Author: ezfacility

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Staying Engaged With Customers Wherever They Are

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Building good relationships with your customers is less complicated when they’re right in front of you.  Sharing helpful tips and providing encouragement with a friendly smile are easy ways to build a personal connection with your clients.  What is more challenging is maintaining this connection when they are not in your presence.  Keeping your customers engaged and eager to come back requires a good plan, solid effort and commitment to your relationship.

Be Prolific

The more information you have about your customers, the more opportunities you have to engage them.  Everyone has an email address these days, so make sure that your registration form includes this critical detail.  Email announcements and newsletters are inexpensive to produce, and are a non-intrusive way to let your customers know what’s going on at your facility.  They’re also a great way to build interest from prospective clients – the more you can highlight programs that they want to attend, the more likely they are to become customers.

Be Social

Today, maintaining your facility’s presence on Social Networks (such as Facebook and Twitter) is just as important as having a website.  The key to an ambitious social media strategy is to provide a good incentive for your customers to like and follow you on a regular basis.  A good start is to make a strong Call To Action that gets your customers engaged if they haven’t already done so on their own; for example, running online-only promotions or rewarding social media mentions with Perks.  Not everything has to be as serious as a solicitation – posting regular “casual but relevant” messages of inspiration or humor will keep your customers interested in what you have to say without burning them out.  Finding your voice and the right mix of content for your audience is as much an art as a science, so experiment and find out what your customers want to hear.

Be Mobile

Many of your customers probably have a smartphone in their pocket right now.  If they have an App like MemberMe installed on their phone, you can send them instant Push Notifications about news, offers, and updates about your facility wherever they are.  With MemberMe, you can schedule announcements ahead of time, or send out a quick alert immediately after an opening becomes available.  That simple engagement can be the push they need to register for a session and keep your roster filled.  You should plan for regular updates with tips and advice, star performer recognition, and special offers to keep your customers interested and checking your app regularly.

Be Engaged

Thanks to Email, Social Networking, and Smartphone Apps like MemberMe, maintaining that important relationship with your customers is made easier than ever.  As with any relationship, commitment and dedication is the key.  If you are diligent and work hard to stay engaged with your customers, they will return the favor.

Helping Your Customers Adapt to Change

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One of the most challenging aspects of managing your relationship with customers is when you have to help them adapt to change.  Change can come in many forms.  Sometimes it’s positive, such as when you open a new sports facility location, add a new class to your gym schedule, or hire new staff for your personal training studio.  And sometimes…it’s not. Regardless of the “why”, there are a few things you can do to make the transition a positive one.

The Boy Scouts motto says it best: Be prepared.  A well thought-out plan of action is the best tool you can have.  Spend the time now to brainstorm about what changes you may encounter, both good and bad, and how you will need to deal with each.  Remember that adapting to change is a team effort, so make sure that everyone on your team knows their part in the plan.  Being prepared will give you and your team the confidence to guide your customers through the process.

Once you have a plan, open the lines of communication with your customers.  Don’t wait until the last minute to let them in on the news!  Dealing with change can be stressful, so the more time they have to prepare, the better their experience will be.  This is your chance to set and manage their expectations, so be proactive and follow up with reminders often.  It’s also important to remember that when speaking with customers about change, you want to stay positive but be realistic and prepare for some pushback.  Even if it’s a positive change, a customer’s first reaction might be to fight against it.  Be prepared to help them accept the change as necessary and how it will ultimately benefit them in the long run.  Here, a little empathy goes a long way.

Finally, fight the urge to turn back time.  Once there is an established routine, any change to that routine requires effort.  Adapting to change is your opportunity to improve your gym or sports facility, so just trying to go back to “the way it was” for the sake of avoiding change wastes both that effort and the opportunity.  Moving forward with confidence will send the message to your customers that you have the situation under control and will ease their uncertainty.

Because every sports or fitness business will eventually encounter the need to deal with change, it’s important to tackle those challenges head on.  If you prepare early, communicate effectively, and stay committed to your goals, you can lead customers to success no matter what comes your way.

Revenue Categories and Why They Are Important

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A lot of times clients will ask me, “Why is my revenue listed under ‘No Category’?” Or “How can I see the total amount of revenue for a specific service?” The answer is actually very simple – use our Revenue Categories feature.
Revenue Categories will help you group revenue streams and can be assigned to Reservation Types, Membership Types, and Groups – or even manually added to individually billed items. They should be similar to the general ledger codes in QuickBooks and when properly assigned, categories of your services will give you more detailed reporting by separating your sales on the Revenue Report.

Something to keep in mind when creating revenue categories is naming them the same as your services. This will be useful in knowing where your revenue is coming from when viewing the report. If you are running any other accounting reports that use revenue categories such as QuickBooks and you have a general ledger code called “Personal Training,” you should use the same name in EZFacility.
To start setting up your Revenue Categories click here.

  • Login to your EZFacility account
  • Click on Administration –> Revenue Categories
  • Enter a Code & Label
  • Click on Add Category when you’re finished
  • Use this User Guide to help you set up you Revenue Categories

Check back soon for more news and tips from EZFacility!

