Are you ready for the flood of members coming in your club?  Have you checked your key tag supply?

ABC Financials key tags are custom printed in vibrant full color…your company logo will be highly visible on your member’s key rings. Everywhere they go, you go too!

Key tags can include a barcode, sequential numbering or other variable data for membership tracking purposes and are formatted to work with our DataTrak software.  ABC offers many unique key tag shapes and sizes…even custom ones! 

Track and collect data or just use them as an inexpensive marketing tool…key tags are convenient and easy!  Plus, we can take the cost right from your monthly billing. 

Don’t get left out in the rain…order your key tags today!  Contact by calling 1-866-992-8960 or email us at clubmarketing@abcfinancial.com

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By: Michael Scott Scudder

I guess if you’re lucky enough to last in this business for more than a decade, some folks think you’re wise…and they ask you for “predictions.”  So here are some of mine for the New Year.

I have access to over 7 years of my own quarterly and annual fitness-business research…plus spreadsheets on over 20 years of other industry studies.  One thing that persistent surveillance of numbers does is to give not only a history of what has happened, but also a glimpse of what can happen in the very near future.  Here’s some strong possibilities for 2015.

BIG COMPANIES WILL BUY MORE CLUBS AND PUT PRESSURE ON INDEPENDENTS IN HUNDREDS OF MARKETS:

Estimably 9% of clubs in the Top 100 control over 40% of U.S. club memberships.  Anticipate that more regional chains and multi-club operations will be bought up and that large players will control even greater percentages of national memberships.  POSITIVE: Smart independents will “un-standardize” offerings and become much more competitive.

“MEMBERSHIP UNBUNDLING” WILL CONTINUE:

Over 1/3 of U.S. clubs have already either a la carted or unbundled prices.  We’re now seeing it even in higher-price facilities.  More clubs will unbundle in efforts to compete.  POSITIVE: Many clubs will reach wider potential prospect audiences by unbundling.

STUDIO AND NICHE FACILITY GROWTH INCREASES:

Some experts say that there are over 20,000 “under the radar” niche facilities presently existent in the U.S – with annual growth rates at more than 15%.  Studios will challenge established clubs not only for training and program dollars, but also for membership revenues.  POSITIVE: Aware operators will change training offerings and compensation, keeping productive trainers in-house and providing better member-client services.

MEMBERSHIP PRICES WILL DECLINE YET FURTHER:

There has been a consistent decade-long year-by-year drop in membership prices. As more budget clubs arrive in markets – and as unbundling persists – expect that monthly dues will trend downward again in 2015.  POSITIVE: Modern-thinking facilities are concentrating on predictably-profitable ancillary-income production…with many now producing over 40% of monthly income in training, program and other-than-membership sales.

CLUBS WILL USE THEIR TECHNOLOGIES TO GREATER ADVANTAGE:

As on-boarding has become more sophisticated and member-use tracking has become part of weekly operations, clubs have turned to their software applications for business solutions.  2015 will be the year that management-software companies with “dashboarding” draw much attention.  POSITIVE: Independent clubs will operate with much more objectivity, efficiency and effectiveness.

(Michael Scott Scudder is Founder/CEO of Fitness Business Council, the independent club business network.  Michael can be contacted at 575-613-1004 or mss@fitnessbusinesscouncil.com.

The post Health Clubs 2015: The Things that will Plague Us… and Save Us appeared first on .

Click here to read part 1.

Every club owner and executive by and large think they make pretty good business decisions.  Yet when they are examined in the harsh light of a peer business review, their shortcomings are revealed.  We know because REX Roundtables regularly conducts these reviews for its members.

So how do you avoid bad, ineffective and costly decision disasters when you don’t have such a review at your disposal? 

LEARN HOW TO RECOGNIZE THE COMMON DECISION FALLACIES

There are eight business decision fallacies that are so prevalent in the common sense of business, that they have been researched in several business schools.  I have reported on these in the previous REX article for ABC.  Read about them.  Read business disaster stories in places like the Wall St Journal.  Learn to recognize these critters before they creep into a decision.  For once they have moved in, executives tend to think they are domesticated, while in fact they are still wild animals that will eat you and your cash and your reputation alive.  Learn how to identify them at a distance!

