The Sales Process: From Leads to Members

THERE ARE three basic stages
when selling memberships.
This three-stage process incorporates
planning, teamwork
and determination.
Stage 1: Identifying leads
“Leads” are individuals whose
demographics (personal characteristics
and behaviors) align with
the demographics of your members,
and have given an indication
that they might be interested in a
membership. Examples of leads
include individuals who complete
a lead card, responded to an
advertisement or called because of
a direct-mail piece they received.
Leads are individuals who, when
exposed to the features and benefits
of your facility, may become
more interested and eventually
decide to join.
The process of generating
leads should be the top priority
of your membership sales
team and marketing department.
The lead-generation
process involves two distinct
phases. The first is marketing,
which is designed to generate
consumer interest and awareness
of your fitness center. The
second is lead tracking, or database
mining, which enables you
to place a name with a lead.
You should make every attempt
to get the mailing address,
phone number and email
address for each person who
calls your facility, responds to a
lead card or marketing piece,
attends a health fair or visits
using a guest pass. Generating
leads is a full-scale effort that
ties marketing to information
collection.
Stage 2: Qualifying prospects
A prospect is a lead who has
expressed a need for or an interest
in your fitness center.
Accordingly, a prospect is more
likely to become a member than
someone who is a lead. Turning
leads into prospects occurs
in many ways. The most critical
factor is talking with the lead
and identifying his or her
desires and needs, and then
having the salesperson offer
solutions through a facility
membership. Core marketing
strategies that are likely to be
successful at generating
prospects include member
referrals, guest visits from distributed
guest passes and referrals
from corporate accounts.
Leads turn into prospects
when they indicate, verbally or
non-verbally, that your fitness
center offers them an opportunity
to fulfill a specific need,
when they have previously been
members of another fitness facility,
have a history of exercising
and want to resume the activity,
are looking for a way to achieve
a fitness or weight-loss goal, have
contacted the facility based on
the recommendation of a current
member, have taken a tour
of the fitness center or have used
a guest pass. When your sales
members determine that a lead
has become a prospect, it is their
responsibility to move forward
with the final process of closing
the sale.
Stage 3: Closing the sale
The process of moving a
prospect to membership usually
takes place in one of two ways.
The first is referred to as “relationship
selling,” where
prospects choose to become
members because the facility has
demonstrated that it can fulfill
an expressed need. The second
method is often referred to as
“high-pressure sales,” wherein
the salesperson applies pressure
for the prospect to join using
certain “closing” techniques. The
relationship approach is likely to
generate the highest closing percentage
(i.e., the percentage of
prospects who become members)
and the highest quality
member, while “high-pressure”
closing techniques usually produce
high closing percentages,
but low-quality members.
Relationship selling usually
brings in members who will
remain members. This method
involves an indepth process of
uncovering a prospect’s needs
and then connecting your services
to those needs. This process
does not intimidate the
prospect, and it does not
employ discounting or other
rehearsed processes to move the
prospect to membership.
As easy as 1–2–3
Membership sales — like
most things of value — do not
occur by accident. Rather, they
are a byproduct of a wellthought-
out plan. Each stage
involves a number of key steps
that are an essential part of selling
memberships.

Memberships: It’s All About the Numbers

TO MANY individuals in the fitness
industry, the word “sales” elicits
negative perceptions. In reality,
however, sales essentially involves
nothing more than providing a
worthwhile product, for which a
market exists — a needed service
or an exceptional experience that
fulfills a prospect’s wishes. Here is
an overview of the sales process.
The mathematics of
memberships
A thriving membership is at the
heart of every successful fitness
center. The challenge of sales is to
make sure that the facility’s membership
level continues to grow, thus
ensuring the overall profitability and
vitality of the club. According to the
International Health, Racquet and
Sportsclub Association’s (IHRSA)
2004 Profiles of Success, member fitness
centers had a net membership
growth in 2004 ranging from 3 to
6 percent. This profile also indicates
that most mature club operations
had membership growth closer to
3 percent. Figures 1 and 2 show that
most fitness centers have to sell
between 800 and 1,300 memberships
on an annual basis to succeed,
with some of the larger club operators
having to sell as many as 5,000
memberships annually.
What is most evident from these
figures is that, on an annual basis,
most fitness centers generate new sales
at a rate ranging from 28 to 54 percent
of their base membership. Fitness
centers have a pattern that requires a
high rate of membership sales. If, for
example, the mean number of total
sales for fitness centers larger than
60,000 square feet, which is 1,557
memberships, is used as a basis for
identifying the extent of the need to
sell memberships, and that number is
converted to a weekly sales rate, a facility
ends up having to sell 20 memberships
a week. If
the annual sales
ranges indicated
in Figures 1 and 2
are examined, the
average sales
required on a
weekly basis for
the majority of
fitness centers
would range from
a low of 10 to a
high of 30 sales
per week. Facilities
in large chains
often have to sell
an average of 100
memberships per
week. A highperforming
sales person will,
on average, make
approximately 10
membership sales
a week. In other
words, most fitness
centers will need at least two full-time
membership sales people. In fact, highsales-
volume clubs will often need as
many as 10 membership sales people.
Obviously, sales are most definitely a
numbers game.
The membership sales
continuum
Membership sales involve three
distinct stages: identifying leads,
qualifying prospects and closing
the sale. Each of the stages is like a
filtering screen, with the number of
people at each stage being screened
until it becomes a smaller population
with better qualifications for
membership. As Figure 3 indicates,
the sales process can begin with
100 leads who develop into 30
prospects, which results in 15 sales.
For example, a fitness center that
requires 20 new memberships per
week would need to generate a total
of 130 leads and 40 prospects
weekly. When examined in this perspective,
the sales process requires a
large reservoir of leads in order to
produce the required level of membership
sales. While the percentages
tend to vary from market to market
and club to club, the average fitness
center can expect to convert 20 to
50 percent of its leads to prospects,
and 20 to 80 percent of its prospects
into actual members.
Numbers don’t lie
Membership sales are a byproduct
of a disciplined business practice
that requires a detailed system
of checks and balance. While a
variety of ways have been used
over the years to sell memberships
(some more successful than
others), the bottom line in every
situation is how many memberships
are actually sold.

Health Club...Staging the Membership Tour

AMONG MANY types of membership
strategies, fitness center tours
produce the highest percentage of
pro.spects from leads, and memberships
from prospects. A membership
salesperson who has
mastered the art of the tour can
be assured to generate quality
prospects and membership sales.
But, there are key steps involved
in staging a successful facility tour.
Start with a Q&A
Begin the tour with a relaxed
Q&A session. Sit down in an
open, non-intimidating setting
and offer prospects water. Then,
talk to them about why they want
to join, their favorite activities,
goals, etc. This information will
not only increase the chances of
the membership sale being closed,
but can prove invaluable in setting
up the tour. This feedback can
also be used to improve membership
growth and retention.
Find their “hot spots”
Potential members are knowledgeable,
and giving them a
“canned” tour is one of the worst
things you can do. It can turn
prospects off, and detract from
the level of professionalism of
your staff members. The tour
should be personalized for each
prospect, based on the priorities
indicated in the Q&A session. Use
that information to identify the
prospect’s “hot spot,” and start the
tour there.
Introduce prospects to your
facility’s experts in their indicated
areas of interest. If the tour has
been scheduled, arrangements
should be made for the experts to
be present. If the tour is unscheduled
and an expert is not available,
the fitness director or an
assistant can fill in.

Never lead off a tour of the fitness
area by saying, “this is our
cardiovascular room,” or, “we have
Nautilus equipment.” These are
obvious statements that indicate a
lack of professionalism and
understanding of the prospect’s
specific needs. Instead, focus on
what sets your fitness center apart
from other clubs, and what those
differences mean to the prospect.
Focus on the staff, service, members,
programming, etc. — not
the equipment.
“Want to try the facility today?”
Give prospects the opportunity
to use your fitness center that day.
Better yet, connect them with
another member or a staff person
who can provide any needed
assistance.
Introduce a member
From a sales perspective, nothing
nothing
is stronger than the testimony
of a member to show a prospect
the value of your facility. The
introduction between a prospect
and a member should be short
and brief. A satisfied member can
be your best salesperson.
Provide printed information
Prospects should be provided
with the facility’s brochure before
the tour begins. This way, they can
reference information presented
in the brochure during the tour.
In addition, the tour should
include a brief review of the
fitness center’s programs
and/or events. It is important
that the prospect gets a feel for
the various activities and traditions
of your facility. This situation
also represents a great
opportunity for prospects to
ask questions, and gives the
salesperson the chance to elaborate
on the level of member
participation in the facility.
Ask for the sale
After the tour is complete, the
salesperson should sit down with
the prospect in a non-intimidating
setting and ask if he or she has
any further questions. After providing
answers, the salesperson
should ask for the sale. If the sale
doesn’t occur, the salesperson
should give the prospect a guest
pass, and then follow up at a later
date to see how his or her visit to
the facility went.
Steps to success
A well-planned membership
tour is one of the most effective
things a facility can do to help
bring about membership sales.
Collectively, these steps can provide
fitness centers a pathway to
success.

