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That’s what I really enjoy. As you grow up in the business, you are on the front lines. I’ve worked in maintenance, I’ve worked as tness oor staff, I’ve done sales and I’ve worked as Fitness Director... The further up I’ve moved in the organization, though, the more I’ve moved away from that real interpersonal connection to the membership I loved. So, if there is one thing I miss at times, it’s that ability to spend a few hours out with the membership just talking about how to do tness, if you will.
But, the upside to that is that I get to participate in roundtables, I’m on the IHRSA Board now and I advise the Board of Cedardale in Massachusetts, so I get to do some things that really expand my view of the industry and business. You get to meet people who think differently than you, and you can learn a lot from them. That has been terri c. The role as you go farther up becomes less about the tness industry and more about business. So, you do unfortunately have to meet with attorneys, accountants, business consultants, etc. It’s not that those are bad things, but they are just not the same as developing the next big tness product/service, which is really what I went to college for.
C.I. - What is the current square footage of each facility? And, please tell us about Club Fit’s key amenities and service offerings. BB - Briarcliff is about 140,000 square feet, and Jefferson Valley is about 90,000 square feet. We offer high service facilities that include a large tness center, multiple studios, aquatics, a large kid’s center and indoor and outdoor tennis courts (During cold months, we have bubbles on the outside, which both clubs use). We have full service cafés, massage, full locker rooms with amenities and leased out physical therapy centers in each club. We also have a huge commitment to group tness, and
in fact, about 30% of our use every day is from group tness. Our classes de nitely generate traf c, and they are a big part of the culture of our club.
C.I. - What do you consider to be some of Club Fit’s key market differentiators? BB - Our kid’s centers de nitely differen- tiate us from 90% of our competitors. We call them Energy Centers, and they have become a big plus and advantage for us. In general, of course, it depends
who we are differentiating from. This will sound strange, and I am not sure how you will write about it. But, the fact that we have chairs in the club differentiates us from many of our competitors. We believe there is a social component to tness. We believe that, when you bring people into a club, you need to help facilitate that club environment. Too many times, clubs around us literally don’t have a chair in them. In turn, the social interaction is what suffers. We do a lot of parties and celebrations for our membership. We nd ways to get members together in our cafés. We nd ways to do things after class. We want them to come in, play bridge, play cards, hang out and socialize. So, as you look at differentiation, there is a social component that de nitely differentiates us from most places. Then, there is our commitment to helping members achieve results. Despite the fact that de ning what results means for everybody can be dif cult due to people’s varying needs, our staff knows that the reason we are here, the reason we are in business and the reason members come to us is because we are here to motivate and inspire our members to live a healthier life than they would without us.
C.I. - Please tell us about the Club Fit Rewards program. How does it work? Has this had a quanti able effect on your retention? BB - We started that 5 - 7 years ago, and it’s a good program. Local businesses
Aquatics at Club Fit
offer discounts to our membership, and members have to show their membership card. It’s not as successful as we would like it to be, but what it does is remind people they have a membership and can save a little bit here and there in the community. The community vendors who participate talk it up, so it does give us a chance to be in the conversation within the community, so that does bump sales.
C.I. - What are your typical monthly dues rates for single, couple and family memberships? And, do you charge an initiation fee; if so, how much? BB - Singles are $135. Couples are $210. And, family, which includes all of the kids, is $275. We also have a senior membership that we discount at 10%. And, we have a 29-and-under membership that is reduced down to $108, which was really designed to recognize that, as kids come out of college, they may have educational debt, are trying to get their career off the ground and may be living at home. Finally, we have an in-college membership, which is the best deal we have going, and it is $300 for the year for whenever they happen to be home. We do charge an initiation fee, and it averages about $100.
C.I. - How many membership accounts do you have, and how many members does that equate to?
BB - At any given time, we have 7,000 - 7,500 memberships, and that’s about 14,000 - 15,000 members.
C.I. - Do you offer any sort of corporate or medically-based memberships? If so, how are those structured? BB - We don’t have a strong corporate component. But, we do have something we call Help RX, which is our version of a doctor referral program. We connect with a lot of the local doctors and hospitals to offer a 3-month, $150 membership, which is guided by the doctor’s advice. So, if you see a doctor, and they have a particular diagnosis, they will write a prescription and share with us what the member should and shouldn’t do. Then, we work with the member for three months at essentially $50 per month.
Group Exercise at Club Fit
C.I. - Please tell us about local area competition. And, how do you combat the challenges they present? BB - Our market is evolving like I think most markets are. We might even be a little bit behind in terms of competition. The last four or ve years, though, have been the most active from a competitive standpoint than we have had in the last 20 years. Now, we’ve got more New York Sports Clubs than we’ve ever had. We have more Equinox clubs around us. Life Time Fitness has shown up on the fringe of our market. We have Planet Fitness, Snap Fitness and Retro Fitness. And, we’ve had four of ve different boutique tness studios that have emerged, whether they have come from far away, or from a few staff members who have left to go out on their own in a studio capacity. From a competitive standpoint, we are seeing it more and more. Then, add to that the ones who have been around awhile, like Saw Mill. So, we have to work harder to justify joining us as opposed to someone else. We do that through our staff. This comes across with a strong commitment to (See Club Fit Page 16)
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