BEWARE OF YOUR EXPERIENCE

For all the emphasis in the business world on numbers and hard-nosed facts, extensive research points out again and again that close to 90% of executive decisions are made largely through an unconscious or intuitive process. After the decision is made, we marshal the facts to support. This makes for quick, effective decisions in most cases, but important factors can undermine intuitive or experienced decision making – 1-your past experience, 2-your emotional attachments and 3-your self-interest.  Here is an example of how past experience undermines decisions.

Matthew Broderick had worked in operation centers in Vietnam and other military settings.  He had led homeland security operations centers during hurricanes. All of these experiences taught him that early reports surrounding a potential disaster are often faulty, and that it is better to wait for the “ground truth” to surface before taking action.  Unfortunately he had no experience with a hurricane hitting a city built below sea level-Katrina.  This is an example of how misleading memories and experience can lead to a bad decision.  Our experience that seems relevant and comparable is not, and it leads to decisions that are exactly wrong and at times disastrous.  In this case the broken levees were not officially identified for 12-18 hours after they began breeching.  Basing decision on the wrong experience is a factor in poor decisions.

EMOTIONAL CONNECTIONS CAN DAMAGE DECISIONS

Here is an example of how emotional attachments undermine decisions. In the 1980’s, Wang Laboratories was an important Boston high tech company and the leader in the word processing industry.  Wang recognized his company would be challenged by the rise of the personal computer and built a machine to compete.  He chose to create his own operating system software despite the fact that the competing IBM PC was becoming the dominant standard in word processing.  The operating system IBM had chosen was Microsoft. Early in his career, Wang believed he had been cheated by IBM over technology he had invented.  This led to a strong dislike of IBM and the avoidance of anything used by IBM even though the software itself had been developed by Microsoft.  This serious blunder contributed to the rapid decline of Wang Laboratories within a few years.  When you have an emotional connection to people, places or things, your decisions are in jeopardy.  Such emotional attachment is often a factor when you are making a choice about filling a new position with an in-house promotion or an external hire. 

BEWARE OF SELF INTEREST

The third factor that leads to poor decisions is inappropriate self-interest.  All leaders are aware that self-interest should not be a significant factor in decision making, yet even well trained and well intentioned professionals such as doctors, auditors and engineers are unable to prevent self-interest from biasing their judgment.  A prominent surgeon continued to tout the benefits of a hip replacement module as evidence mounted on its widespread early failure. Not publicizing this sooner led to significant legal penalties, disastrous public relations and much personal embarrassment.

BUILD A TEAM OF EQUALS-WHO WILL CHALLENGE YOU THINKING.

In order to avoid making poor decisions, you need a deliberate and structured ways to identify your likely biases and a procedure for improving the quality of your decisions.  The simplest solution is to involve others, at least one other, who has no appropriate attachments or self-interest.  This is the value of an outsider who has little experience with the situation and thus, is more objective.  Step two is to create an environment where this group can challenge your thinking and force you to review your logic and consider other opinions.  Without a culture of challenge and without a team of equals to further the debate which explicitly confronts your biases you are apt to make expensive and poor decisions.

Again and again, research into poor business decisions made by executive teams and by the boards of the largest businesses such as Enron, Tyco, Lehman Brothers, UBS, Bear Sterns, etc. point out two factors.  First the members of the executive team or board were highly qualified and experienced. Second, decisions by the leader were never challenged or seriously examined.  Often individual members had concerns, but the elephant in the room was never named.  As Peter Drucker famously said the purpose of an executive team is to foster conflict.  Meaning conflict that challenged everyone’s thinking to produce higher quality decisions.  This sort of challenging does not occur unless the trust level is very high.