Make Every Phone Call An Opportunity

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A phone call is not like an email that you can read at your convenience, proofread and spell check before responding.  It’s not as personal as a face-to-face conversation, where body language and eye contact can mean as much as the words spoken.  Fight the urge to hesitate – every phone call is an opportunity, so make it a positive one.
The first step to making every phone call a good experience is to answer with confidence.  Have your introduction memorized and nailed down, so that you speak it clearly and concisely. “Thanks for calling ‘My Business’, this is ‘My Name’, what can I do for you today?”  Try to avoid long, drawn out scripts that come off as corny, make your customers wait, and can become inconvenient tongue twisters.

Another good idea that works surprisingly well is to smile when you answer the phone.  This not only serves as a subconscious reminder to make the call a positive one, but it comes across in the tone of your voice and establishes a friendly rapport with the caller.

Next is to pause and listen to the customer identify themselves and the purpose of their call.  It really helps to keep a notepad handy to note these details, especially if the call ends up lasting longer than a minute or two.  Remembering the customer’s name and addressing them by it during the call makes the experience more personal and shows that you’re paying attention and care about their needs.  Furthermore, by keeping track of the types of calls you receive, you can identify ways to make your business more efficient.  For example, if you notice that you’re getting a lot of calls about your hours or location, having a solution like a mobile app for your business that answers these simple questions can save both you and your customers a lot of time.

You also need to be prepared for times when a call will be less than pleasant.  Managing a difficult call above all else requires two things: patience and empathy.  Think about a time when you’ve made a phone call while upset – perhaps an unknown charge appeared on a credit card statement or your cable went out right before a big game.  The person on the other end of the line wasn’t directly responsible for these events, but the urge to take it out on them is still there.  In this case, that person is now you.

Stay calm and let the customer speak.  It might be something as simple as a misunderstanding, or it might be a legitimate problem that will need to be worked out.  When speaking, talk calmly and slowly – we have an unconscious tendency to raise the pitch of our voice and speak faster when we get upset, and that comes across even more over the phone.  Remember to take notes, and if it’s a larger issue that can’t be handled in a minute or two, reassure the customer that you will deal with it after the call is over and get a call back number for where they can be reached. Last but not least, follow up afterwards, even if you are not the last person to deal with their situation.  Their feelings towards you and your business will be based on the last contact they have with you, so end on a high note and they’ll remember that more than whatever upset them in the first place.

Another useful tip is to end each call by asking if there’s anything else you can do for them.   It shows that you’re not rushing them off the phone, and can save a customer the inconvenience of making a second call because they might have forgotten to ask a follow-up question.  Before hanging up, you might even want to remind the customer about any upcoming programs or events they might be interested in.

So don’t be afraid when the phone rings – get excited!  If you’re prepared, maintain a positive attitude, and treat your customers with sincerity and respect, you can make every phone call an opportunity.

Hiring the Right People in order to Create the Perfect Team

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The average staff turnover rate is 50% or more for many businesses in the US, which means staff turnover can be expensive due to the time and resources spent training replacement personnel. The truth is traditional hiring doesn’t always work well, so we recommend you try a different tactic to lower the turnover rate for employees in your business.
Behavioral Interviewing                
While traditional interviewing focuses on education and career goals, behavioral interviewing asks candidates to tell and show you how they would apply their past performance, job skills and life experiences to challenges they will face in your business. This technique will help you pick new employees based on their demonstrated success in taking on situations required by the position you’re filling.
Sample Questions

  • Ask potential sales managers to explain how they have handled performance issues with reps.
  • Ask wellness coaches to tell you how they worked with an especially challenging client.
  • Have billing clerks tell you about the worst customer experience they have had and how they were able to handle the situation.

Example Demonstrations

  • Request that trainers show you how they would explain the same technique to different level of skill players.
  • Ask yoga instructors to show you how they would instruct a client to properly perform a specific pose.
  • Have fitness instructors show you how they would modify a class for attendees with ROM (range-of-motion) limitations.

By asking the right questions during the hiring process, you’ll find your business will run with ease because you have the right people working for you. These simple questions and techniques can make the difference in creating the perfect team to help you run your fitness or sports business successfully.

Increase your sales and client retention by using F.A.B.

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Here at EZFacility, we frequently speak with businesses that struggle to increase revenue and clients.  In many scenarios, one big problem is a failure to adequately communicate the services they offer to their clients and prospects.  This can range anywhere from failing to communicate what differentiates their business from the competition, all the way to (and I’m not making this up) not advertising their company’s offerings at all.

Among the many sales and marketing strategies that exist, there is one that has stood the test of time across many industries – F.A.B.  More specifically, Feature Advantage Benefit, a simple concept to guide the way you and your staff communicate your services to, and earn more business from customers.  Your Feature will be easiest to find in your differentiators- unique courses, more courses, pro athletes on staff, newest equipment, 24 hour access.  The Advantage involves explaining why the feature is unique to your business, so the client isn’t playing any guessing games.  The Benefit is expressing the value proposition clearly for the client.  This process encourages you to teach your clients about your business by walking them through what you offer to why they need it in their lives.

As a simple example, let’s draw clientele to XYZ Gym using the FAB framework to promote their unique suspension training classes:

“XYZ Gym’s offers the only suspension training classes in town.  The advantage of XYZ’s suspension training is a total body work out that will increase your strength, flexibility, and core.  What this means to you are more significant fitness results, faster than you would receive elsewhere.”

