Constantly Performing at the Top of the Pack

Continual high performance in bringing in revenue is an attention getter, whatever the business. It’s one thing to have a banner year financially, but quite another to consistently increase revenues from year to year. It is important to know why your location, or locations, hit and often exceed revenue goals.

In order to accomplish those tasks, you have to do the same things over and over again every day, and stick to it. Consistency is the key to increase revenue. Here’s what that looks like on the business side. It means returning calls, making sales calls, daily outreach calls to community leaders, and perhaps most importantly, is accountability. On the training side, it’s about coaches following the protocols that are in place. This is not their own show. Any coach should be able to take an athlete from another coach and train the same way. If not, we’ll lose our consistency and our profitability.

It is important to stay on your staff like white on rice to make sure that outreach is actually being done and tracked. Following up on initial leads are critical for success. The biggest challenge is losing people in the sales funnel, and/or not qualifying people right away. Procrastination and laziness will kill your revenue faster than any other factor.

Below are couple of tactical ways to help you manage your staff:

· Be quick to fire and slow to hire. If you have a staff member that is underperforming, don’t hold on to them too long. That will only drain resources!
· Your staff are not your friends. It’s nice when the people that work for you like you, but that should not be your concern. This is a business and not a social club. You will be on great terms as long as they’re producing. If not, you can be friends, but they should not be working for you.

In addition, success and profitability requires a system for tracking money. A spreadsheet for tracking all revenue and activity related to sales is essential. It needs to be updated daily and sent out nightly for review.

You should also understand that you are a service provider. Therefore, customer service from everyone at the facility is critical. Customers or members are paying for a service and they better get it from your staff. Don’t get frustrated if the same client asks every time they come in, “Where’s the bathroom?” They better be treated as if it’s the first time they asked. After all, it’s not about “you” the employee; it’s about “them” the customer. This could be a challenge to teach to the younger members of your staff because they’ve been raised in such a “me” centered world.

And finally, the training is paramount. If the training is not strong, progressive, safe, stimulating, sound, proven and run by performance coaches who can capture the athlete’s attention and keep them engaged, then you’re in trouble from the get-go. As the top dog, you should constantly be evaluating your staff and make sure the protocols are being followed meticulously. If not, you have to be sure that they are aware, so they can make the necessary adjustments. The reverse is also true — when your employees are hitting it on all cylinders, make sure that they hear praise as well.

In summary, it’s all about good systems, great employees and strong accountability. If you have these things, you will be profitable year after year!

Before joining the Parisi family in 2010 and becoming the program director of the flagship Parisi Speed School in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, Craig Stoddard began his career as a graduate assistant for a Division 1 collegiate football team, then became a strength and conditioning coach developing elite programs for four NFL teams, and since 2004, has been leading youth sports performance programs.