After interviewing the Club Solutions Advisory Board to gauge their beliefs on 2011, two things were discovered. First, the Advisory Board doesn’t necessarily agree on everything, and second, they REALLY believe in health and wellness as the future of the industry.
Each member gave their detailed thoughts on areas you might need to improve. Take a gander and be part of improving the industry in 2011.
“I believe we still have to come up with specific programs that address specific issues people face,” said Joe Cirulli, the founder and CEO of Gainesville Health and Fitness Centers (GHFC). “Examples include people with chronic lower back pain, arthritis, cancer recovery, etc.” Enrollment in these programs should be easy. Online enrollment could provide information on programs and make signing up simple.
When developing new programs Cirulli believes clubs should start focusing on new ideas by taking time to brainstorm on their own and not rely so heavily on equipment companies. “They’ve been doing most of the thinking over the last 10 years, which I believe has been good, but now it’s our turn as owners,” Cirulli said.
To create a better member experience, GHFC has focused on integrating its whole staff. If every department’s first responsibility is the success of the entire organization, it can become much more powerful. Each department has a focus and is rewarded for working hard. Monthly, GHFC treats employees to dinner to recognize their efforts.
For the industry to grow, the effort has to be there. “There’s only one way for any company to overcome hurdles and that’s by taking out time to think,” Cirulli said. “We have to get away from the day-to-day activities of simply doing and move up to the thinking level.”
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The industry has to position itself as a wellness provider, according to Bill McBride, the COO of Club One. “Prevention is paramount, and being a part of the healthcare continuum is about separating the gyms from the wellness centers,” he said. “The industry is full of ‘exercisers’ that have been speaking the language of ‘exerciser’ to other ‘exercisers.’ We have not been speaking the same language as those that don’t find activities easy.”
McBride thinks the industry hasn’t been able to break through to the general population yet because a healthy lifestyle either seems too daunting or a perceived luxury.
For 2011, McBride sees a need for the people who put the money for those with chronic health conditions — the government, employers and insurance providers — to come up with preventative measures to cut down on high costs.
To better the member experience, the more attention “on the member’s terms” the greater the gains will be. It’s important, noted McBride, to understand exactly what your members want from you. “Giving someone more of what they don’t want has a negative effect.”
The industry must continue to try to grow. “The big opportunity lies in growing our entities by introducing the wonder ‘magic pill’ or exercise to those that need it most and have not been inclined to utilize our services,” McBride said. “A great challenge, but a great opportunity!”
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Peter Taunton, the founder and CEO of Snap Fitness said, “It’s all about accessibility and results” in the upcoming year. Bringing people into the gym isn’t always doable. Therefore, the industry must proceed differently in reaching the untouched 85 percent that aren’t going to the gym.
Snap Fitness has launched easyFIT, an activity management system designed to increase motivation and physical activity, in and out of the club. Users wear a small device that tracks movement and calorie output, and then uploads the data to a personal Web page to track progress.
Taunton said it’s an exciting time for the industry because never before has such attention been paid to health and wellness from the government. Members are becoming more “tech savvy,” which is another benefit to the industry, creating more ways to interact with members.
Taunton challenged clubs to provide better value to customers as opposed to worrying about making a couple extra bucks. Taunton explained that breaking stereotypes in the industry have been an ongoing hurdle.
“People need to understand that fitness isn’t a luxury — it’s a necessity,” he said. “The more non-threatening we can make the workout experience in our clubs, the more likely our members are to stay engaged. That, combined with the ability to find new ways to demonstrate results, will lead to more sales, stronger retention and most importantly, healthier members.”
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Doug Werner, the COO of New England Fitness Distributors, said the industry needed to stop assuming that it could reach everyone. To him, it’s obvious clubs aren’t offering a service with a broad enough appeal. “Even if we acknowledge that we’ll never reach 100 percent penetration, as an industry we are clearly not offering a product or service with broad appeal,” Werner said. “If we were the automobile industry, eight out of 10 people would still be riding a horse and buggy.”
According to Werner, there are a few things the industry could do better. Identify the true potential market for products and services and develop programs, services, equipment, etc., designed to appeal to the target market.
Werner sees a need for more options for aging baby boomers. “Not senior centers, but health clubs that offer an environment and culture that 50 and 60 year old fitness conscious boomers can relate to,” he explained.