Obviously, a conversation with an actual prospect or member may require more dynamic dialogue, but the goal should remain the same:  to constantly communicate the value of your offerings to the client.  Give them the story of why you are different and why they should spend their money and time with at business.   Using this methodology becomes even more impactful when you use it to reinforce all of the features that differentiate you from your competition, not just for prospects, but existing clients too (read: retention).

Stay tuned for more tips and information to help with client retention and make your business the best it can be.

The key to achieving excellent customer success results

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No matter what your particular field of expertise, your primary focus as a business owner/manager should always be to help customers successfully achieve their goals. While this may seem fairly obvious, full workloads and hectic schedules can often lead to falling into a potentially harmful routine, especially when it comes to handling customers. This could lead to missed opportunities to help boost your client’s chances of success.

Every client is unique. Although many will be looking for similar results, they all have their own reasons and motivations for giving you their business. The more you know about their personal goals, the better chance you have of helping them succeed. Take the time to ask them questions, and be sure to listen carefully to their answers. Do your best to understand the impact the work you do with them will have on their lives, and be sure to follow up with them as they progress to be sure they remain committed to achieving their goals.

If a customer feels like a cog in a wheel or just another dollar in your pocket, the chances of them reaching their goals with you will decline dramatically. Be a partner in their progress, listen and understand their expectations, and you’ll be in a much better position to help them find success – and to help you keep them as a customer for the long-term.

Forming Ties

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Last week a small contingent of people from EZFacility visited with a variety of counterparts at our sister company, Member Solutions, in Pennsylvania. The purpose of the meeting was to exchange ideas in order to find out in which areas each company excelled, and in which areas we could use some improvement.  We’re happy to say that this meeting was quite the success in that both companies were able to glean a vast amount of knowledge from each other and exchange additional ideas for the future.

At EZFacility, we encourage our own clients to keep up to date in the industry and swap tips with colleagues in order to remain relevant. One of the best environments to accomplish this is at a trade show, which is what these events are all about in the first place.  At a trade show you’ll not only find vendors that can be incredibly helpful in solving various problems, but other business owners like you that can offer up advice on how they run different aspects of their facility.

Staying informed on what’s going on in your industry is one of the most important things you can do for your business. Continuously being aware will ensure that you always know what your current and future customers are looking for in a gym, health club or sports facility.  This all goes back to the basics of opening a business: finding a need in your market, then meeting those needs for a variety of customers within your demographic. How do you go about identifying those needs? Forming relationships with others in your industry and finding out what is particularly successful for them, in addition to of course, listening to the needs of your customers.
Come back soon for more tips and ideas for building your business.

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The Importance of a Mobile App

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On the heels of our recent announcement regarding the launch of MemberMe, we thought it would benefit our clients to know the importance of reaching their members through their smartphones.
Here are just some of the vital stats that you might be interested in:

  • Mobile use in general is increasing 39% year to year, while app use is doubling year over year
  • 6.8 million iPhones and Android smartphones were activated last holiday season alone
  • Market share for smartphone operating systems is split almost 50/50 between iOS (iPhone) and Android.  All other smartphone operating systems (including Blackberry’s RIM system) make up less than 10% and have been shrinking in their market share significantly every quarter
  • Pew polling and research estimates that 35% of all US adults have phones with apps on them
  • The number of app downloads in the last week of December 2011 was 1.2 billion worldwide (half were from the US)

Our goal is to arm our clients with these facts and help you in taking the right steps to reach these smartphone and app users. You might ask yourselves, “What does this accomplish for my business?” By offering an app for your business, you’ll have a valuable tool at your disposal to help you retain members. It also sets you apart from your competition in the eyes of potential members, giving you the leverage you need in a very competitive industry.

MemberMe provides your business with a different avenue to engage members in events that you are holding, and also creates an easy way for them to book classes and share this with their friends on Facebook, turning this into not just a retention tool, but a promotional tool as well.

Feel free to download MemberMe and take a look at what an app for your business can look like. Just type in “MemberMe” in the App Store search bar and download. Here’s a QR code that will take you right to it or you can download it from iTunes here.

EZFacility Acquires Frontline Solutions

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Bolsters Its Offerings With This Industry-Leader In Scheduling, Management & Point-of-Sale Software To The Rink & Family Entertainment Center Industries.
Bethpage, NY (April 20, 2012) – EZFacility, Inc. (a division of Jonas Software), a global leader in software, management, billing and collections services for businesses in the Fitness, Sports & Leisure industries, is pleased to announce the purchase of certain assets of Frontline Solutions, LLC. With headquarters in Wayne, PA, Frontline Solutions is a leading provider of integrated point-of-sale, scheduling and ticketing software for the rink and family entertainment center markets.
“We are very proud to welcome Frontline Solutions to our industry-leading portfolio of scheduling and management software platforms for the fitness, sports and leisure industries”, comments Adam Zeitsiff, Chief Executive Officer of EZFacility. “Frontline has long been a leading player in their industry, boasting an impressive base of some of the most respected rink facilities across the country. Everyone at EZFacility looks forward to working with the Frontline team in order to expand their presence in the rink and family entertainment markets across North America. We welcome their employees and customers to our family, and look forward to continued success together.”
Todd Browning, President of Frontline Solutions added, “Being part of a much larger organization gives our customers and employees resources that previously were not available to them. The benefits of Frontline joining EZFacility are tremendous; this combination will give Frontline the capabilities to improve all aspects of our day-to-day operation as well as expanding our rink and family entertainment center product line. I am certain that our customers, employees and prospects will benefit immensely.”
EZFacility will continue to promote and build the Frontline Solutions brand in the rink and family entertainment center markets, and is fully committed to the future investment and development of their software and services. Todd Browning will continue providing his leadership and vision to Frontline Solutions as their President, reporting directly to EZFacility’s CEO, Adam Zeitsiff.

