Whether you own a small personal training studio or a 75,000-square-foot big box, you have people who help you run your business in exchange for compensation. You may only have three employees, or as many as 50. Regardless, each and every one represents your business and many of them, if not all, play a role in the most important thing you need to do every day: sell.
Even if you have all of those “self-starters” that you advertise for, and therefore see on almost every resume, everybody needs a little push now and again to meet their goals. Here are five things you can focus on to help get the most out of your team.
1. Utilize gentle leadership daily.
Starting with this concept will make everything else much easier. Using the four-quadrant theory of personality, three out of four employees likely need daily duties and tasks to help them stay focused. They may also need assurance that they are doing a good job. Nobody appreciates micro-management, but most of your employees will appreciate regular communication. Ask each employee that you supervise how yesterday went. Listen to them, and use that information for training, guidance, etc. The key here is to do so daily. Let them know you are a team, and you are the head coach.
2. Everybody has goals.
Most of you know this is critical for salespeople, but it should be for other employees as well, like front desk, trainers and member services. There should be goals for the number of bottles of water and Gatorade sold, and the number of member touches. Whatever it is, each employee is responsible for something. Find a way to set a monthly, weekly and daily goal for at least one aspect of their job.
3. Reward success, and punish failure.
With goal setting and proper leadership, your employees should meet and exceed their goals every month. Compensate them with bonuses that are tied to their individual goals. If somebody is a super producer, they should get paid more than somebody who underachieves. And when somebody underachieves for too long (which would be two to three months in a row) you need to fire them and find a replacement. If your employees understand that doing their job well and hitting their goals will earn them a good wage, while coming up short every month means a pink slip, it won’t take long for your staff to start bringing their A game every day.
4. Short term is better than long term.
As an example, let’s say you have a salesperson who you incentivize through a base salary, plus a commission on sales. You bonus this person every month for hitting his or her goals. Use the same format, but add a bonus every week for hitting weekly goals. An employee will always get more excited and motivated when they can almost feel their goal in sight. Rather than bonus $200 for selling 50 memberships for the month, bonus them $50 for selling 12 or more this week.
5. Share your financials.
Letting your employees in on the accounting side of your business enables them to take more ownership in the gym. They will become more invested in the business because they will better understand that there are many bills to pay every month. You don’t have to give them your P & L statements, necessarily. A document with basic overhead expenses, compared to revenue through memberships, training, nutrition sales, for example, will suffice. The point is to help them better understand how the business works from a cash flow position.
These five tips should set you and your team up for success and allow you to maximize profits in your fitness business. Please contact me with any questions and to set up a complimentary business review call.
And keep changing lives.
Jason Linse is president and founder of The Business of Fitness, a consulting company. He graduated from Minnesota State University with a degree in public health and corporate wellness. He started working in the fitness industry in 1995. In 2005, Linse started with Snap Fitness at its headquarters, helping them grow from 14 locations to 1,100 locations by October 2010, when he left to start the Business of Fitness. Linse also owned a gym for two and a half years before becoming a consultant. He also owns a personality assessment company called People Plus+ Fitness. He can be reached at jason@jasonlinse.com or at 612-310-1319. Visit www.jasonlinse.com.
