Many years ago you started a business and the time you put into it, added up faster than you care to admit.  The clients came and enjoyed your business.  They purchased items, they even may have joined your organization and all seems to be going great. Then suddenly something happens:  A CHANGE.

Thinking about the vision of a turtle on a fencepost, this appears to be an issue with many businesses today. They have closed their eyes to the environment around them and have additionally decided to not get involved with a decision or a pathway of a certain direction, hence the sitting on the fencepost.


Do you invest time daily to look around, start each day with a look forward for new ideas, and an analysis of yesterday activities to access the good and the bad that occurred in the past.

Looking at three things consistently will ensure that we are moving in the right direction:

1. Culture/Vision do you know the vision and the culture of your business. Do you access your movements every day to assure that your decisions are vision sound?
2. History: look to the past often.  If you visit the past daily then you are keeping track on a daily basis and that time is spent wisely and effectively.  When we wait too long to access the past, it becomes an overwhelming task and one that we will resist doing.
3. Future:  do you daily take time to look ahead and see if the pathway ahead is leading you in the direction that you want to take.  Is your map out and are you accessing the plan to allow you to move your business in the direction that you are wishing to go

The turtle may have been raised to the top of the fencepost, but to stay there it will require a constant vigilance of the surroundings to stay on top of that post and hence stay on top of your world.

As we enter into 2010, we need to take time to set our written goals.

We have all read the story of the Harvard Study in 1979, whereas they accessed who had written goals and who did not.

Please read thru the article below to review:

So, Why Do 3% of Harvard MBAs Make Ten Times as Much as the Other 97% Combined ?

The answer is a simple question: “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?” In 1979, interviewers asked new graduates from the Harvard’s MBA Program and found that :

• 84% had no specific goals at all
  
• 13% had goals but they were not committed to paper
  
• 3% had clear, written goals and plans to accomplish them
  

In 1989, the interviewers again interviewed the graduates of that class.  You can guess the results:

• The 13% of the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 percent who had no goals at all.
  
• Even more staggering – the three percent who had clear, written goals were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97 percent put together.
  

(Source:  from the book What They Don’t Teach You in the Harvard Business School, by Mark McCormack)

When you review your marketing plans and the allocation of the funds needed to run it, where is the majority spent. 

Most clubs will have a substantial amount in what could be classified as new member acquisition. Most of the marketing seminars or discussion that I get involved in are all about ways to acquire new members.  Where is the money to drive our existing members to the programs that already exist at our club, where is the money spend on keeping the members we have active in the club.

The challenge that should be put forth is the amount of money that needs to be spent in our member induction and member retention programs.  For a small fraction of our advertising budget we can spend money on retaining the member we have.

To keep this all in monetary prospective,  you can spend half of one mail campaign and have a full year worth of a system that will improve your retention, therefore building your membership and your EFT every month. While it is important to keep our EFT healthy, it is just as important to make sure that we keep every member that we have as long as possible. We need to ensure that we are allocating money to keeping the member involved. Much of the issue becomes having the relationship with the member that ensures we know that the member will communicate with us and let us know when their program needs a tweak. This takes a few dollars to be spent with your employees and training them to have the eyes and ears to identify issues before they become cancellations.

Involved members spend money at your club.

We all know that many times it takes us months to recoup the new member acquisition expenses.  The money we get monthly from an existing member is cleaner and the work involved with them becomes less and less as they mature as a member. As our club becomes more and more successful we are able to afford to invest in more programs. It is important fact that we need to have a diverse offering that encompasses many levels of challenges to provide the member with reasons to stay.

We need to learn to keep the members we have and make sure that our business plans are not directed to much in a forward direction and that we are being attentive to the backdoor of our club.

So as we look at our plans for 2010. Let’s take some time to look at what we can do to get our members involved and to make sure that their success in their interest level stays as high as possible.

Congrats to the staff at the conference! The show was very well organized and a class act through out.

The seminars were informative and entertaining and well worth the time and money invested.

Fitness Club Consultants delivered two seminars on non dues revenue and the importance of focusing on retention of our current members.

Our PowerPoint presentation will be available for download from our website later this week and a podcast will be available on line in about ten days.

Keep your eyes and ears ready for these valuable tools to help you improve your club.

