Woman Power

Women rule! Don’t take offense, guys. It’s just that, since the new millennium, this truth has been emerging, and it just can’t be ignored any longer — especially by business owners.

I remember not too many years ago when we reported in the pages of FM that the number of female members in fitness facilities had finally caught up with that of men. In fact, the latest statistics published by IHRSA show that women make up 57 percent of U.S. health club members. Women are just a lot more serious than men about fitness. The National Sporting Goods Association’s 2007 sports participation survey shows that women constitute a majority of participants in four of six fitness activities: yoga, 85 percent; aerobic exercising, 71 percent; exercise walking, 63 percent; working out at a club, 55 percent; and exercising with equipment, 51 percent.

But, I’m not giving you these numbers to brag about my gender. Really. I’m doing it because, as a facility operator/professional, this knowledge can and will improve your business. If you put it to use.

At the IHRSA trade show and convention in 2001, Tom Peters, an influential guru of management, spoke about the importance of this emerging trend in the fitness business industry. And, he pointed out that while more than half of fitness center members are women, a lot less than that are on fitness center management teams. The problem with that, he said, is that men and women are completely different: They have different exercise regimen needs, and they purchase services differently. As such, it’s not possible for men to create the “perfect” fitness facility experience for women.

That’s a problem, because while Business Week, in an article titled I Am Woman, Hear Me Shop, reported that while “women earn less money than their counterparts, … they make more than 80 percent of buying decisions in all homes.” It’s critical, says the article, that business owners understand women’s needs and dissatisfactions and, in turn, change the way they design, position and sell their products.

With that said, ask yourself, “How have I responded to an increase in the number of women members in my facility?” If you’re drawing a blank, that means you’ve obviously not given it much thought. As such, you haven’t done anything, and you’re losing business.

Even if you have made some changes, it will still help to understand some fundamental differences between the sexes, as pointed out on the Entrepreneurial Connection website’s SuccessSkills Archives article collection titled
How to Market to Women.

• First, women are social beings. They see their membership not just as a quest to become healthy, but as a way to connect with others.

• Second, a woman’s decision-making style, especially when purchasing, is to thoroughly investigate, especially on the web. And, she doesn’t respond well to pressure to close the sale. Therefore, answer questions, but don’t push.

• Third, the details matter. Women notice things that men tend to merely disregard, such as poor attention by the staff at the front desk, unpleasant odors in the locker room, weights not placed in their proper place, etc.

• Fourth, women are stressed. Between their roles as workers, wives and mothers, they juggle more in life than their male counterparts. The fitness facility should be a place where the products work well and are easy to operate, and customer service should come with a human touch. Research shows that, to reduce their stress, women are willing to “pay more for delivery of groceries, meals and dry cleaning, and for service providers such as financial counselors, personal trainers and dog groomers.”

I love statistics. They let us know where things really stand. But, you actually have to use these statistics to your benefit. If you do, you’ll likely be at the receiving end of one of women’s greatest qualities: They’re the most loyal of customers, and they will spread the positive word about your business to all of their friends. If not, expect the opposite. Tom Peters made a point of saying that he’d spoken with a member of a New York stock brokering firm who shared that their average male customer recommended him as a broker to 2.6 people, while the average woman customer recommended him to 21!

Dream Members

What is a dream member? Cynical types would say it’s the member who joins, pays dues on time and never shows up at the club. Of course, those cynics don’t realize that that doesn’t describe a dream member at all. Think about it: The only way members will yap about a fitness center’s awesomeness is if they show up, work out and get fit. Otherwise, they’ll just complain about what a waste of time a gym membership is. And that’s the stuff of nightmares, not dreams.

Dream members are active, invested members of the fitness center. They care about the facility, its staff and other members. They want more than to secure their own health — dream members want the club to be healthy, too.

Take the two Canadian members who sprinted down a would-be car thief outside their fitness facility. One member heard a car alarm blasting in the parking lot and spotted a suspicious man. When the man bolted, the member ran after him. Another member joined the pursuit. The two chased the suspect until they caught him, then held him until police arrived.

