Facilities: Page 610

The Hole Truth

Regarding potential dangers, facility operators can't afford to stick their heads in the ground.

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Setting the Screen

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In With the Old

A new look at marketing to older men and women of all cultures.At the start of the 1900s, the average life expectancy in the U.S. was only 47. Over the last 100 years, we have added 30 years of life; however, it's only been over the last 10 years that the spotlight has panned over to older adults. You remember 1996: the year the Baby Boomers turned 50. The media coverage of this population was, and continues to be, at a frenzied level. (Especially this year, when Boomers turn 60.) It was during this year that the U.S. Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity came out, stating that, no matter how old you are, you can and should exercise. Tufts University's landmark study on strength training and aging also came out during 1996, forever changing the way we look at exercise and aging.According to Bob Jeffery, CEO of the 140-year-old advertising and marketing firm J. Walter Thompson, New York, N.Y., there has been a "big shift in the media model in the last couple of years. … [We] are coming from the era of imposition, where it was about bombarding consumers with messages, and it's really now about what we call the era of participation."Why did Dove's marketing strategy work well with the mature adult? The campaign was "real." Marketing to the older adult is like watching a kid trying to sell their parents something. The mature consumer has been there and done that; their life's experiences send their "real-dar" (that's a radar for real things) into overdrive when they know what is being said is hyperbole. Think about all of the so-called "medical breakthroughs" in advertising. One such recent claim was for the world's first anti-aging pill. The new pill's dramatic press release says the "promising discovery has been proven to quickly reverse the aging process by replenishing the body's own production of youth hormone to normal 25-year-old levels." With competition like this, is it any wonder that using real people to communicate a straight-forward, realistic message catches the attention of the most affluent buyer?Whether the projected 20 million older Americans of color age actively depends on creating access through culturally appropriate physical activity programs. Once these programs are in place, then you need to market them. Consider the facts:Is your message culturally appropriate? And are you targeting these potential older members through publications and organizations that enable you to reach them? The following examples are from an article that appeared in the November/December issue of the Journal on Active Aging entitled "Cultural approaches to promoting physical activity for older adults":According to a new study titled "Aging Redefined II: A frank perspective on marketing to women as they age," conducted by Winston-Salem, N.C.,-based Frank About Women, a real disconnect exists between advertisers' perceptions of women's lives after 50 and what their lives actually look like. The study's author states that women over the age of 50 want advertising that appreciates the wisdom that comes with age. Images portrayed in communications should reflect radiant, confident, diverse and active women celebrating life with friends and family.A recent AARP survey showed that 98 percent of 50-plus adults are aware that getting enough exercise is important, and 64 percent stated that physical activity was the "best" thing they can do for their health. This level of awareness means that you do not have to establish need. Instead, show how you are providing a solution that will help older exercisers overcome their barriers. By doing so, you open your business to an opportunity that could offer your organization unprecedented growth. New research from the University of Illinois-Champaign shows that "a projected 78 percent growth in available programs is required to meet the needs of the aging population." Will your fitness center be part of this growth? In the Frank About Women study, women weren't shy about what bugs them in current strategies many companies apply to attract older women. Here's what they had to say:

