MDs to give different answers to the same question. (e.g., one might say the club has 30 aerobics classes a week, while another will say 40), but there’s no need for this to happen if everyone is using the same script.
It’s a truism of life, and sales, that people do what they do for one of two reasons – to avoid pain or obtain pleasure. Everything we do – from the clothes we wear, to the car we drive, to the club we join – is predicted on this principle. Therefore, the club tour must assuage any fears the quest may have and replace them with feelings of pleasure. We can accomplish this most easily by putting them on some of the fitness equipment: three pieces of strength equipment and one cardiovascular unit is the minimum I recommend. A club membership, bottom-line, is about physical rewards, and there’s no substitute for actually experiencing them. Even if the prospect is dressed in business clothes, they can comfortably try out a leg curl or elliptical motion machine.
The Close
We must learn how to deal effectively with any objections the guest may have. As noted, we can be helpful and responsive about doubts relating to time, money, spouse, or needing “to think about it.” Let’s use the first objection – that of time – as an example: One of my favorite ways to deal with this issue is to remind the quest that we all have 160 hours in a week. It’s simply a matter of priorities. Each MD should have at least four strong responses to deal with each of the four objections. After you’ve overcome the objection, you should immediately return to the close. You can also avail yourself of what I consider an “alternative” close, one of which is, “How would like to take care of this today – cash or check?” Learn how to ask questions in order to maximize the chance of getting the response you desire. And, when you’ve asked the critical closing question – stop talking! The next person to speak will lose the negotiation. Don’t sell a membership, then buy it back because you didn’t know when to quit.
Sponsored by: Fitness Life Marketing 1-888-541-0714 ext2
Article Research Contributor: Amerishape Weight Loss
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Going the Distance
With 23 clubs and counting, Sport & Health is the largest fitness chain in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Locally owned and operated for more than 30 years, the company is led by CEO Jonathan Adler and President and COO Mark Fisher, two dynamic leaders who have created a plan that will allow the company to grow systematically over the next five years, while also improving its existing locations.
Left to Right: Jonathan Adler, CEO; Mark Fisher, COO and President, Sport & Health Clubs, in the virtual cycling studio at Old Town Sport & Health fitness center in Alexandria, Va.
Anyone who has been lucky enough to live in or visit our nation’s capital knows that it is truly unlike any other place in the world. Brimming with diversity and steeped in history, the Washington Metro Area is comprised of innumerable neighborhood enclaves that often retain unique identities within the larger construct of D.C. Recently, Washington was named the “fittest city in the USA” by the American College of Sports Medicine – a distinction that happens to perfectly coincide with Sport & Health’s plans for expanding its presence and upgrading its clubs.The network underlines a prejudice.
THE HISTORY
Adler happens to be a native D.C. resident, with a background as diverse as the metro area he serves. A true entrepreneur with a head for sales and marketing, Adler has achieved success in publishing and Internet start-ups over the years. He began working full time in the publishing business at the tender age of 19, while studying business at the University of Maryland. In December 2005, Adler was already a member of Sport Health when he jumped at the chance to buy the company with four other friends and colleagues who were real estate partners and fellow club members. “I was looking for a business with recurring revenue and, more importantly, one that would allow me to positively impact people’s lives,” he shares.
As the other half of this executive team, Fisher brings a wealth of industry-specific experience to the table. Having worked in clubs since graduating from college in 1982, his first real gig was at U.S. Swim and Fitness – a growing company that also served as a training ground for Bahram Akradi of Life Time Fitness and several other industry veterans. The company was eventually purchased by Bally’s, prompting Fisher to open his own club. After locating a strong market in Wichita, Kan., he opened six clubs in the area over the course of 14 years. In 1996, he decided to take some time off and sold the clubs to private parties. By 2002, after several years of owning a hospitality-based business, Fisher was ready to jump back into the industry. He knew the CEO of Sport & Health at the time from his involvement in the exclusive Young President’s Organization (YPO), and opted to take a position upon joining the company that was beneath his real experience level in order to become familiar with the many changes that had occurred in the industry. By 2006, after several promotions, Fisher had assumed his current role and was deeply involved in making the company the best it could be.
PUTTING MEMBERS FIRST
Over the years, Sport & Health has capitalized on the unique makeup of the Washington Metro Area by tailoring its approach to doing business accordingly — from programming to marketing, the clubs choose options that will appeal directly to those who live and work within a three-to-five mile radius of each location. The result is a wide variety of sports, mind-body and fitness programming for members.
“Our clubs are not cookie-cutter,” says Adler. “We choose the programming for each club by analyzing extensive demographic information which outlines the preferences of each club’s membership base – and the surrounding community as a whole.” For example, programming in one club may be more family-oriented, while programming at another location would be more focused on attracting active businessmen and women. According to Adler, being a locally owned and operated company allows them to more easily manage this variety, especially since both he and Fisher believe in getting out of the office and into the clubs on a regular basis. “I don’t manage from my office – our entire management style is very inclusive,” states Fisher.
Technology has also played a leading role in allowing Adler and Fisher to properly evaluate the performance of the clubs’ many programs. When Adler assumed his position at the helm of Sport & Health, the company was still using an outdated DOS system that was very slow to generate reports. They turned to CSI for help, and systematically updated the company’s hardware and software. Now, they are using a real-time system which everyone has access to, that can easily track and determine member preferences – an essential component in managing multiple locations that offer such a wide variety of programming. “We can look at the percentage of our membership that is engaged and determine how it is affecting retention,” Adler says.