About Frontline Solutions

Frontline Solutions, founded in May 1997 and headquartered in Wayne, Pennsylvania, specializes in the development and implementation of software for the rink, sports, recreation and attractions industry. Frontline’s point-of-sale and customer service management software integrates all areas of business operations into one solution. Frontline Solutions offers installation, training, and support services to facilitate the use of its software. You can find further information at www.frontline-solutions.com.

EZFacility Introduces New MemberMe Mobile App

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Clients of EZFacility Can Now Offer Their Own Customized App to Members.
Bethpage, NY (April 19, 2012) – EZFacility clients now have the ability to set up their own comprehensive iPhone Application (coming soon to the Android Market) with the new MemberMe App. Using MemberMe, EZFacility’s gym, health club and sports facility clients will be able to give members access to their facility and scheduling information directly from their smartphone, resulting in higher customer satisfaction and improved retention. EZFacility, a division of Jonas Software, Inc. is a global leader in cloud-based scheduling, management and membership software for health clubs, fitness facilities, and multiple other types of sports-based businesses.
“We are incredibly excited to offer this valuable tool to our customers, who in-turn can share it with their members, providing them with significant value while improving communication with their facility,” said Adam Zeitsiff, CEO of EZFacility, Inc. “At EZFacility, we continuously strive to add value to our software and know that MemberMe will be an absolute game changer in the industry – both for our customers and their members alike.”
MemberMe includes a slew of benefits for both EZFacility clients and their members. For clients, MemberMe gives them the opportunity to stay with their members anywhere they go while providing a useful content management system designed to keep their customers informed and engaged. Fully equipped with “Push Notifications”, clients can immediately update their members about any changes or news, as well as customize what type of information their members have access to from their smartphone. Members on the other hand, can easily book classes on their phones and read about any new promotions their gym or sports facility is offering. Key MemberMe features include:

  • Direct access to view and book classes including times, trainers, location, and class descriptions.
  • Up-to-date information on specials, promotions, class changes, new machines and more.
  • Club information with contact details, map and directions, and hours of operation.
  • Ability to update a member’s Facebook status based upon class bookings or e-mail news to friends and family.
  • Galleries with photos and videos of the gym or facility.
  • Ability to add classes that were booked via MemberMe right to the calendar application on an iPhone.

MemberMe is just one of many recent additions to the EZFacility suite of software solutions for the fitness, sports and leisure industries. Over the past few months, EZFacility rolled out a new scheduling interface, giving clients a more intuitive and easier way to use their software, including web-based drag-and-drop capabilities. Additionally, EZFacility has formed partnerships with Perkville, a service that clients can use to turn an e-mail address into a virtual Reward Card, and Club Vitals, software gym owners can utilize to record equipment reliability and uptime over its lifespan. EZFacility continues to take large steps toward ensuring a quality product is offered for better customer experience, and in the end, creating successes for its clients.

Handling Difficult Customer Situations

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We’ve all had to deal with difficult customers at some time in our lives; it comes with the whole “running a business” responsibility. At some point you have to ask yourself if this difficult client is really worth having around. Are they mistreating your staff? It’s essential to keep your staff positive and uplifting, but having one truly bad client can cause the mood to go awry.

Before jumping to the conclusion of eliminating this client from your business, there’s a good chance you can solve the problem by having your staff get down to the root of it. So how do you empower your staff to handle difficult situations like this?

  • Set boundaries – tell staff exactly what they can or cannot do. Role playing for this particular situation can be helpful to get them used to different scenarios.
  • It isn’t personal – remind staff that the issue with the client isn’t personal. Relieving their self-doubt or impatience is one step towards enabling them to confidently take charge of the situation.
  • Coach your staff – let them know that listening to the client more so than speaking can lead to an easy way of turning the situation around. If the client feels like they are being listened to, it can set things back on track for the difficult customer.
  • Support them – ensuring your staff that you will support them in difficult situations with this client will in turn, empower them and give them the confidence to better deal with the client.

Once you give your staff the tools they need to deal with difficult customers, you may soon find that you don’t need to step in as often, and turning a fussy customer into a happy one will begin to happen more often.

How to Keep ‘Em Coming Back

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We know that in most cases, the longevity of a business is only as good as the clients it maintains, so keeping clients happy and ensuring they come back is one of the most vital things you can do for your business. While it’s important to continue to secure new members, it’s also essential to keep the ones you have. That’s why we’ve outlined a few keys to keeping your customers happy and coming back.

