Martial arts businesses keep people interested by offering ‘badges of achievement’ in the form of different colour belts, all in the quest for the elusive black belt


refer to their product – it refers to their customer. What else could their customer want that they cannot supply but that they could help them obtain? Take my friend Gillian as an example.


She sells tiaras and wedding jewellery to brides and, more often than not, their mothers. So ask yourself: what else could she offer them that would be of value? What else does anyone planning a wedding want? They will be looking for dresses, fl owers, photographers, venues, honeymoon ideas… the list goes on. So what Gillian can do is set up a


joint venture partnership with another business or businesses that fi t the profi le of the kind of clients that she has, with all the partners promoting each others’ services on a profi t-share basis. She will thereby have created a back-end to her own business.


fitness applications Let’s take these two questions and apply them to the health and fitness industry – and as we do that, take the chance to look outside and see what ideas we can borrow from other industries. Firstly, what next? The key here is to


think about how we can glue members to us for as long as possible. Now, most operators I’m aware of have


november/december 2010 © cybertrek 2010


two or three forms of membership including peak and off-peak. But how many clubs have memberships that refl ect usage? Could you, for example, offer a membership for more regular users, the fees for which are refl ected in the amount of use they make of the club? How about the more you use, the less you pay? The more weight you lose, the less you pay? The fi tter you get (by measurable criteria), the less you pay? If you take a leaf out of the credit


card companies’ strategy, you could develop different tiers of membership – Gold, Platinum, Diamond – with different rates and with different privileges attached to each level. Or take a look at martial arts,


keeping people tied in for years by offering them badges of achievement, all in search of the black belt. What’s your version of the black belt? And how about the second question:


what else? What could members of health and fi tness clubs be interested in that the club itself does not supply, but that you could possibly source? How about offering health insurance,


with the premiums based on levels of fi tness? What about joining forces with local travel companies to promote, at


special rates, activity holidays? We have a company close to us that delivers fantastic, high quality, low-calorie, ready prepared meals to your home each week. For very time-poor business people, this could be a godsend – but I have yet to see any of the top-end (that’s where the audience for this service would be) health clubs in our area take advantage of that idea by linking in with this company. Now, it may be that many of you


are trying out some of these ideas already. What you can be sure of is that there are a whole host of ideas and opportunities out there just waiting to be grabbed. Someone is going to grab them, and that someone will be the person who will triumph. That person will be someone who has innovation built into their business. Have I just described your club, or the club just down the road from you? It’s entirely your choice and that’s


what makes business such fun. Success all depends on the choices you make.


www.FindingTheHiddenMoney.com


healthclub@leisuremedia.com tim fearon is director of the


extraordinary coaching company Read Health Club Management online at healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital 51


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