Future opportunities for the industry could be found using multi-media programs and events like “The Biggest Loser.” Also, new programs that could raise awareness of fitness benefits and provide compelling and real-life success stories. Utilizing the “health clubs without walls” concept, by using social networking and interactive gaming equipment could help penetrate markets.
“The industry as a whole must do a better job promoting the ‘benefits’ of health club participation — prevention of disease, improved mobility and prolonged life, versus the ‘features’ of health club memberships — facilities, programs and low prices,” he said.
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To reach more of the deconditioned population, change needs to come from “outside the four walls of our clubs,” said Geoffrey Dyer, the founder of Lifestyle Family Fitness. He hopes the new healthcare system will motivate employers and insurance companies to incentivize disease prevention in the upcoming years.
According to Dyer, with the cycle of retention and getting new members to replace the old — the industry touches about 22.5 percent of the population. However, it’s still not enough. “We need to do a much better job at retaining our members or delivering a better orientation program to introduce new members in our facilities and classes,” he said.
He suggested reading IHRSA’s “Why Members Quit.” In his opinion, it’s one of the best books written on member retention.
Dyer doesn’t think we will see big changes in 2011, but by 2014 he expects, as a result of the government, employers will increase incentives and/or rebates for prevention and wellness. He believes rebates could get as high as a 50 percent payout or $2,400 for individuals or $6,700 for a family.
In 2011, a great focus should be placed on fee-based programs. “This will result in better results for our members, improved retention, more member referrals and a larger pool of ‘raving fans,’” Dyer said.
New legislation to regulate personal trainers and recurring dues might be upcoming challenges the industry may face. “Club owners need to support the efforts of IHRSA with respect to public policy and each owner contribute their fair share,” Dyer said.
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Chuck Runyon, the founder and CEO of Anytime Fitness has three ideas to help reach the untouched 85 percent of population: 1) Have legislation incentives for employers or individuals to adopt a healthier lifestyle. 2) Allow fitness to be prescribed by the medical community and subsidized by insurance. 3) Change the health insurance model to look more like auto insurance — have behavior rewarded or penalized.
Runyon thinks the changes in government like the Personal Health Investment Today (PHIT) Act and the Workforce Health Improvement Program (WHIP) Act are a good start in assisting clubs in 2011, but more needs to be done
“Fitness is evolving beyond traditional equipment,” he said. Enhanced personal training, utilizing creative functional training and bootcamps will be more effective in the future.
Retention can be improved by delivering personalized content to members. Engage members with interactive content or supportive platforms to better their experience.
According to Runyon, clubs need to start optimizing social media and Internet opportunities. Have pay-per-click and integrating websites with search engine optimizations are opportunities for clubs.
The industry needs to become more credible, he said. “We need to raise our profile and credibility from the medical industry, insurance companies and government as a serious way to prevent obesity and other health related issues.”
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“Our industry needs to be identified as a solution or provider to help answer the health care costs and health problems we currently face,” said Mark Fisher the president and COO of Sport&Health, about the changes in government policy in 2011. Fisher believes the industry needs to influence the government to support health care proposals, encourage healthy lifestyles and battle obesity.
To reach more of the population, people must feel a connection with their gym and feel like someone cares. They shouldn’t feel they are going at it alone. “People believe exercise is painful,” Fisher said. “People believe getting in shape is painful. We need to assure our members that we will guide them ‘down the path of discomfort.’’’
According to Fisher, his focus for next year is making sure no member is left behind, no one gets ignored and a strong focus on engaging members is implemented. He would like to add more group strength classes, group cardio to his lineup and more TRX suspension training, “It is motivating, social and fun to work in a small group setting,” Fisher said.
To improve retention, his plan is to continue to have a staff that will engage members and show members real results.“Customers come to us to improve their fitness and health. When clients are unhappy, word gets around fast. Pay personal attention to every member,” Fisher said.
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Jeff Skeen, the president and CEO of Titan Fitness (a Gold’s Gym Franchisee), said that to produce results, in regards to retention, the industry needs to align itself with health insurance providers and partner with local doctors to build trust that, as an industry, could help their patients. “As an industry, we have not done a good job of accommodating and motivating those that are obese or have other issues, such as Type 2 diabetes, to improve their health,” Skeen said.
