Competing with Similar Clubs

Q: We recently had a competitor open down the street with a business model identical to ours. How do we compete? – Submitted by Kyle and Dale Snesrud, owners of America’s Fitness Center Rosemount, Minn.

A: With all the discussion about how to compete with giant corporate facilities and with low-cost gyms, we forget that the most common competitors are those who have a business model mirroring your own. These competitors can be even more dangerous than those whose business model differs from yours, simply because there is nothing to distinguish yourself and you ultimately end up splitting members.

If I asked you what makes your health club unique, will your answer be the same if I were to ask your competitor? If so, that is where you need to focus. Your USP, or Unique Selling Proposition, is the identity of your business. It is the heart and soul of your sales approach and it is the one thing that makes you stand out among your competition. The problem is that if you have a successful USP, chances are good that an existing competitor will either mimic it or a new competitor will come in and try to take it from you.

For the past decade or so, the fitness industry has grown without interruption. The problem is that the number of memberships has actually decreased relative to the number of facilities out there. This means that every health club in your market is eating from the same pie, and each time a new competitor moves in, you get a smaller slice of pie. But chances are, you’re hungry and you would like more pie.

You have probably experienced this trend first hand. You either opened your facility early on in the fitness craze (10-20 years ago) or got into the market recently based on the growth of the industry. Furthermore, you have experienced one of two things; A) More competition has come into your area that offer a similar USP to yours, or B) You opened your facility to compete with older clubs in your town, with a similar USP, in hopes of sharing the market and beating them at their own game. Neither of these scenarios is in the best interest of your fitness business.

So now the answer to your question: How do you compete with a club with a similar USP?

The answer: You don’t.

You must always have your own USP, even if it is continually changing. In other words, don’t assume the way things operate now is always going to be the best way. The successful health club owner is always tweaking or even reinventing the identity or USP of his or her health club.

Competition is healthy and it forces you to make changes that will better your facility. If a competitor enters your market with a similar USP, you don’t have to think of ways to beat them at their game. You are in control of your identity and you need to proactively stay one step ahead of them. The secret is to develop a new USP that is even better than the USP you had before.

For example, until now, your USP was that you offered the lowest prices in town. Then a competitor moves in with even cheaper prices. Don’t lower your rates to compete with them. Instead, create a new USP! It is impossible to be both the low-cost competitor AND the best service provider. Let them compete on price and you switch your USP to stay one step ahead of them.

There are unlimited USP’s available to you. You can offer guaranteed results or boot camps. You can become a limited-membership facility, offer the best service, the most creative programming or the most amenities. You could become the only 24-hour health club in town. You are only limited by your own creativity as to what your new USP can be.

Henry Ford said, “The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.” Create an identity for your health club that is different from that of your competitor. Stay proactive, focus on the needs of your members and make your competitors worry about you.

^{Curtis Mock is the host of FitBiz.tv, the TV show for fitness entrepreneurs and is the executive director of GymSuccess.com. Curtis can be reached via e-mail at Curtis@ClubSolutionsMagazine.com.}