  • Great Product – Offering a quality product is the best way to keep clients happy. Not giving them a reason to complain will in-turn give them no reason to leave. Maintaining your gym or facility in the best condition possible will prove to be one of the best ways you can retain your members. Check out our blog post on Club Vitals for help on good equipment maintenance. Additionally, making sure you have well-trained staff and trainers is also an integral part of offering a quality product.
  • Excellent Value – Giving new members a great introductory offer and following that up with other money-saving promotions is a good way of showing customers that you care about them. Always make sure you price services appropriately.
  • Courteous Customer Service – Showing customers that you’re out to make their lives as simple as possible is a smart way to keep them coming back. We know that “not giving them a reason to complain” can often be easier said than done. Rise to the challenge of taking care of whatever problem they might have. By appropriately and quickly addressing their concerns, you’ll show that you are truly interested in their health and well-being.
  • Referrals – Having a member refer your business is the ultimate compliment. Not only does this boost your sales and profits, but you’ve just further ensured that this customer will keep coming back – and coming back with friends too! Don’t forget to reward your members with perks for bringing in a friend. See our post on Perkville on how to start rewarding your members with minimal time investment on your part.

What all of this boils down to is making sure your members are happy. Doing whatever it takes to make this happen will ultimately lead to the success of your business.

Thanks for reading and come back soon for more tips!

Are You Prepared For Growth?

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One of the greatest qualities of a successful business owner is realizing that your business is growing and having the foresight to address this growth properly to ensure your business operates smoothly. As a health club or fitness facility owner, it’s important to make sure that your club management software is growing with you every step of the way.

For example, maybe you started off three years ago with a software provider that had just the right amount of features for your business. Have you checked in recently to see what they’ve added? The release of new features and functionality that may not have been applicable to you a few years ago, could wind-up being extremely important to your business today. Take the time to protect your investment and check out any new tools and perks your software provider has recently implemented in order to make the management of your facility easier.

On that note, it may be time to check in with your account manager and see what new features you could add to your software suite. Don’t have any software yet? Make sure you find something that can grow with the speed of your business, as you don’t want to have to switch to a new provider right in the middle of a growth spurt. After all, your goals should always be to move forward, grow, and evolve in order to keep members happy and maintain a strong, profitable business.

Check back often for best practices and tips!

Adding Value to Your Business

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As many of our clients may have noticed recently, EZFacility has been endeavoring to add more value to the services we provide our global customer-base. On this note, we’d like to encourage our customers to continuously add value to their own business in order to keep members engaged and excited about the services you provide. Whether it’s setting up a simple rewards system (enter Perkville!) or by adding a special service to a package that you currently offer, your clients will notice and appreciate the added value.

Additionally, adding value to your business will go a long way in helping you retain members. Often, by keeping things “new” for existing customers, you’ll find that more and more members will stick with what you’re offering.

 Other great ways of adding value to your gym or sports facility includes offering a wider range or schedule of classes that members can select from, or even promoting a special two-for-one on certain group-centric services (like group fitness or batting cage rentals) to encourage people to bring friends with them to your facility. The possibilities are endless and require little effort on the business owner’s side when it comes to incorporating this type of value. However in the end, the payoff will be huge because members will always choose the best value for their money, which in-turn ensures that your business continues to grow.

Studies show Viral Referral Systems are the most effective tool for marketing

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We’d like to introduce guest blogger, Aaron Grove, from Share your fit. He reveals one of the most effective marketing tools and how you…our clients…can take advantage of it. Share your fit is a new referral system for fitness and health clubs and is an innovative way of spreading the word on your business. EZFacility has partnered with Share your fit to provide customers with another means of growing and improving their business.

By Aaron Grove
A recent poll of businesses showed that half of all health clubs count on referrals for 75% of their business. After all, referrals are the most effective and affordable way of increasing your sales and growing your bottom line. We all know referrals are integral in growing your customer base, but they take work.  Most gyms do not have a formal process or system in place for referral generation. In fact, most do not even ask for referrals or they ask incorrectly.  When you factor in your current customers and new members into a structured referral system that allows for exponential growth of memberships, it makes for an efficient, effective, and non-invasive way to generate referrals.
Did you know…

  • Referral-generated customers are the least expensive, most profitable, AND most loyal source of new business?
  • Referral-generated customers also tend to buy quicker, negotiate less, buy larger quantities, and refer more business to you?

Now, most members do not want to “sell out” friends to an invasive sales process, but are willing to send a personalized email with their name attached to a free pass.

Share your fit is a non-invasive landing page branded specifically for your club.  This page can be the homepage for your sales desks, the front desk, and even at a kiosk set up in the middle of your gym. As new and current members attend your gym, you offer a small incentive (maybe a week of free personal training) in exchange for them sharing a pass to your gym with family and friends.  Members can attach a personalized message as they share what they like about your club, when they workout, or the success they have had with their workout routine/trainer.  Everyone who views or receives a pass has the potential to multiply into additional referrals through Share your fit, even if they never make it to your club (in the fitness industry, only 30% of set sales appointments actually show up).  Share your fit decreases attrition rates, by helping build a “family atmosphere” in your gym.  Members are always more loyal and motivated when they work out among friends.

Share your fit is powered by pickagym.com, an online directory of fitness centers.  If a consumer receives a free pass to a gym that they have never heard of, they are able to learn about the gym by viewing video tours, testimonials, and a virtual gallery.

Gyms implementing the Share your fit referral system see an average increase in sales between 10% and 30%. The more it’s used, the more effective it becomes. All leads can be tracked and managed, so that no potential business slips through the cracks. Share your fit features a risk free 60 day money back guarantee. Contact us now to see how our state of the art referral system will be the most efficient and effective generator of new business your gym has ever experienced.