Tom

Wellness Coaching Opportunities Revealed

If you’ve been training clients one-on-one, in small groups or group exercise classes and are contemplating making the switch to ‘wellness coaching,’ meet three diverse ACE-certified fitness professionals trainers whose philosophy on coaching and careers may surprise you.
David Bagby
A veteran trainer with more than two decades of experience, Bagby has taught group fitness classes and personal training in health clubs and corporate settings. He also helped develop wellness programs, including smoking cessation and stress management programs, in clinical settings before “wellness” became a buzzword.
Even today, Bagby doesn’t refer to himself as a lifestyle or wellness coach. After all, both wellness coaches and ACE-certified personal trainers design exercise programs to help clients improve their physical health, including cardiovascular, strength, flexibility and endurance. They also both act as motivators, educators and accountability partners within their scope of practice to help clients make lasting lifestyle changes.
So what are some of the differences then?
In a lot of cases, it comes down to education. Wellness and lifestyle coaches see themselves as addressing the whole person. They often spend a lot more time merely talking to clients, often over the phone, asking probing questions, such as about their clients’ nutritional habits, overall health and daily routine to try to uncover underlying factors that lead to unhealthy behaviors; and then work with clients to find solutions to help them unlearn their unhealthy behaviors and make better decisions with the goal to achieve lasting good health.
For Bagby, who is an ACE-certified Personal Trainer, Advanced Health & Fitness Specialist, Group Fitness Instructor, earning the ACE-Lifestyle & Weight Management Consultant certification was critical to his career success. The LWMC certification brings together three critical components: Nutrition, lifestyle change and exercise.
“When you have the LWMC certification and go to a clinical setting, you have so much more credibility,” said Bagby.
As an independent contractor, Bagby trains clients at their gym or at their home. He also contracts with an internist in private practice, who markets an anti-aging program to consumers. With the program being fee-for-service only, the practice attracts mainly sedentary middle-aged and older individuals who are often overweight and obese and are looking to improve their overall well-being.
“I assess the patient’s strength, alignment, flexibility, the nutritionist does the food diary, and sets up a weight-loss program, and the internist supervises the program,” Bagby explained.
Among his other tasks are developing the exercise program to train clients, tracking their exercise log for adherence and following up with clients to ensure that they get their blood work done on time.
To summarize, “I keep up with everything about them that they consider your business in what has to do with their health,” he said.
He finds that certain personality types may be better suited for wellness coaching as it takes perseverance and empathy to be successful.
Dr. Mark Jackman
With a Ph.D. in sociology from Duke University, Mark Jackman isn’t your typical ACE-certified Personal Trainer and Lifestyle & Weight Management Consultant, and wellness coach.
Still, as someone who specializes in working with overweight and obese clients, Jackman can offer anyone interested in working with that population great insight. He is also living proof that working with America’s continually rising overweight and obese population, is mutually rewarding.
Jackman gave the example of a middle-aged obese female client who suffers from multiple health conditions, including type 2 diabetes, arthritis in her hands and feet, anxiety and depression, whose life he helped turn around.
“I’ve been working with her to envision a healthier, happier self,” Jackman said. After working with Jackman, the woman started cooking healthier meals and recognized the pitfalls of poor eating habits.
“I helped her recognize what she has accomplished and feel good about it and reframe her all-or-nothing thinking,” Jackman said.
Learning how to eat better and training with Jackman, while visiting with a psychotherapist, also helped the woman overcome destructive thinking patterns.
Jackman notes that wellness coaches should not be confused with psychotherapists.
“I don’t try to help people find the perfect job or save a marriage,” Jackman said.
Wellness coaches, however, can be instrumental in changing people’s negative health behaviors. He also finds that earning the ACE-LWMC certification is a pivotal first step to wellness coaching. For more information on Mark Jackman, visit Life Signs.
Dr. Mary Jayne Johnson
Dr. Mary Jayne Johnson, an exercise physiologist and Pilates Method Alliance Gold-certified Pilates teacher, said she was recently approached by one of her Pilates students. The student wanted to see if Johnson would help her regarding a difficult health decision. A breast cancer survivor, the woman felt she needed to entrust herself in someone outside of her medical network.
This is how Johnson meets most of her wellness clients.
“If someone is going to entrust you with their well-being, you have to be someone they trust,” Johnson said. “You have to be knowledgeable, honest, engaging and (clients have to feel) comfortable to come to you with their concerns.”
A 30-year veteran of the health and wellness industry and former Southwest Regional Health & Fitness Manager for the Wellbridge Company, Johnson also isn’t your typical ACE-certified trainer.
But she knows what it takes to be a successful wellness coach.
“A gifted personal trainer may already be a wellness coach, if they have taken the time to broaden their expertise, such as in psychology,” Johnson said.
In her view, wellness is a personal state.
“What wellness is for me, may not be wellness for you. I have a hard time (believing) that you can attend a weekend certification course or workshop to have the qualifications needed to provide sound advice. The Lifestyle & Weight Management Consultant certification can be backed up with evidence and scientific research,” Johnson said.
Yet, to be a successful wellness coach takes experience and continuing education: That is life experience, extensive awareness of what’s going on in the literature, knowledge in nutrition, psychology, prescription drugs, exercise, as well as the spiritual component and emotions of well-being.
Some wellness coaches offer advice over the phone, but for Johnson face-to-face interaction is key. “I like to look into someone’s eyes, read their body language, how they’re standing. I want to see the quality of movement, see if their breath is in the neck, their belly or chest to get a better idea of where (the individuals) are holding their stress and tension.”
For Johnson, uncovering the cause of physical symptoms, such as pain, is as critical to helping clients achieve well-being as engaging them in regular physical activity.

