Facing the Competition

Question: What are the main things I need to do before the New Year’s rush starts?

– Submitted by Martin Little, Owner of Little’s Health & Fitness in West Jefferson, N.C.

Answer: Ah, New Years – the most exciting time of year for the fitness industry.

It is an absolute necessity to have all of your systems in place, your staff trained and a marketing plan ready to roll out. Heading into January without a plan of attack is like going to a gunfight without a gun.  In both scenarios, you’re going to get killed.

So let’s discuss a few things, in no particular order, that you need to have prepared prior to the beginning of the year.

1.  Establish Your Goals

In order to have a successful New Year, you must first establish the numbers that you consider to be successful. You absolutely must know the numbers you want to reach and your entire staff must also know what goals are in place. Be sure to set your overall goal and then break that down into monthly, weekly and daily goals for each staff member. Remember, “selling as many memberships as possible” is not a goal. Goals must be specific and they must be measurable. Be sure to have goals for everything: new members, referrals, renewals, rejoins, personal training, other profit centers, etc. Anything you sell needs to have a goal associated with it.

2.  Plan Your Marketing

There is no magic bullet or perfect combination of strategies that are going to always work best for your club. To determine what strategies you should implement, refer to what has worked best in the past. If direct mail tends to bring a solid return on your investment, make sure it is included in your marketing plan. What referral campaign has performed the best? Do it again! What about gift cards, business of the month campaigns, joint ventures with local businesses, marketing to expired members, door hangers or telemarketing? Think about what has generated a positive ROI in the past and plan to do it again. Most strategies that work moderately well during other times of the year, work even better at the beginning of the year.

But, you must take a planned approach to marketing. You need to know what you will do today, tomorrow, next week and next month. Plan your marketing and let it do its job, so you can do yours.

3.  Fine Tune Your Systems

Make sure all of your systems are running smoothly. If any are not, take the time now to begin fixing them as soon as possible. Systems include the way in which phone calls are answered, the sales process, how memberships are entered into the computer, what happens to missed guests, follow up with new members, referral programs, retention programs, cleaning, maintenance, filing, time management and of course marketing systems. Everything must be done according to a plan, and you must have your entire team fully trained on the systems.

4.  Train Your Staff

From the cleaning crew to your managers, sales staff to your personal trainers; everyone must understand the mission of the business and the plan that is in place for the beginning of the year. Every staff member must understand their responsibilities and how they affect the responsibilities of the other staff members.

Set a time each week for all of your staff members to meet to discuss what they have accomplished the previous week, any complications they encountered and what their specific goals and objectives are for the upcoming week.

5.  Clean Everything

Obviously, you should always strive to maintain a clean club, but this is the most important time of year to focus on cleanliness. You want to make a good first impression on your new members. Recent surveys have revealed that the number one complaint at fitness centers is the lack of cleanliness. Your members are able to see the dirt that you cannot.

You do not want to find yourself unprepared for this upcoming busy season. If you don’t already have everything in place, you need to quickly get everything ready. The New Year, new members and new money are on their way. Implement these things into your club and you will be ready for anything.

Answer provided by Curtis Mock, a contributing columnist for club solutions Magazine, industry consultant and executive director of gymsuccess.com. Curtis welcomes all questions and comments via e-mail at Curtis@ClubSolutionsMagazine.com.