Welcome new subscribers   The IHRSA Wrap   Greenhealthclubs.org   Helping Create Change - a great story!   Guerrilla Marketing Tip #21   What are 'Click Throughs'?	Hire Hard & Manage Easy   FitnessBiz 08!   For Sale - fitness businesses for sale in Oz   Filex - Management Training Day   Round Tables - what are they?   Wanna know more?

Welcome New Subscribers

A huge welcome to the people that have had this emailed forwarded to them from their peers and also all my new friends who attended IHRSA. I know you will enjoy this monthly e-news as we all strive to be more successful in our businesses.

The IHRSA Wrap

IHRSA 2008 has come and gone and what a show! As usual there were some great sessions with powerful content. My highlights were:

• Patch's pump you up for peak performance key note;
• The Emmett & Dave Show from Creative Fitness Marketing did a wonderful session;
• Casey Conrad's powerful insights into using technology; and
• The key note from Kjell Norstrom . . . wow what an orator!

In the trade show, there were some exciting new toys but several products stood out for me:

• Take it Off - an awesome in Club weightloss program - www.takeitoffweightloss.com;
• Scazu - a bolt on module to your website to allow social networking for members, personal training clients and any other groups of members - www.scazu.com.
• Retention People - I saw this at Fitpro in the UK last year but had a better look this year and this is a very powerful program to identify potential members who will cancel their memberships based on attendance. Their website is also awesome: www.theretentionpeople.com
• Fitlinxx - we all know their software program but they have developed a 'pedometer' type piece of equipment. This will be very useful in clubs and with corporate fitness - www.fitlinxx.com

Greenhealthclubs.org

Last month the world's first website dedicated to educating business owners on how to run a 'green business' was launched by Will Phillips.

Will is the Chair for REX Round Tables for Executives in the USA and has a strong desire to help businesses operate more efficiently through better business practices. "The launching of this website, will help clubs operate more efficiently in another way!" said Will at IHRSA.

Check out www.greenhealthclubs.org and register your business today!

Helping Create Change

I received this marvellous story from Broni McSweeney in New Zealand and as the world is going through some challenges and changes at the moment I thought it was appropriate to share it with you this month . . . it is long but go with it!

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.

"What food might this contain?" The mouse wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning: "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr.Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The pig sympathised, but said, "I am so very sorry, Mr.Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow and said "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mouse trap in the house!" The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital and she returned home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient. But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbours came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer's wife did not get well; she died.

So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember -- when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.

Guerrilla Marketing Tip #21

This month's tip from the Guerilla Marketing legend Jay Conrad Levinson relates to WHY people buy. People like to buy benefits, not just features. But sometimes they look for a whole lot more. They buy:

• Promises you make, so make them with care.
• Solutions to their problems.
• You, your employees, your service department.
• Your guarantee, reputation and good name.
• Other people's opinions of your business.
• Brand names over strange names.
• The consistency they've seen you exhibit.
• The professionalism of your marketing materials.
• Convenience in buying, paying and lots more.
• Easy access to information about you, offered by your website.
• Instant gratification and don't love to wait.
• The confidence you display in your own business.

It's also important to know what customers do not buy: fancy adjectives, exaggerated claims, clever headlines, special effects, marketing that screams, marketing that even hints at amateurishness, the lowest price anything (though 14 percent do), unproved items, or gorgeous graphics that get in the way of the message

What are 'Click-Throughs'?

This month I read a very interesting article on Click-Throughs on emails from Ron Cates of Constant Contact. He provided excellent definitions for us.

• Unique click-throughs - Each email campaign you send has a unique click-through number and percentage that reflects how many individuals clicked on at least one link in your email. This is the rate you look at to measure the overall success of an individual campaign.
• Individual click-throughs - These are the number of clicks on an individual link. The number of clicks on a link will show you what content, promotion, event, or author your subscribers are most interested in (or not).
• Click-to-open rate - This is the number of unique clicks as a percentage of unique opens. Suppose your email had 1,000 recipients open it and 200 unique click-throughs. Your click-to-open rate would be 20 percent. This rate tells you how well your email motivated those who opened it to take action and is a telling statistic on the overall effectiveness of the email

Email click-through rates give you valuable insights into the minds of your customers. You can learn about what people are and aren't interested in. When done right, you can prompt them to take action-visit your website, read your article, buy a product, or register for an event.

