Hey Fitness Pros.
It's hard to believe but 2009 is quickly coming to an end and 2010 is fast approaching. As a business owner, I take this time of year to start planning and preparing to ensure the upcoming year is very successful. But before I start finalizing any plans, it's absolutely critical that I get input from my team. Remember 3 heads are better than 1 and 10 heads are better than 3 and 15 heads are better than 10!
So all this week, I have been meeting with each member of my team to get insight in a variety of different areas. See the notes below. Each meeting is one hour in length.
Remember that if you manage a team, they are probably spending a lot more time with clients than you do, so they often have a much better understanding of what truly works and what doesn't. If you are a solo trainer, answer the following questions yourself and perhaps run your answers by a consultant or mentor.
Individual Meetings – Please come prepared with thoughts/ideas etc
*How can we stay strong as a company?
*What should we keep doing, stop doing, start doing…?
*Where should our focus as a company be?
*Pricing structure – what needs to be added/changed? Should we increase prices? What’s the best way to present prices/options?
*Paid Time Off – do you like the proposed system?
*CSR in the evenings – yes or no?
*2010 Ideas for Seminars/Challenges/Events
*How can we increase numbers in group training classes?
How can you add to Community Outreach/Relationships? Is there a business you have a close relationship with that you could commit to going to weekly? Is there an association that you would like to become a part of (Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce etc)How can you increase promotion/asking for referrals/giving out gift certificates?
*Which supplementary products should we be offering/selling to clients?
*Any other thoughts/ideas/questions/concerns…
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Help your clients not stumble through the holidays!
Hey Fitness Pros.
T'is the season when clients often fall off the fitness wagon. So if we know the holiday season starting with Halloween, then Thanksgiving, into Christmas and New Years is a major obstacle for clients, help them plan and prepare now.
Start sending out articles, tips on how to overcome the temptations, motivational emails/texts and inspirational quotes to help them stay focused on the big picture and their goals. They will thank you for your extra efforts! And it may even help get you a bigger Christmas gift. Hee Hee - just kidding!
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
T'is the season when clients often fall off the fitness wagon. So if we know the holiday season starting with Halloween, then Thanksgiving, into Christmas and New Years is a major obstacle for clients, help them plan and prepare now.
Start sending out articles, tips on how to overcome the temptations, motivational emails/texts and inspirational quotes to help them stay focused on the big picture and their goals. They will thank you for your extra efforts! And it may even help get you a bigger Christmas gift. Hee Hee - just kidding!
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Role Play your way to Success!
Hey Fitness Pros.
We currently have an intern trainer, Robert. He is fabulous and we are hiring him to start with our team.
Today, I gave him my number, name and he had to call me to schedule me for an initial appointment. We role played the scenario and I evaluated him using a variety of criteria. There are certain expectations that we have at NWPT - what he should say, shouldn't say, what the flow of the conversation should look like etc to ensure this contact is successful. At the end, we went over what he did well and where he could hone his skills.
Next step, we're actually scheduled for that initial session and he will take me through it and I will evaluate him again based on a set of criteria.
Bottom line - all of this role playing and practice functions to ensure he offers the best experience which will increase his ability to influence the client to invest in his services and therefore, ultimately experience incredible results.
I can't stress enough how important these types of leadership initiatives are. Now if you don't manage or work with a team of trainers, have someone else evaluate your skills. Perfect practice makes perfect!
Sherri
ps. If you would like to access all the forms and systems we use for our evaluation process, contact kari@nwpersonaltraining.com There's no use reinventing the wheel!
We currently have an intern trainer, Robert. He is fabulous and we are hiring him to start with our team.
Today, I gave him my number, name and he had to call me to schedule me for an initial appointment. We role played the scenario and I evaluated him using a variety of criteria. There are certain expectations that we have at NWPT - what he should say, shouldn't say, what the flow of the conversation should look like etc to ensure this contact is successful. At the end, we went over what he did well and where he could hone his skills.
Next step, we're actually scheduled for that initial session and he will take me through it and I will evaluate him again based on a set of criteria.
Bottom line - all of this role playing and practice functions to ensure he offers the best experience which will increase his ability to influence the client to invest in his services and therefore, ultimately experience incredible results.
I can't stress enough how important these types of leadership initiatives are. Now if you don't manage or work with a team of trainers, have someone else evaluate your skills. Perfect practice makes perfect!
Sherri
ps. If you would like to access all the forms and systems we use for our evaluation process, contact kari@nwpersonaltraining.com There's no use reinventing the wheel!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Send out the troops...
Hey Fitness Pros,
There is strength in numbers. One person can never sell as much as a whole sales team.
So if you manage a group of fitness professionals, every week/month give each person on your team a few gift certificates for Trial Passes. Encourage them to hand them out to people in their community - their chiropractor, their hair stylist, their kid's teacher, their neighbor etc. Also encourage them to hand out these gift certificates to their clients or participants so they can give them out to their loved ones.
