Kay Yuspeh didn’t have an extensive fitness background, but she understood something many other health and fitness clubs didn’t — her members. By simply focusing on their needs over her own, she developed a devoted clientele.
Yuspeh, 60, raised in the 1960s claims the hippie era made her more in tune with people as opposed to her budget. “I make decisions with my gut, not my bottom line,” she explained with a short laugh.
Although, working with your gut may prove risky, not providing for members can be equally as risky. Yuspeh understood that the citizens of Milwaukee desired a place to play tennis and racquet sports. Initially she engaged this desire and slowly pursued other fitness ventures that transformed Elite Sports Clubs into an all-purpose fitness facility.
Understand Your Demographic
In 1974, a 24-year-old Yuspeh took her role as GM of South Shore Racquet Club — she quickly pursued learning as much about the industry as possible.
South Shore was a tennis club. Originally, the club had a high annual membership fee and high court fees. Without the owners’ knowledge, Yuspeh did a rate conversion that took the club to monthly dues with lower court costs. “I just went ahead and did it,” she said. “And, our profits went way up converting from monthly dues and lower court fees.”
She continued improvements after attending a conference held by The Cooper Clinic in Wisconsin. “I learned that fitness was measurable,” Yuspeh said. “They taught us about fitness assessments and I realized fitness was measurable. I approached the owners of South Shore and asked if I could add fitness to the club.” At the time, South Shore was only a tennis club.
“I added Group X and a racquetball court,” Yuspeh said. “We did our own certification for aerobics at that time. I hired a woman that graduated from the Juilliard School of Dance, and had her set up the program for our aerobics. She would do the training and the testing, and we would do our own certification. At that time, there wasn’t anything else out there like it.”
“No one else was doing that,” she said of her time at South Shore. “We even brought in a doctor twice a week to do fitness assessments.” Members enjoyed the fitness advantages they were receiving, and profits went through the roof.
This was Yuspeh’s model, and she used it when she decided to buy a club that had been repossessed by the FDIC — Highlander Tennis Club. After the purchase of Highlander, Yuspeh continued implementing more of the same influence she had had on South Shore.
The members quickly attached themselves to fitness. They found that incorporating fitness into their lives made them feel better and helped in so many different aspects of tennis. Yuspeh continued to add equipment to the gym for members to run the full gauntlet of exercise.
Once Yuspeh opened Elite in 1986, it was time to launch all of her ideas for herself. She understood that her members enjoyed fitness, but she knew they wanted more. They wanted to be the best tennis players in town, and fitness was part of that equation.
Yuspeh launched the Great Milwaukee Indoor Tennis Association (GMITA). “Because of who I was, all the owners showed up to those meetings,” she said. “I made it mandatory that it was an owner-run organization versus a pro-run organization, which it is now.” When the owners met, it was easy for them to make decisions about running tournaments and clinics. However, since the professionals have taken over, they develop ideas for the clubs, but if one club disagrees with the plan, they have to return to the drawing board.
The members showed a desire for clinics and tournaments. The GMITA helped Elite Sports Clubs give members what they desired. Yuspeh, being a club owner and founder of GMITA, was able to speak with her members and get citywide action for tournaments and locations for events.
The Crossover
Tennis was a major successor back in the 1970s and 1980s. However, now it has become important to include fitness. At Elite, the older members continue to play tennis, just like they did when they were young. Yuspeh said it’s important as a tennis facility to continually engage new demographics.
“Families join for fitness,” Yuspeh said. “The parents workout and attend Group X classes, while the kids get involved in tennis.” Once the kids get involved in tennis and begin to play competitively, the parents start playing. “They want to play with their kids,” she continued. “It turns into a family sport.”
There isn’t an age restriction on when kids can get involved in tennis at Elite. The club has worked with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to incorporate QuickStart Tennis. Information on the revolutionary tennis game for kids 10 and under can be found at www.usta.com.
The QuickStart games are designed to get younger kids involved, but not intimidate them with the full game. They have special designed racquets, balls and even a shorter court and net.
“You start with a foam tennis ball and you work your way up,” Yuspeh said. “In no other sport do you have kids starting with the full sport. You don’t have a 6-year-old trying to shoot a 10-foot basket in basketball. In soccer they have a smaller field and a different ball. All sports have different equipment for kids to get them started. Tennis has adopted that philosophy to get kids playing. It’s a difficult sport to learn and be successful, because you have to get the ball over the net and into the court. If the ball is easier to get to and you have a smaller net and court, it makes the game simpler. They have also changed the scoring to make the games shorter.”
QuickStart allows parents to get involved at the club a lot earlier with younger children. “This year we lowered our lesson prices for 10 and under,” Yuspeh said. “That is the first time we’ve done that. We are not requiring membership to take lessons in the QuickStart. We run three, 13-week group sessions throughout the fall and then we run two, five-week sessions in the summer.”
The hardest aspect of the QuickStart tennis is convincing existing tennis players that their children should start that way. “On YouTube, if you watch, [Roger] Federer and [Rafael] Nadal, they have a video explaining that that’s how they started playing tennis,” Yuspeh explained.
The tennis leagues have meandered to other sports, too. Yuspeh said there is a great following among high school kids that enjoy basketball. The kids, along with a few older basketball enthusiasts, have developed leagues. Members have also helped push a volleyball league that has been a new development at Elite. “It’s all about trying to find the right mix and get the word out that you have those facilities,” Yuspeh said. “But, the gym can be used for so many things. We do some of our big Group X classes on our gym floor.”
Also, Yuspeh started SCAMP several years ago in a response to her own children in the summer. “I had a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old, and I didn’t know what to do with them,” Yuspeh said. “I created a day camp and we called it SCAMP because we weren’t licensed. SCAMP was Summer Children Activity and Movement Program. If anyone came in and questioned us, we could say ‘no, we have this program.’ With a program you are allowed to drop off your kids, but you aren’t allowed to just leave your kids at a club. That’s how we got around that.” The program is actually a camp and is now licensed as a children’s summer camp.
Elite hasn’t stopped there. They have incorporated a myriad of other sports, including Karate lessons that help bring in prospective, and regular members alike. The Karate lessons aren’t included in the club membership, but are at a discounted rate. They have also incorporated swim and tennis lessons for non-members. The tennis lessons become open to the public during the summer months. This helps Elite continue to bring in potential members as the fitness aspect of the club slows.
Members Count
In the beginning of our interview, Yuspeh hinted at the success of her clubs and the reasoning behind such success. We’ve touched on the idea of developing relationships with members throughout the entire article, but why are current members so valuable? Yuspeh said that Elite doesn’t spend a lot on marketing initiatives. “We get most of our members through referrals,” she said. Elite has installed rewards for members that refer their friends to the club.
The sad truth is members have a tendency to move for jobs, family or lack of funds. You’ve probably seen them slowly dwindle in their workouts until they are just a bank draft. If you’ve reached the point where this is how you feel about your members, call Yuspeh.
As she has stated, she is a product of the 1960s. During this time she developed a belief in people, and has strived to help them stay healthy. Her fitness clubs help people stay healthy.
Yuspeh has worked hard to ensure that decisions are made with the member’s success in mind. Therefore, how are her clubs so successful? It’s all in her philosophy.
Focusing on members has been the key. Members join her club, and they stay for a long time. There isn’t a really great marketing plan other than giving members what they desire. By doing so, the members have high referral rates and have a tendency to keep their membership for a long, long time. -CS
By Tyler Montgomery
