Everyone is familiar with the timeless saying “time is money,” (i.e wasting time is wasting money). However, what qualifies an action as a waste of time? Simple — it’s when the time and effort put in outweighs the benefits received. Operators are often looking to make processes more efficient and there are two major areas where efficiency can be improved:
Marketing
Bulk email blasts, although useful at times, are largely a thing of the past with the growing trend and success of SMS text messaging. What was once considered an invasive form of B2C communication has now become the most preferred, efficient and effective form of communication — when done responsibly.
The reason SMS is more effective is because the time and effort required for the customer to see and respond is much less, given a text to your phone is more accessible. Emails on the other hand are inconvenient, due to the fact our inboxes are overloaded. In addition, emails are often lost, thanks to overwhelming and powerful filtering tools.
Note: A recent study done by TechCrunch concluded the average person spends five hours on their mobile phone a day. Cell phone screens by default become the best marketing tool out there — why not capitalize on this opportunity, while letting your salespeople do what they do best? Sell.
Another marketing blunder is door-to-door marketing, and mass flyer/guest pass printing. To be clear — bulk snail mail campaigns (aka direct mailers) are still effective, however paying staff to walk around the mall passing out flyers is not. Staff are often spread thin as is, so adding tasks outside of the club to that workload only means important tasks inside the club are missed. In addition, accountability is a major component, and it’s hard to know if what is supposed to be completed is completed in these situations.
Data Gathering and Tracking
For too long operators and staff have been handcuffed to pen and paper for record keeping, which leaves the door open to simple mistakes: forgotten follow-ups, loss of leads or ignored leads, and redundant data entry (not to mention the time spent reading illegible handwriting).
When a sales person begins their shift, they should have a clear, efficient view of the tasks at hand for the day without rifling through tons of paper. Again, technology has the ability to reduce — if not entirely eliminate — the time suck that is pen and paper.
Time spent on these wasters directly translates into time taken away from member retention and satisfaction. Salespeople are brought on to do one thing — sell. However, these time wasters mentioned above create an environment where selling is second priority and the salespeople are likely spread too thin.
Shira Magat is an account manager for GymSales. Magat has been in the fitness industry for over 10 years, working in clubs, on clubs and for clubs. Shira’s experience has given her a well-rounded view of the industry — both in what works well and what doesn’t work well operationally. Having worked in a club, with her “hands in the dirt” for six years provided her the opportunity to learn how a club operates and establish successful operations in a new location in a new market. Now, having spent the last four years out of the club and into fitness software, Shira works with hundreds of clubs — consulting with gym owners and operators on how to maximize the effectiveness of their operations to grow success. For more information visit http://gymsales.net/.
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