Advice to Potential Members Can Help You, Too

As everyone knows, January is a big month for fitness centers. It is also a big month, it seems, for newspapers and blogs to give advice about joining one. The Internet is full of tips to consumers for what to look for when joining a fitness center. These tips can be used as guides for the facilities, too.

1. Have your membership contracts in order, and make sure they are legal in your state. Many sites advise consumers to read the fine print, and not to sign anything too quickly.

2. Hire and train great people. Consumers are being advised to see if staff members are friendly, approachable and well-trained/certified. Advertise your staff members’ credentials, and make sure they walk the fitness floor and talk to members.

3. Know your market. Do your members want childcare, group classes, a variety of equipment, or other programs and services? Potential members are being encouraged to check the facility out thoroughly, and ask lots of questions.

4. Don’t oversell. One of the most-common tips for potential members is to try out the facility during the time of day they will most likely use it. That way, they can tell if the locker room is too crowded, or they have to wait to use a machine.

5. Offer trial memberships. Hand out free weekly passes so potential members can get a feel for what your facility is really like.

6. Keep your facility clean. Almost every one of these sites tells consumers to check out the cleanliness of the facility, including looking for problems with the locker rooms and dust around the equipment.

It’s Business Hours. Do You Know What Your Employees Are Doing?

A weight falls on Joe’s head when his trainer looks away. Mary falls off of the back of the treadmill when the belt skips. LuAnn falls on her tailbone in the locker room because the floor was wet. You’re liable, right? Yup, likely. If you’re going to be sued, it’s likely because a member got hurt.

But, what if it isn’t an injured member who is going to sue? What if it is a competing fitness center? What if it were your employees, right under your nose, day after day, who were saying things that caused your facility to be sued?

The situation goes like this: A prospective member comes through your doors, and she is directed to speak with a salesperson. The prospect says that she has been considering a number of fitness centers in the area, and has narrowed it down to either yours or a competitor’s down the street. To counter interest in your competitor, the salesperson informs the prospect that it’s probably not a good idea to consider the other facility, because it is in financial trouble and likely to soon go out of business. Bingo, the sale is yours! But, since the competitor isn’t really in any financial trouble, has there been any wrong doing in this situation? And, if so, who is liable? The stupid salesperson who said all those things, right? Nope.

You are liable for what your employees do. Always? No. But, in a situation like this, yes. It’s called vicarious liability, which is commonly applied to the employee/employer relationship, according to information on LegalMatch.com. There is also a legal doctrine referred to as “respondeat superior,” which is Latin for “let the superior answer,” which says that an employer is legally responsible for the actions of its employees if the employee is acting within the course and scope of employment. If that salesperson was carrying out company business, which he or she was, then that salesperson is acting on the employer’s behalf.

This situation, although not the exact details I describe above, is real. On Dec. 9, 2008, B&R Family Fitness in Feasterville, Pa. (in Bucks County), filed suit against California-based L.A. Fitness’ Huntington Valley location “for interfering with B&R’s prospective business relationships by disseminating falsehoods to potential B&R clients.” It all began when B&R heard rumors that L.A. Fitness, a neighboring fitness center, was spreading rumors about B&R going bankrupt and closing. B&R hired a private investigator to pose as a potential customer. The investigator claims within the lawsuit that “L.A. Fitness employees attempt to dissuade prospective B&R customers by telling them that B&R has declared bankruptcy, is close to declaring bankruptcy, or is otherwise having significant financial problems.”

But, B&R Family Fitness says it does not have any financial problems, and poses no risk to potential clients. In fact, the facility was voted in 2008 as a “Best in Bucks” Philadelphia Inquirer Readers’ Choice Awards winner. Even if B&R were to go out of business, the business is bonded, and members would be refunded for any time remaining on their membership contracts.

Management at this L.A. Fitness location may or may not have known about what their salepeople were saying. That doesn’t matter. And, L.A. Fitness is a big chain. Did corporate know? Is it corporate policy to train salespeople to defame the competition? Whether or not, it will all end up at the top; corporate will be held responsible if this case if found in the favor of B&R Family Fitness.

So, ask yourself: Do you know what your employees are doing right now? Do you really know?

Fitness Bytes

At last week’s Macworld Expo — a can’t-be-missed extravaganza for that special brand of Apple-worshiping, iPhone-toting geek — a new product was unveiled that could take the brewing synergy between technology and fitness a crucial step forward.

According to the press release, “SMHEART LINK is a wireless bridge that enables any iPhone or iPod Touch to double as a heart monitor and cycling computer, collecting data generated by distributed fitness sensors, such as heart rate chest straps and cycling sensors on bikes, and sending it to the iPhone for easy display and tracking.”

Its website promises it will “revolutionize the fitness world.” This may seem over-the-top, but some major industry players are on board, including Spinning and New Leaf Fitness. So, it’s likely not a flash in the pan.

Will this product really “revolutionize the fitness world”? I don’t know. But, at the very least, I see a geek-friendly fitness chain on the horizon.

Federal Guidelines Encourage New Year’s Resolutions

The federal government released a new set of exercise guidelines in October without much fanfare. However, since this is the week many members and potential members will be looking to follow through on their New Year’s Resolutions, it may be time to take another look at them.

The report, titled Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, says that adults gain health benefits from two-and-a-half hours per week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, or one hour and 15 minutes of vigorous physical activity. They should also incorporate weight training at least two days per week. There are also guidelines for children, older adults, women during pregnancy, adults with disabilities and people with chronic medical conditions.

Those of us in the fitness industry sometimes live in a bubble, not remembering that everyone doesn’t read the health and fitness news in their paper, or subscribe to email notices with the keyword “exercise” in them. The fact that the U.S. government publishes exercise guidelines at all may be a surprise to many of your members and potential members, and may be something to mention in your advertising or when giving member tours.

Many new members are confused about what exercises they should do, how much and how often, and these guidelines are a great place to start. Why not create an incentive program using them, and reward members who reach these goals for a whole month? It doesn’t have to be much. You’d be surprised by what people will do for a free T-shirt or water bottle.