Merry Christmas

We wish you a very Merry Christmas
and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year

Pru cuts gym discounts

Interesting news last week in the Observer that PruHealth is cutting discounts on gym memberships. From policy renewal, the maximum gym membership discount available will be 25%. I’m surprised this hasn’t happened earlier, or that better processes haven’t been put in place to check on members’ commitment to their fitness.

Several club managers that I’ve visited have told me of members who seem to visit gyms just to swipe-in and maintain their level of vitality points (or similar at other providers). Some occasionally work-out, but there are a lot of people cheating by giving false data. A director at PruHealth who I spoke to last year said they were most interested in building critical mass, and not so worried about people exploiting the system. Now it seems that both the clubs and PruHealth will be losing members.

I think that the practice of discounting either gym membership or medical insurance in a partnership is a great one, but it clearly needs more monitoring than the current “visits per week”. Full health screening is expensive and does not necessarily link to effort. However, if the gym measured members’ performance with an exercise management system, it could report calories burned, weight lifted, or any other exercise parameters, rather than simply visits. This data would be appealing to the right kind of members/policyholders, and invaluable to the insurance company.

Sure, there would be a big brother aspect about this information, and I expect that the health informatics guys would have something to say about it, but I believe that it would work better than the models tried so far. It would also need much closer partnerships between the insurance providers and health clubs, but that would be another good thing, and might even lead to more healthchecks being carried out at the gym.

10k along Brighton Seafront

Up early this morning to get down to Brighton for a breezy 10k run along the seafront with Brandon, owner at FitForAll, a friendly, results focused gym in Hove.

A couple of FitForAll members joined us, and we headed down to the bracing seafront, running from Portslade eastwards past the old pier, and up to the new pier. Brandon certainly extolled his “local gym” image by saying hello to most of the people we passed, runners and pedestrians alike. The wind on our backs helped on the outward 5k, but it was a different story on the way back.

I wasn’t allowed to stop for a breather, so we slowed the pace for a few minutes before picking it up again. Cutting inland by a couple of blocks reduced the wind resistance, and Brandon kept me going with local knowledge and points of interest.

Back at the club 50 minutes later, I have to say it was a tough run but very enjoyable, and set me up for a good day’s consulting (and a good nap on the train home that evening!)

Measuring Retention

We hope you’ve been reading Melvyn Hillsdon’s retention series in Health Club Management about outlining your retention strategy and measuring effectiveness. The articles help to demystify retention calculus, setting out four measurements:

• Member Retention
• Member Attrition
• Membership Length
• Dropout Risk

Using some or all of these metrics, and setting clear targets is the key to improvement. As long as you measure consistently, you can check on progress.
You will need a system to measure effectiveness, but it doesn’t have to be a high tech computer based tool; a system could be a spreadsheet or a list. The secret to a successful system is to get the buy-in from the people using it and feedback the results.

HCM July 09 p37 – member retention
HCM Sept 09 p45 – member retention part 2
HCM April 09 p69 – retention software

More next time on member contact and communications.

Sell software downstream to achieve results

Why do so many software packages fail to deliver the solution promised? How come you’re struggling to achieve the amazing results that were presented in the case studies? Where is that return on investment?

One key factor is that the sales process often stops when the deal is done. The price is agreed, contracts signed, and management happily looking forward to the results and performance improvements. Next, staff are subjected to training and told of all the new tasks that they now have to do. There’s no need to sell to them, right? They’re just the staff, and the hard work has already been done getting the price right and contract signed.

Consider these alternatives:

1. Management involve staff in the sales process and also get involved in the training to show their buy-in, and ensure the staff buy-in to the solution
2. The sales process continues through the implementation of the system, ensuring needs are met and everyone realises the benefits (personal and corporate) of the new tasks that they have to do
3. Goals are set throughout the implementation, to show quick wins and ongoing benefits, to ensure everyone continues to buy-in to the new solution

The hard part often comes after the financial & contractual sale is complete. Focus on continuing to sell the solution throughout the organisation and you will have greater success, and possibly even exceed the promised ROI.

There are other alternatives and other important factors, such as not overloading on training. Why not add a comment with alternatives you’ve experienced?

