As the Southern hemisphere experienced a change in season - from winter to spring - on September 22nd, the Northern parts of the world entered autumn. The transition, known as the autumnal equinox, from summer to fall in the North marks the beginning of a season filled with festivals and celebrations in the United States. With important holidays like Thanksgiving and Halloween around the corner, it's time to draw up plans for promoting your brand and bringing in more members to your gym. Here are a few ideas to help you with your fall promotion: Halloween Although fitness and Halloween [...]
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A lot of jargon is thrown around in the world of fitness. Walk into any gym at any given moment in any part of the world and you will hear a conversation about too much muscle one day going through some magical, Narnia-like metamorphic journey to fat. Well, if muscle cells can somehow break the laws of everything humankind has discovered about biology, then be careful because your fingers could just as likely turn into a pack of hungry wolverines at some point. Many popular fitness terms are riddled in conversations like the one mentioned above. Probably the most popular [...]
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Most people have some sort of mobile device connected to an SMS text-messaging network these days. That creates an opportunity for the enterprising fitness center owner to use text messages as another medium in their marketing strategy, with which to engage with gym members. The question is how does that fit into your marketing and how do you get the most out of it? Is Texting The New Email Marketing? As I've stated before, email marketing is a really powerful tool to increase your fitness center's profitability. Health and fitness are such an important marketing demographic that, as an owner, [...]
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As a gym owner, health club operator, or as a freelance personal trainer, without a doubt, one or more of the following questions crosses your mind daily... How much personal training did our Brentwood gym sell last week? Who is the top grossing salesperson at our Freemont club? How did our Spring Valley team perform against their goals last month? How much EFT do we need to set up at our Downtown club to hit our goal this month? Which one of our health clubs is selling the most annual membership agreements? How much EFT did we set up yesterday? [...]
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If you are a gym owner, then one of the things you may have noticed is that a large number of people who often sign up for memberships do so with great interest, motivation and good intentions. However, due to the unending demands of their professional or personal life, they slowly stop visiting the gym regularly and seemingly may even forget that they even have a gym membership altogether. This member oversight may, very well, have nothing to do with your health club facilities or services. So it is important to remind your members about your gym and why they [...]
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We can all agree that in today's world, marketing with pictures and video makes a greater statement than with words alone. However, marketing in these realms has become competitive and tricky. Graphic design work for pictures and professional videographers can also be out of the budget for the smaller independent fitness businesses that are just opening their doors. Thus, many business owners in the fitness industry have taken advantage of social media outlets to market, because they are practically free (other than "boosting" your posts on Facebook) and can reach a countless range of people. Although the amount and variety [...]
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Fitness facilities generally involve a large amount of investment in the beginning and high maintenance costs throughout. On top of this, keeping up with the competition in terms of technology and training is another expense. Returns come much after this chunk of money is being fueled into the heart and soul of the business. What this implies is that you must have a great start to break-even as soon as possible. Your facility deserves a huge opening so that people know that a lot of effort and money has been put into a project for their benefit. Here are some [...]
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Customers today understand that it is very important to know as much as they can about a gym, health club, fitness facility, or studio before they decide to join. It is vital for you or your staff to be prepared to answer these queries in a manner which remains truthful during the sales process. How Much does it Cost? Any individual joining a gym will most likely first ask about the membership rates. Be sure to tell them the entire price, including taxes and extras, and then tell give them the breakdown of everything that is included in the total. [...]
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Closing a deal when selling health club memberships is not easy nowadays. With the boom in the fitness industry, more and more health clubs are offering attractive deals and discounts to bring in more members. When making any sale, you need to have the knowledge and skills to handle any type of objections. You may not find it difficult to do this, but price objections are the most difficult to handle. Even if your prospective clients want the deal, the price may be holding them back. Here's what you have to do to close the sale: 1) Wait for the [...]
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Why It is Vital to Hire a Competent Manager Hiring someone to manage your fitness center is one of the most important decisions you will make regarding the business. Management staff can make or break your business in a relatively short time. Your manager is your representative; your main customer service person as well as the person who manages your employees and makes all pertinent decisions when you are not there. It's no wonder that many fitness facility owners are reluctant to hand over the reins of their business to a manager. Your facility manager needs to wear a lot [...]
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Do you want to work in an office cubicle? I didn't think so. I don't either, but if you do, you certainly don't want to be working in a cubicle in the back of a gym. You want to be in a big office somewhere with glass walls, photocopiers, fluorescent lighting and a different necktie for every day of the week. On the other hand, if you want to work at a gym you really don't want to be stuck in a cubicle in the back office. Most people who take up a career running a gym do so with [...]
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Although this article is a little more dry and technical than the previous ones, it gives a little bit more background as to why Insight into your fitness business, is so important to compete in this day and age. I hope you enjoy the guest post by Jhilmil P. A little bit of history: It appears as though the gym management system was first coined in the 1980's by chief executive officer Mark Mastrov of 24- Hour Fitness. Mastrov's movement incorporated a gym software system with payment processing into a 24 hour member accessable gym. (Success, 2012). Thereafter, gym management [...]
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Do Gym Members Have a Preference When It Comes to Personal Trainers? Most gyms today offer some form of personal trainer. What some members may not realize is that gym owners have a choice as to whether they hire their personal trainers or use independent contractors to provide this service to their clients. In order to make the right decision, most gym owners want to at least acknowledge their members' feelings with regard to which type of personal trainer they would prefer to use. The question is not only one that must cover the preference of the gym owner, but [...]
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Everything I read on fitness blogs and in trade magazines lately keeps following the same B.S. mantra of "differentiate your gym through customer service." While I agree that excellent customer service should always be a cornerstone of any business, all of these bloggers and writers are ignoring the sea change that's happing in the industry. If they follow their own advice, they're going to end up with a small handful of extremely happy members - unfortunately for them, a small group of very happy members won't pay the bills. If I had to predict how to properly position your gym [...]
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