Making the Most of Your Second Highest Revenue Generator

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Typically, the highest revenue generator for a gym is memberships. The second highest revenue generator is personal training and it’s essential that you do everything you can to ensure that it is well taken care of. With a new year comes the opportunity to revamp your system and how you capitalize on this revenue generator.
As always, there are a few key elements that will play a role in how successful you are.

Marketing

Be sure that your members are aware of what services you provide and make clear the benefits and value of each of these services. Additionally, targeting the right members will lead to better results and allow your sales person to confidently sell because they know they are dealing with someone who is the right candidate for personal training.

Sales

Once the marketing has done its job, the sales staff takes over with a script at the ready persuading members to invest in this service (personal training). Be sure to identify objections you will need to overcome as being prepared for these will ensure a smoother sales process and show potential customers that you’re prepared for anything! Lastly, be proactive when closing the sale by assuming which package they want to purchase, not if they would like to purchase one.

Tracking

A vital step in the marketing and sales process is to track all consultations in order to determine how trainers performed and what sort of results they are accomplishing. Being able to identify which trainers are performing well and which ones need assistance will prove to be an important piece of information to have for making the entire process successful.

Having a plan in place to market and sell your personal training program will inevitably result in higher member retention (your highest revenue generator!) in addition to an increase in personal training revenues for your gym.

We hope these tips are helpful and stay tuned for more ideas and suggestions!

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Piecing Together the Ideal Marketing Plan

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We’d like to give some helpful tips in rounding out your marketing plan for 2019 and making all the components come together in a way that is beneficial to your business. It’s not one particular method or tactic that will make your marketing plan successful, but using every channel available to you. Below is a list of marketing ideas that go above and beyond:

1. Business Appreciation

Work with other local businesses; you promote their businesses and they promote yours.

2. VIP Passes 

Create a no nonsense business card inviting people to a free trial class or week. Feel free to send staff out to nearby supermarkets and hand out the VIP passes to drive more traffic to your gym or facility.

3. Week Free Passes 

Hand out this pass to all new members to give to friends. This then leads us to a referral program…

4. Referral Program

Create a referral program where your current members get rewarded for referring others to your club or facility.

5. Two, Four, Six, Eight, and 10-week Calls 

Follow-up with people who have tried out your facility. A reminder of their time spent there will lead to a lot more conversion and give potential customers a sense that you already care about them.

6. Buddy Weeks 

Begin a “bring a buddy” program where your members are encouraged to bring a friend to try out your club or facility. This will also offer great support for your referral program.

7. Any Kind of Community Marketing 

Exhibit and attend local fairs, events, and tournaments. You’ll find a diverse market of people you can expose your business to while supporting other local businesses.

8. Anyone Who Asks You to Advertise or Donate 

If a local organization is doing a fundraiser, instead of taking an ad out in the local journal, give them passes to distribute at their event. Your cost will be minimal and the activity is guaranteed to get someone through the doors to experience your gym or facility.

9. Meet with Larger Businesses 

Offer to give businesses with many employees a free membership of your choice (whether it’s one month or three months). Let management know the value of the free memberships and let the owner sell it. The owner will be giving the memberships as a gift from him or herself. The owner benefits from the employees’ good will and you benefit from new leads.

10. Quality Control 

The goal must always be to create unbelievable motivation about your business. A happy client is someone who will continually stay with you, spend money, and be a raving fan. Given the opportunity, a happy client will talk about you continuously. That client will refer you every chance he or she gets. See “The Building Blocks of Customer Loyalty” post on how to keep your customers happy.

Seamlessly combining these elements into your marketing plan is the most important thing you can do in order to maximize marketing efforts. One of these components alone will not work without the others. It’s a good idea to spend some time thinking about how to use the marketing channels and resources you have at your disposal and how they will help grow your business.

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The Building Blocks of Customer Loyalty

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While much of the battle is attracting new customers to your business, a key element to a successful business is retaining these customers you worked so hard to get. Like any crucial business activity, it is worth putting time and effort into doing it right. Sometimes following up is difficult and takes a large amount of work, but in the long run it will pay off for you 100 times over. Don’t let your customers slip away as keeping an existing customer costs far less than getting a new one. Below are tips to keeping your customers happy and coming back for more!

Send thank-you notes 

Take the time to tell customers that you genuinely appreciate their business. The thought will remain with them for a long time. A small gesture like this will stand out in their minds because most of your competition won’t send that you notes.

Mail postcards 

Make the message of your postcards meaningful if you want to have customers look forward to receiving them. Customers should want to keep the cards handy, especially if you keep it exciting with a “Health tip of the month” or “Quote of the month” type of theme. In these cases it may be best to avoid being promotional as they will appreciate information that is beneficial for them.

Send email updates 

Provide customers with information on product sales, special events, customer service updates, etc. Thinking of them as your personal press releases will ensure customers receive information at least once per month and will help build momentum. Over time, it gets them excited to be involved with your gym or facility and motivates them to give you referrals.

Follow up on health issues 

If you find out a customer has been sick, call periodically just to offer support. Send flowers or a card if the situation warrants it.

Offer referrals 

Keep records of which of your customers are self-employed. A great way to encourage loyalty is to refer people to your customers’ businesses. If they do, record the information which will enable you to help them through referrals, and chances are, they will return the favor.