Trust is the foundation of all human interaction.  It could be called a measure of the bandwidth that exists between those who are communicating.  Low bandwidth gives a slow and inefficient communication.  Low trust is like adding friction to the organization which means energy is consumed overcoming the friction, and that energy is not available to operate and drive the business.  Energy consumed in friction is converted to frustration.  See The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni for a solid explication of why even a modest and a low trust climate undermines commitment, accountability and results. The book reviewed at http://www.rexonline.org/showreviews.php?action=fivedysf2 .

Here are a set of statements which can assess the level of trust on your executive team.

1– My experience is that my team members intend to care for me.

2– Team members know my goals and interests.

3– Team members understand how we are linked and how our behavior can affect one another’s work.

4– Team members consider my interests in their decisions and behavior.

5– Team members stand up for me when I am not present.

6– Team members admit their mistakes.

7– Team members admit their weaknesses to one another.

8– Team members ask for help from one another without hesitation.

9– Team members acknowledge and tap one another’s skills and expertise.

10– Team members willingly apologize to one another.

11– Team members are unguarded and genuine with one another.

12– Team members ask for other members input regardless of their areas of responsibility.

Using this assessment with your executive team can identify the areas to improve and protect your business from poor decisions.

AVOIDING DECISION DISASTERS

There are five more specific ways to largely avoid the seven decision fallacies and the poor decisions they produce. If you would like information on them contact the author.

Will Philips is the founder of REX Roundtables serving 150 of the world’s best clubs with 5,000 sites and 30,000,000 members.  Improving performance of their clubs and the quality of the leader’s lives.  You can reach Will@rexroundtables.com.

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“Much of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to work.”

-Peter Drucker-

Peter Drucker has written more stuff about real management than any other; he will challenge your standard beliefs and push your thinking out of the box. So if you are ready to be pushed, read on.

Most clubs have solid procedures for managing their facility, cash and capital. A club’s total time budget is often unmanaged. Everyone’s time is consumed with phone calls, emails, instant messages, meetings, customer requests, reports and staff conversations. Few clubs have procedures for governing these interactions. Turns out that most clubs have little understanding of how their leaders and staff are spending their collective time. Unsurprisingly, that time can be squandered when organizations become loaded with long email sequences, elaborate meetings and review sessions.

Readily available advice for managing time focus on an individual’s actions. Yet even when an individual is using these tools well, their best intentions can be overwhelmed by the demands and practices of their club business. Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel said ‘you would not permit a fellow employee to steal a piece of equipment, and you shouldn’t let anyone walk away with your time.’

The authors of this research by Bain and Company analyzed the time budgets of 17 large corporations. They found all were all awash in email communications, involved with an ever growing number of meetings, and that collaboration across departments and between headquarters and remote sites. Too often the communication that that occurred was for sharing and collecting information rather than solving problems and making improvements. In addition they found dysfunctional meeting behavior on the rise. For example, meetings often begin with members who have not individually prepared, involve unnecessary people and drag on and on. Then at the end there is no debrief or lessons learned about making the meeting better with specific changes and improvements. One study of large companies revealed that a quarter of the participants sent an average of three emails per half hour in meetings. Lastly, requests for people’s time are easy to make and there is little review of the value.

In the span of four decades from the 1970s to today the number of communications per executive annually has risen 30 times.

The comments from close to 100 club owners in this industry for close to 25 years tell me that the average well run, profitable club is wasting about 10% of its organization time at a low estimate; some may be as high as 20%. This means you are leaving 10-20% of your labor costs on the table when they could be profits. It also means that problems are not surfaced or fixed fast, that employees may not be fully present and committed when at work, and that the owner is frustrated about how some things happen the way they do.

REX Roundtables improves the performance of over 100 clubs whose owners and executives are members of one of our Roundtables. That is our sole purpose. We bring together 12-15 owners/top executives in the club industry to act like an informal board of directors. Sharing, challenging, and caring for one another. Each Roundtable meets three times a year and has continuous interaction between meetings to solve problems, find information and hold one another accountable. No competitors, the same members year after year build the trust for deep honesty.

