In the ever-growing society of “Biggest Losers,” consumers are slowly coming to the realization that true results come from a combination of exercise and nutrition. Improving the eating habits of your members and clients has been difficult in the past, due to the potential labor and liability to your health club. However, recent advances in technology have made tracking and improving your members’ nutrition easier than ever. The days of the “magic pill” and fad diets are giving way to a new wave of simple, user-friendly solutions.
In a market of potential members who know they need to eat better, many health clubs are losing business by failing to offer a complete solution. Offering a component to track and improve nutrition, in addition to your exercise services, creates a stronger Point of Sale (POS) and a powerful tool for both consumer and corporate marketing. Most fitness professionals agree that nearly 70% of client success is directly attributable to their eating habits. With results being the key to retention, are you truly providing your club members with everything they need to succeed?
One of the most important challenges facing fitness professionals today is improving the eating habits of their clients and members. When it comes to nutrition, we are limited as to what advice we are allowed to offer. Providing your members with tools to track and improve their eating habits can significantly improve physical results as well build value in your services. The success of your business rides on the success of your clients. Allowing your members to track and improve their own nutrition helps to hold them accountable for their own success.
Nutrition awareness is on the rise. Even major fast food chains are coming out with “healthy” alternatives to their standard menu items. So, you have to ask yourself,”What am I doing to help my members improve their eating habits?”
A good nutrition program should:
• Be easy to implement and set-up.
• Require minimal staff labor to operate.
• Focus on true nutrition from real foods as opposed to product sales.
• Be based on sound, scientific data. And, will the system appear as your own, or will you send your clients to an outside solution?
Implementing an effective nutrition solution will improve every aspect of your business.
John Peters is the VP of Sales at Vitabot. He can be contacted at 301.864.3886, or by email at jpeters@vitabot.com , or visit www.vitabot.com .