Ask for post-sale feedback 

Demonstrate that you care about the quality of your service. Call customers and ask questions such as: Are you pleased with the service you received? What would you like to see improved? What product or program would you like to see more of? If you could change anything what would it be?

Send out 20 “great job!” cards per week 

This is both a fun and exciting task. It helps boost morale and keeps everyone excited. A simple card that tells a customer that you think he or she is doing a great job really goes a long way.

These tips will help you take your company to an entirely new level. Following up on all aspects of your customer interactions shows your customers that you are actively involved in keeping them thrilled with the service you provide. And when you ask customers for feedback and implement their suggestions, they feel a sense of ownership in what you’re doing and become even more loyal to your business. This is a great way to build your empire.

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Realizing Your Website’s Fullest Potential

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A website for your business isn’t just recommended, it’s essential! It’s also important to ensure that you maximize this resource that you’ve put so much time, money and effort into. Below are a few steps you can take toward setting up an opt-in form on your website in order to begin using your website to its fullest potential.

Keep up with people who have visited your website

There is a reason why they were on your site and following up can only lead to good things; half the battle is already won once you have their contact information! This is also a great opportunity to keep them updated on any new developments including class time changes, new offerings, and deals – all of which may have been factors they took into consideration before signing up.

Reward them for signing up 

Offer them an incentive for giving their contact information. Be sure that the offer is relevant to your industry, otherwise it may not make the connection you’re hoping for. Perhaps if they sign up, they get to try out a free class or get evaluated by a personal trainer. Creating the right offer will kill two birds with one stone; you’ll have their contact information and they’ll want to come in to your facility or gym to try out what you’re offering.

Draft follow-up emails 

Now that you have their information, what do you do with it? For starters, you may want to create a “welcome” email that you can send on the fly as soon as someone signs up. After that initial email, keep them posted by sending them your newsletter and informing them of any new offers to new members. Having some emails pre-drafted will be a huge time saver in the end and can all easily be done with your club/facility management software. Utilizing the email marketing function, you can create separate lists for non-members or people who have specifically requested information on your website. You’ll find that this is the easiest way to set up and keep track of emails.

We hope these suggestions have been useful when it comes to making the most of both your website and club/facility management software. Come back soon for more tips!

Keeping Up-to-Date in Your Industry

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It’s been over a week since we attended the Club Industry show, and it got us thinking about how important it is to be present at these sorts of industry events. While it produces significant leads for us, it also serves as an ideal avenue to connect face to face with some of our clients. It’s great to receive feedback from our current clients and not to mention the fact that this is the perfect opportunity to answer many questions they may have. Furthermore, we’re always connecting with others in the industry leading us to form great partnerships that benefit not only us, but our own clients as well.

That being said, we encourage you to take part in industry events and shows. You’ll have the opportunity to not only exchange ideas with your fellow fitness colleagues but become inspired by what others in the industry are doing as well. Being a part of these types of events is also important in order to stay up to date on the latest trends in your industry. While it’s vital to stay true to your own business model, it’s just as vital to keep up with the ever-evolving needs of consumers. You’ll find that just by intermingling with them, you can learn how to roll with the punches and stay relevant.

Gaining industry knowledge will serve in helping you improve your business and better service your customers. In the end, keeping up with your industry’s evolution is essential to being successful in today’s business world. Stay on top of it and later enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Some of the major upcoming industry events include:

  • Athletic Business Conference & Expo – December 1-3, 2011
  • IHRSA 31st Annual International Convention & Trade Show – March 14-17, 2012
  • NIRSA Annual Conference and Recreational Sports Exposition – March 27-30, 2012
  • United States Indoor Sports Association’s 2012 Facility Operators Conference & Trade Show – June 11-14, 2012

Check back often for more ideas and tips and we’ll hopefully see some of you at these events!

EZFacility Partners With Club Vitals

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Single Sign-On Capabilities Boosts Company Value.
Bethpage, NY (September 19, 2011) – EZFacility, Inc. (a division of Jonas Software), a global leader in software, billing and collections services for businesses in the Fitness, Sports & Leisure industries, is pleased to announce a partnership with Club Vitals. Club Vitals is the world’s only fitness industry specific facility and maintenance management software.
“We are extremely pleased to announce our partnership with Club Vitals,” comments Paul Deraval, Chief Technology Officer of EZFacility, “now our customers will have single sign-on capabilities making it quick and easy to access the best club management and equipment management software available in the industry.”
“The Club Vitals team is looking forward to this partnership with EZFacility,” comments Skye Kaiss, President of Club Vitals, “customers who are looking for great software for both their machines and facility will find this partnership beneficial to them.”
The relationship being fostered between EZFacility and Club Vitals will add value to each company from the customer’s perspective. With Club Vitals software, customers can easily keep track of equipment and facility issues without needing to worry about calling equipment companies. The partnership will make tracking both memberships and equipment simple with one easy sign-on.

About Club Vitals

Club Vitals is a professional web-based facilities and equipment maintenance management system created by leaders from both the equipment maintenance and health club industry. Club Vitals saves time and money and provides outstanding return on investment with seamless and effective communication between fitness club members, staff, managers and owners as well as facilities and equipment maintenance technicians.