Selling corporate memberships is different and more difficult than the usual sales process.

IN URBAN markets and suburban
markets with a high concentration
of businesses, corporate membership
sales present an opportunity for
fitness centers to develop large reservoirs
of leads and prospects, which
often result in high closing rates. For
many facilities, the corporate market
represents a majority of their membership
growth opportunity. In reality,
the process of generating
corporate leads and prospects, then
closing those leads, is different than
the typical sales process.
The corporate mindset
To gain corporate members, learn
about what corporations are seeking
when they purchase corporate
memberships. The University of
Michigan’s Health Management
Research Center produces an annual
report that offers a useful overview
of the cost benefit data that corporations
typically consider when they
evaluate the need for a corporate
membership program. Another
resource is the 1998 International
Health, Racquet and Sportsclub
Association publication The Corporate
Market: How to Capture and
Keep Corporate Memberships.
In general, most corporations
purchase corporate memberships
to use as a tool for recruiting
high-caliber talent, help improve
employee morale and productivity,
reduce healthcare-related costs,
improve the image of the company,
and/or reduce worker’s
compensation costs, absenteeism
and work-related disability.
The corporate market
Develop a list of the most
appropriate corporations to pursue
by using the following guidelines:
• Identify which corporations are
represented by your current members,
and talk with those members,
or contact the company directly.
• Compile a list of companies
that fall within your market area.
While not as effective as using
your membership roster, this
strategy is a good alternative.
• Identify the decision-makers
at these corporations. In most
cases, he or she is in either the
human resources or medical
departments. In smaller companies,
it might be the manager or
president of the company.
• Learn about the company’s
values and needs. Make an effort
to learn as much about a company
as you can. Start the effort by
searching the company’s website.
Develop a presentation package
Prepare a professional presentation
about your facility and the
value of corporate memberships.
Get an audience at the company.
This is often the most challenging
aspect of corporate sales.
Some steps that can be helpful in
getting your foot in the door
include member referral, building
relationships in the community
and forwarding a personalized
invitation to the corporation.
Make the first appointment a
learning experience. In corporate
sales, the first appointment is not
designed to close the sale, but rather
as a means to learn about the company’s
needs and wants, and to
present general information about
the benefits your facility can offer.
The basic goal of this first meeting
should be to have the contact agree
to allow you to forward a proposal
that is specific to the company.
Forward a customized presentation.
Prepare a customized proposal
that is relevant to what you
have learned about the company in
your first meeting. It might include
an invitation for the contact to use
the facility, or an invitation that
allows employees to have one week
of complimentary usage. Some fitness
centers develop special corporate
activities, such as featured
evenings for targeted companies.
Maintain contact. Follow up
the proposal with a call to confirm
that it was received, and inquire
about scheduling another meeting
to discuss the proposal. Be vigilant;
it may take a few months
between the time you forwarded
the initial proposal and your next
meeting with the company.
Prepare for additional meetings
and counterproposals. You will
typically have to deal with additional
meetings and revised proposals.
It is a rare event that a club’s
first proposal is the one the company
accepts.
Throw a party for the company.
Once the company agrees to
your proposal, a special function
should be held at your facility welcoming
the company.
Assign a corporate representative
It is essential to assign a staff
person to represent the account and
maintain ongoing contact with the
company representative. Have this
person meet with the designated corporate
representative on a regular
basis. These meetings should include
providing information about the
usage of the facility by company
employees and other relevant data.
Maintaining regular contact with the
company can help assure ongoing
support from the corporation.
Considering the odds
Corporate memberships are a
high-risk but high-reward approach
to membership sales. While they
can lead to a relatively large number
of sales, they can also lead to a high
level of turnover. All factors considered,
however, the effort to sell corporate
memberships is a venture
well worth undertaking.

Creating and Sustaining a Service Culture

What steps can you take to create happier members and employees, and increase member retention?
NEXT TO MEMBERSHIP sales, membership retention is the topic that generates the greatest level of interest among facility management circles. Almost everyone realizes that when a fitness center drives retention, thereby reducing attrition, membership growth in that facility is significantly enhanced. Not only does the facility increase its membership base, it also establishes a business environment where it can charge more for the experience it provides. But how can you enhance membership retention? Read on to find out how to create and sustain a culture of service within your fitness center.
The membership retention profit chain
The membership retention profit chain is a relatively simple process that begins with establishing a strong service culture and ends with higher levels of membership retention.
As Figure 1 illustrates, the first step a fitness center should take to affect its membership retention levels is to establish a service culture. What is a service culture?

A service culture is an interlocking system of customs, habits and conventions emanating from values that help establish an environment where the facility’s employees are passionate about and empowered to deliver whatever is needed to create personally relevant and memorable experiences for other employees and members of the facility. Establishing a service culture may possibly be the most challenging business practice that fitness centers face in today’s business environment.

The business challenge of creating a service culture

How hard can it be to create a service culture?
On the surface,the task may seem relatively straightforward. On the other hand, it
is far from that. Creating a service culture requires passion, commitment,
discipline, vision, patience and a clear understanding
that the business rewards of undertaking such an effort are not
immediate. The reason so many businesses talk about great customer
service, but can’t match their words with their reality, is that
they are unwilling to commit to do what it takes to deliver on
their “lofty” statements. In a business climate where looking
beyond current sales numbers or the next quarter’s EBITDA targets
is status quo, it takes courage to step back and embrace the
need to establish a service culture that can sustain long-term business
growth and profitability.Steps to establishing
a service cultureWhat actions can managers
take to create a great service culture
and initiate the journey to
service excellence and memorable
member experiences? The
following steps can be particularly
helpful:

1.Begin with core values that center on a service heart.
The core essence of any culture is
its values, whether it is the culture
of a group of people or the
culture of a business. As such,
the heart and soul of any business
culture lies in values that
drive the behavior of each
employee and the organization
as a whole.Within any business,
particularly a fitness center,
these values are the foundation
of the service spirit. Countless examples exist of successful club operators that have established values that foster a service heart and spirit. Examples of the service-oriented values that these organizations promote include the following:
Fitcorp: “Quality” and “customers”
Larry North Fitness: “Happy to do it” and “reaching out and fostering relationships”
Red’s: “Hello and goodbye” and “do whatever it takes”
Western Athletic Clubs: “We reach out to others” and “we believe in each other”
2. Embrace the commitment to service values starting at the top. In every business culture, values and traditions are sustained by the organization’s leaders who embody those values and traditions. Insightful leaders understand a facility’s values are only words unless they model those values in their day-to-day leadership style. At Red’s, one of the first people to greet members with a “hello,” and one of the last to say “goodbye,” is Red himself. Not only does Red greet his members, he also greets his employees. Anyone who spends time with Jim Gerber, CEO of Western Athletic Clubs, will immediately notice that he is fully committed to reaching out to his employees and members. His actions underscore his belief in and support for his “people.”
Larry North Fitness in Highland Park, Texas, is another facility that reflects the service-oriented value structure of the owner. Larry is always espousing the ‘happy to do it” attitude with both his employees and the facility’s members through his actions.
The late founder and long-time chairman of ClubCorp, Robert
Dedman, made it a practice to write personal notes to ClubCorp
employees on a weekly basis.Why? Because he knew if he wanted his
team to treat members and guests
like kings, he needed to make sure
his employees felt like royalty.
3. Establish courses of
action that reinforce the
appropriate values and service
culture. Creating and then sustaining
a service culture requires
a team of competent, committed
employees. By the same token, a
culture involves a compelling mix
of artifacts, myths, legends,
heroes and storytellers. In the
business world, to foster a great
service culture, a fitness center
must have people and stories that
embody the facility’s values and
cultural practices. Examples of
various steps that can be undertaken
to help establish and/or
reinforce a service culture within
a facility include the following:
Sharing stories about employees who embody the culture and values.
Creating recognition for employees who embody living the facility’s service culture.
Empowering people to act
on the culture by eliminating
political and positional hurdles.
The underlying concept is to
allow people to innately deliver
the desired culture, rather than
having to ask permission to do so.
Avoiding making business decisions that are counter to the club’s service culture. One counter-productive decision can do more to harm an organization’s culture than 10 well-aligned decisions.
Educating continuously. The core of a fitness center’s educational and orientation programs should be grounded in teaching and acting out the values and service culture practices. A service-oriented culture requires continual reinforcement, given the fact that even the best employees will occasionally fall out of line if the facility doesn’t have the right process in place to teach the service culture.
Documenting the culture. Facility management should identify specific ways to communicate service values and cultural practices. Whether it’s through wallet cards, such as those used at Red’s, or the posters and handbooks used at Larry North Fitness, a facility needs to keep its service culture visible.
4. Encourage communication. A properly focused service culture involves an open-door policy by management. Management must be willing to listen to and respond to feedback from its employees and members. Management should foster a trusting environment that encourages and allows for open and honest feedback to be