Sounds like someone deserves a comp on a month’s worth of membership dues.

An Oak Park, Ill., exerciser owes his life to a few dream members. When Richard Prescott collapsed at Fitness Formula, eight members and Manager Jeff Long started CPR, called 911 and used an automatic external defibrillator before paramedics arrived. Let’s hear it for David Muzic, Amy Mozina, Max Vanmany, Joe DiCianni, Lisa Gregorich, Kristen Stafford, Dave Harrat and Chris Jaeger.

They’ve earned a few free personal training sessions, wouldn’t you say?

You’ve probably got a few dream members at your fitness center, too, but you just don’t know it yet. And that’s probably a good thing, since they seem to come out in emergencies — and it’s best for everyone to avoid those.

A Book to Replace Personal Trainers?

There are countless websites, books and DVDs that purport to offer consumers exercise programs that they can do on their own. One recently published book is even titled Dump Your Trainer. Its marketing slogan says the book is a “simple and fun guide to weight loss and fitness without wasting your money on … personal trainers.” What the slogan should be is, “buy this book, use it once or twice, then realize that you need a trainer to motivate you to work out, to answer your questions about form, frequency, etc., and to change your program every few months to prevent boredom and fitness plateaus.”

Personal trainers can’t be replaced by a book, DVD or website. Even seasoned exercisers can benefit from working with a trainer now and then. Take, for instance, professional athletes — almost all of whom have coaches.

I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but only because fitness centers need to do a better job of promoting why personal training — with a real person — is worth it. Since cost seems to be a main reason why people buy books on training instead of buying actual training sessions, you could outline the cost-savings of working with a real trainer: Save money on clothes by stopping a lifetime of weight fluctuations, save money on healthcare costs associated with being overweight, etc. Be creative, and put a dollar amount on the savings. For example, “Stop buying self-help books and save $24.99 per month.” Or, “You’ll save on that $40 co-pay with fewer doctor visits.”

Personal training is much more than a list of exercises. Motivation, personal relationships and individualized attention are just a few of the benefits of working with a trainer. Emphasize these benefits in your facility, and speak directly to those consumers who think they can save money by buying something that may help them in the short-term, but will do little to promote a lifetime of regular exercise.

National Tie-Ins for Facility Promotions

Today is May 12th, National Family Fitness Day. May 12 is also Fibromyalgia Awareness Day and National Women’s Checkup Day. And, May 12 falls during Food Allergy Awareness Week, National Alcohol- and Other Drug-Abuse Week, National Women’s Health Week, National Stuttering Awareness Week and National Neuropathy Week. If you’re laughing, that wasn’t my intent, although it is kind of funny.

My point in sharing this, however, is to show you just how many events around which you can hold a promotion in your fitness center. Just go to the National Health Information Center’s 2008 National Health Observances web page to see the hundreds of events, all of which are related to health, or, specifically to fitness.

Your facility is probably no stranger to exercise incentive programs. Most fitness centers run anywhere from one to a host of events, and we report on them in our N7 Rest of the Best department (previously our Best Ideas department) every month in Fitness Management’s print edition, which you can view in the article archives section of our website. A lot of these programs we report on are really creative. So, if you’re not yet running these types of programs, or if you’re worried about not being creative enough to come up with an idea of your own, don’t worry. With all of the national “days” and “weeks” to choose from, the main idea has already been created for you.

I found today’s event particularly interesting. Today, children at Boys & Girls Clubs in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Seattle will participate in a free, after-school National Family Fitness Day, the main activity of which is playing DanceDanceRevolution Universe 2 on Xbox 360. This inaugural event is a partnership between Microsoft Corp’s Xbox 360 and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America “to promote healthy and active lifestyles for children and families.” The goal is to get at least 500 participants to expend a total of 18,000 calories while playing the game. This is a great tie-in with the recent rise in child obesity and the use of technology in fitness centers.

In case you missed this one, don’t worry. The NHIC’s list is not exhaustive. A quick Google search turns up many more, including yet another National Family Fitness Day scheduled for September 27 and sponsored by the Health Information Resource Center. What are you waiting for?