Using Member Triumphs to Boost Your Success

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As many of our clients may have noticed, we’ve been doing a big push around securing testimonials and success stories from our customers. There’s really no better way of showing potential clients that we provide an excellent product than having a happy client say it!

That being said, we’re going to pass along some tips on how to get the right testimonials from your members for your club or facility. One or two sentences from a satisfied member can go a long way to improving your company’s image.

  • Reach out to members that have gone out of their way to give you a compliment in the past. The likelihood of them being open to giving you a positive review is high and therefore should be taken advantage of.
  • Ask members to use different resources to give comments or reviews. A few examples can include your company Facebook page, Google reviews, or industry sources. These are areas where potential members will be looking to see what others are saying about your club or facility. Set up your member so that they can easily find whatever resource you want them to post a review on. For example, if there is a specific industry source that you would like for them to comment on, send them the link in the email for quick and easy access.
  • Make extra use of these same testimonials by placing them in their own section on your company website; the first place people will look to get information. By finding testimonials and success stories easily on your website, potential clients will have little reason to look for them elsewhere.
  • Finally, go the extra mile to get a video testimonial. Maybe you’ve helped a member achieve their goal or attain a noteworthy result, take advantage of their hard work and your own hard work by asking them to do a video of their story. Your management software should allow you to keep track of member results; access them for reference in determining who may be a good fit for a success story. This will give you great content to put on your website or should you have it, your YouTube channel.

The process of searching for the right members for customer testimonials should be easy if your club or facility is in good running order. Starting off with those that have come to you and let you know that they love what you’ve done for them is the simplest. From there it should be easy to reach out to them with a quick email.
Thanks for reading and come back soon for more tips and ideas!

Good Customer Service Results in Higher Member Retention

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Providing good customer service is essential for member retention and spreading the (good) word on your club or facility. It’s important to ensure that staff members give meaningful service to your customers in order to show that you value their patronage. There are a few simple steps that gym and facility owners can take in order to deliver excellent customer service.

Greet members

Greeting members when they check-in is an easy way to build relationships with your customers, especially with membership software that displays their information upon check-in. This makes personalizing the greeting a more effective way of connecting and showing that you value them. It’s also a great opportunity to speak with them prior to their work out and find out if they have any questions or concerns. Sending them away with a sincere parting will ensure they leave with a positive feeling and experience.

Address and listen to members

Identifying and addressing problems is another essential component of keeping your members happy. By being proactive, you’ll be able to nip issues in the bud. Additionally, frequently asking members their opinion on what can be improved will assist in finding and fixing any problems. Gym and facility owners can easily do this by utilizing their software to send out an occasional email requesting opinions and comments from members.

Reward members

Rewarding members for being loyal customers will show your appreciation for them and the business they give you. Even the smallest show of gratitude can go a long way to improving the image of your club or facility. Using your management software, you can identify long-time members and reward them with a free month of membership or personal training session.

Make Good on Promises

Gaining and keeping loyalty from your members is integral to the success of your club or facility. Keeping promises and making promises you are sure to keep will cement member loyalty to your facility. Members that feel you are undeserving of their trust may reconsider giving you their business. The rule to this one is simple, keep any promises made.

By following these steps, you can be sure that customers will always remain happy and that you’ve pushed your club or facility to its fullest potential. Adjusting customer service to be completely about your member is a full-proof way of increasing member satisfaction and retention, ultimately leading to the total success of your club or facility. As always, stay tuned for more ideas and news from EZFacility.

Benefits of Using Software to Manage Your Facility

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Our next post is dedicated to those still on the fence about investing in software for your club or facility. We’re going to outline the numerous benefits of having software and how it can prove to be fruitful.

  • Time Saver – Having software for your day-to-day club or facility needs will free up time for you to spend with your customers. It will make remaining organized simple and allow you to gain more productivity and efficiency. In the end, the additional time will allow you to dedicate more resources and people-power to servicing your customer and signing up more members.
  • Ease of Use – When choosing to implement a club management software tool for your business,  making sure that it is easy to use is absolutely vital. Features that are user friendly and designed to support multiple scheduling scenarios will make managing your club or facility a breeze. Furthermore, selecting a service where training is thorough and provided by industry professionals is important to the future success of your business.
  • Increase Profits – Utilize your facility better by improving scheduling of venues, trainers, and classes with software; eventually this will lead to higher revenues and earnings. Additionally, choosing software that has a low-monthly fee with no hidden fees is most likely to be affordable and allow you to increase profits easily.

Outsourcing billing and collections is also helpful in saving both time and money; finding it all provided by one company is even better. There are numerous benefits of using full service billing in and of itself. By having a third-party bill collect membership dues, you can significantly lower your expenses and free up time better spent elsewhere. Outsourcing will also allow you to reduce the amount of delinquent accounts and boost membership retention and renewals.

EZFacility has a proven track-record of clients who have improved their business using our software. An example of a client significantly increasing membership since they began using software for their club is a small Virginia-based fitness center that increased membership by 88%. Another includes a Community Association utilizing the software for multiple venues and nearly doubling membership in half a year due to our flexibility and in-depth functionality.
Also, even though you may not need all the features software can offer you right from the start, keep in mind that your business is growing, and you may one day need some of this advanced functionality.

We hope this has been helpful in making a decision about choosing software to help run your business. Thanks for reading and come back soon for more tips!