1. Work ON your business, not just IN your business.  If it is a fitness business you operate then treat it like a business and not a job.  There is much behind the client interaction scenes that MUST receive attention.
   
2. Have a plan. Goals with no plan to accomplish or measuring sticks along the path will simply become unfulfilled goals.
3. Surround yourself with great people.  You will reflect the qualities of those you associate with.  Choose your friends and mentors wisely.
4. Specialize your fitness service.  Work to your strengths to fulfill specific needs.  This becomes your niche and you become the expert of that niche.
5. Work on the things that deliver.  The return on your investment is key both financially and maybe even more so for your time.  Outsource and delegate the small stuff and concentrate where the business has the greatest return potentials.
6. Purposeful use of time and tools.  Distractions are everywhere including some of the greatest social media tools available to you.  Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Email and more can be huge time sinks, yet they are excellent tools for spreading your message.  Schedule your time in these areas to keep control of your time.
7. Tap into hidden opportunities.  These are only hidden if you do not utilize them.  Up sell, cross sell, and down sell are traditional marketing practices that help you appropriate place offers in front of customers who are already at a purchase level with you.
8. Ask for the referral.  Obvious, but often missed.  Let customers and co workers know what you are looking for.  Referrals are powerful as you start from a more trusted position when their friend gives you the thumbs up to start.
9. Work from a list.  Again, cutting out distractions makes you efficient.  Create a daily task list and check them off.  Only after should the distracters be given your valuable time.
10. Master your craft.  There are many snake oils salesmen out there in the fitness industry.  They are not just the goofy ab machines either.  Whether you have developed a silver tongue or not, you should always be able to back up your exercise prescriptions based on current research and standards.  Keep learning and participate in industry education, follow blogs of respected fitness professionals and participate in mastermind programs.
11. Improve the experience.  Deliver extraordinary experience to your clients and students. Set yourself apart by focusing on enhancing customer experiences.
12. Don’t wait for perfect.  More than anything I have witnessed outstanding programs that could have truly changed lives never get off the ground.  They went to the wayside as one thing or another was never quite good enough.  Do as FaceBook does and get the program to a  reasonably acceptable level and let it roll.  Improve and tweak as you go.

Now these are some great items of advice from six awesome fitness professionals.  To read the full list from Kelli Calabrese, Stephen Cabral, Todd Durkin, Shelby Murphy, Bedros Keuilian or Pat Rigsby, go to PFP Magazine.

—–My 2 additional Success Strategies would include Goal creation and achievement strategies and the framing of the situation with scripted planning.

Goals- specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and possibly most important, time sensative.  Most have heard of these “S.M.A.R.T.” goals, but do you have a plan specific for attaining the goal? Are you being held accountable by other trusted peers?  Do you write down your goals and post them in often seen locations?
Targeted goals are powerful.  Use them appropriately and hold yourself accountable to attain them.

Practiced Scripts – Not that every word is planned out, but being prepared with leading topics as you tour a facility or run a potential client through an assessment.  ie when you show the treadmill you should be practiced at asking leading questions that help the potential client understand that they do not know all protocols for cardiovascular training, that there are ways to use it most efficiently, and an educated fitness professional would be an excellent choice in learning to optimally use that equipment.  Lot’s of areas of the gym to do similar.

What might you add to this list?

Enjoy this guest article by my knowledgeable friend Cynthia -
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A best practice is a process that a business uses to effectively deliver a service or product

Cynthia Pasciuto

to the public, consumer, or other business.  It is efficient because there is a pattern that will be followed so that a good experience is produced.

It is used in education, insurance and nursing, to name a few industries, but the idea can be applied to any business no matter the size.

For example, my friend went to a yoga class at a local gym.  She had attended that particular class for over a year- Intermediate Vinyasa.  On this day there were the ten regular people and two newcomers.  The instructor changed the class to benefit the two newcomers.  However,

her other clients were left with a workout they did not want.

This is where having a published Best Practices would be beneficial.  Perhaps something like:

1. Classes will start on time.
2. If the instructor is not present, and the class cannot continue then the students will receive a certificate for a free class.
3. Classes are marked at certain levels; please choose the level that is right for you.  Modifications will be announced, but the classes will continue at the published level.
4. Our location will always be clean and safe.

The benefits of having Best Practices can be used in marketing to show consistency in your product, plus you will gain word of mouth clients because of your standards. You are also setting a legal benchmark for your business, because of this you want to make sure that you can meet your best practices.

If you have a business to business model, then Best Practices can still be used. Your focus may be on:

• We believe in alternative dispute resolution and will use mediation if a conflict arises.  We want long term relationships
• We always use Delaware law in our contracts.
• We will answer your request within 24 hours
• We work with the following charitable organizations and hope you will help.

It is a gain for employees too.  They will gain an understanding of what is expected of them, and what level of service they need to provide.

