Congratulations, on your decision to get involved in a great industry. I'd love to see if I can be of some assistance. There are a ton of opportunities right now to get into the club biz if you know where to look. In spite of the economy people in the know are capitalizing on the supposed downturn and having stellar years while others are struggling. That being said money has definitely tightened up on the institutional side and individual investment has become pretty scarce too. This is especially true for those embarking on their first venture in the industry. Banks and VC money is becoming less risk tolerant.However, it can get done!
One option would be to find a troubled club and negotiate a takeover in which the transaction is exercised for as little as $1 with the new ownership taking on the existing receivables base, assets, and liabilities. Depending on your financial situation this may be the best route. (I have negotiated several of these deals in the past and helped turn the club into a huge success.) There are still some more traditional options out there but in order to do a project from the ground up I would recommend working with a professional who understands all the intricacies of this industry from financing, lease negotiations, location feasibility study, competitive analysis, getting preferred status with vendors, marketing and sales expertise and finally a systematized operational approach.
Please give me a call 404-453-8420 if you'd like to talk more about your project and perhaps I can shed some light on your options.
Using services like Linked in ,My Space, and Facebook or the trillion other sites can be very rewarding But, they can also rob you of valuable time. Whether these sites are helping or hurting you is sometimes hard to quantify. One thing is for sure if you are not making connections that turn into some type of revenue you should probably look very closely at how much time you spend playing on them. I think some folks just get off on how many friends or contacts they stockpile but have never received any value from those relationships. I encourage everyone to use tools that increase productivity and all of these types of sites can be used as such however you must not be an observer you have to jump in and leverage those networks. That's the whole reason most people get started but following through is the problem.My best advice would be to ask everyone you connect with how (SPECIFICALLY ) they can help you and how you can help them, then do whatever you can to make it happen. If you are solving problems for others they are more inclined to assist you. Once you have helped others watch the true power of these tools come to light.By the way if you need something let's connect and see how I can help!
I never would of thought someone would spend $250 on jeans then balk at a $40/month life-changing fitness program. Oh well, no sense in whining it is what it is. So how do we as club owners/operators ingratiate ourselves to these trend-chasing folks with their priorities all out of whack?
(Fish where the fish are!)
That's right where do people in fancy threads hang out. Try the club! NO not yours I'm talking night clubs, bars, lounges, hip restaurants. You have to get into the lifestyle of our members and while I realize the boomer population is an ever-increasing portion our facilities base let's face it we'll always need to keep in touch with the young crowd. Keep in mind if they are image conscious and spend that much $$$$ on clothes, shoes, and watches then they probably workout or need to (True Religion Jeans dont come in HUSKY). If you become a regular at the locales where they meet up then it is easy to get in front of a steady stream of prospects. While I don't get out to the hot spots much anymore(too old) when I do I'm surprised there is not a gym rep there giving out passes, mingling, hosting contests, doing giveaways and just becoming part of the landscape(Not getting hammered and giving away tons of memberships to every attractive girl in the joint). When I was in sales I used to get half my weekly production from promo activities on the weekend it was about the most fun you could have working!
If your club is not involved in off-site promotions and your staff is mature enough to conduct themselves in a professional manner then not only are you missing a ton of potential members your employees are not having near as much fun as they could while still earning a living.
Have each of your salespeople set up 1 off site bar promotion a week allow them to offer VIP passes , have some shwag to give away, and tie into some event like poker or trivia night by providing winners with a comp short term membership. (ADVANCED TIP)I usually don't expect a ton of leads the first go around remember the secret is to become part of the landscape once patrons are comfortable with your regular presence then it's game on.
As part of our National Membership Initiative…
Vitality Marketing Group has selected several health clubs across the country as ideal candidates to participate in our “Recession Busting” ZERO COST New Membership Program
What exactly does that mean? The Recession has affected us all. However, it's the clubs who are aggressively marketing right now that are getting amazing results. But how do you market your club if sales are down and money is tight?
That’s where we come in…We can help you generate more members at your health club. For years Vitality Marketing Group has helped clubs across North America boost membership, increase supplemental revenue and develop more systematized business models. Our campaign and consulting services are some of the most sought after programs in the industry. Here are just a few examples of our results in 2009 alone.
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All of these results were achieved at ABSOLUTELY ZERO COST to our clients. We are so confident in our membership campaign services that WE PAY for your marketing, train your staff, and bring HUNDREDS of new members to your facility at NO COST and NO RISK to you!
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WHO CARES!!! When it comes to marketing.