Next month, I'll share what Ron Cates suggested to improve your clicks!

Hire Hard - Manage Easy

As employers we often make staff retention more challenging owing to poor hiring practices. When you get the right people in the right jobs, you don't have to work as hard to keep them. To improve your odds of retaining people once you hire them try to:

• Avoid the "rush to hire" syndrome. Don't hire warm bodies just to fill open positions. Maintain your integrity regardless of your situation to get the right people in for the right reasons.
• Never hire less than an eight (on a scale of one to 10) for a key position. Aim for 8's, 9's and 10's and embed that philosophy in all your hiring managers.
• Don't hire people who expect more from the position than you can offer. Find out the person's long-term expectations and motivations. What do they really want from you and your company? If you can't provide it, don't hire them -- no matter how well they fit the position.
• Study the applicant's track record. How long people have stayed in previous positions is a great indicator.

FitnessBiz '08

This year Australia's own FitnessBiz 08 conference will be held in August! We have 3 great speakers:

• Justin Tamsett - Managing Director of Active Management: Select & Develop a Team of Champions to do Champion Things
• Emmett Williams - Owner of Creative Fitness Marketing: Marketing Strategies & Promotion
• Natalie Sherlock - Owner of Incredible People Coaching: The Real Way to Successful Goal Setting for Your Members and Team

So mark your diaries now for:

• 20th August - Melbourne
• 21st August - Adelaide
• 22nd August - Perth
• 27th August - Hobart
• 28th August - Brisbane
• 29th August - Sydney

For Sale

Sydney CBD - Health Club

• Over 900 members
• 700 sqm with ability to expand when needed
• Group fitness, personal training, life coaching, nutrition
• All equipment owned outright
• 7 + 5 year lease (3.5 years into lease)
• Established 10 years (current owner 3.5 years)
• Suit owner/operator or investor.
• Fun, easy business to run.
• Profitable business with plenty of scope to grow

Sydney North - Health Club

• Over 600 members plus 600 corporate members
• 300 sqm
• Large personal training base
• Huge corporate opportunities
• All equipment owned outright
• New lease to negotiate for up to 10 years
• Established 5 years with the same owners
• Suit owner/operator or investor.
• Fun, easy business to run.
• Profitable business with plenty of scope to grow

If you are interested in either of these businesses, contact Justin and he will pass on the details on the owners to you.

Filex ... Management Training Day!

This year Justin will be presenting at Filex. He has 2 sessions in the general body of the conference but if you are looking to give some foundation management knowledge to your Team, then we highly recommend attending the Management Training Day. This session always sells out, so contact Network today!

Round Tables - what are they?

Round Table is the premier program for business people looking to improve the performance of their organisation and the quality of their life.

The powerful aspects of a Round Table are:

• Continuity - members make a commitment to attend each meeting
• Understanding - Everyone on your Round Table is from the same industry
• Trust - There are no competitors on the same Round Table
• Focus - You all share the same goal - make more money!
• Experience - You have up to 14 others who are going through (or been through) the same challenges as you and give you quality assistance
• Social - You have informal discussions during a Round Table that are just as informative and educational as the formal discussions
• Accountability - during and after meetings you are held accountable for results

In Australia & New Zealand, Justin is the Chair of Round Tables. There are 5 they could you join they include ones for club owners and personal trainers. If you are interested in finding out more about the Australian Round Table program click here

In the USA, Will Phillips is the Chair of REX Round Tables. If you are interested in finding out more about the US Round Table program click here

Wanna know more?

If you are curious what Active Management does click here

And if you would like birthday cards, lead boxes, thank you cards or any marketing help from Justin click here