Locker Room Design Details

With the right planning, locker rooms can shine.Before you start picking out paint colors and light fixtures, visit other fitness centers in your area and around the country, if possible. Let the manager know who you are and why you want to tour the facility. Take a notebook with you, and write down what you like and what you don't about all aspects of the locker rooms. Pay attention to the size, layout and flow of the space. Are there any unusual amenities? Do you like the color scheme? Don't limit yourself to fitness centers that are similar to yours; visit hospitals, rehabilitative facilities, public recreation centers, universities and other places likely to have a locker room. You never know where you may find a creative new idea to use in your own fitness center.Think hard about the people who will use your facility. A locker room must be designed with these people in mind. Do you have children's programs? Will the fitness center be busy mainly in the morning, or all day? Will the early morning crowd need to change into pressed suits? Do you have special classes or programs for aquatics, sports or older adults? Then you may need to consider things like special flooring, swimsuit dryers, extra hand rails and wheelchair accessible showers. Think of every person who will use your fitness center, and what their locker room needs will be. Make sure you provide enough room to accommodate a busy morning rush hour, and give each person a degree of personal space and privacy.Find a reputable architect and/or interior designer to help you design your locker rooms. Don't just rely on the phone book; get referrals from businesses in your area. If there's an interior you really enjoy, ask the manager what firm was involved. Designers often work on spaces in distant areas, so you may be able to have them consult on your project even if they don't have an office nearby. Discuss your likes and dislikes with the designer, as well as results from your focus group discussions.What goes into a great locker room design? According to Doug Driscoll, project manager and designer with Seibert Architects P.A., Sarasota, Fla., the first consideration is comfort. "A comfortable setting is one that pays attention to materials," Driscoll says. "How you use metals, wood, fabrics, floor finishes and the like can set people at ease or add to their stress level." If you live in a warm climate, for example, the right materials can make members feel cooler. Also, the materials and colors used in the locker rooms should flow into the rest of your fitness center. You don't want a visual shock when walking from one room to another. At Seibert-designed Evolution Health and Fitness in Florida, Driscoll used an abundance of wood throughout the fitness center to give an intimate feeling. The facility also has wood lockers, which are quieter and more inviting than metal ones.Don't be afraid to be innovative and environmentally friendly with your design. Everything from ceiling tiles to wallpaper to carpet glue can be bought as non-toxic, or "green." Evolution Health and Fitness incorporates an air purification system throughout the facility. It also uses a water filtration system to remove any municipal additives. You may wish to consult an energy conservation specialist to learn ways you can save money, and the environment at the same time, by using things like low-flow toilets, motion sensors that detect when lights are unnecessary, and energy-efficient HVAC systems. Don't forget to put these into your marketing materials. Many potential members will consider this attention to the environment a major selling point.When it comes to member security, you can't be too careful. Members expect their safety and the security of their belongings to be a priority in your facility. While there are many watchful eyes on coats and bags that may be in the fitness rooms, locker rooms offer unattended belongings on which thieves may prey.

Profiting from Smoothies and Juices

Whether purchasing a franchise or doing it yourself, adding food and/or drink services can boost your bottom line.SMOOTHIE AND JUICE bars are a great way to add additional profit to your bottom line. They don't take a lot of space or equipment, and you can cater to your customer's nutritional needs and whims in just moments. When you think of maximizing profit per square foot of floor space, a smoothie or juice bar may just be your best bet.There are obvious benefits to purchasing a smoothie or juice bar franchise for your center, or even renting space in your facility to a franchise operator. One important one is brand recognition - people will recognize the name of the smoothie bar and go there because they know what they are getting. Another benefit is marketing assistance. There are many prepackaged, turnkey marketing materials, signs, frequent buyer cards, brochures, television commercials - you name it, they've got it.As with any business, there are always lessons to be learned. For instance, Turicchi says to be sure the blenders for smoothies are in an insulated area. Her day spa is directly above Mambo's, and though her blenders are in a closeted area, she wishes that she had installed more insulation to further buffer the sound.While it is true that franchising is expensive in start-up costs and additional fees, before deciding that it's just too expensive, ask yourself the following questions:

Injuries Caused by Other Patrons

It is important that fitness center owners and managers understand the duty of the facility to protect its patrons from injury caused by another patron.A fitness center member alleged he was physically injured when the patron next to him threw dumbbells to the floor. He claimed that the resulting loud noise and the person's close proximity to him caused him to turn so suddenly that his back popped and he fell, injuring himself. He sued the fitness center, alleging negligent maintenance, negligent supervision, negligent training for the safety of patrons, and negligently failing to instruct and/or train its patrons in the proper procedures to be used in handling weights (Orlando vs. FEI Hollywood Inc. Fla. App. LEXIS 3086, 2005).The yardstick of the business owner's duty to protect its invitees against negligent injury from third parties is whether the action is foreseeable. In a Florida case (Warner vs. Florida Jai Alai Inc., 1970), the business was sued for failing to control and supervise the activity when a drunken patron shoved and injured another patron. The business was not found liable because the operator did not have actual or constructive knowledge of the risk posed by the specific intoxicated patron. As a general rule, a business owner is not liable for failing to prevent a sudden, unexpected action by a patron where there was no prior indication that the patron was engaging in dangerous conduct. In cases where the injury results from a criminal act, the business owner's knowledge of past incidents on the premises by other persons may be sufficient to create liability. For example, if sexual attacks have occurred outside a fitness center at night, the facility might need to light the area and provide some security.Several insights may be gained from this case that can help in managing risks in a fitness center. Suggestions include the following:

How to Become Food Label Savvy

The more you know about nutrition, the better you can help your members make the right choices for their fitness goals.

Marketing Outside the Box

Implementing guerrilla techniques can revitalize your fitness center's marketing plan."Part of the problems we see in this industry is that too many operators don't realize the value of doing a full marketing campaign," says Casey Conrad, president of Healthy Inspirations and marketing consultant. "It is a cultural issue as an industry. We are so far behind other industries when it comes to customer service, branding and marketing - especially when it comes to thinking outside of the traditional box."WOW! Work Out World, based in Brick, N.J., is known for thinking outside that marketing box, be it with 3-D glasses or monkeys. WOW!, ready to launch a new monthly membership rate, looked for a unique marketing tool to help get its message out to the community. Its "over the top" marketing campaign was based on using car toppers - the mini billboard sign that sits atop a car. Car toppers, usually associated with cab companies and pizza parlors, have now crossed over into the world of fitness via WOW!'s new marketing message. The car toppers were personalized with the new WOW! monthly membership rate, along with the company's logo, its slogan of "Fun Fitness, Silly Price," and its toll-free phone number.While not every idea has to be as extreme as those used by WOW!, the fitness industry may want to look outside of itself for marketing ideas. "Most club operators don't know what to do differently to help boost their marketing," says Conrad. "The system isn't set up for non-traditional marketing, and most [managers] certainly don't have the time to put together a plan that is outside of what they have normally done."A guerrilla marketing approach is just part of your marketing plan, according to Conrad. It's one that should pull from what she calls the "five pillars" of marketing (see Casey Conrad's Five Pillars of Success). "It is important to build a plan on a monthly basis that draws from external marketing, internal marketing, guerrilla marketing, corporate marketing and community outreach," says Conrad. "We … have seen that if you run an ad, you get a certain response rate; but, if you run a synergistic campaign, those response rates climb considerably."Regardless of the method of reaching out to perspective members, Levinson says that one of the basic rules of marketing remains in effect: "You must keep track of the programs you have in place, starting with asking every prospect, 'How did you hear about us?' If you are marketing correctly, you may have as many as six or 10 campaigns going on at once, and you must know what is working and what isn't, or else you may be throwing money away - and that is just bad business."When Casey Conrad, president of Healthy Inspirations and marketing consultant, builds a marketing plan for her company, or speaks in front of fitness center owners and operators, she stresses that five rock-solid pillars support an effective marketing campaign. "The most effective marketing strategies are built around multiple avenues - or pillars - with lots of sub-pillars," says Conrad. "This combination will create a diversity of audience and improve the response rate."Many businesses have looked to the Internet to attract new business, and with great success. But there are some important steps to keep in mind to prevent your efforts from hitting the trash or the junk email file.Guerrilla marketing has grown into a discipline all its own. It covers everything from emails to signs stuck in patches of grass leading to the fitness center. The best part is that most campaigns are low-cost and many are free. "On our website, www.guerrillamarketing.com, we have a list of 100 different marketing weapons," says Jay Conrad Levinson of the Guerrilla Marketing Association. "Out of those 100, 62 are free. The key is to find the right five or six that work for your business, and use them in combination with each other and more traditional marketing strategies."

Is Your Voicemail a Customer Repellent?

