FitnessBiz Over for 2007   Guerrilla Marketing Tip #17   Clubs & Studios for Sale   To Retain or Lengthen Memberships   Christmas Promotion 2007!   Aussie Fitness Industry Survey   October Winner Was . . .   WIN Rules of The Rubber Ball!	Successful Follow Up Sales Calls   Round Table Recruiting – WA & NZ!   Product of the Month   NEW Educational Event: WAFIC   Coming Soon   Tool Box   Justin's Travels   Coming soon!

FitnessBiz Over 2007

The inaugural FitnessBiz road show around Australia was completed last month in Sydney.  We had over 200 people attend throughout the country.  We really appreciate all your support and thank you for coming.  We will be back next year bigger and better!  The dates will be confirmed very soon but it will be around the same time.

Finally, thank you to Emmett from Creative Fitness Marketing for doing an awesome job as the MC and sponsor!  Also to Celeste & Dan from Ezypay and Greg, Karen & Glenn from Cybex Bliss.

Guerrilla Marketing Tip #17

This month’s tip doesn’t actually come from Jay Conrad Levinson, it comes from Justin!

With Christmas fast approaching, have you thought about partnering with restaurants in your local area that are doing Christmas lunch/dinner?

Restaurants are open on Christmas Day and they always give a ‘gift’ to the people that eat with them.  That ‘gift’ maybe flowers or chocolates or some other low cost and low value gift!  So whay not approach them and ask if you can supply a ‘Gift’ this year.  One valued at $100 and they don’t have to pay anything for it!  They just have to guarantee to hand it out on Christmas Day – even better through out the Christmas period!

Simple full colour A6 flyers printed on 250gsm in a nice envelope is not too costly but you will be marketing when your competitors are holidaying over Christmas!

If you need any help with this marketing piece, drop Justin an email.

Clubs & Studios for Sale

Last month we had several enquiries about the club listed for sale, so much so that I had 2 people contact me who would like me to advertise their business for them.  So here we go.

If you are interested in purchasing:

• One or two female only clubs in Sydney? Both make profit, have club managers and have an excellent brand in their market place. They are for sale as the owner has an exciting opportunity outside the fitness industry.
• One female only club just north of Sydney?  It is a great location with plenty of opportunity and is the only female club in the catchment area.  The price is $250K but this a little negotiable based on the speed of the sale. The owners would like to relocate back to Sydney.
• A personal training studio in Melbourne that makes great profit and has an excellent client base.  The owner is having a sea change after 11 years in the industry.  The sale will include clients, equipment and solid infrastructure to run the business,

Please make sure you email Justin quickly, as I am sure they will get snapped up.  Email him now

To Retain or Lengthen Memberships

This will spark interest and questions in the industry when we say, ‘Retention cannot be improved markedly!’

From our experience working with Clubs around the world, we are fast forming the belief that you cannot improve your retention figures by huge percentages.  In fact, the changes will be small with a half percent here and there.  This in self will have a profound effect on your bottom line.

But consider this . . . how much more would you make if you could lengthen the average length of membership by one month!  Or get 2 extra PT sessions from your clients before they cancel.  Look at this exercise:

• If you have 50 members who cancel every month
• If you monthly membership is $50
• If you can lengthen every cancelling member’s time with you by one month
• That is $2500 extra every month, with little to no cost to the business

So my advice is now . . . use the many retention tools that are out there.  But change the focus and maybe your KPI from your retention percentage to the average length of membership of a cancelled member.

In our Club we did this . . . we identified that the average length of membership was 8 months.  We started calling every member after 6 months and we lengthened the average length of a cancelled membership to 9 months!

Christmas Promotion 2007 – anywhere in the world!

If you are like many club owners and managers, the Christmas promotion has not been planned and it is like “Argh!!!”

But don’t panic, we can help you!  You can have a fully tailored Christmas Promotion in your club by the 1st December – no matter where you are in the world!

Seriously, whether you are in the UK, NZ, Asia, the US or in Oz, we can have the artwork designed for you and printed and landed on your door step by the 1st December.

The promotion will allow you to say ‘thanks’ to your members with 2 cool vouchers of in-house purchases (you choose what you want) and then 2 Gift Certificates for them to pass onto their friends as Christmas gift or stocking stuffer!

If you want to know more:

• Click here to read more about the marketing material
• Click here to order
• Click here to ask more questions

Remember, orders must be made by the 21st November.

Aussie Fitness Industry Survey

Controversy has shrouded Australia’s first industry survey!  Industry bodies asked questions, suppliers wondering why Ezypay are doing this and clubs wondering how Ezypay will use this information.

For the record, this survey is not approved by Fitness Australia or any state bodies – although they were asked, the timing was not appropriate for them. 
It is the initiative of the Team at Ezypay, after seeing the success of the FitnessNZ survey, to simply have some data on the industry for the industry to access. 

They will not be using the information but rather providing the results back to the respondents for them to use as they wish.