Taking some time to create a Best Practices will allow you to put your best foot forward.

About the Author

True North Business Consulting, LLC will empower you to take control of your legal decisions by providing unique legal coaching that focuses not just on the law but insurance, marketing and managing your projects.

In the field of Health & Wellness you are providing consumers with support with complimentary alternative medicine. Let True North support you in with your legal needs.
TrueNorth Business Consulting You Tube

That’s where ICI/PRO comes in. They deliver the steady, nutritious diet of Information, Motivation and Entertainment Instructors need to stay Fresh and Informed.

Reading a profile can be enjoyable, but sometimes not practical, so much of what we deliver comes in the form of Audio PROfiles. Exclusive to ICI/PRO Members, Audio PROfiles are a short Podcast mp3 that explain the inner workings of a class taught by Master Instructor Jennifer Sage or other experienced Instructor. Many ICI/PRO Members access the Audio Profiles via a Super Secret iTunes Feed. Their online training videos show you exactly how to do it.

Each Audio PROfiles is a complete class. Not just the ride profile, but also queuing, presentation ideas, motivating language and a suggested playlist you can use to bring a fresh perspective and maybe some much needed excitement to your next class.

ICI is a great group of fitness professionals dedicated to the specialty of cycling.  I suggest you take a look at their opportunities as there is likely benefit via membership – Take a look at what their membership consists of.

Did I mention 7 Days free?

7 days membership free is what got me out here to blog… That’s a nice deal, but it’s only available until the 15th of January. Interested – Hurry!

]]> http://fitprobiz.com/fitpro/fitpro-opportunities/cycling-instructor-ici-pro/feed/ 0 http://fitprobiz.com/fitpro/fitness-business/whats-your-fitness-industry-presence-on-line/ http://fitprobiz.com/fitpro/fitness-business/whats-your-fitness-industry-presence-on-line/#comments Fri, 27 Mar 2009 05:58:18 +0000 FitPro http://tombomar.com/?p=80 Continue reading →]]> The fitness industry is an expansive industry covering a wide range of “healthful” programs. Some of you whom I’ve been lucky enough to speak and consult with have businesses that range from studio ownership to tropical retreats to the sale of healthful chocolates.

All are excellent and serve their niche well.

While each is different they are still the same in that,

1. They are all in the realm of the health and fitness industry
2. They all require marketing efforts to provide their message to their respective prospects
3. All benefit from various degrees of internet presence and diversification

With the internet playing such a large role in EVERYONE’S lives these days, it’s fairly simple to see the benefit to the fitness industry professional in seeking out tools and resources to enhance their presence on-line…

Following are five suggestions to assist with your internet presence:

1. Establish Your Space – You can have a high end web site, a simple blog like this, or utilize only free social media site(s).  Having a specific location to be found, contacted, and learned about is a starting point. Ultimately you may realize the value of all of these types of online presences and will have one or more of each.
2. Get Social – Social networking sites, forums, blog commentary are all great ways to express your opinions, show your knowledge and generally add value to the internet. With each of these you also take a huge step forward in making excellent business contacts and bringing people back to you web site.
3. Learn Content Marketing – There are many tips and tricks that go into optimizing your returns of content marketing, but even done with little knowledge you will get great returns over the long term.  Content marketing for the fitness industry can be created in many forms including articles, pod casts, webinars, videos, recipes, words of inspiration, and where ever you mind wants to take it.
4. Joint Venture – Partnerships of many types can be very powerful on-line just like off-line. Joint venturing takes the partnership a step further where you now benefit through active promotions or combining knowledge, products or services. A JV relationship can be more complicated, but you will either find your offering having a great deal more value or your prospect reach being greatly extended.
5. Listen to others – If you feel a bit lost when considering your actions for your internet presence, take a look to others who have and are succeeding now. You should look to those within the fitness industry, but also to those outside of it.  With FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn giving you fairly direct access to many of the foremost experts, it has never been easier to learn from their actions by watching what they do and how they communicate. Go search out guys like Perry Belcher, Chris Knight, and Jeff Walker. All from outside the fitness industry, but all have a great deal you can learn from them in their areas of expertise.
   Check into any learning programs they or people like them offer. Ours is the Fitness Business “Insiders Club“. There are literally thousands out there, so chose wisely.

Follow the above and you will not only establish a presence, but will also have carved out your space that will have prospects seeking out your offers rather than feeling like you must pursue them with your sales offering. You will have established yourself as an authority in your area of specialty and may soon be positioned to establish new offerings such as upsell products or operate a membership site or paid newsletter.

As a matter of fact, if you go through the five points above I believe you will be in the top 2-3% of all fitness professionals in that I see so many missing the boat when it comes to creating a solid multi-platform internet presence.

Take a look at Fit Pro Biz to see just a few fitness professional programs and be sure to sign up for the Business of Fitness newsletter over on the right column.