To find out more about REX Call or text Eddie Tock 914-643-3207. Eddie@rexroundtables.com

And don’t forget to request the FREE REX Follow up on SIX PRACTICES FOR MANAGING ORGANIZATONAL TIME. Remember this is totally different than individual time management skills.

The post Total Time Management: Managing Your Scarcest & Most Costly Resource-Organization Time appeared first on .

“Much of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to work.”

-Peter Drucker-

Peter Drucker has written more stuff about real management than any other; he will challenge your standard beliefs and push your thinking out of the box. So if you are ready to be pushed, read on.
Most clubs have solid procedures for managing their facility, cash and capital. A club’s total time budget is often unmanaged. Everyone’s time is consumed with phone calls, emails, instant messages, meetings, customer requests, reports and staff conversations. Few clubs have procedures for governing these interactions. Turns out that most clubs have little understanding of how their leaders and staff are spending their collective time. Unsurprisingly, that time can be squandered when organizations become loaded with long email sequences, elaborate meetings and review sessions.
Readily available advice for managing time focus on an individual’s actions. Yet even when an individual is using these tools well, their best intentions can be overwhelmed by the demands and practices of their club business. Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel said ‘you would not permit a fellow employee to steal a piece of equipment, and you shouldn’t let anyone walk away with your time.’
The authors of this research by Bain and Company analyzed the time budgets of 17 large corporations. They found all were all awash in email communications, involved with an ever growing number of meetings, and that collaboration across departments and between headquarters and remote sites. Too often the communication that that occurred was for sharing and collecting information rather than solving problems and making improvements. In addition they found dysfunctional meeting behavior on the rise. For example, meetings often begin with members who have not individually prepared, involve unnecessary people and drag on and on. Then at the end there is no debrief or lessons learned about making the meeting better with specific changes and improvements. One study of large companies revealed that a quarter of the participants sent an average of three emails per half hour in meetings. Lastly, requests for people’s time are easy to make and there is little review of the value.
In the span of four decades from the 1970s to today the number of communications per executive annually has risen 30 times.
The comments from close to 100 club owners in this industry for close to 25 years tell me that the average well run, profitable club is wasting about 10% of its organization time at a low estimate; some may be as high as 20%. This means you are leaving 10-20% of your labor costs on the table when they could be profits. It also means that problems are not surfaced or fixed fast, that employees may not be fully present and committed when at work, and that the owner is frustrated about how some things happen the way they do.
REX Roundtables improves the performance of over 100 clubs whose owners and executives are members of one of our Roundtables. That is our sole purpose. We bring together 12-15 owners/top executives in the club industry to act like an informal board of directors. Sharing, challenging, and caring for one another. Each Roundtable meets three times a year and has continuous interaction between meetings to solve problems, find information and hold one another accountable. No competitors, the same members year after year build the trust for deep honesty.

And don’t forget to request the FREE REX Follow up on SIX PRACTICES FOR MANAGING ORGANIZATONAL TIME. Remember this is totally different than individual time management skills.

The post Total Time Management Advice from Peter Drucker, Founder of REX Roundtables for Club Executives appeared first on .

Endorphins, the wonder behind the infamous and oft praised “runner’s high,” are a fascinating component in brain chemistry. This chemical is released during physical activity, and upon release, they bind to receptors in the brain and cause an almost immediate decrease of any pain sensations. Endorphins can also significantly increase feelings of well being—in other words, endorphins are the body’s feel good chemical.

It takes between ten and thirty minutes of activity for endorphins to release. While it varies from person to person, twenty minutes is a generally agreed upon median. Some sources suggest it may take longer for them to kick in when first beginning to work out.

So what does this mean for your club and staff?

It’s no secret that many people sign up for gym memberships, work out a few times, get discouraged, and eventually stop their membership. Part of the reason they get discouraged is because exercise can be uncomfortable when first participating in regular physical activity. Additionally, many new members are not working out for long enough to push past the discomfort and into the endorphin zone. To add another layer of complexity, a huge amount of the public does not realize they can achieve the runner’s high they see on the sidewalks every day without running.

