And the best club in fitness is…

April 20, 2010

Which would you say is the “Best Club Chain”? This question comes up all the time. Is it Gold’s with all of their locations? Equinox’s high-end approach? Crunch’s non-traditional classes? Planet’s low cost, high volume approach or is it one of the many great regional clubs like The Rush, RAC, or MAC, or (SAC, BAC, CAC, TAC…etc…etc…_AC!).

Well, if you said any of those for any of those reasons, you are wrong. Before I start to get a thousand angry calls, I’m not saying they aren’t all worthy of a title “Best club”. I’m saying a) they aren’t alone and b) those aren’t the reasons why.

The best clubs in fitness are the best for one simple reason -their operators. They are people who figured out what their customers want, at every phase of their gym-going experience, and then deliver that service. So could these high-profile clubs win “The Best”? You bet. Do independent, smaller profile clubs ever take the title? All the time. How about the low cost option? Certainly!

The best clubs in fitness don’t “beat the competition”. The best clubs “win customers”. I can’t count how many times, I’ve gotten frantic calls from gym owners saying:
“They are opening a $10 across the street from me, I’m going to lose all my business.”
“They are opening a high end big box across the street from me, I can’t compete against their equipment and services, I’m going to lose all my business.”

We can all exist for the same reason that we wear GAP, Polo, Armani, Old Navy, and Members Only (ok, I have a closet full of them in all colors and am just hoping that come back in style!). There is no one size fits all in the gym business.

So you need to figure out how to give the right thing to the right people. To paraphrase Yogi Berra (actually just his math skills), success in the gym business is 50% grit, 50% brains, and only 5% shield. You can’t always have the 50 rows of brand new equipment or cedar locker rooms. Or 200 classes per week. But you can always offer being “people” who make things smooth, easy and more enjoyable for other “people”.

The reason ANY business fails is at the core they don’t realize who their customers are. And while I have to say it, it goes without saying – You’d be amazed the difference that the right club management software and services makes in getting that right.

And here is a list on what it takes to be successful:

• Look at your membership, see who they are and figure out why they joined. And then deliver that to them with QUALITY!
• Use Motionsoft’s software, the best club management software in the universe (did you expect me to say something else!!), which makes it easier for you and your team to deliver IT well.
• Competition isn’t the enemy, overreaction is! (If I ever write a book, that’s going to be the title)