shared with management, employees and affected members. It is also essential that management take appropriate actions concerning such feedback. Among the examples of how management can facilitate the process of soliciting feedback include the following:
Walk the floor and leave the office door open. Management needs to spend time interacting with employees and members.
Conduct focus groups. On a quarterly basis, focus groups should be arranged for employee and member groups. This time should be used to initiate and encourage dialogue that involves qualitative discussions revolving around either the employees’ or the members’ experiences.
Use a real-time member feedback system. A system should be provided, such as comment cards, that enables employees and members to share their feelings about an experience when it happens. Furthermore, management should provide real-time followthrough, so that everyone knows the feedback was received and an appropriate action was taken.
5. Eliminate the sacrifices. If a facility truly wants to have a great service culture, it constantly needs to ask itself, “What sacrifices do its employees have to make to work for the facility?” and “What sacrifices do the members have to make to experience the fitness center?” In this context, “sacrifice” refers to the practices and policies that a club enacts that causes its employees and/or members extra time, less convenience, less comfort, etc. A service-oriented facility has everyone looking for ways to reduce the inherent sacrifices, rather than finding ways to increase the level of sacrifices. If something takes extra time, if it requires an extra step, if it requires seeing one more person, then it is creating sacrifices. All factors considered, the more a fitness center eliminates such sacrifices, the stronger its service culture will be.
6. Create a service recovery process to patch the leaks.
Mistakes happen even in the best service culture, and people have less-than-desirable experiences. According to information shared by Dr. Leonard Schlesinger in an article he wrote for Harvard Business Review entitled The Service Profit Chain, customers who have a bad experience can be turned around and even converted into business apostles with the proper service-recovery process. Data exists that indicates that 95 percent of customers will make a repeat purchase if their “poor” experience is dealt with promptly and correctly. The underlying keys of a great service-recovery process include the following:
Listen. A fitness center should have a process in place that ensures that its employees and members are listened to whenever they have an unfavorable experience.
Empathize.When management listens, they should not take a position other than one that considers the feedback from the employee’s or member’s perspective. Empathy requires that preconceived notions do not interrupt or otherwise cloud the listening process.
Apologize. It is imperative that whoever is doing the listening also apologizes, both personally and on behalf of the club, if appropriate.
Respond.Management should be proactive once the first three steps are taken. As a general rule, not only will the initial management action be to correct the issue, but also to let the person who had the unfavorable experience know that the issue will be addressed as soon as possible.
Communicate the response. Management, regardless of whatever action they ultimately decide to take, should personally inform the individual who brought the issue to their attention about what steps they decided to take.
Follow up. Following a response, appropriate feedback should be provided to everyone involved. More than worth the effort
Creating a service culture that fosters memorable and lasting member experiences is one of the greatest, yet rewarding, challenges to operating a successful fitness center. At a minimum, the process of creating a service culture takes passion, commitment, patience and vision. Fortunately, the energy and resources required to establish and sustain a service culture in fitness centers will be worth the effort for everyone involved.

Health Club News........"Veggies Equal Weightloss"

April is such a happy month! The air is getting warmer, the days are getting longer and the flowers are starting to bloom. Of course it is tax-time, and soon we will have to mow the lawn and protect ourselves from the sun and heat. But spring is a time of renewal and a great time to renew our commitment to good health.

It’s a great time to put away our desires for the heavy comfort foods of winter and reach for abundant fresh fruits and vegetables. The price of produce is starting to come down as farms recover from the deep-freeze of winter. “Row-crops,” such as green beans, lettuces, peppers and broccoli are dropping as much as 50 percent in price from the winter.

So for many members, what better way is there to trim down for bathing-suit season without sacrificing nutrition than with heaping plates of colorful veggies? We should be composing our meals with as much fresh produce as we can at every meal.

The wonderful thing about fruits and vegetables is that you don’t have to do a lot to them to make them palatable. The fresher the produce, the simplest way to prepare them is best. Eat as many as you can with minimal processing — such as raw or steamed. If you prefer to grill, brush the vegetables lightly with a little olive oil and a sprinkling of fresh herbs when finished.

This is also a good time to explore the local farmer’s market or a CSA, Community Supported Agriculture, for local produce. Using a CSA would not only support local farmers, but also ensure that your produce has few food miles and is getting to you quickly from a nearby farm.

Here are the basics: a farmer offers a certain number of “shares” to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. Interested consumers purchase a share (a.k.a., a “membership” or a “subscription”) and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season.

It would be a great project for a club to sponsor a CSA with its members. The club would become the drop point and the members would enjoy the benefits of ultra-fresh, seasonal foods.

Another great idea would be to give back to the members by putting out some fresh fruits on a decorated table right near the vending machines! I know it does seem sort of contrived, but it’s great to offer our members healthy choices at every opportunity.

What better way to convince our members that we really do care about their health than to offer them the best alternatives to processed foods?

Although Gold's Gym started small it didn't stay that way for long.

Starting with one location in California, the franchise attained status as the largest global co-ed gym in the world and includes locations with up to 12,000 square feet. The gyms contain with free weights, machines, cardio equipment and, in select locales, even movie theaters. The original Gold's Gym, dubbed "The Mecca," has been updated and is still operational.

Founder
Bodybuilder Joe Gold, who died in 2004 at the age of 82, was the mastermind behind Gold's Gym. He opened the original Gold's Gym in 1965 in Venice Beach, then sold the rights to his name in the early 1970s. The new owners turned Gold's into a franchise. Gold got back into the gym business in 1977 to take the brand worldwide. As a machinist, Gold's claim to fame was his skill at creating more effective weight lifting machines, providing an option to free weights. Arnold Schwarzenegger trained at Gold's Gym in the late 1960s. The two had a long friendship, and Schwarzenegger ran Gold's World Gym for about a year when Gold fell ill in 1991.

Locations
Gold's Gym has more than 500 locations in the United States, as well as others across the globe. You'll find gyms in Europe, Australia and Egypt as well as Indonesia, Peru and Ecuador. Only Alaska, Hawaii and seven states in the continental U.S. are without at least one Gold's Gym as of April 2011. States without a Gold's Gym are Vermont, Ohio, Wyoming, South Dakota, Arkansas, Mississippi and New Mexico.

Fitness" magazine ranks Gold's Gym as the chain with the best sculpting studio in the nation. Gold's body sculpting and strength training amenities include a wide range of free weights, personal trainers and exercise classes with names such as Body Attack and Body Pump that can tone and strengthen your muscles. Other gold stars go to Gold's for free child care services during your workout. Gold's larger locations even offer Cardio Cinema, which features cardio machines in a room with a movie screen, smoothie bars and physical therapists on the premises.
Health Club Marketing News, Amerishape, Fitness Life Marketing

Are You Texting Your Members?

Text message marketing is quickly changing the landscape of the fitness industry. With the use of text messages, fitness clubs are able to communicate and market to their members and prospects more effectively than ever before. Did you know that over 90 percent of all text messages are read within one hour of receipt? That is 10 times higher than e-mails.

There are countless ways to use mobile marketing in your fitness business. For example: class schedule changes, buddy referral contests, personal training appointment reminders, tour reminders and billing reminders, just to name a few. If you have not looked into integrating text message marketing into your business, you are falling behind. Imagine the power of instantly being able to communicate a message to over 90 percent of your membership base. Now tell me that won’t lead to more sales, and better retention.


Fitness Life Marketing, Health Club news,Amerishape

DR ART CURTIS....I

You almost need an entire
feature just to cover the full
diversity of Art Curtis’ CV. Or
should I say – and this rather
illustrates my point – Dr Art Curtis.
“My undergraduate degree was in
business administration, while my
graduate degrees were in applied
physiology, which has always been my
passion,” he explains. “Fortunately
I’m one of those lucky people whose
interests and skills merge together, and
I’ve worked in a fi eld that I’ve really
enjoyed for over 35 years.
“My career breaks down into a couple
of distinct phases. I spent most of the
1970s in an academic environment, fi rst
as a graduate student and research
assistant, then as a professor. I was
involved in the sports medicine centre
at the University of Maryland, for
example, where we did a lot of work for
organisations such as the Washington
Redskins – the local professional
football team. This was back in the
early 70s, when the amount of science
applied to training was minimal, but
we essentially served them in the role –
before it really existed – of strength and
conditioning coach, taking physiological
measurements and developing training
programmes for the players.”
beyond the ivory tower
He continues: “My first foray outside of
academia was into corporate fitness, a
field that was just starting to open up. I
joined a company called The American
Health Management and Consulting
Corporation, which built, managed and
operated large, in-house fitness facilities.
“I was then recruited by US Health Inc,
which owned brands such as Holiday
Spa and Holiday Health Clubs and which
was eventually bought by Bally Total
Fitness. I served as director of education
and research programme development,
helping to conceptualise new club
models and prototypes – generally a bit
bigger and more sophisticated in terms
of the programmes and training we were
offering. We grew the estate by 25 sites
in the space of four or fi ve years.
“After that I wanted to get into an
operating role, so in the early 80s I
joined The Columbia Association.”
A large planned community located
between Baltimore and Washington,
Columbia was created in 1967 by James
Rouse and was based on the idea that
a city could enhance its residents’
quality of life. “Rouse was an interesting
individual – not only a rather brilliant
real estate person, but also very socially
conscious. He was trying to create a
diverse utopian community,” explains
Curtis. “As part of this, there was a huge
infrastructure of recreational facilities:
over 20 swimming pools, three athletic
clubs when I was there – I think today
they have four – plus tennis clubs, golf
courses, a marvellous indoor aquatics
facility and so on. I ran the division that
operated all of those facilities.

