The industry is working hard to meet the needs of increasingly mobile members — now it’s time to give staff members the power to go mobile, too.
It’s no secret that your members are increasingly using mobile devices to access the gym, make purchases and track their fitness. Most gyms already have their own member mobile apps, and offer equipment and vending machines that integrate directly with smartphones. The industry is better meeting the needs of a mobile generation of club members.
But what about the staff?
Declining Days of the Desktop
Just like your members, your personal trainers and instructors are turning to mobile devices to keep track of their time, schedule their lives, and interact with friends and family. But in their professional lives, mobile lags behind.
I visit gyms around the world and regularly see staff hovered over a desktop computer at the front desk or in a back office. The time they spend behind the screen booking classes and looking up members means precious moments lost on the gym floor.
Phones can do anything these days — why can’t they help trainers and instructors too?
Making the Change
It’s time to change the industry’s mindset when it comes to staff scheduling and member interactions. Let’s take the booking system off the desktop and into the hands of our instructors and trainers. Let’s go mobile.
But how do we do that? By implementing tools that staff already use in their private lives into their professional lives. Instant messaging, apps, social media and mobile scheduling tools can be used in a professional capacity in much the same way as they are used personally.
Club operators need to partner with software solution providers that specialize in giving staff the ability to go mobile while, at the same time, maintaining governance and control for the businesses themselves.
The digital revolution empowers your staff to take your work mobile. Because the more mobile they are, the more time they spend with members in the place they need them most — on the gym floor.
Karl Koutroupas is the vice president of strategy and customer insights at Exerp. He can be reached at sales@exerp.com or visit www.exerp.com.
