HOW DOES YOUR CLUB MEASURE UP?

This is a two-part blog so read on it is interesting stuff.

Part 1

The old saying, “the fish rots at the head,” is true. The status or current production of your club is a direct representation of the leader and his or her ability to effectively manage, coach and lead your team to success.

A manager can say what they want such as, “the owner doesn’t market enough, our club is too expensive, we need more amenities, competition is killing us,” etc….etc….etc…blah…blah…blah…

A great leader understands that this is fitness. That 8 out of 10 Americans don’t belong to a fitness center and have no idea about competition; the costs associated with a club, what equipment is best and who the best fitness center chains are out there today.

A great leader understands that they must go out and educate the community, motivate their team to independently market the club, close more sales when they come through the door and require their sales teams to have more self produced appointments every day so they can BRAND your facility.

A great leader ensures that every person that calls the club or enters the club inquiring about a membership must be sold a membership that day or within 24 hours of that telephone inquiry.

What happened to the good ol’ days? What, do we think that there is a new and special way of generating leads for the club? Are we dealing with a generation of employees that think they can just sit in a club all day, wait for tours, call-in’s and that by e-mailing people all day will get the desired result? Or, are we just dealing with a generation that has become lazy and too reliant on technology to produce the leads?

Are these really sales people anymore with a “go get it” attitude or is it a “live by the door, die by the door” mentality?

What happened to guerrilla marketing and having your sales force constantly working to produce leads and appointments? Do they not believe that guest passes, door hangers, buddy referrals, lead boxes, take-one’s, cold calling, seminars, chamber of commerce events, corporates, promotions, cross vendor relationships, e-mail, renewals, old canceled members, road gross, close-outs, member appreciation days, contests, missed tour follow-ups and just good ol’ fashioned hard work will get them the appointments and sales they need.

Or, is it that your leader doesn’t even know how to effectively market the club without relying on the clubs name and owners marketing budget? Is your team or manager the type that on a snowy day will call in zero gross and sales and tell you that the weather was the culprit?

Or, is your team the type of team that calls in sales during a blizzard because they used the strategy of, “Hello Mrs. Jones, this is Rick calling from the ACME Club. You had an appointment to join today and I know the weather is really bad out there. I just wanted to let you know that we are still running our special today and we even turned it in to a BLIZZARD Special. You don’t have to come out to the club today, we can just do this right over the phone what credit card were you going to use, or Mrs. Jones, I can come out to you, bring you a hot cup of coffee on such a cold day and maybe I will even shovel your sidewalk.” Or are they too good for this???

What built this industry is the old school; hard knock ways of sales and self-production. Now I realize that some of the old sales tactics needed refinement but what has not changed and should not change is how we were taught to get members in the club and be self-producers.

The problem is that most general managers today do not coach, better yet; show their sales teams how to do this type of marketing and production and how it will pay off greatly for them. The reason: Most GM’s today do not even know how to do it themselves and most GM’s today are there for the title, pay and job description rather than understanding that being a leader is a choice and you must coach your team daily to achieve the results.

Being a current club owner and former club owner of more than 14 health clubs in 22 years, I have trained so many general managers and this problem that I am describing today is a problem that has existed for many years and has become even worse.

There are too many spoiled managers that have become lazy and reliant on the clubs budget, name and size of the chain where they almost seem to have an, ” I am too good for that” attitude. When it should be opposite.

Managers that have the opportunity to work for such great chains or even great small club owners should understand they have a fiduciary responsibility to the club, the owner, its employees and its members.

I have touched upon a problem that I have seen for many years and see today when assisting club owners all over the WORLD.  I have only touched upon one important responsibility your GM should be managing correctly.  There are many other very important things your GM should be doing to ensure the clubs overall success and profitability.

If you would like to see how your GM measures up to what they should be doing each day, e-mail me at rick@helpinghealthclubs.com and I will send you a GM daily “to-do list” of what they should be doing for you in their position.

Part 2

When we begin to work with prospects and clients, we are often asked just what levels of sales performance should a club be expected to achieve.  Have you ever wondered whether your club is underperforming or have you accepted a lower revenue number because the market has changed and that is just the way things have become?  Did your club use to deliver greater financials but, because of increased competition and the bad economy, you have come to accept the status quo?  Do you feel as though your sales effort is expensive with less than desired productivity?  Do you feel as if your business is slipping sideways with increased expenses and flat or falling revenues?

We can tell you that we hear this all the time with owners feeling frustrated and financially weary from having to reach into their pockets every month to keep things afloat.  It may be that competition or a tough economy has caused all this to happen.  Or – and this is where things get interesting – owners have grown accustomed to accepting less than effective marketing, so-so sales staffs and ineffective sales training and systems.  When we interview potential clients, we hear a shockingly similar story.  New memberships average between 50 and 80 per month, advertising is becoming less effective and EFT is growing more slowly.  To underscore this point, we hear owners complaining more and more about their level of cancellations.  Why?  Because their new membership numbers are barely covering the cancellations.  Owners’ focus has become defensive almost ensuring the status quo will not change.

So here is the straight scoop (and, yes, we can back this up):  Below are listed key performance indices that clubs in A and B markets should minimally be doing in an average month.  If your club is not willing to spend appropriate levels of marketing, then skip the rest the rest of this message.  No business can grow without committing sustainable, cumulative marketing monies.  If you read further on, you may be pleasantly surprised at the results.  Here is what an average club should be doing on a monthly basis with effective sales systems/training and an effective marketing campaign.

                                                                       MONTHLY                      YEARLY

 UNITS  (New Memberships)                   180                                2160

CASH (DOWN PAYMENTS)                             $18,000                       $216,000

NEW EFT                                                               $5,400                        $64,800

NEW CONTRACT VALUE                                 $56,000                      $672,000

ADVERTISING EXPENSE                                 $6,000                        $72,000

If you are performing at or near these levels, congratulations.  Your business should be profitable and growing.  If not, we invite you to take a hard look at what is going on and determine why not.  The above performance indices are NOT high-end goals.  They are achievable, doable and can be done within sixty (60) days.  There are only so many screws that you can tighten or loosen in your business model to gain maximum performance.  Two of the most important are sales training/systems and marketing.  The third is business planning but that is an entirely different subject.

You CAN perform at these levels and it is not as difficult as you may think.  Our company delivers these results when given the chance along with the proper tools.  We have and will continue to make a difference when we are involved.   You have to ask yourself if you can see your company doing the above numbers.  Many of our clients have said yes and have gone on to perform.  It is worth noting that many prospects do not have the necessary marketing funds to get started.  If you are in that boat, we have a solution. 

If you are interested, we will share it with you.

It is worth repeating: The above numbers are not pie-in-the-sky.  Any gym in an A or B market is capable of achieving these levels of performance.

The question really is:  Do you want your club in this group or not?