Monthly Archives: March 2012

This is the greatest time of year. Not only is it March Madness for college basketball, but also throughout the month of March, all marketing turns to “Something Madness Baby!” Think about it — how many auto commercials do you see during this time of the year talking about hoops? Why aren’t you doing the [...]

This past weekend, I had the fantastic opportunity of working with the local group of Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. This year is their 10th anniversary walk, and our club was fortunate to be chosen as the location for their basic training and boot camp for the Washington, DC area. The DC organization had a [...]

It’s time to get the obesity epidemic running for the door. At least that’s one way clubs can assist in the fight, and help members drop extra pounds — get the member running, walking, climbing or just moving. Cardio equipment can do all of this for your members. We took time to interview some clubs [...]

After giving birth to her first child, Clare Schexnyder, a former CNN producer and co-founder/owner of Oh Baby! Fitness, suffered from severe postpartum depression — a form of clinical depression that affects hundreds of women, and sometimes men, across the country every year. “I couldn’t get off the couch, couldn’t shower and didn’t want to [...]

I like to say that the front desk is the first line of offense, and the last line of defense,” said Mark Miller, the vice president of Merritt Athletic Clubs, which has multiple locations in Baltimore, Md. As both the offensive and the defensive line, the front desk should be made up of a lineup [...]

Some of the best sales people are the best listeners. The only time we want to talk is to ask questions to our prospective members. The more you can get a prospect to share their story with you, the better chance you have of completing the sale. Your prospects really don’t care about you, they [...]

Think about how you have marketed your club this week. Did you send out direct mail? Did you run commercial advertisements on your local TV networks? Did you purchase billboard placements around your cities? These are a couple of ideas that I believe can work and are crucial to the marketability of any fitness club. [...]

A group interview has two people from the hiring team interviewing up to eight people at a time. One interviewer can ask questions while the other observes and asks follow up questions. A group interviews allow you to put applicants into an unrehearsed situation. You can also evaluate how they interact with other people. The [...]

Genetics aside, can we say that our clubs are not just selling fitness and exercise, but are actually in the business of longevity? When members come to us to lose weight, there may be several reasons for that objective. It could be that they simply want to look better, but they are probably just as [...]

Gold’s Gym International (GGI) will acquire all eleven Spectrum Athletic Club locations in the San Antonio area at the end of February 2012. With the acquisition, Gold’s Gym will have 20 total locations in San Antonio. “We think it’s a really good fit for us in San Antonio,” said Jim Snow, president of GGI. The [...]