"Fitness Life Marketing"

“Then, in the late 80s, I went to work
for a company called Club Sports
International, which later became known
as Wellbridge, joining them to launch a
new club in Atlanta. In fact, we opened
three large clubs down there in the
space of 30 days, and I stayed with the
company for almost 15 years, eventually
becoming COO and overseeing 48 clubs
in 16 states across the US.
“My fi rst opportunity to become CEO
was with a company called Stonewater,
a spa venture underwritten by a private
equity fi rm called Falconhead Capital,
which was acquiring day spas around
the US to form a much larger company.
I came in to replace the founding CEO
and helped get the business organised,
put systems in place and improve the
overall fi nancial performance in order to
ultimately merge it with a much larger
company. That took me up to 2005,
which is when I came on board with
Millennium Partners.”
a new millennium
“Millennium Partners is first and foremost
a real estate development company, in
business since around 1991. The three
founding partners had all worked
together previously and had an idea of
something they wanted to do in New
York City. They were able to acquire a
slightly run-down area just to the west
of Central Park and turned it into an
urban kind of amenitised environment:
high-rise condominium towers along
with street-level theatres, restaurants,
entertainment, high-end retail. It takes
up most of three city blocks.
“One critical component of the
project was a very signifi cant athletic
club – the Reebok Sports Club New
York, a 13,940sq m (150,000sq ft) club
spread over seven fl oors. The Sports
Club Company developed and operated
the club and was the tenant, Reebok
was originally an equity investor and
Millennium the landlord.”
Off the back of the success of
the New York project, Millennium
Partners replicated the model in other
cities: Boston, San Francisco, Miami
and Washington DC. With high-rise
condominium developments at the heart
of each project, along with a fi ve-star
hotel and street-level retail, some also
encompass entertainment complexes,
theatres and restaurants. All include
a large-format athletic club, generally
between 9,290sq m and 10,680sq m
(100,000sq ft–115,000sq ft), to which
both hotel guests and condominium
inhabitants have direct elevator access.
The latter also get slightly preferential
membership rates.
Curtis continues: “In the early to
mid-2000s, The Sports Club Company
wanted to sell off a number of assets,
but there wasn’t really anyone willing
or able to step in and acquire all of the
clubs. Millennium became concerned by
the prospect of a number of different
operators coming in to what were
very important pieces of real estate for
them – they feared the quality of the
operations might not be consistently
maintained. So it decided to look at
acquiring the businesses from The
Sports Club Company itself.
“I came on board to work on due
diligence, along with another gentleman
by the name of Nick Winter, and
ultimately we came to the conclusion
that acquisition was indeed the best
option. Millennium then asked me to
stay on to be CEO of the operating
company running those assets, which
became known as Millennium Partners
Sports Club Management (MPSCM).
“In January 2006, we completed the
deal and acquired six of The Sports
Club Company’s 10 locations – The
Reebok Sports Club and fi ve of the
Sports Club LA facilities.
“The clubs all operate at the highest
end of the market – we’re typicall
US$30–40 more expensive per month
than our nearest competitor – and in
fact our business model, and the way we
train our people, looks much more like
what you would see in a fi ve-star hotel
than in a typical athletic or health club.
“We also have spas in all our clubs and
run them ourselves in all but one. We
hire GMs who are able to oversee both
club and spa, and we have one person at
a corporate level overseeing all of our
spas, developing menus, buying products,
standardising marketing. It makes
for a better overhead structure than
someone independently running
a similar-sized spa.
“The sports club business is really the
only operating business that Millennium
Partners has – hotels, for example, are
all done under management agreements
– and there are more people by a
factor of probably 10 or 15 working
for MPSCM than for the whole of
Millennium. It represents a little over
$100m in annual revenue, which is small
in the overall scheme of things, but it
adds a lot of value to the other projects
and is an important piece of the overall
development puzzle.
“Saying that, the important thing that
differentiates us from a lot of other real
estate companies is the expectation
that a business has to stand on its own.
If there were no Millennium Partners,
MPSCM would still be a good business
generating quite reasonable returns. It’s
not there as a loss leader.”
expansion plans
Having led the MPSCM business for the
last few years, Curtis has now made a
sideways move into the parent company.
“In January, we made a significant
organisational change. Smaiyra Million
has moved up from COO to take over
my role as CEO of MPSCM, and I’ve
moved over to Millennium Partners to
focus 100 per cent of my time on
mergers and acquisitions to develop
our club business.
“What we’re looking to do now is
expand our footprint in the markets
we’re already in – major international
gateway cities such as Boston, New
York, Washington DC, Miami, San
Francisco. We want to move out
from the city centres to the next
ring of residential areas and do some
smaller format clubs there. Six to eight
locations per city could create a very
powerful network, in conjunction with
the existing property that’s been in
operation for a number of years.
“We would also consider going
into new markets, but most likely
that would involve either a largescale
project similar to those done
previously, including a sports club – in
fact, there’s a project like that on the
drawing board now, although I’d rather
not give details yet – or via acquisition.
Buying a local or regional chain of clubs
would give us suffi cient critical mass,
but to go and just do one club in a new
marketplace is a very ineffi cient way to
operate. If we were to go into a new
market, we would want to have an
immediate large presence there.”
best foot forward
As if all this weren’t enough to keep him
busy, Curtis is also currently chair of
global trade association IHRSA, which
this year celebrates its 30th anniversary;
he’s been involved with the organisation
since its inception.
“The single biggest thing we’re working
on right now is our revenue model. The
association, and the industry, are very
different from how they were 30 years
ago, and particularly in tough economic
times you fi nd out how sensitive a
revenue model is. There’s a saying ‘when
suppliers get a cold, an association gets
pneumonia’, because our largest single
source of revenue currently comes from
our convention and trade show. "Amerishape"
“We’ve got through a really diffi cult
period, with some very hard decisions
made on staffi ng and so on, and now
we have to look at how to make it less
painful for ourselves were we to be
faced with similar market conditions
again. Do we have the right value
propositions for our members? The
membership base is so much more
heterogeneous today than it ever was
before, with so many different types of
club concepts compared to even just 10
years ago. The growth of the industry
internationally has also been enormous
recently, but do we have the right
value proposition for the international
member versus what we can do for the
North American member?
“Now is the time to ask a lot of the
hard questions and decide how to
move forward into the next decade of
the association – what services are no
longer relevant, what new services need
to be developed, how and what will we
fi ne-tune? All of this needs to be done
while still staying true to our mission: to
grow, protect and promote the industry.”
The FIA was clear in its message to
the EHFA national associations forum
in November: that any association
truly wanting to get more people more
active, should embrace all sectors –
private and public (see HCM Jan 11,
p76). Might IHRSA move away from its
traditional standpoint of representing
for-profi t clubs only?
“That’s a good question. It’s always
been not only a cornerstone for IHRSA
but an emotional issue in the US in
particular, but also in Canada. But it’s
interesting – when I’ve gone to the UK
for example, the involvement of the
public sector there is a given. It’s part of
the fabric of the industry.
“Already, over recent years, one of
the things IHRSA has done is become
part of large coalitions that include
organisations such as the YMCA,
working together to infl uence public
policy and promote healthier lifestyles.
It’s baby steps, but if we can get
comfortable with that, maybe it will
lead to other things.
“At the end of the day, if as an
industry we’re really going to have an
impact on healthcare reform, we have
to set aside a lot of these competitive
differences, as well as some philosophical
differences, and focus on the things we
hold in common. We have to evolve and
become a more inclusive, co-operative
industry to grow the market. And I
believe that ultimately everyone will then
benefi t and get their share of the pie.
“If we don’t do that, I think we’ll be
condemned to moving around the
same core group of members – people
who’ll shift from one club to the next –
without really creating any substantial
new marketplace.
“We have a long way to go in terms
of standards and professionalism
to be accepted by the medical
profession, and clubs wanting to get
involved in the issue will need to be
fully committed. But I think it’s an
interesting opportunity for clubs that
may be currently be struggling, caught
in the middle ground, to differentiate
themselves and broaden their market.”
a need to plan
Curtis continues: “The problem is, I
think as an industry we still tend to be
more reactive than we are forwardthinking.
The sector’s pretty creative
– it’s good at evolving and developing
new products and services to fit
diverse customer needs. But, although
operators are very good at taking
something from ground zero up to a
certain point, they then tend to get
content and stop moving forward until
a new threat arrives.
“There can also be a bit of a herd
mentality. The momentum starts going
one way – budget clubs, for example,
which no question is a very active
sector – and everyone jumps on-board
without really thinking through the
consequences. We need to look ahead
more, because things won’t be the same
in fi ve or six years’ time and you have to
chart your course now, before problems
arise. That’s something the industry as a
whole could do a lot better.”

