True success in the health club industry can often be elusive. Most health club owners enter the business expecting instant success, only to find that they must fight for every dime they make. Yet, with so many members, administrative hassles, and competing priorities, who has time to find actual, true success?
The key to real success and real profits in the health club industry lies in leveraging the talents and abilities of the right people. Many times it means partnering with a company whose sole desire is to make sure that your business succeeds, no matter what. This is usually a company offering solutions that go beyond the basics and give you all the necessary tools to turn your club into a market leader.
The danger of doing it on your own.
Even the most savvy club owners can fall into the trap of wanting to do everything on their own. Many say to themselves, “Look, this is just billing, contract administration and scheduling. I can just go out and buy a few software packages and take care of all this business stuff in my spare time.” Over time, the same individuals realize that the hassle of the administrative/business end takes over the majority of their day – leaving almost no time to focus on their members. If this sounds like what goes on in your club today, then it’s time to start looking for an alternative.
Choices, Choices.
Health clubs can get themselves between a rock and a hard place when selecting a partner in the fitness industry that will make it worth having a partner in the first place. And, it doesn’t make the situation easier when you look over the landscape of enablers and discover that many of them are almost identical in their offerings.
When you look at all the alternatives, pay careful attention to what the company offers. Some health club partnerships may consist of:
• Billing only
• Software only
• Collections only
• Billing, software, and limited collections
• Limited billing, with some software and strong collections…and finally,
• Most will have limited-to-no trainer scheduling capabilities with their offerings.
The list goes on and on with endless combinations of services that can be applied to your business model. Many times, companies will offer you an “either/or” proposition: Software with no additional services, or extensive services with limited software capability, etc. With such a varied group of service providers, the most important thing you can do is look for the company that will customize its services to your needs.
Picking the Right Partner – Asking Three Crucial Questions.
When looking for the right company to help you down the road to success and financial prosperity, it is important to ask yourself three crucial questions:
1. Does the company offer my club a total solution?
Earlier, I talked about service providers that only offer you an “either/ or” proposition. They claim to offer you solutions, but in reality any company that offers you some services but not all, is really only offering you a half solution. In such a competitive and challenging industry such as ours, half solutions will not lead to success.
Look for companies that offer you a total solution to all of your problems. Companies who not only take care of your member billing, but also offer:
• A comprehensive software package to help take care of your members and employees.
• Full service collections using a multi-tiered collection approach to get you every cent of your hard-earned money.
• In-depth scheduling software that takes care of all your personal training needs, club-wide.
• Member support from start to finish, including membership agreements, ID cards, data entry, and a fully staffed call center to answer all of your members’ questions.
With all of these management functions working together at the same time, a partner company can give you the opportunity to significantly grow your business and add to your bottom line.
2. Will the partner earn my club more dollars per member?
This is a very important consideration, and frankly, it is the biggest reason to seek a third party to assist you. Once you have a partnership with a company who makes you more dollars per member, you will have found success. Even after the company takes their fee for services rendered, you make more money than if you had been on your own.
3. Does the company combine practicality with innovation?
Finally, it is critical to find a company that stays on the forefront of innovation, while at the same time applies it to proven business practices. Innovation comes in many forms, such as cuttingedge technology and maintaining key strategic partnerships. Once innovation starts working for you, it accelerates your momentum toward financial prosperity.
Hopefully the information I have outlined will help to show you why researching and implementing a powerful club management, billing and collections service that works hand-in-hand with a robust and feature-rich personal trainer scheduling system is a very important process – and, will help to prime your club for long-term growth and success.
For a free evaluation of your existing processes, or to view a demonstration of the health club industry’s newly united club management and personal trainer scheduling solution – please contact me directly at any time.
Adam Zeitsiff is the President of EZFacility.com, Inc. He can be contacted at 866.498.EASY (3279), ext. 16, or by email at adamz@ezfacility.com, or visit www.ezfacility.com.