In regards to retention, Skeen has noted that members that receive subsidies from insurance companies tend to stay members more than those who don’t. So, Titan Fitness is working toward increasing the number of insurance companies that will provide subsidies to current and prospective members. He sees partnering with companies, insurance companies and doctors to increase memberships as an opportunity for 2011, as well as personal training accreditations as a means to integrate with insurance providers and the medical community.
In 2011 there’s a need to promote a healthy lifestyle. Skeen thinks a way to improve the member’s experience is creating programming that will not only improve fitness levels, but also provide a holistic approach to one’s well-being.
“The industry needs to evolve from fitness to wellness,” Skeen said. “Instead of completely focusing on price we need to create programs that bundle gym memberships with wellness programs. Just offering a gym with equipment will not allow us to effectively expand the population that we impact.”
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The industry has stifled itself, according to Ed Trainor, the Vice President of Fitness Services and Product Development for Town Sports International. “Because we have been doing the same thing for a long time and we have been dictating to the consumer what we believe our brand of fitness should be,” he said. “For the first time, in most industries, the consumer is now being heard, what they want, in real time.”
For Trainor, retention is as simple as listening to the member. He thinks technology is going to be the tipping point for the industry in reaching the 85 percent of the population that hasn’t been touched. Using tracking devices to help members keep track of calories burned throughout the day and not just at the gym can help motivate members to get healthy.
When it comes to new programming, Trainor thinks customizing is where things are moving toward in the future. “Now we seem
to really identify populations and almost categorizing them and age grouping them. We now customize programs for young kids, active adults aging population including Silver Sneakers,” he said. The industry needs to start touching the people that aren’t doing personal training and this is a way to do it.
Fitness is now moving into health and wellness, according to Trainor, and when you take wellness further you get prevention. We must share with members how to lead an active lifestyle. “Health and wellness is the answer and solution for the fitness industry as it evolves and you’re not going to get away with doing the same old thing we did,” he said. “We’re now going to have to become health and wellness providers becoming a little bit more clinical.”
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Not everyone is going to use a gym membership, but Royce Pulliam, the CEO of Global Fitness Holdings, LLC (Urban Active) has ideas to bring in those that are good candidates. He suggests making gym memberships tax deductible, supporting the WHIP Act — which would eliminate burdens that employers face if they offer a gym membership as an employee benefit. Allow club members to use flexible spending or health savings accounts to pay for their dues. And, focus on educating schools and families that need to be educating our youth about the importance of health and fitness.
In regards to changes in 2011, he emphasizes the importance of government to support and incentivize businesses to offer health club memberships to their employees. With the confidence building in the economic climate people will again look to find the best fitness experience at the most affordable prices.
Pulliam thinks the industry must embrace technology. “Our industry has been notoriously behind others in regards to our adaptation to the newest technology and customer trends,” he said. “I feel that people want their fitness club to match their lifestyle.”
He acknowledges a flip side to the use of technology. It has “exponentially increased the exposure of an upset customer.” It’s important to remember that members can instantly reach hundreds of people via Facebook and Twitter. “The opportunity exists when we focus on customer service and having our members blast out the extraordinary things that we do for them and the community to the thousands in their circle,” Pulliam said.
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“Our greatest weakness is that we are so passionate about the benefits of regular exercise that we have a difficult time remembering what the average non-exerciser is experiencing when they join our club,” said Karen Wischmann, the president and CEO of Total Woman Gym and Day Spa. “We forget that for many people it is an overwhelming task to make such drastic changes in their lives.”
Her advice is for the industry to get creative, slow down and incorporate non-fee programs that allow members to administer fitness at the best pace for them. A lack of motivation combined with lack of education is a primary reason the industry doesn’t reach more than 15 percent.
In 2011, Wischmann is looking at insurance reimbursement programs for personal training and massage services. “There are significant programs out there and good companies who can help administer these programs so that a club owner doesn’t get caught up in the paperwork challenges that insurance billing can create.”
She wants to see more aggressive collaborative messaging campaigns about the benefits of exercise. “I do not believe that we maximized the information in the Surgeon General’s report which was released 14 years ago. This report, and the subsequent updates to the report, are the most important information on the benefits of regular exercise and almost no one has ever heard of it,” Wischmann said. “If we could get 34,000 clubs all using the Surgeon General’s Warning on all of our advertising, the word would get out fast.” -CS