DR ART CURTIS....I

You almost need an entire
feature just to cover the full
diversity of Art Curtis’ CV. Or
should I say – and this rather
illustrates my point – Dr Art Curtis.
“My undergraduate degree was in
business administration, while my
graduate degrees were in applied
physiology, which has always been my
passion,” he explains. “Fortunately
I’m one of those lucky people whose
interests and skills merge together, and
I’ve worked in a fi eld that I’ve really
enjoyed for over 35 years.
“My career breaks down into a couple
of distinct phases. I spent most of the
1970s in an academic environment, fi rst
as a graduate student and research
assistant, then as a professor. I was
involved in the sports medicine centre
at the University of Maryland, for
example, where we did a lot of work for
organisations such as the Washington
Redskins – the local professional
football team. This was back in the
early 70s, when the amount of science
applied to training was minimal, but
we essentially served them in the role –
before it really existed – of strength and
conditioning coach, taking physiological
measurements and developing training
programmes for the players.”
beyond the ivory tower
He continues: “My first foray outside of
academia was into corporate fitness, a
field that was just starting to open up. I
joined a company called The American
Health Management and Consulting
Corporation, which built, managed and
operated large, in-house fitness facilities.
“I was then recruited by US Health Inc,
which owned brands such as Holiday
Spa and Holiday Health Clubs and which
was eventually bought by Bally Total
Fitness. I served as director of education
and research programme development,
helping to conceptualise new club
models and prototypes – generally a bit
bigger and more sophisticated in terms
of the programmes and training we were
offering. We grew the estate by 25 sites
in the space of four or fi ve years.
“After that I wanted to get into an
operating role, so in the early 80s I
joined The Columbia Association.”
A large planned community located
between Baltimore and Washington,
Columbia was created in 1967 by James
Rouse and was based on the idea that
a city could enhance its residents’
quality of life. “Rouse was an interesting
individual – not only a rather brilliant
real estate person, but also very socially
conscious. He was trying to create a
diverse utopian community,” explains
Curtis. “As part of this, there was a huge
infrastructure of recreational facilities:
over 20 swimming pools, three athletic
clubs when I was there – I think today
they have four – plus tennis clubs, golf
courses, a marvellous indoor aquatics
facility and so on. I ran the division that
operated all of those facilities.
“Then, in the late 80s, I went to work
for a company called Club Sports
International, which later became known
as Wellbridge, joining them to launch a
new club in Atlanta. In fact, we opened
three large clubs down there in the
space of 30 days, and I stayed with the
company for almost 15 years, eventually
becoming COO and overseeing 48 clubs
in 16 states across the US.
“My fi rst opportunity to become CEO
was with a company called Stonewater,
a spa venture underwritten by a private
equity fi rm called Falconhead Capital,
which was acquiring day spas around
the US to form a much larger company.
I came in to replace the founding CEO
and helped get the business organised,
put systems in place and improve the
overall fi nancial performance in order to
ultimately merge it with a much larger
company. That took me up to 2005,
which is when I came on board with
Millennium Partners.”
a new millennium
“Millennium Partners is first and foremost
a real estate development company, in
business since around 1991. The three
founding partners had all worked
together previously and had an idea of
something they wanted to do in New
York City. They were able to acquire a
slightly run-down area just to the west
of Central Park and turned it into an
urban kind of amenitised environment:
high-rise condominium towers along
with street-level theatres, restaurants,
entertainment, high-end retail. It takes
up most of three city blocks.
“One critical component of the
project was a very signifi cant athletic
club – the Reebok Sports Club New
York, a 13,940sq m (150,000sq ft) club
spread over seven fl oors. The Sports
Club Company developed and operated
the club and was the tenant, Reebok
was originally an equity investor and
Millennium the landlord.”
Off the back of the success of
the New York project, Millennium
Partners replicated the model in other
cities: Boston, San Francisco, Miami
and Washington DC. With high-rise
condominium developments at the heart
of each project, along with a fi ve-star
hotel and street-level retail, some also
encompass entertainment complexes,
theatres and restaurants. All include
a large-format athletic club, generally
between 9,290sq m and 10,680sq m
(100,000sq ft–115,000sq ft), to which
both hotel guests and condominium
inhabitants have direct elevator access.
The latter also get slightly preferential
membership rates.
Curtis continues: “In the early to
mid-2000s, The Sports Club Company
wanted to sell off a number of assets,
but there wasn’t really anyone willing
or able to step in and acquire all of the
clubs. Millennium became concerned by
the prospect of a number of different
operators coming in to what were
very important pieces of real estate for
them – they feared the quality of the
operations might not be consistently
maintained. So it decided to look at
acquiring the businesses from The
Sports Club Company itself.
“I came on board to work on due
diligence, along with another gentleman
by the name of Nick Winter, and
ultimately we came to the conclusion
that acquisition was indeed the best
option. Millennium then asked me to
stay on to be CEO of the operating
company running those assets, which
became known as Millennium Partners
Sports Club Management (MPSCM).
“In January 2006, we completed the
deal and acquired six of The Sports
Club Company’s 10 locations – The
Reebok Sports Club and fi ve of the
Sports Club LA facilities.
“The clubs all operate at the highest
end of the market – we’re typicall
US$30–40 more expensive per month
than our nearest competitor – and in
fact our business model, and the way we
train our people, looks much more like
what you would see in a fi ve-star hotel
than in a typical athletic or health club.
“We also have spas in all our clubs and
run them ourselves in all but one. We
hire GMs who are able to oversee both
club and spa, and we have one person at
a corporate level overseeing all of our
spas, developing menus, buying products,
standardising marketing. It makes
for a better overhead structure than
someone independently running
a similar-sized spa.
“The sports club business is really the
only operating business that Millennium
Partners has – hotels, for example, are
all done under management agreements
– and there are more people by a
factor of probably 10 or 15 working
for MPSCM than for the whole of
Millennium. It represents a little over
$100m in annual revenue, which is small
in the overall scheme of things, but it
adds a lot of value to the other projects
and is an important piece of the overall
development puzzle.
“Saying that, the important thing that
differentiates us from a lot of other real
estate companies is the expectation
that a business has to stand on its own.
If there were no Millennium Partners,
MPSCM would still be a good business
generating quite reasonable returns. It’s
not there as a loss leader.”
expansion plans
Having led the MPSCM business for the
last few years, Curtis has now made a
sideways move into the parent company.
“In January, we made a significant
organisational change. Smaiyra Million
has moved up from COO to take over
my role as CEO of MPSCM, and I’ve
moved over to Millennium Partners to
focus 100 per cent of my time on
mergers and acquisitions to develop
our club business.
“What we’re looking to do now is
expand our footprint in the markets
we’re already in – major international
gateway cities such as Boston, New
York, Washington DC, Miami, San
Francisco. We want to move out
from the city centres to the next
ring of residential areas and do some
smaller format clubs there. Six to eight
locations per city could create a very
powerful network, in conjunction with
the existing property that’s been in
operation for a number of years.
“We would also consider going
into new markets, but most likely
that would involve either a largescale
project similar to those done
previously, including a sports club – in
fact, there’s a project like that on the
drawing board now, although I’d rather
not give details yet – or via acquisition.
Buying a local or regional chain of clubs
would give us suffi cient critical mass,
but to go and just do one club in a new
marketplace is a very ineffi cient way to
operate. If we were to go into a new
market, we would want to have an
immediate large presence there.”
best foot forward
As if all this weren’t enough to keep him
busy, Curtis is also currently chair of
global trade association IHRSA, which
this year celebrates its 30th anniversary;
he’s been involved with the organisation
since its inception.
“The single biggest thing we’re working
on right now is our revenue model. The
association, and the industry, are very
different from how they were 30 years
ago, and particularly in tough economic
times you fi nd out how sensitive a
revenue model is. There’s a saying ‘when
suppliers get a cold, an association gets
pneumonia’, because our largest single
source of revenue currently comes from
our convention and trade show.
“We’ve got through a really diffi cult
period, with some very hard decisions
made on staffi ng and so on, and now
we have to look at how to make it less
painful for ourselves were we to be
faced with similar market conditions
again. Do we have the right value
propositions for our members? The
membership base is so much more
heterogeneous today than it ever was
before, with so many different types of
club concepts compared to even just 10
years ago. The growth of the industry
internationally has also been enormous
recently, but do we have the right
value proposition for the international
member versus what we can do for the
North American member?
“Now is the time to ask a lot of the
hard questions and decide how to
move forward into the next decade of
the association – what services are no
longer relevant, what new services need
to be developed, how and what will we
fi ne-tune? All of this needs to be done
while still staying true to our mission: to
grow, protect and promote the industry.”
The FIA was clear in its message to
the EHFA national associations forum
in November: that any association
truly wanting to get more people more
active, should embrace all sectors –
private and public (see HCM Jan 11,
p76). Might IHRSA move away from its
traditional standpoint of representing
for-profi t clubs only?
“That’s a good question. It’s always
been not only a cornerstone for IHRSA
but an emotional issue in the US in
particular, but also in Canada. But it’s
interesting – when I’ve gone to the UK
for example, the involvement of the
public sector there is a given. It’s part of
the fabric of the industry.
“Already, over recent years, one of
the things IHRSA has done is become
part of large coalitions that include
organisations such as the YMCA,
working together to infl uence public
policy and promote healthier lifestyles.
It’s baby steps, but if we can get
comfortable with that, maybe it will
lead to other things.
“At the end of the day, if as an
industry we’re really going to have an
impact on healthcare reform, we have
to set aside a lot of these competitive
differences, as well as some philosophical
differences, and focus on the things we
hold in common. We have to evolve and
become a more inclusive, co-operative
industry to grow the market. And I
believe that ultimately everyone will then
benefi t and get their share of the pie.
“If we don’t do that, I think we’ll be
condemned to moving around the
same core group of members – people
who’ll shift from one club to the next –
without really creating any substantial
new marketplace.
“We have a long way to go in terms
of standards and professionalism
to be accepted by the medical
profession, and clubs wanting to get
involved in the issue will need to be
fully committed. But I think it’s an
interesting opportunity for clubs that
may be currently be struggling, caught
in the middle ground, to differentiate
themselves and broaden their market.”
a need to plan
Curtis continues: “The problem is, I
think as an industry we still tend to be
more reactive than we are forwardthinking.
The sector’s pretty creative
– it’s good at evolving and developing
new products and services to fit
diverse customer needs. But, although
operators are very good at taking
something from ground zero up to a
certain point, they then tend to get
content and stop moving forward until
a new threat arrives.
“There can also be a bit of a herd
mentality. The momentum starts going
one way – budget clubs, for example,
which no question is a very active
sector – and everyone jumps on-board
without really thinking through the
consequences. We need to look ahead
more, because things won’t be the same
in fi ve or six years’ time and you have to
chart your course now, before problems
arise. That’s something the industry as a
whole could do a lot better.”