If your staff consists of trainers, or even if it doesn’t, it might behoove your club to incorporate some basic information into member orientation. This can be as simple as talking about the function of endorphins and letting the member know how long it takes that rush to hit. It’s very important to let them know it comes just after things start feeling really hard. The staff member might find it helpful to relate to the member through their own experience. Of course, you’d also want to educate your members on the different between “pushing past hard” and injuring oneself.

Another interesting facet of the human brain is the way we associate feelings with our sense of place. When in a place we associate positive feelings with, it becomes easier to experience those feelings again. Members who experience an endorphin rush in your club are likely to subconsciously associate the two, and thus are more likely to continue coming back for hit after hit of their body’s own wonder drug.

All it takes is a short conversation during member orientation to encourage members to push past their comfort zone. Once they do, just once, they’ll understand the physical sensations they are experiencing—and begin to realize what it takes to achieve real results.

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In the ultra-competitive world of health and fitness, where less than 50% of new gyms and fitness centers are expected to survive beyond the first 5 years in business, Jim Thomas has many answers to questions most gym owners don’t even know to ask.

Jim Thomas is the well-known founder and president of Fitness Management USA, Inc., a management consulting and turnaround firm specializing in the fitness and health club industry. The tagline for his company is an apt one. “When the going gets tough, the smart get help.”

The health and fitness industry, like so many others, is one in which many businesses are spawned through passion. For example, a personal trainer loves what he or she does so decides to open a gym hoping that the old axiom, “Do what you love and the money will follow” will hold true. Unfortunately, it rarely does.

“Other than being under-capitalized, the biggest reason we see for health club failure is lack of business know-how and lack of proper implementation of sales and marketing strategies,” points out Thomas. “Another common misconception that many new gym owners have is that the gym will sell itself.”

It is rare to find someone that is both passionate about providing health and fitness services and adept at marketing and sales. The result is often that one side of the business falters and may drag the entire operation down with it.

In these cases, Thomas suggests, “If you are not an expert in gym sales and marketing find someone that is. Embrace sales and marketing. Get some training. In an effort to provide good service, you can’t give up key steps of the membership sales process.”

After 25 years of owning and operating gyms as well as speaking and consulting extensively on the subject, Thomas has seen pretty much all the industry can throw at gym owners. When asked what precautions or research new gym owners could undertake to improve their odds of success, Thomas responded, “For people entering this business, be fully aware the biggest mistake is a failure to grasp and implement proper sales and marketing programs.” He also added, “Keep fixed overhead low. Newcomers need to shorten the learning curve and not learn based on trial and error – it’s just too costly.”

It seems that gym owners – like many entrepreneurs – may be overly optimistic for their own good at times. When asked what the greatest challenge he faces in helping aspiring or struggling gym owners, Thomas was very up-front, “Club owners often wait too long to engage professional help. Instead, thinking the problem will miraculously be fixed without help.”

The lesson to be learned here? Running a health and fitness facility is a high-overhead and sometimes complicated business requiring a diverse skill-set. To ensure the greatest likelihood of success, anyone thinking about entering into this industry should either have the proper skill-set or be willing to work with someone that does.

http://www.fmconsulting.net/ or call 1-800-929-2898

The post Most Common Causes of Gym Failures appeared first on .

There’s nothing like the personal touch when it comes to managing a business—especially health clubs. The smiling face at the reception counter, a knowledgeable trainer, and tidy facilities are often the main things people will note when discussing with friends their choice of workout venue. Management likely works to make each of these features appear effortless. While returning members maintain your business, referrals are what build your legacy.

If you’re still relying on a basic check-in system without any additional features, you may be losing business. A strong software system can do a vast amount of work for you in retaining members, building new client relationships, organizing the gym’s schedule, and maintaining commission schedules for trainers, storing digital documents, and more.

