| News & Know How | First Person CBI Spends 10 Minutes on the Line with
Paul Byrne Q
Paul Byrne has been a guiding presence at Precor, Inc., a leading fitness-equipment manufacturer based in Woodinville, Washington, since he was hired as its vice president of sales and marketing in 1985. He was named president in 2000, and, two years later, oversaw Precor’s merger with Amer Sports (AMEAS.HE), a multinational corporation based in Helsinki, Finland.
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To learn more about Precor, please log on to
www.precor.com.
At Precor, are you seeing any signs of an economic turnaround? Are there any indications that 2011 will be a good year? To what does Precor attribute
its ongoing success? How important has technology become in terms of consumer interest and member retention?
I can’t definitively say that the economy is turning around, but we’re definitely seeing reasons to believe that things are looking up. For Precor, the internal and external indicators are certainly pointing in the right direction. While we’re not ready to talk about the specific numbers we saw in 2010, I can tell you that I’m very happy with our results—not only in terms of the numbers, but also in terms of some of the foundational building blocks we were able to put in place for the future.
Externally, we think the rising tide is, in fact, float- ing all boats: business and consumer confidence improved in the fourth quarter of last year, and the momentum is clearly positive. That said, we know that housing, credit, and unemployment will continue to generate a headwind that will likely constrain growth for at least the short and medium terms.
Right now, everything appears to point to a decent rebound in 2011. For example, we’re seeing very good comparables on the consumer side of our business, which indicates a less fearful consumer. I suspect that a revived willingness to spend will be reflected in clubs’ ancillary revenue figures, such as personal training, as well.
At Precor, we attribute our success, at least in part, to the customer-service foundation we’ve established. We understand that getting and keeping a customer requires much more than just a great product and attractive price. We work hard to deliver a great experience in every respect that’s meaningful to our customers.
We also know that we have to keep changing to adapt to the economic environment in which we
operate. To that end, we recently made changes to our commercial dealer network. It doesn’t mean we changed the model in terms of how we approach the commercial market. We have one of the best dealer networks in the industry, and it’s a vital part of our go-to-market strategy. The shift represented a combination of current Precor dealers expanding their respective territories, and new dealers stepping in to ensure that we achieve the best possible outcome— a seamless transition in service levels for our commercial customers.
As clubs look to employ technology to drive sales and retention, we’re collaborating with them as we design our own technology platforms and solutions. We believe our combined knowledge and capabilities will allow us to deliver well- focused and integrated solutions that deliver a better experience and, ultimately, better business results for our customers and fitness results for our end-users.
In the long term, the reliance on technology as a differentiator will only increase. Look around! It’s a connected world out there. That’s why we believe technology will become an increasingly important driver in terms of how consumers view the fitness experience. Fitness is one of the most popular categories of apps sold on iTunes, and that tells us customers crave solutions that maximize the return on their investment in time and effort. Technology will ultimately make it possible for us to entertain, guide, monitor, and report—all in a fashion that’s both customized and compelling.
” —| www.
ihrsa.org | MAY 2011 | Club Business Internat ional 27
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