Training Departments are Behind the Computer 8-Ball

Most Gyms, JCCs, YMCAs, health centers, and hospital wellness centers, have front desk check-in, member management and billing systems. Yet in many of these facilities the training department is running the scheduling of trainers and clients on paper appointment books or Excel spreadsheets! Many current gym membership software systems just do not address the specific scheduling and booking needs of fitness departments.

More and more owners and directors are turning to secondary scheduling systems to meet those needs. Although not integrated with the primary membership software, these scheduling systems meet the needs of the fitness dept. Also, they will allow you to: schedule clients with trainers; track client sessions; check-in clients; count down sessions, and integrate trainer payroll into the schedule.

A good scheduling software program will allow larger facilities to allow member managers or salespersons to enter-in new members, give them their orientations, schedule those appointments and sell a package of sessions, and then hand the client off to the training department for further scheduling. The training or fitness department can then maintain those clients by setting up recurring appointments, and managing the day-to-day scheduling needs of the department (moving clients to different time slots, canceling appointments, adding in new appointments). Managers and directors should be able to see, at any point, the status and amount of sessions for their members, and be able to run reports not only on session revenue, but on trainer productivity and payroll. How many orientations were done and how many members purchased training packages from those sessions should be a click away.

A good scheduling program will allow you to not only track trainers, but for many facilities it will also allow them to track the aquatics, sports, recreation, massage, wellness and tennis departments.

There are two types of fitness scheduling programs: Web-based and computer network-based. With Web-based programs, you will sometimes pay a substantial monthly fee to use them. Network scheduling software runs on your current computers and is usually a one-time purchase after which you own the data. See if the company you choose offers a free trial; how much training is included, and get at least one year of support.

No matter what the size of your training department, a good scheduling software can help you and your trainers control, manage, and grow your personal training business or department.

Frank Acosta is the Owner of Jersey Software. He has been consulting and developing software solutions for the last 20 years. He can be contacted at 888.243.7619, or by email at Frank@ptmgr.com.