The latest club management software provides many significant features: Member check-in, online registration for new members, online class sign-up, point of sale functionality combined with integrated Merchant Services, software maintenance and backup, inventory management, calendar, electronic agreements and waivers, employee management, and locker management.

How does this benefit you, the gym owner? Envision a potential member walking into your gym, greeted by your employees, and they are already a brand new member of your gym. How? They joined online and enrolled in your 2 PM Body Pump class. The only thing left for your employees to do would be to provide your new member with a key fob for check-in, give them a tour, and answer any additional questions they might have.

The benefits? Multiple.

• The new client was able to “impulse join” online, creating an immediate sale while your employees are actively working on member recruitment in-house
• All documents are electronically signed and stored
• The significant time spent online means the new member already has familiarity, and therefore a higher comfort level, with the gym
  • Higher comfort and familiarity = higher attendance and retention of clients
• Because the new member was able to join a class online, their spot is guaranteed—ensuring their trip to the gym isn’t wasted

A similar benefit is present for your employees and trainers.  Scheduling means your employees are able to stay on top of their commitments, and you can see at a glance who should be doing what, at what time, and how often.

While you and your employee’s personalities and customer service skills may be the first thing clients think of, it’s stable and comprehensive club management software will allow everyone to do what they do best.  You can be assured the calendar, member maintenance and billing organization is taken care of appropriately, allowing your business to grow and thrive. Your members—and your employees—will thank you.

The post Features of Club Management Software That Can Help Grow Your Business appeared first on .

Those of you who’ve attended my business seminars over the years have often heard me say: “Your numbers are the sum and substance of your business practices.” If your numbers are up, usually it reflects some solid business practices. If your numbers are down, take a look at where your systems are faltering.
One of the things I try to accomplish with my Fitness Business Council efforts is to get a clear “take” on what the business numbers are for the independent health club sector. That’s why I deploy three (3) quarterly surveys every year and an annual survey. In seven (7) years of polling the independent club sector of our business, I’ve learned a lot that I’ve shared with all of you. The initial results from my FBC 1st Quarter 2014 Business Results Survey show where the industry is at present…and also reflect on some longer-term trends that can be very challenging to club operators.

Growth of New Membership Sales is a key indicator. Whenever we’ve seen a consistent 60%+ of clubs reporting growth in new memberships for 3 consecutive quarters, we’ve generally been able to predict the beginning of an uptrend. Unfortunately, new membership sales were up in only 49% of reporting clubs…and that is a continuance of a slightly downward-slipping pattern that has been in evidence for over three (3) years. Growth in Total Sales (which includes the all-important Ancillary Sales categories) is another critical benchmark. While total sales and ancillary sales growth are higher in slightly more than 50% of clubs, we still do not see a breakout uptrend occurring here. Alarmingly, these categories have been accompanied by a consistent downtrend in single-member-monthly dues…which presently stand at an average all-time low of slightly less than $28 per month across our industry.

The latter may well be influenced by Unbundling of Membership Prices, which 45% of clubs reportthey have done in efforts to compete with budgetclubs and HVLP (high-volume-low-price) players intheir marketplaces. One-to-One Personal Training sales growth stillpersists in a gradually-downtrend mode, with only
45% of clubs reporting sales growth. This may be in part because Small Group Training revenue growth continues in an upward pattern, though not yet definable as a “definite uptrend.” Group Exercise Class Attendance growth, which until early last year had been in a defined uptrend, is slipping into declining numbers, with only 45% of clubs reporting increases in attendance. Finally, the percentage of clubs with Increases in Profits are inching higher…but Profit Margins themselves are continuing to slowly erode, with the national average pre-tax margin at approximately 9% – its lowest in several years. While the above “numbers” overall might look negative to the reader, they are not. What they are, are “benchmarks” whereby clubs can measure their own progress, or lack thereof – and gauge their business strategies accordingly. !

Michael Scott Scudder is Founder/CEO of Fitness Business Council
575-751-1212
mss@fitnessbusinesscouncil.com

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