Successfully Manage Your Health Club & Fitness Center by its Income Statement

If you look at your income statement casually each month, hone in on the bottom line to make sure it’s positive and then move on to other more pressing matters, you’re not alone. But, if you aren’t disciplined about managing your business by its income statement, your bottom line might not be as positive as it could be. Using the income statement as the driving force to run your business creates a powerful, sensible connection between dollars coming in/going out and the decisions you make on a daily basis. If you listen, the income statement will tell you how and where to spend your money, and what needs to be improved or fixed.

“I have been doing this for 18 years, and I know what’s important,” you might say. True, to a degree. But who is really setting your priorities? Often, without a conscious plan driven by the income statement, you can find yourself buffeted along, reacting to customers’ requests, allowing your employees to create action items or just going with the flow, doing what you are comfortable with. If any of this rings true, you may be leaving a substantial amount of money on the table every month. Be proactive with your income statement and change that.

Getting Started

Your club’s income statement — from your accountant or spreadsheet software — should never be more than a month old. Does it have built-in columns for monthly comparisons and a yearly forecast to show at a glance how you’re measuring up so far?

Most importantly, are the line items detailed enough to give you a clear picture of exactly where your revenue is coming from and going to in terms of expenses? Even more-detailed reports should be readily available from your club management software to turn to when questions arise.

What to Look For

Start with revenue. Show individual revenue sources as a percentage of the total. For example: Premium dues 30 percent; Regular dues 50 percent; Pool memberships 20 percent. Take note if those ratios change over time. If total dues revenues are down, why? Are there fewer people for tours, has your closing rate fallen or is retention the problem? Look for potential solutions. Try them out and estimate how long a potential fix will take to have an effect. Use subsequent income statements to help determine if your fixes are working. Remember, this is not a one-time project. It is a circular process of observing data changes, analyzing them and brainstorming ideas with your management team or maybe even a member focus group. Aim to improve each line by 10-25 percent over the course of a year. Depending on problem areas you identify, run interim reports from your software, such as point of sale analyses, membership profiles or inventory breakdowns to provide more visibility towards a solution.

The Expense Side

Resist the urge to look at expenses as fixed costs you can do nothing about. Leases can be renegotiated; property can be purchased to eliminate leases entirely. Management software costs and merchant fees can be reduced dramatically. In fact, if you are not renegotiating all purchased expenses on a yearly basis, you are paying too much. It may be counter-intuitive, but see if you might be paying too little in one line item, causing you to pay disproportionately far too much in another. Sometimes you must spend to save. Maintenance expenses are one example — don’t skimp unnecessarily. The higher cost of eco-friendly devices, such as low-flow showerheads and LED lighting, could save hundreds later on utilities.

Marketing is an excellent example of an expense leading directly to increased revenue. When marketing expenses go up one month — did revenues increase in subsequent months for the item you promoted? Have you spent sufficient money to make your website phenomenal? Do you have revenue generators on your website and in your club management software, such as online joining, personal training sign-ups, online payments and e-mail blasts?

You know your business and can come up with your own revenue enhancers and smart cost savings. The key is to make it a systematic exercise: look at the numbers, calculate ratios, look for changes/outliers, and brainstorm to fix.

The pressure will be tremendous to skip this task — after all, you’re the owner and no one is making you. Also, it’s not fun. But walking around putting out brushfires is not going to bring you the long-term, sustainable results you desire. Get disciplined and you’ll start to see results

Health Club Marketing News......Keep Your Members Coming All Summer Long!

There is never enough time for Terry Dezzutti, the COO of Merritt Athletic Clubs. Since coming on in 1996, Dezzutti, 55, has spent all his energy taking the already successful club in the Baltimore area even higher.

How has he done so?

It’s been a long ride that is just now reaching the end of its destination — to be a five-star health and fitness club. To reach such a prestigious goal, Dezzutti has had to think outside the box and do things with his clubs that both reflect the Baltimore market, and separate them from other clubs.

Welcome to the Nightlife

Like many clubs in the summer, Merritt Athletic Clubs were struggling to entice members to its clubs. Members wanted to be outside in the nice weather, walking around a warm vibrant city.

According to Dezzutti, Baltimore is the type of community that thrives on an active social scene. Not only is it assisted by Johns Hopkins University, but they also play home to the Baltimore Ravens, Baltimore Orioles, and a multitude of waterways for boating and water sports.

Pools were thriving in the daytime and bars into the night. Dezzutti took notice and decided to implement a combination.
It might be odd to think about a health and fitness club being associated with a bar, but more commonly the two are going hand-in-hand. To help summer attendance, Dezzutti decided to implement outdoor swim facilities.

The facilities gave members a place to socialize during the day and cool off during the hot summer months. “The summers used to be dead for us, and six or seven years ago we decided we wanted to be the place to be,” Dezzutti said. “Last year we built our first wave pool and it’s been a big wow. Our retention levels have stopped falling and sales are up.”

They’ve continually added more pools and social amenities. “At our Ford Avenue club, last year we built a pool bar and this year we are building a sun deck around the pool,” he said. “As that becomes more social, we have DJs and people hanging out all day playing beer pong and water polo, and meeting new friends.”

At their club in Canton, on Saturday night, they give the pool area a complete makeover. They turn the club into a Miami South Beach nightclub referred to as Aqua. For members the entrance is free, but it’s $10 for everyone else.

The club has a liquor license and brings in local DJs to spin until 2 a.m. “We use a lot of lighting and music, and it becomes a night club. That becomes a great source of lead generation,” Dezzutti said. “That gets us out of the realm of a regular health club chain in the summer.”

Dezzutti said the nightclub has been in operation for about six years. “It took off from the very beginning,” he said. In the beginning, the nightclub was driving in traffic of over 1,000 people a night. Over the past couple of years the numbers have barely dwindled to about 800 people due to direct competition from other local night clubs.


Above: Merritt Athletic Clubs COO Terry Dezzutti interviewed by Club Solutions Magazine Editor Tyler Montgomery

Everyone Gets Results

It’s safe to say that the vast majority of clubs are in business to get members results. Merritt Athletic Clubs take that responsibility extremely serious.

Once a person becomes a member of Merritt Athletic Clubs, they are inundated with the Results Program. “It’s unique in our market,” Dezzutti said. “When you join you have the ability to opt into this program. You have to show up twice a week and you have to initially meet with a health advisor.

“In that six weeks, if they don’t see results, we give them their money back. Initially, we test their BMI, thigh measurement and cholesterol. At the end of the six weeks, if we haven’t lowered one of those three things, they will get a full refund.”