Color plays a pivotal role in a website's impact, and as such must becarefully considered. This is especially crucial when the site inquestion is used for business/professional purposes. Before delving into the specifics of color selection for your gym's websites, here are a few general rules for color usage in websites:- Don't use yellow for web page backgrounds - it causes eyestrain- Avoid black backgrounds - these essentially limit text color choice to white and yellow, which can look garish and hard on the eyes against black- If in doubt, use black text on white background - while not very original, this color combination ensures optimal readability. In any case, choose a text color that constrasts with your background; this is usually best achieved with dark text on a light background.- Choose from the 216 "browser-safe" colors, codes for which can be found at <>. If you stray outside these standard colors, your website colors may be distorted on some users'systems.With that quick primer behind us, let's talk business websites.To lend a professional, organic appearance to your website, your best bet is to choose a simple palette of a few matching colors. AdvancedMedia Productions suggests limiting yourself to three colors, andusing these colors strategically to group related objects or indicaterelationships between objects or segments of the page(http://www.boston-website-design.com/web-design-strategy.html). TheBuildStar Business Builder's Network(http://www.ibuildstar.com/colors.htm) has a similar philosophy,urging the business website designer to "create an identity through all your marketing and products with one or two colors you use over and over. This is a very basic and effective way to tie all your stuff together in the minds of customers."If you're not good at color coordinating, it's a good idea to consult a color wheel such as that found at http://www.visibone.com/colorlab. Complementary colors (that is, those found directly across fromeach other on the color wheel - e.g. red and green) are safe choices,as are neighboring shades. Which of these you choose, however, depends on what mood you choose to evoke - the contrast of complementary colors like orange and blue suggests excitement, while neighboring colors like green and blue suggest unity and harmony.According to one website, using different shades of the same color,called the monolithic approach, is the superior choice for professional website color schemes. The writer asserts that "single colors or Monoliths work best for business sites because of their more subtle suggestion," but cautions that this approach can be boring if overdone and may require "adding a contrasting black [to make] thecolor combo monochromatic and more interesting."(http://createafreewebsite.net/website_workshop/choosing_colors.html). But how do you choose the best starting color to work from? An important consideration in choosing the foundation color for your website is the emotional association it typically carries. While these associations can vary somewhat from culture to culture, they generally hold true for the majority of people. Here's a quick snapshot:Red: Daring, persuasive. Also hard on the eyes. Red is especiallyeffective in highlighting key text on black and white sites, and also works to liven up browns and tans.Blue: Suggests quality, trustworthiness, success, seriousness,calmness. A common choice for sales pages. In "What is the color ofyour website?", Andrew Lapointe suggests highlighting phrases like"Our history" or "Our mission statement" in blue(http://www.dotfactor.com/artman/publish/marketing_31.shtml). Lapointealso suggests avoiding purple, which connotes uncertainty andambiguity, and only using yellow to highlight key words and phrases.Pam Renovato, in "The Psychology of Color and Internet Marketing"(http://www.webmasterstop.com/articles/choose-website-colors.shtml),has some interesting comments on the use of grays and browns:"They suggest weight, or something heavy. This would provide yourvisitors with a feeling of stableness and strength. Emotions like thiswill help your visitors to associate your site with solidity andconfidence. Other colors such as burgundy, oyster, beige, blues willalso provide a feeling of solidity."Another important factor is the age of the target audience. Neutraltones work best with sites designed for an older audience, the targetdemographic for many business websites. You'll obviously also want toselect shades appropriate to your business, if any - as Ralph Hilliard points out in "How to choose your web site colors"(http://www.prowebsitemanagement.com/articles/websitecolors.html), a web designer who creates a black and green website for the Red Crosswill be out of business quickly. Hillard further stresses theimportance of color selection in marketing:"The BEST color for selling is the color that captures your primary audience emotionally," he posits. "If my audience is new mothers andI'm selling baby clothes, I guarantee you I can sell more clothes withsoft pinks, blues and purples than I could using bright reds, greensor black."When it comes down to it, choosing a professional website color schemeis as simple as the common sense guideline provided at the 1stsitefreeDesign tutorial (http://www.1stsitefree.com/design_colors.htm): "Use colors that compliment your subject matter and are relatively pleasing to the eye."It seems, then, that classic, rich, conservative, "serious" colors like blues, browns, burgundies and grays are your best bets for business websites.On a final note, however, there's always an exception that breaks allthe rules; according to "Website Colors That Sell" at the BuildStarBusiness Builder's Network (http://www.ibuildstar.com/colors.htm),"one study showed that the color combination with the most powerfulpsychological effect was yellow title, white text, on a dark blue background."Here's a final link for you:Cobalt Multimedia - Choosing colors for your website<>
