Do You Discount?

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota recently conducted a study that revealed two things: Your facility’s convenience/proximity is important to prospective members, and discount programs fuel memberships.

Check out the article for yourself. It’s OK – I’ll wait. … You’re back? Good. This discount program stuff was news to me, but some facilities are apparently already knee-deep in discounts, like the Southwest Area YMCA, Eagan, Minn. Executive director Gussie Monks says, “We have seen the discount program as a huge incentive driving people to join and work out more, with the support of their jobs.”

The statement is interesting, as is the study, because it doesn’t make much of what is likely a big deal to you: Unless you want to eat the cost yourself, discount programs require the support of a member’s employer.

It sounds like a good deal for the employer. Employees who used a fitness center at least eight times a month for at least nine months throughout the study year were healthier than non-participants. Their claim costs were 17.8 percent lower (after adjusting for health status), emergency room visit rates were 38.7 percent lower and hospital admission rates were 41.4 percent lower.

But, the discount program was also a boon for the facilities. Part of the study involved a survey of Blue Cross’ 4,000-plus employees; 43 percent of responders who said they use the discount program also said they joined a fitness facility because of the discount.

Do you have relationships with local employers to offer discount programs? Has it helped your business? I suspect there is more to this arrangement than meets the eye, but it sure looks good on paper.

All In the Family

It’s been a long time since the hysteria of gays coming out of the closet has surfaced, and quite frankly, I thought most of us were pretty much over this whole issue. Live and let live. Heck, even the military was able to turn the other cheek about gays with its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

But, as is life, not everyone is able to keep from criticizing, judging or condemning others whose behaviors and/or lifestyles are different from their own. Many business owners even feel the need to set policy that will force others to conform to their way of thinking. This has been, and is still, the case in the fitness industry.

Just recently, a suit was filed against the Rochester Athletic Club by a lesbian couple who share the same last name and are raising a daughter together. The suit claims that the couple was discriminated against when denied a family membership because the couple is not “legally” married. This is not the first time that this has happened in our industry. In January 2006, it was reported that a Detroit same-sex couple, together for 18 years, were considering legal action against the Warren Community Center in Warren, Mich., after being told that Michigan’s constitutional ban on gay marriage made them ineligible for a family membership. And, back in 2002, another same-sex couple raising a daughter together were denied a family membership at the YMCA of Middle Tennessee.

Is it right for fitness facility operators to decide what the definition of “family” is? If our industry’s goal is to make our society healthier, while at the same time reaping profits from it, should we care whether a family consists of two men or women versus a man and a woman? My vote is no.

Do Skinny Models Perpetuate Eating Disorders?

Your members’ ideas about health, beauty, weight and fitness do not operate in a void. Television, magazines, newspapers and fashion shows all have women who are skeleton thin, and men who are ripped from head to toe. These unhealthy “ideals” can lead some to eating disorders, obsessive exercising and/or low self-esteem. Can and are you doing something to stop the perpetuation of this “beauty myth”?

The recent debate about fashion models being too thin brings this issue back to the forefront. A news piece by AHN Media Corp. says that Australia decided against regulating model size with BMI checks during its recent Australian Fashion Week, which went against the new trend set by other countries such as Spain, Brazil and Italy. Rather, Australian Fashion Week organizers allowed designers to choose models at their own discretion. This, of course, led them to choose super-skinny models for many of the shows.

Another pop culture influence is television, and the current season of America’s Next Top Model is another sad example of putting women who are unusually thin up on a pedestal. One episode had the models try and get booked for a runway show. The thinnest model, Jaslene, got the most positive comments, with one designer actually saying that she “has a great body.” Yikes! You should see this woman. She is so thin that it is hard for me to look at her. I don’t think she is attractive at all, and just wonder how all of her organs fit inside of her.

You members, especially young women, can be greatly influenced by what popular culture says is beautiful. Barbara Brehm, in her Instructor Training column, says you cannot ignore eating disorders in your clients: “Eating disorders … have the highest mortality rate of any psychological illness. Your feedback may help get your client into treatment.”

Hear Your Members ‘Loud’ and Clear

Leave it to the Internet to get people to speak their minds — or just to get people to say anything about everything. I guess that’s why we, the people who use the Internet to share information, were named Time magazine’s Person of the Year. Think about it: It’s extremely powerful, how the Internet has changed the world.

In May, we published an article titled Ego-Surfing for Improved Customer Service. The article showed examples of complaints found on U.S. websites about health clubs. Recently, one of FM’s staff members stumbled upon a website called Loud Campus. The site is hosted by Cornell University, and allows its students to voice their opinions on the university and issues across the nation. Students can click on any number of topics, one of which brings up a host of comments about Cornell’s fitness facilities. Cornell has several fitness centers, about which we wrote an article in January 2004 titled Why Stop at One?

The site made me think what a great opportunity it would be for facilities to have a Loud Club site open to members only. This could accomplish several things: 1) It could be a way for members to meet each other by finding others with similar interests, thus growing your club’s community; 2) It could act as a forum for members to express their compliments and complaints about your facility and 3) Because you are able to view what your members, and your members only, have to say about you, you have the ability to improve things! I wonder if there are any facility operators out there doing something like this already? And, if so, have you used it to your advantage?