Suggestions to turn your voicemail into another marketing tool.If you can't hire a live human being to answer every call in a friendly, helpful way, at least avoid the typical message, which sounds something like this: "We're sorry we can't answer your call. We're either on the phone or away from our desk. Please leave a message, and we'll call you back as soon as possible."One way to get customers to accept voicemail is if something is in it for them. A tip of the day is something just for them, and can create word-of-mouth buzz that says this fitness center cares about giving value even to those who aren't yet members. You can assign the task of finding the daily tips to members of your staff on a rotating basis, which adds the additional benefit of helping them stay up to speed on current research.A motivational quote can be another value-add for the caller that says, "This isn't just a fitness center, it's a life-change center." Select quotes that provide segues into new programming, or special events that will bring new visitors into the facility.People buy from those they like, and there's no quicker way to make people like you and have a positive association with your facility than to make them laugh. How about something like, "I'd love to talk to you, but I got a little carried away in our yoga class. The chiropractor says I shouldn't be a human pretzel for more than another few hours, so please leave a message, and I'll call you back right away."It's the reason "Jeopardy" has been popular for more than three decades- people love a brain teaser, and they will love your message if you offer new ones weekly.Imagine how powerful it would be if your voicemail started out, "Hi, this is Mary Smith. I just had to tell you how excited I am about the 30 pounds I lost over the last year here at XYZ Fitness Center. I can't believe it! Plus, it was fun! Please let the terrific staff here help you achieve your goals." Just make sure it's a real testimonial. You don't want to be the subject of a consumer exposé, or, even worse, an investigation by the authorities for fraudulent advertising.

Helping Clients Gain Weight

Personal trainers should be able to give sound recommendations for increasing lean body mass in healthful ways.With all of the publicity about the health risks associated with obesity, many fitness professionals forget that some clients are sincerely worried about being too thin. Personal trainers should be able to answer questions about health risks associated with thinness. They should also be able to understand clients' motivations for seeking advice on gaining weight, and to give sound recommendations for increasing lean body mass in healthful ways.Epidemiological studies have found an association between low body mass index (BMI less than 18.5) and higher mortality rates relative to those of people of normal weight (BMI 18.5 to 25) and people who are overweight (BMI 25 to 30).2 This observation comes as something of a surprise to fitness professionals, as we tend to associate leanness with good health. Remember that statistical associations are not always indicative of causation, however. Critics of these studies have pointed out that people often become thin because of illness that may not have been diagnosed at the time of measurement. In other words, illness may cause thinness rather than the other way around.When thinness is characterized by a loss of lean body mass, as often occurs with aging, frailty can be the result. Becoming frail in later years predisposes a person to falls that can lead to fractures and other disabilities. Frailty is associated with a lower quality of life as the activities of daily living become more difficult.When clients are interested in gaining weight, it is important to establish the reason for thinness. Most often, your clients simply have inherited thin physiques. Nevertheless, ask about weight history. People who have been losing weight should be referred to their healthcare provider, since weight loss may be indicative of an underlying disorder requiring medical attention.Some clients may seek your advice on gaining weight for aesthetic reasons. Thin men, especially teens and young adults, may wish to become more muscular. Some women also perceive themselves to be too thin, and may ask for your help in gaining weight. You can recommend a resistance-training program for your clients who are trying to increase their size. Nutrition recommendations to add more quality calories to the diet will also be appreciated.The effects of good nutrition and an exercise training program will be limited by a person's genetic potential. Help clients establish realistic weight-gain goals, given their body type and family history.

Growth Proves Success

Cindy K's Fitness for Women, Iowa City, Iowa, is the result of one woman's American dream.Fitness facility size: 3,800 square feetStrength equipment: Precor Multi-Station weight machines, Fitness Plus Multi Hip, Fit Express Hydraulic Circuit, Hex and Bollinger dumbbells

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AB Show 2025 in San Diego

AB Show is a solution-focused event for athletics, fitness, recreation and military professionals.

Nov. 5-8, 2025