Insurance ≠ Healthcare

When I think of healthcare — the actual act of caring for my health — I think of good nutrition, exercise and a measure of happiness. I don’t think of surgery, medicine or x-rays. Which leads me to ask an important question, especially in light of the upcoming presidential election:

Since when does health insurance equal healthcare?

Healthcare is a big issue with Clinton, Obama and McCain, and it’s one area where they all manage to disagree (to varying degrees). However, one aspect they all do agree on is the way to achieve a healthy America: through better health insurance. But while health insurance is important, it’s not the only way to secure better health for Americans. I’ll argue it’s not even the best way to get — and keep — Americans healthy.

But try telling that to politicians — especially those in this election. Once the Democrats cleared out of Pennsylvania, John McCain (Rep.) came for a visit. He told a group of about 300 Lehigh Valley Hosptial-Cedar Crest doctors and nurses all about his ideas for health insurance, which included this statement:

''I would like to see everything from insurance companies rewarding clients for wellness and fitness to employers rewarding their employees if they join a health club.”

Well, that would be terrific. But I don’t think it would do much to help Americans care for their health. For it to be a motivating factor to exercise, then all Americans would have to have health insurance, and they don’t. They’d all have to have easy access to a fitness center, and they don’t. The truth is, the health insurance industry would be far less stressed if there were fewer illnesses brought on by obesity and poor fitness.

All the health insurance in the world isn’t going to get America any fitter.

So what is the solution, if not through health insurance? Government-subsidized fitness centers? A magnetic strip on the back of a Health ID Card that tracks gym visits and reports the data to the Bureau of Exercise and Fitness Activity? Yearly visits from dreaded Fitness Auditors? My ideas seem a bit too Brave New World, so I’m curious — if you were on the candidates’ speed dial, what would you tell them? How would you help them get America to care for its health?

Exercise-Powered Electricity: Really Not that Crazy

Remember the Flintstone cars that were powered by their legs? Maybe that’s not such a bad idea. Not literally, of course, but the idea that modern machines can be powered by human energy. If that were possible, think about all of the energy that is expended in your facility in one day. Not by the equipment, but by your members.

Since Earth Day was celebrated this month, and since rising energy costs are on most everyone’s minds, I think the time is ripe for a radical idea: Harness the energy of humans exercising to supply electricity.

This idea actually isn’t that crazy. There is currently a cycle stand on the market that has a battery pack that saves the energy created from cycling into a battery. Currently, most indoor cycles use human energy to power the electronics on the actual cycle. This could be taken one step further, so that any extra energy is stored, or used to power other things in the fitness center (maybe the treadmill next to the cycle?).

For treadmills, strength training and even group exercise, willing participants could have a device attached to them (maybe on their wrists and ankles – I’m making this up, here) that would store the energy created by movement – like those flashlights that are powered by shaking them. This power could be stored in some sort of battery to be used later.

I know it’s a bit of a leap to go from a shakable flashlight to powering a treadmill, but the technology is out there. Someday, fitness centers will be completely powered by the physical energy created by their members. And you heard it here first!

Bally’s to be “Speared”?

Now I think I’ve seen it all. As if Bally’s hasn’t had enough problems, a recent blog on iVillage reports that the company is considering making Britney Spears its next spokesperson.

Is this a joke? I can’t think of a worse spokesperson for a fitness facility chain than Spears. With all of her boozing, drug use, lack of morals and just plain loser of a persona, is this the kind of image Bally’s wants to associate itself with? And, don’t they realize that by Bally’s associating with Spears, it translates to Spears being associated with the fitness industry as a whole?

I get the reasoning behind health club operators wanting to associate their brand with a celebrity, but while Spears’ name may be big, it’s big for all the wrong reasons. If Bally’s execs think that she’s really going to make a turnaround just because she’s working out every day, they better not count on it. And, even if she did, her reputation is what it is, even if a bunch of foolish young people do consider her an “idol.”

Maybe this is all a bunch of hype with no truth to it, and let’s hope so. Because this could be another “spear” in the back, not just for Bally’s, but for our industry, as well.