Perhaps one of the most important ways Sport & Health stays in contact with members and keeps a finger on the pulse of the communities it serves is through systematic communication with members when they are outside of the clubs. “We are big believers in e-mail and using online technology for keeping in touch with our members,” says Fisher. According to Adler, they reach out to all members on a monthly basis – either to let them know what’s going on in the clubs, or to ask them for feedback, or both. In addition, spot surveys are conducted quarterly and every member is surveyed annually using in-depth metrics designed to measure all aspects of each club.
Community involvement is another key component of staying in touch. Sport & Health has raised more than $1 million in the last few years for charity, and managers and employees are expected to get out into the community where their clubs are located. This grassroots approach also applies to the company’s guerilla marketing choices, which Adler says have driven down the cost per sale while driving up closing ratios. And, the company’s record sales the last few months are solid proof that this technique is working. “Our member referrals are up because we are actively encouraging members to bring new people in, while our employees’ involvement in the communities has gone a long way to build trust,” Fisher shares. Adler agrees, stating, “With my business and marketing background, I’m a big believer in the power of the Internet and using marketing techniques that involve an unconventional approach, relying on time, energy and imagination instead of a big marketing budget,” he says.
HANDS-ON MANAGEMENT STYLE
According to Adler and Fisher, another major component to the success of Sport & Health has been the company’s outstanding Senior Leadership Team, general managers and employees – basically, the people who are out in the clubs running the show every day. “The most important thing to remember is that companies are always driven by the people who work there,” says Adler.
When asked how they have been able to locate and foster such a strong team, Fisher says they looked for “drivers” and were fortunate to find many already within the company. “We want to be the premier employer of fitness personnel in the region,” he shares. Adler agrees, stating, “We are both a great place to work and a tough place to work – our interview process is very detailed; our general managers typically go through seven or eight different interviews prior to joining our team.” In addition to exceptional management, Sport & Health prides itself on the quality of its personal trainers; they accept fewer certifications than many other clubs, and all new hires must do an audition and interview with multiple general managers.
According to Adler, they also pay above average in order to attract and retain the best employees. This has allowed them to feel comfortable empowering managers and giving them real responsibilities – they are expected to understand what it takes to operate all aspects of the business. “We expect them to know members’ names and to spend three hours a day at the front desk, but we also expect them to be involved in discussions on marketing, pricing, compensation, etc.,” says Adler. “Our managers have a very strong influence and can really impact their club’s performance,” adds Fisher.
Neither Adler nor Fisher believe in a “top down” management style. Instead, both prefer to have as many heads as possible contributing to the betterment of the company. “You have to align your goals and expectations by developing a clear purpose, mission and value statement,” Adler shares. Fisher agrees, adding, “We have shifted the focus of the company culture and now everyone is committed to, and focused on, being a progressive, driven, energized health and fitness corporation.” To them, this means becoming better than they were last year, last month, last week, even yesterday. In practice, having regular inter-club competitions is a key part of this philosophy. Achievements like having the highest retention rates, the best member surveys or breaking a sales record do not go unnoticed, and rewarding positive change creates urgency and fosters a dynamic, high-energy environment.
More than 20 years ago, Fisher’s mother gave him a book that has now become an integral part of the culture at Sport & Health. An outwardly unassuming volume, “Rhinoceros Success,” by Scott Alexander is often mistaken for a children’s book at first glance. Its content, however, illustrates the importance of being “like a rhino” in life by taking charge and staying focused on your goal, while also being unafraid, thick-skinned and unstoppable in the face of challenges. “Today, this philosophy is enmeshed in the company – our screen savers are rhinos, clubs that “crash through” their sales goals get “Rhino Awards” and our conference room is called the “Rhino Room,” says Fisher. And it’s obvious that both he and Adler are willing to walk the walk. “Everyone needs to know what good performance looks like,” Adler says. “We are in front of them enough and are consistent enough to set the example.”
FIVE-YEAR PLAN
In case you haven’t heard, Sport & Health received $25 million in financing through PNC Mezzanine Capital and CMS Mezzanine Fund earlier this year, which has allowed the company to restructure senior debt — enhancing its capacity to grow and improve its network of clubs. Over the next five years, Sport & Health will continue to upgrade existing locations and has plans to acquire or build three new clubs per year in the D.C. area. For new clubs, they have a 20,000 square foot urban model and a 40,000 square foot suburban model, both of which have the capacity to provide the variety members have grown to expect. – CS
Keys To Success:
BECOME incredibly efficient at managing expenses, but always make sure that any changes will not have a negative effect on the member experience. Instead, focus on getting better terms from vendors and doing away with unnecessary waste.
INCLUDE key employees in the decision-making process. Get them involved in finding solutions to your club’s challenges – they are on the front lines of your business and will have important insights to share.
MOTIVATE your staff by creating inter-club competitions and rewards for outstanding achievement.
KNOW your community and service its needs. More people today are joining clubs that are conveniently located close to home or work, so understanding what your club’s dominant demographic really needs will help you keep members happy.
FIND ways to get managers and employees involved in community events. This is a great way to earn trust, and remember: You get what you give!
ASK your members to tell you what they think. Staying in touch with members and actively engaging them in the direction your club takes is paramount to remaining relevant in their lives.
Sponsored by: Fitness Life Marketing 1-888-541-0714 ext2
Article Research Contributor: Amerishape Weight Loss
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