Dezzutti feels that this program helps new members get involved and keeps them motivated. “Once they get involved in the program, they will get into a routine and start to like exercising,” he explained.

Getting new members results is just the first step. Merritt then transitions its focus to the kids. It has teamed up with the famous Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.

Phelps had one aquatic academy in Baltimore, already. Developing the partnership gave members at Merritt more locations to train. With the inclusion of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore — a top two, Division III swim club — swimming is a major competitive sport. Therefore, the partnership with Phelps has enhanced Merritt’s reach within the aquatic market.

“When we met with him, we had several swimming facilities already, and we discussed with him to become a spokesperson for our facilities,” Dezzutti said. “We reached an agreement and now we are using his protocols and practices as part of our system.

“It helps with community awareness. People know the work ethic that he has and we are using that to inspire kids to come in and start exercising.”


Still Attracting Members

Group X does a lot for clubs all across the country, and Merritt Athletic Clubs are no exception. “We’ve made a major investment over the past five years with Les Mills,” Dezzutti said. “I would say they do such a great job of choreographing the music and changing the programs that it inspires everybody. Now we are in the process of expanding all of our rooms and adding music and light fixtures to become more of an entertainment value while they are in there.”

There are ups and downs to installing extra lights and audio to boost the Group X experience. Dezzutti said one woman complained that she became dizzy due to the lights spinning. However, out of the vast majority of club members that participate in Merritt’s Group X, she has been the only complaint.

“People seem to like it because of the entertainment value,” he said. “We’ve also seen Group X change in other areas. Personal training for example, has turned into groups of three to five people because it saves time and money. For people who are looking to workout quickly, we’ve put in these fast track circuits. There are trainers that put members through machines and they get a good workout in half an hour as part of their membership. We are looking at obstacle courses and how we can incorporate those in the future.”

Group X is continually changing at Merritt. “People need a friend, they need a buddy, and Group X gives them that opportunity,” Dezzutti said. “When you have someone that pushes you every day, you show up and you get results.

“In the future people will be doing classes for specific body types and specific ages. You’ll see more seniors working on balance classes with balance boards to get through their daily life.”

However, to simultaneously connect with the youth and seniors of Baltimore, where could one man find enough time? Somehow Dezzutti has done the impossible. He has found time to create a harmonious balance between the two and still continue to grow and improve — teaming with Phelps, a nightclub atmosphere, family-oriented pools and special senior-focused Group X classes are all examples of this effort.

In a continually evolving market, Dezzutti must stay aware of trends for all populations. In fact, for the most part, Merritt’s demographics are pretty equal across the board — that means, with the nightclub atmosphere, summer pools, gym equipment and ever-changing Group X classes, all demographics must be reached. And, even when it has seemed impossible to wrap all that into a nine-club, Elite Sports Club Network, Dezzutti and his team found a way to do so.

***
It’s not a surprise the ideas Dezzutti has implemented at Merritt Athletic Clubs. He’s spent 30 years in the fitness industry, starting when he was 19 years old at Broome Racquet Club in Binghampton, NY.

After he graduated from State University of New York in Portland, NY., he felt a desire to pursue a life in fitness. “I always liked the atmosphere,” Dezzutti said. “People are always trying to stay healthy and you’re in a positive environment.”

After college Dezzutti worked at several health clubs, starting at the Denver Sporting Club. From there he found himself traveling across the U.S. looking for great opportunities and clubs trying inventive ideas.

In 1996, when Dezzutti took his role at Merritt Athletic Clubs, he became an active member of Rex Rountables. “I enjoy hearing from other CEOs in other industries,” Dezzutti said. “I listen to their ideas and think about how they can be implemented in our industry.”

It’s that constant attempt to think outside the box that has made Merritt Athletic Clubs a poolside-gathering place during the summer, a nightclub on Saturday nights and a place for people in Baltimore to get fit all year

Saved by quick thinking after heart attack at Planet Fitness

Everything happened the way it should have when bystanders acted quickly to combat the “perfect storm” of medical complications that stopped Dave Durant’s heart from beating.

Around 10 a.m. on Sunday, March 20, the 48-year-old Vernon resident had just finished a 5k run on a treadmill at Planet Fitness in Oneida. The workout was routine. He wiped down the equipment and headed to the drinking fountain, as usual. The next thing he remembers is waking up on a stretcher, being wheeled into an ambulance.

Luckily for Durant, when his heart stopped beating, there happened to be a nurse and a physician in the building. The gym is also equipped with an Automated External Defibrillator and staff trained on identifying situations in which to use it.

Dr. John Wight, of the Tri-Valley Family Practice in Vernon, was on the treadmill in front of Durant, listening to music, when his wife pulled the headphones out of his ears and told him a man had collapsed and 911 was being called. Going over to Durant, Wight said it looked like he had fainted or fallen. As he tried to figure out what was wrong, he noticed he was barely breathing. He checked for a pulse and asked for the AED.

Oneida Healthcare RN Cindy Ewing, who happens to be a CPR instructor, was exercising when her friend got her attention to tell her about Durant.

“By the time I walked over there, the Planet Fitness staff members had already had the AED out and were starting to apply the AED pads to his chest,” she said. “Dr. Wight was at the head of the patient. He was totally blue. He wasn’t breathing at all so I just started doing compressions on him.”

Ewing continued doing chest compressions on Durant until the AED analyzing his heart identified a shockable rhythm.

“The patient was in full cardiac arrest,” she said.

Durant, who is CPR certified himself and whose wife is a nurse, was shocked once by the defibrillator and Ewing continued compressions until Oneida Fire and Rescue arrived. At that point, Wight said Durant began “coming around” and was disoriented.

Oneida Firefighter Darrin Ball, who was one of the rescue workers who responded to the 911 call, said the patient was blue when he arrived but was breathing.

'Kids are like adults when they come to exercise. If it's not fun, they don't want to do it,'

Fostering a love of physical activity in children can set up a lifetime of healthy habits. However, motivating children to exercise can be daunting when faced with distractions like television, video games and computers.

In an effort to combat lethargy, aerobics instructor and personal trainer Barbara Victor has recently begun teaching kids exercise classes at Gold's Gym on Route 23 in Riverdale.

Victor's own children motivated her to start the kids program. To find fun and motivating activities, she spoke with their school gym teacher and searched out videos on YouTube. She watched her girls playing in the yard and asked them what they'd like to do.

Next she brought them and their friends to the gym and gave them an opportunity to use the equipment. The ensuing class, which Victor said is most appropriate for ages 5 to 8, consists of an obstacle course and various games.

"Kids are like adults when they come to exercise," Victor said. "If it's not fun, they don't want to do it."

Kathy and Ron Monacelli, owners of the Little Gym of Wayne, a developmental gymnastics studio for children age 4 months to 12 years, agree that exercise needs to be fun.

The Monacellis use creative themes in their programs, like "walking the plank" for walking along the balance beam.

"Whatever you do you must make it interesting, and you must make it fun," Ron said. "Then they will want to do it and they'll be successful at it."

Since children have shorter attention spans than adults, you may come up with a number of great ideas for exercise, only to find that the kids don't stay focused for very long.

"Kids like structure when it comes to homework or bed," Victor said. "When it comes to exercise, you'll see them running around with their friends from the trampoline to kickball to swings."

Strive for variety and let them pick the pace if that's what works best. As long as they're moving, Victor believes they're exercising.

Victor also found that her kids enjoy simple equipment. They love running with, throwing and bouncing on the big balls. They also enjoy punching bags, which can double as a tool for working out aggression and energy, she said. At home they have a trampoline and the neighborhood children are usually "exercising" on it, too. In her classes she'll even play limbo, if that's what the kids want to do.

If the exercise and games are fun enough that their friends want to join in, that's all the more motivation. Parents should not overlook their own exercise routines either, since Victor believes her daughters' motivation to exercise stems from her own enjoyment and interest in it.

Because the kids exercise class at Gold's Gym is still new, the program is free and open to anyone, member or not. Parents who belong to the gym can bring their children and work out during the class. Even if the class assumes a permanent spot on the gym schedule, Victor expects that the cost will be minimal in an effort to encourage children to attend.

"I love teaching to the kids," she said. "It's so much fun, and it's definitely challenging."

Fitness Industry Job Descriptions

Fitness Industry Job Descriptions

The following job descriptions were provided to IHRSA by its member clubs/companies. They are not endorsed by IHRSA, but are made available for download as a courtesy to Healthclubs.com/jobs visitors. If you are willing to contribute your company's job descriptions, please send them to jobs@healthclubs.com. Thank you!



