Owner`s manual
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...better able to explain to new members the
pathway to success. Creating this pathway
to success is essential to keeping the mem-
bers engaged, involved and active in your
club. Helping them get the results that they
desire is possible and, in fact, required to
build members that will stay forever.
If you have 100 people join, you are lucky if
30 to 40 of them attend their first orientation
appointment. What happens to the rest?
Most of the time, they fail, quit and leave.
Club operators often forget about those 60
or 70 people. At Universal Athletic Club in
Lancaster, PA, they set up four free “getting
started” appointments with a coach (not a
trainer). These appointments solidify value
for new members, who are instructed in how
to use the equipment and the facility and
made to feel confident and competent in all
areas of the club. These appointments also
help build social connections. The further
you can take these members during the four
appointments, the more successful they feel.
By systematically looking at every member,
providing them with opportunities and map-
ping out a plan for success, you can help
them get the results they need and desire.
By oering these introduction appointments
as complimentary with a new member-
ship, you will have more members commit
to more appointments, improving your
opportunity to provide them with the experi-
ence, value, education and habits they need
to achieve their goals. As people drift away
from their path, you might introduce them
to more of your club’s oerings. Reintroduce
them to the sales process and talk with them
about personal training. This is the right
way and the right time to introduce personal
training because it is only after these intro-
ductory appointments that they truly know
and understand their needs.
Being able to draw the member to your
club is essential in this time of intense
competition. Having a sales team that can
dierentiate and identify the factors that
will help the prospect become a member of
your organization is paramount to closing
more sales. The home run comes when
your members decide that your club is the
dierence they need and they see the results
that come from your delivering more than
they expect.
Simply stated, it your job to guide all of your
new members to successful results, every
member, every time. The correct pathway
will deliver an experience that will keep them
a member forever. »
Kulp, Thomas. “Introductory Sessions Improve
Health Club Member Retention.” Club Industry.
(2011)
4
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Technology
Mobile Apps Remain
Popular in Fitness
Industry.
More and more, health clubs and personal trainers are
using mobile applications to reach out to members.
This year, the trend
continues with a num-
ber of new launches
and updates.
Crunch, Gold’s Gym,
24 Hour Fitness and LA
Fitness were just a few
of the many club com-
panies that promoted
their health club mo-
bile apps this year.
In addition, several software companies began to oer
mobile software for personal trainers, studio owners
and corporate fitness trainers.
Apple’s iPad is becoming more useful in clubs, too.
Fit View, San Jose, CA, is one of the companies that
developed an application this year specifically for the
iPad that allows fitness coaches to design workouts
and allows members to track their performance. »
Manufacturers
Change in Patent Law
Could Aect Fitness
Equipment Innovations.
Fitness equipment manufacturers are preparing for a
change in the U.S. Patent law that could aect future
innovators and the speed of patent approvals. In
September, President Obama signed the Smith-Leahy
America Invests Act (AIA), which will go into eect on
March 16, 2013. AIA changes the U.S. Patent system
from a first-to-invent to a first-to-file system, which
means that the first person or company to file for
a patent gets the patent rather than the person or
company who proved they were the first to invent
something.
“A change to the patent system was needed for many
reasons mostly because of the increasing complex-
ity of many patent in global marketplace,” says Bryan
O’Rourke, partner in consulting company Integrus,
New Orleans. “This is certainly relevant to the fit-
ness industry, which has become more global and
competitive in nature. Therefore, the issues of intel-
lectual property (IP) will play an increasing role in how
vendors obtain a competitive advantage.” Despite the
need for a change, he says the act is controversial,
and in the long run, the new patent rules will aect
equipment and software companies in the fitness
industry although it is still uncertain how. Proponents
of the bill, such as Kevin Corbalis, executive vice presi-
dent of marketing and product development at Star
Trac, Irvine, CA says it will shorten the time it takes
to secure a patent (typically four years now) and will
move the United States in line with other industrial-
ized countries, which already use the first-to-file
system. »