“When someone is telling me their back is hurting, I ask what is going on in their life,” she said. “My interest is going beyond the traditional health approach.”
To contact Mary Jayne Johnson, visit www.doctormaryjayne.com.
For more information see the ACE-Lifestyle & Weight Management Consultant certification program page.
________________________________________
Marion Webb is the managing editor for the American Council on Exercise and an ACE-certified Personal Trainer and ACE-certified Group Fitness Instructor. For specific fitness-related story ideas or comments, please e-mail her directly at marion.webb@acefitness.org.

One of our greatest themes in Members4ever is “Success thru Involvement”.

Involved members STAY!

Your club needs to become more than a place to exercise. Can you create a social center? Can you become a place that makes and encourages friendships?

The fact is that if your members have friends at your club, both types of friendship, they won’t leave. They need to be engaged with your staff and other members.

How does this happen? Simple enough, we need to engage them in activities and programs.

Can you create running groups, boot camps, fitness 101, weightloss seminars, free guest Fridays, and on and on.

You need to have a system in place that helps you to invite your members and for them to join in and even better to bring friends to the activities that you designed and installed in your club.

If you can be willing to try new things and invite members to try them, you WILL be rewarded with referrals and a club that grows every month.

In good health,

Tom

Ah, July 4th a day off from work and a beautiful sunny day here at home. My mind is wondering back to my passion and life mission of improving retention of members in health clubs.

Members4ever(tm) is successfully running in clubs throughout this great country and the feedback we get is all about how members are connecting better with the club and the program participation is expanding rapidly.

Today I am thankful that we are able to connect with others and improve their overall well being. We are starting to move the focus off of just exercise and rather to making your club a social center that does exercise as one of it’s offerings.

Our program starts out different and remains that way, so that the member sees that they made the right choice in trusting your health facility to make a difference in their lives.

Our concept of using coaches rather than personal trainers has been both a financial gain ( to the department), a cost savings to the club, and even better a motivating and inspiring experience for the member.

Enjoy your weekend and be safe.

Tom.

Your sales staff is the pivot point in the long term member formula. Your reception may be the first impression, but the stage is set up by your sales team. Coaching your sales staff to deliver a proper needs analysis is key. This gives the member the proper induction presentation based on what they desire. Additionally, if this process is properly recorded it can be used in the future to track success and used to build rapport with your fitness team. It often occurs that a salesperson gets in a routine with his presentations and the result is a depersonalized interview with the prospect. Forcing a prepared needs analysis will insure that each prospect will feel you are interested in them. When we talk about how can sales effect retention it starts with letting the new member know at the first interaction that we care about them and will not treat them impersonally.

Would you go to a play without knowing what is to be going on? Would you spend the money without knowing that you "should" enjoy it and love the experience? It is likely we go there to experience the thrill of our emotions and to get a release from the world that engulfs us everyday.

It is important that you set out all your marketing for everyone to know what you are about and what you are going to deliver to them. Hey guest passes are dangerous. You may allow someone to see who you are but not what you are. Ensure that your marketing includes a statement of what you are planning to deliver and how you are going to do that. We regularly mention our guarantee, our fitness coaches, and our group fitness commitment. People know when they enter our club that they want details on specific items that we promote. We differentiate our service. We stand for their success and we show we have a plan to deliver the outcome they desire.

For additional details please contact us at 717-490-8063.