At Active Management, we know the good intentions of this survey and would encourage you to complete it, so we can gain valuable information on the industry to make us stronger and give each of us some bench mark figures. And if you think some questions are too personal, don’t answer them.

If you haven’t completed the survey, To complete the survey please simply:

• click here
• Or copy this website address into your browser http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB226Y5DU9X4Y
• Alternatively you can go to the Ezypay website www.ezypay.com.au and click on the Australian Fitness Industry Survey logo on the top right hand corner which will take you directly to the survey.

October Winner Was . . .

Congratulations to Mark from Curtain University who last month forwarded our E-news to his friends and colleagues. Mark wins a copy of the Rockefeller Habits – an awesome book!

If you want to buy this book – and you should – click here

Thanks also to the following who did forward last month’s e-news:

• Stewart from Exercise Equipment Australia
• Brendan from Paysmart in Australia
• Andrea from Australia
• Mark from the UK!
• Nicola from Slimtone in NZ
• Nicole from the Monash Medical Centre
• Mark from Peninsula Fitness
• Darren from Ignite Health!

			WIN Rules of The Rubber Ball! With the end of the year fast approaching this is an awesome pocket sized book to help get you focused for 2008!  It will help you determine what you are doing, why you are doing it and help focusing you on a specific direction.  We highly recommend the book. To be eligible, just make sure you forward this email to your friends – all of them!  The more the merrier! Everyone who forwards our E-news by the end of the month, will go in the draw for the free prize. To buy the book yourself, click here

Successful Follow Up Sales Calls

This month I read an awesome article from Jeffrey Gittomer –author of many awesome sales books!  And it finally dawned on me why so many sales people fall short when making their follow up calls to non-sales.

Many consultants will try implying urgency, to getting creative (whatever that means), to using intrigue to connect, appealling to a higher authority, assuming they will purchase but have just been busy, or use sales talk mumbo jumbo that most consumers have now heard!

Why is this old hat now because:

• FIRST: The prospect is not returning your calls for a reason. Wouldn't it be important to find out why? If you could discover that, it would help your next 1,000 sales calls.
• SECOND: Why did you ever let them walk out the door without making a firm face-to-face follow-up sales appointment? This is one of the most powerful - yet mostly lost - elements of the sales cycle.
• THIRD: Stop trying to sell. Stop trying to be cute.
• FOURTH: The salesperson (not you, of course) did a lousy job in the presentation, left some holes, never discovered the prospects motive to purchase, was subjected (relegated) to a ‘shopping around’ process, never followed relationship-based strategies, and was too hungry for the sale and the commission than to uncover what will build the relationship. You didn't connect - you didn't engage.

Gittomer says: ‘The sale reality check: In sales you have ONE CHANCE. One chance to engage, one chance to build rapport, one chance to connect, one chance to be believable, one chance to be trustworthy, and one chance to meet with the real decision maker. You have one chance to differentiate yourself, one chance to prove your value, and one chance to ask for (or better, confirm) the sale.’

And the bad news is if you miss your chance, or blow your chance, recovery chances are slim. OK, none.

Sales techniques are increasingly becoming passé. So are the people that stress using them, rather than emphasising the softer side.  Simply, try being honest and yourself.  Aim to reconnect with the person and help them not sell them.

Round Table Recruiting – WA & NZ!

In 2008, Justin will be relaunching the Round Table in Western Australia and launching a New Zealand Round Table.  We are very excited to making the next step and are currently recruiting new Round Table members.

We very rarely advertise an opportunity to join a Round Table, as the majority of new members are invited based on reputation within the industry.  So here is your opportunity to improve your business.

Wondering if you can afford to be a member . . . in 4 months, where one Aussie Round Table focussed on reducing expenses, the cumulative annual saving was over $360K over 8 clubs!  Can you afford not to learn information like this?

For more information click here or email Justin

Product of the Month

Building a website can be costly, frustrating and time-consuming. Our web developer, Richard Pearce at RickSure, has come up with a template solution specifically for health clubs and personal trainers. Website templates are a great way to develop a site when you're starting out or just need a simple solution. You get to see what your site looks like before you begin and you can't beat the price. For only $500 (plus GST) you get a nice looking website, a content management system that allows you to update the site yourself and 12 months hosting in Australia. All you have to do is provide your content and Richard promises that your site will be live within 48 hours.

• Learn more about this service
• View a demo

To see other suppliers to the fitness industry, click here

WAFIC

Perth will be hosting the inaugural Western Australia Fitness Industry Conference for all fitness industry professionals. The event will be held on the weekend 19th – 20th January 2008 and has been designed for Personal Trainers, Gym Instructors, Group Fitness Instructors, Business Owners and Managers.

For more information click here

Coming Soon

• In 2008, we will also launch a monthly interview with a world wide industry leader! This will be very cool as we can learn from the best!
• A new and improved supplier’s page on www.activemgmt.com.au
• Some very cool guerrilla marketing campaigns under $200!

Tool Box

If you would like us to develop any of the marketing material, simply click on the image and you will get taken directly to the information sheet and the order form.

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Thank you card

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