People Matters: Service
When our fitness professionals “service” members like them on the floor and don’t approach those “not like” them – are they servicing members or creating further disconnect highlighting that certain members don’t belong? There are very few industries as dependent on staff as ours. Our staff controls our entire destiny. From the Front Desk to the Membership Sales team to the Childcare Center to the Fitness Floor to the Group Fitness Studio to the Lounge and Locker Room… and let’s not forget Member Services/Billing and Management on issues that invariably arise...
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It seems as if training studios have become as common as the ubiquitous Starbucks. With thousands of studios ranging from CrossFit boxes to independent training studios to franchises, they really are on almost every corner. "The industry is changing," says Michael Scott Scudder, founder of the Fitness Business Council. "We've seen a shift to specialized studios and it is going to keep growing. It's only a matter of time before someone - maybe a former group exercise coordinator or even one of the big guys - decides to launch studios that offer all the traditional group exercise classes and takes that segment of the population from the traditional clubs." The evolution of the industry and traditional health clubs' approach of being everything to everyone, has opened the door for smaller players to nibble away at the market share.
How do we balance the inexpensive, convenient and arguably tasty temptations of Fast Food? With outlets on every corner, multimillion dollar marketing budgets, clever advertising campaigns and our constant graving for instant gratification; it makes it harder to escape the temptation. I’m not one that “blames” fast food, the food industry or any other external forces for unhealthy individual choice and behavior. I’m also not prone to welcome government intervention on individual choices (freedoms). But, with that said, everyone, including the fast food industry has a societal responsibility to be... responsible.
Life has a funny way of having the pendulum swing. We go from Republican to Democrat-led Administrations and Congress, and more times than not, when things are running most smoothly (optimally), we land somewhere more in the middle. In today's political climate, the polarization is causing "shut downs," where little productive legislation (production) gets accomplished. This natural phenomenon is not just isolated to politics. Think about most of our social issues and business approaches. There is constant tension to optimal. Supply and Demand are always in flux. Price and Volume are always in flux. Sales and Service also tend to be in flux. While most of you who have read my perspectives, or know me, realize I am a firm believer in an "AND" philosophy, not an "Either/Or" approach. I believe that, with regard to Sales and Service, they are indeed two sides to the same coin. Optimization should always be the goal.
Luck? Hard Work? Or Both? Recently, I’ve found myself fascinated by social/economic books—those of the Outliers, Tipping Point, and Super Freakonomics genre—which involve a conversation about talent, timing, and luck. My question: Is success the result of luck or hard work? While it’s true that much of life involves chance events—things that are out of our control—I think the importance people place on luck, or the lack of it, speaks volumes about their general outlook.A couple of years ago, my friend, industry veteran Mitch Wald, suggested using the “luck” question in job interviews, so I began to ask candidates, “Are you lucky?”
Bill McBride is a health club industry veteran. He has worked in all aspects of sales, marketing, leadership, management, member experience and operations. He currently serves as the Co-Founder, President & CEO of Active Sports Clubs/Active Wellness. He also is the Founder, President & CEO of BMC3. He has served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for IHRSA and MACMA (Mid-Atlantic Club Management Association), been a Board Member on ACE’s Industry Advisory Panel, Club Business Pro’s Advisory Panel, The Wellness Health Education Advisory Board and was a contributing faculty member of Club Success Magazine.
We hired Bill McBride (BMC3) to help improve the performance of my two health clubs in Manhattan, KS in 2013. His organization - BMC3 took on a contract role and Bill was appointed to act as President & CEO of the two clubs and manage the strategy, operations and performance working side by side with my CEO of GTM and HCI Hospitality...