It’s Never Been A Better Time To Be In The Fitness Industry

Back in the early 70’s there was a small group of enthusiasts that loved to train with weights and most of them worked out in gyms, Police boys clubs, YMCA’s and a few muscle gyms, where mostly body builders worked out. Who would have ever thought that fledgling industry would grow into the massive international industry that it is today.

A Gym used to be intimidation place to go to as the perception was that is was only for the body beautiful. This was far from the trues as many gyms have many everyday people training there but perception is reality. The Fitness industry had a slump with in the late 80’s with the decline of attendance to classes and many clubs closing down due to lack business acumen and ability to sell and keep members. This was a huge challenge, but the decline lead to some big changes to our industry and the clubs started to make changes. Theses are just a few of the improvements:

1. Up Grading Equipment
2. Massively Improved Cleanliness
3. Qualifications For Fitness Professionals (ACHPER – Now Cert 4)
4. Industry Standard To Work In The Fitness Industry
5. Downloadable and streamed Music For Group Fitness Classes
(We used to do our own music for classes)
6. The Simplification of Group Exercise Classes
7. The Introduction Of Les Mills Pre Choreographed Group Fitness
8. Easy To Use CRMs & Use Of Accounting Programs
CRM (Customer Relationship Management Software)
9. Cardiovascular Equipment
10. More Business Minded People Opening Clubs & Studios
11. Management Companies Assisting Councils To Run Facilities
12. Creating A Sales Department & Using KPI’s
KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators)
13. Creating A Marketing Department
14. Conventions To Attend & Learn From The Experts
15. Creating Governing Bodies e.g. Fitness Australia
16. Professional Registration & Compulsory Renewal Via CEC’s
17. Collaboration With Each Others Instead Of Just Taking
18. Direct Debit For Membership
19. The Arrival Of Overseas Club Chains
(Made Australia’s Clubs Become Competitive)
20. Professional & Regular Sales & Management Training

And many many more services and improvement. For the new generation fitness professional it would hard to imagine a fitness industry without these services…. Well none of these and many others we take for granted did not exist. So we are in a good place right now, there has never been a better time to be involved in the fitness industry.

The fitness industry is fast becoming essential for people as so many now use and love their training. Fitness facilities clubs, studios and leisure centres essential facilities and the experts that help members and clients increase their fitness, to build them up, help reduce their weight and improve their performance 7 days a week is becoming a must have service one that has faired very well in past economic downturns as the fitness industry is still very good value for money.

The changes in the Fitness over the past 3 decades are countless, from the impressive premises, cardio and resistance equipment, to the technical skills of the instructors and group fitness professionals, it has become a big business.

All these improvements have were very necessary as people are now expecting higher standards when joining clubs, studios and leisure centres.

In my travels around the world I have noticed that one area that has not improved as dramatically as the technical aspect of our industry is the ability to improve lead generation, communicate and selling skills.

There is a larger emphasis at fitness facilities to have sales people and to have selling skills but the ability to effectively communicate has been taken for granted. Many trainers, front line teams are left out of sales training as it is felt by some to not be necessary to learn those skills, as they are not part of the job description.

Something To Think About:
Having the ability to effectively communicate is paramount in an industry that relies so heavily on team members at the fitness facility to create a memorable and positive experiences for their members on an on going basis to assist sales, retention referrals and secondary spends.

One of the most important skill sets to master when running or working in the fitness facility is the acquisition (Selling) of new members and clients and equally as important is the retention. This is an activity all clubs, studios, leisure centres required to be successful.

Selling is a skill that can be learnt one that must have ongoing reinforcement to maintain the skills and techniques. When this culture in introduced into a fitness business, cash flow is good and most income headaches and reduced, you see there is not much in business that More Sales cant fix.

21 Steps To Fitness Business Success:

1. Install A Sales Culture
2. Know You Really ‘One Chance’ – Do It Right The 1st Time
3. Learn How To Contact Your Web Leads & Engage An Expert To Install & Maintain Your Digital Sales Funnels & Automation
4. Train Sales & Communication Skills Regularly
5. Role Plays Daily
6. Have Everyone Learn DISC Behaviour Style Communication
7. Learn Rapport Skills & Insure They Are Used EVERYDAY
8. Know Your Product & Be Educated In How To Obtain Results
9. Be Unique – Be Know As The Experts – Be The Authority On Something
10. Inspire The Close – Don’t Rely On Deal Selling
11. Regular Shopping The Fitness Business – After Agreement
12. Inspect The Selling & Communication Skills Fortnightly
13. Include Sales & Communication Skills Into Your Induction
14. Ongoing Regular Team Training – Isolated For Each Department
15. Go Back To The Basics Regularly
16. Involve All Fitness Professionals In Training & Inspections
17. Avoid Selling Skills Complacency
18. Introduce KPI’s & Inspect Sales Activity EVERYDAY
19. Alway Have A Sales & Closing Strategy For All Marketing Campaigns
20. Reward & Acknowledge Team Members That Preform
21. Outsource & Find Experts To Do The Tasks You Are Not Proficient In. It Will Save You Time, Reduce Costs, Reduce Your Worry and Increase Sales

Ensuring that any training conducted with team members is reinforced, as this is the key to ensuring that all fitness service, management and sales professionals learn and implement the new and existing income generation skills. Continual reinforcement is the major catalyst to ensure success in the implementation of these techniques and strategies. To be effective training must be an ongoing process and reinforced regularly by senior staff and management who take responsibility to insure skills are used on an ongoing basis.

The future for our industry is looking very exciting, new innovations and the continual improvements in facilities and skills of the fitness professionals is making a career in the fitness industry very attractive.

They many opportunities available for people looking to be involved in the fitness industry, ranging form careers in instructing, personal training, group fitness instructing, sales, management as well as working in the many support business servicing clubs, studios, personal trainers. In short as I have said before ‘There Has Never Been A BETTER time to be involved in the fitness industry’

Have fun and lets make a difference and have a super successful career in the fitness industry.

Join Steve’s (Dr J’s) FB Group, where he does weekly live coaching. The groups name is The Impact Sales Success Club