What is the club business all about? From the business end, the answer is simple: “It’s about selling memberships and fitness services to make money.” The philosophical answer is very different: “It’s about improving lives through better fitness.”
Many clubs disrupt this harmonious arrangement by shining the spotlight too brightly on membership sales and ignore the really simple and effective strategies that get members to the club more often; keep them members longer and increase spending.
Fitness Assessments are one of the best tools you can use – as they take very little time and money in relation to their impact on your bottom line. A simple fitness assessment has the ability to greatly increase spending at your club, mostly in high-profit margin areas, like personal training.
When a member discovers the true state of their fitness (usually worse than they expect), the psychological impact is huge and they are instantly motivated to improve. They want a solution and that solution is a personal trainer. At this critical moment, immediately after an assessment, personal training becomes a “must-have” item and the most opportune moment to sell personal training.
In addition, offering fitness assessments shows members you are taking an active interest in their fitness and not just their membership. There is also the often-overlooked element of measuring the effectiveness of your personal trainers. With a fitness assessment program, you have a clear metric that shows you the improvement being achieved by each trainer with their clients.
Choosing the Right Assessment Program for your Club
When choosing the right assessment program for your club, you should take into account several factors.
1. Are the results easy to understand? There is no point in knowing fitness stats if they don’t make any sense (to the client).
2. Is it scientifically credible (based on nationally recognized standards and norms)?
3. Is the assessment easy for trainers to administer?
4. Are results stored online, so clients can track their progress anytime, from anywhere?
5. Is it fun for the client? Fun products always get better word-ofmouth and more repeat use.
Kris Harcourt is the C.E.O. of FitnessAge. He can be contacted at 702.304.9905, or by email at Kris@FitnessAge.com or online at www.FitnessAge.com.
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