Sample Job Descriptions


•Administrative Assistant
•Aerobic Fitness Instructor
•After School Manager
•After School Staff
•Aquatics Manager
•Assistant Site Manager
•Bootcamp Style Class Instructor
•Cafe Manager
•Cafe Staff
•Camp Manager
•Childcare Manager
•Club Monitor
•Custodian
•Dance Lessons Fitness Instructor
•Dietitian
•Director of Corporate Services
•Executive Assistant
•Facilities Manager
•Fitness Assistant
•Fitness Specialist
•Fitness Manager
•Front Desk
•Front Desk Manager
•Group Exercise Instructor
•Human Resource Manager
•Instructor
•Laundry Room Custodian
•Locker Room Attendant
•Maintenance Person
•Maintenance Shift Lead
•Marketing Coordinator
•Massage Therapy Manager
•Massage Therapist
•Nail Technician
•Night Cleaner
•Nutritionist
•Office Assistant
•Outside Sales
•Personal Trainer
•Program Coordinator - Group Exercise
•Program Coordinator
•Personal Training Manager
•Preschool Manager
•Preschool Teacher
•Programming Manager
•Retail Assistant
•Retail Manager
•Sales Manager
•Site Manager
•Sports Official
•Tennis Assistant
•Tennis Manager
•Tennis Professional
•Wellness Manager
•Yoga or Pilates Instructor

A: The most effective way to build membership is always through building a strong referral program. Have a shopper visit each member of your sales team to see if they do the following: ■Do they have a compelling referral presentation @ POS? Do they have professional collateral to support those efforts? ■Do they follow up with each new member they've sold in the first, second & third months to see how they're doing, and to find out who they'd like to bring into the club? ■Do they regularly generate referrals through other means inside the club? ■Do they ask each new member who they would like to add-on to their membership @ POS? ■Do they ask each new member where they work, and request an introduction to their HR Department? These steps are a great beginning to maintaining a strong sales pipeline within your club, and will kick-start your membership build whenever you focus on them.

Dara lost over 45 inches of flab with Amerishape!

Before joining Amerishape / Ameri Shape , Dara never worked out.

But once she began hitting the machines and sculpting her body in earnest, the Power House gym's general manager (Brian Hanrahan) was so impressed he offered her a job as a personal trainer. They had reason to take notice: She'd lost 45 inches of flab.

Dara confesses, "Sometimes I still find it hard to believe it's me on the Power House gym floor singing and dancing to techno music, motivating people to get moving." That's because before becoming a Amerishape / Ameri Shape Member in November 2009, Dara weighed 195.6 pounds. But after just thirteen months of following the Ameri Shape Weight-Loss System, she had shed 65.8 of them.* "The word 'workout' never used to be part of my vocabulary," she says. "Now it's part of my identity!" AmeriShape.com: Was there a particular food with great nutritional value you loved that was hard to give up?

Dara: I'm smarter about eating the foods I love so that I don't have to give them up. I love Chinese food. Only now, instead of ordering chicken and cashews I'll get chicken and veggies. Pizza was another Achilles heel for me. I make my own, using sauce with calorie values, low-fat cheese and pita bread.

AmeriShape.com: Are there special tricks you use to help you stay on track?

Dara: I still carry my "before" picture in my purse.

AmeriShape.com: Has the Amerishape / Ameri Shape plan helped you in ways beyond weight loss ?

Dara: I've learned not to hold back when I really want something. If I go on a job interview I'll say, "This is why you need to hire me" rather than, "Hi, do you have any openings?"

AmeriShape.com: How have the people close to you reacted to the weight loss?

Dara: I met my boyfriend before I lost the weight, so I know he loved me at my heaviest. But now his nickname for me is Slim. The most awesome part is going clothes shopping with my thin friends. Finally, instead of skulking into the plus size section, I sashay with my buds around "skinny-people" stores!

Dara's tips:

Work out!


When you get home from the grocery store, label the cans with their calorie values before putting them in the cabinets.


I loved regular soda and hated the diet stuff until I started adding a lemon slice — instant improvement.

Victoria Principal

A reader sent us this old ad with Victoria Principal.

Victoria Principal President's Health and Racquet Club

This was actually a record that you could play and hear her voice

Members Pay For Gold's Gym Not Yet Built

Members Pay For Gold's Gym Not Yet Built
HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. — About 1,000 people who paid for gym memberships
have nothing to show for it. Gold's Gym was supposed to open in
Hendersonville last October, but five months later, it hasn't.
A Gold's Gym membership is about $20 a month.
"I thought, 'Hey, a great opportunity. The gym is right outside my
apartment; this would be wonderful,'" said Ryan O'Saile.
In September of last year, O'Saile paid about $50. The gym, he was told,
would open in October.
"We're still sitting here in March, and construction hasn't begun yet.
Each time I went to the trailer, I've been given a different story about what
was going on," said O'Saile. "I feel cheated. I feel wronged that they're
taking this money from me."
O'Saile isn't alone, and Gold's Gym General Manager Chris Cross said he
understands his members' frustration.
We've signed up over 900 members," said Cross. "We're frustrated, too.
Nobody wants this gym open more than we do."
In fact, Cross said, $1 million has been invested into the project,
including signs and construction materials. Cross said the gym's bank is to blame
for the hold-ups.
"They delayed the funding, which caused us to be in a delay," said Cross,
who said a gym is coming. "We are 100 percent going to open. We are in the
process. We are moving full-steam ahead."
O'Saile won't be there when the doors finally open. He has canceled his
membership, but said he was told enrollment and processing fees from account
setup were nonrefundable.

Amerishape Whey Loss Smoothie

Amerishape Whey Loss Smoothie is a source of protein derived exclusively from Whey Protein Isolate (WPI) and provides one of the highest percentages of protein per serving, minimal carbohydrates and no fat. In addition, the product is Lactose-free, very low in sodium and no cholesterol. Common to many whey products, Whey Protein Isolate is produced by removing Sweet Whey from cheese curd, then subjected to methods that remove the remaining cheese “fines”, pasteurized, and the fat content is removed by centrifugal separation. Following this pretreatment, the fluid raw material may then be processed into Whey Protein Isolate using one of two methods: Ion Exchange (IE), which is followed by concentration and spray drying, is a process very similar to that used for the production of “soft” water. Microfiltration followed by Ultrafiltration (MF/UF), and is then spray dried, incorporates a pressure driven membrane filtration which is comprised of two “molecular sieves”. This process removes differing components in various steps and is then concentrated to achieve the desired product. The two methods differ in production in the composition of the proteins found in the respective forms of Whey Protein Isolate. However, when compared to the MF/UF method, the IE method results in the loss of significant certain protein fractions. For this reason, Amerishape Whey Loss Smoothie uses Whey Protein Isolate produced only by MF/UF methods. WPI offers an effective means of supplementing the diet with a source of protein that has an excellent Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) and Biological Value (BV) available. And, due to the natural bland taste of WPI, it offers a very good tasting, versatile form of protein that may be used to create an endless number of protein shakes and smoothies. Each 30 gram serving of Amerishape Whey Loss Smoothie provides 26 grams of Protein, only 1 gram of Carbohydrates, No Lactose, No Fat and No Cholesterol. Amerishape Whey Loss Smoothie is available in three great tasting flavors, Vanilla, Chocolate, and Strawberry, with some new exciting flavors in the works. Amerishape Whey Loss Smoothie is naturally sweetened with Stevia and uses flavor systems guaranteed to be free of MSG and other Exitotoxins.

Amerishape Whey Loss Smoothie

Amerishape Whey Loss Smoothie is a source of protein derived exclusively from Whey Protein Isolate (WPI) and provides one of the highest percentages of protein per serving, minimal carbohydrates and no fat. In addition, the product is Lactose-free, very low in sodium and no cholesterol. Common to many whey products, Whey Protein Isolate is produced by removing Sweet Whey from cheese curd, then subjected to methods that remove the remaining cheese “fines”, pasteurized, and the fat content is removed by centrifugal separation. Following this pretreatment, the fluid raw material may then be processed into Whey Protein Isolate using one of two methods: Ion Exchange (IE), which is followed by concentration and spray drying, is a process very similar to that used for the production of “soft” water. Microfiltration followed by Ultrafiltration (MF/UF), and is then spray dried, incorporates a pressure driven membrane filtration which is comprised of two “molecular sieves”. This process removes differing components in various steps and is then concentrated to achieve the desired product.
The two methods differ in production in the composition of the proteins found in the respective forms of Whey Protein Isolate. However, when compared to the MF/UF method, the IE method results in the loss of significant certain protein fractions. For this reason, Whey Loss Smoothie uses Whey Protein Isolate produced only by MF/UF methods. WPI offers an effective means of supplementing the diet with a source of protein that has an excellent Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) and Biological Value (BV) available. And, due to the natural bland taste of WPI, it offers a very good tasting, versatile form of protein that may be used to create an endless number of smoothies. Each 30 gram serving of Whey Loss Smoothie provides 26 grams of Protein, only 1 gram of Carbohydrates, No Lactose, No Fat and No Cholesterol. Whey Loss Smoothie is available in three great tasting flavors, Vanilla, Chocolate, and Strawberry, with some new exciting flavors in the works. Whey Loss Smoothie is naturally sweetened with Stevia and uses flavor systems guaranteed to be free of MSG and other Exitotoxins.

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