Exercise Management Systems - the bees' knees

At GG Fit, we think that Exercise Management Systems are the bees’ knees. Systems like Technogym’s Wellness, Pulse Smart Centre and FitLinxx help to improve the gym experience in many ways, and any serious health club or gym should be using a system to help track member workouts and trainer interactions. Here are a few reasons why:


Members:

• More personalised service
• Easy to follow workout
• Enjoy coming to club to record, achieve & review goals

Trainer:

• Better member knowledge & contact
  
• Easy to ensure member programs are up-to-date
  
• Track new members visits & performance

Club:

• Know what your members are doing, not just when they arrive
  
• Set and measure staff performance
  
• Provide a better member experience

Of course, any Exercise Management System needs to be used properly, with the relevant components understood by the relevant staff, which starts with good implementation and training.

If you have any positive or negative experiences of Exercise Management Systems as a member, trainer or club, please let us know in the comments below.

Win a Caribbean holiday!

Really pleased to see the British Heart Foundation and Fitness First getting together to encourage the nation to run and cycle one million miles during May & June. This is a great example of a two companies with common interest in wellness getting together and setting goals to make people fitter and reward them.




Next they could use some technology, an exercise management system, shoe chip, or similar, and this would make it even easier and more interesting than log cards and online forms.

When will it get better?

I was with a coaching client (manager at a gym) recently, and she asked me before our appointment “When will it get better?” I asked her what she meant, and she said “I’ve got more responsibility, less resource, and more is expected of me each week… when will it stop?”

The short answer that she came to herself after a few minutes discussion was, “It won’t stop”. This was not very motivating, but knowing the answer to the (second) question was a start, and we moved back to making it “get better”.

Any number of time management courses or productivity techniques might help, but the first point we came to was to accept that you’re not going to get everything done. This lifts a weight from your shoulders, removes the worry of the never-ending task list, and frees you to get on with the most important task(s).

Mentoring over, we went back to coaching, and found (through some challenging questions) that there were quite a few areas that could be delegated, as well as some tasks that weren’t as critical as first thought.

We all seem to have more and more to do, and seemingly less and less time. There will never be enough time to do everything you have to do. Just don’t let this get you down. If you know what the most important things to do today are, there will always be enough time to do them.

Canary Wharf 10k – British Heart Foundation

Knees hurting. A lot. Running on roads & pavements bad for joints.

The 2008 Canary Wharf Jog was my fastest, but in 2009 it was my slowest. Without my GPS buddy, I’m not certain, but the fact that it was 11 laps of the Canary office blocks tells me that it really was 10k this time around. My time was a paltry 57 mins 12 secs, so there’s plenty of room for improvement at the next 10k!

As usual, registration closed a few weeks before the race, which left a few people disappointed on the sidelines, but 1,000 eager runners (10% apparently from Barclays) set-off at 6:30pm after a good warm-up.

Running on the roads and pavements rather than in nice grassy parks (or moats) really did take its toll on my knees this year around the wharf. I’m not one for stopping in a 10k race anymore, but had to take a couple of pauses to ease the pain – goodness knows how marathon runners do it!

Sponsorship total stands at £946, hopefully one more nudge to my contact list will tip it over the thousand pound mark. Any suggestions for more 10k runs over the remainder of the year would be welcome, please leave a comment!

“If you do not measure it, you can not improve it”

…as Lord Kelvin (Sir William Thompson) once said.

Is this why so many health clubs struggle to improve their member (and staff) retention and are so focused on sales?

Sales are very easy to measure in any industry, hence the focus, I guess. However retention seems to be much more difficult, particularly in the relatively young fitness industry. There are many different ways of working out member retention figures, and countless experts to tell you how to do it. A relatively straightforward formula is explained very clearly here.

Most retention definitions look at a 12 month membership percentage retention, which is a good measure, but this can be difficult to affect in the short term. Improving your 12 month retention from 60% to 70% will not happen overnight, but is a good target for 6-12 months time.

Member attrition is a more fluid metric, and more straightforward to calculate. (Attrition rate – The [average] number of members per thousand who cancel every month)
Attrition is easier to affect each month, and it's also easy to set individual or club targets. If you improve (reduce) your attrition rate, you will increase retention.

Ultimately, as Lord Kelvin told us, if you want to improve something, you need to measure it. Work out how you’re going to do this to start with, then set your targets, and you’ll soon be making a difference.