If you're a solo trainer, provide everyone you know these gift certificates to give to their friends, family members and co-workers.
Consider giving a gift for all the gift certificates that come back in. For example, in our business, anyone who refers a new client to us, we give them a free training session or massage.
Let others sell for you. Then reward them when they do.
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
There is strength in numbers. One person can never sell as much as a whole sales team.
So if you manage a group of fitness professionals, every week/month give each person on your team a few gift certificates for Trial Passes. Encourage them to hand them out to people in their community - their chiropractor, their hair stylist, their kid's teacher, their neighbor etc. Also encourage them to hand out these gift certificates to their clients or participants so they can give them out to their loved ones.
If you're a solo trainer, provide everyone you know these gift certificates to give to their friends, family members and co-workers.
Consider giving a gift for all the gift certificates that come back in. For example, in our business, anyone who refers a new client to us, we give them a free training session or massage.
Let others sell for you. Then reward them when they do.
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Keep it in the family...
Hey Fitness Pros
If you manage a group of trainers and fitness professionals, create that family feel. Foster a community of fitness pros supporting each other. Here's some simple ideas:
*Do any of your trainers have their own blog that they write? If so, post a link to their blog on your websites and on your blog. Have them be a guest writer on your blog.
*Do any of your fitness pros have their own facebook page? Be sure they are fans of yours and you are a fan of theirs. Give them access to post on your Fan page so they can invite clients to their classes and programs.
*Are any of your trainers geniuses at creating programs and inventing products. If so, align with them and help them promote it for a fair % of the return. It's a win:win. It creates a new income stream for both of you.
*Get your team together for brainstorming sessions. The ideas that will surface will always so much more than you could ever come up with by yourself.
*Have fun. Schedule regular outings with your team outside of the studio. Friendships will develop and that will positively impact all aspects of the working environment.
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
If you manage a group of trainers and fitness professionals, create that family feel. Foster a community of fitness pros supporting each other. Here's some simple ideas:
*Do any of your trainers have their own blog that they write? If so, post a link to their blog on your websites and on your blog. Have them be a guest writer on your blog.
*Do any of your fitness pros have their own facebook page? Be sure they are fans of yours and you are a fan of theirs. Give them access to post on your Fan page so they can invite clients to their classes and programs.
*Are any of your trainers geniuses at creating programs and inventing products. If so, align with them and help them promote it for a fair % of the return. It's a win:win. It creates a new income stream for both of you.
*Get your team together for brainstorming sessions. The ideas that will surface will always so much more than you could ever come up with by yourself.
*Have fun. Schedule regular outings with your team outside of the studio. Friendships will develop and that will positively impact all aspects of the working environment.
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
Friday, October 9, 2009
FREE 90 minutes of tips to ensure PT Business Success
Hey Fitness Pros,
A little while back Todd Durkin interviewed me for his Personal Training Mastermind Group. Todd is a world-class trainer and business owner and he asked some very insightful questions. It was a great discussion and provided some great tips on what we all need to be doing to ensure we run extremely successful PT businesses.
It turned out to be about 90 minutes - we just couldn't stop talking! So it's chock full of great ideas for you. Best part - it's FREE!
Here's the link. You can listen now or at your leisure...
http://www.instantteleseminar.com/Default.asp?eventid=6737880
Let me know what you think.
Have a fabulous weekend!
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
A little while back Todd Durkin interviewed me for his Personal Training Mastermind Group. Todd is a world-class trainer and business owner and he asked some very insightful questions. It was a great discussion and provided some great tips on what we all need to be doing to ensure we run extremely successful PT businesses.
It turned out to be about 90 minutes - we just couldn't stop talking! So it's chock full of great ideas for you. Best part - it's FREE!
Here's the link. You can listen now or at your leisure...
http://www.instantteleseminar.com/Default.asp?eventid=6737880
Let me know what you think.
Have a fabulous weekend!
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
How to get new clients at no cost!
Hey Fitness Pros.
Wouldn't it be awesome if other people were sending you clients all the time?!
Well, what if I told you there's an easy way to do this and it doesn't cost you anything. I wanted to fill you in on the best way to develop a strategic alliance with a local business.
First, I'll share a real life example for you.
Angela is a wonderful woman who owns a little restaurant, Manhattan Cafe, across the street from our Portland studio that offers coffee, tea and healthy sandwiches and salads. She also takes my fitness classes and has the most fun, caring and charismatic personality. I recognized her as someone who has incredible influence in our community so I offered her a free membership to our club and discounted prices on all of our services. I also offered her the ability to promote her menus in our studios and on our website. In return, with our assistance she has created a number of healthy menu options and has put our logo on all of her menus. She has also put all of our promotional materials in a prominent location in her restaurant. She also raves about us to her customers because she can speak from first-hand experience. It's a WIN:WIN relationship and those are always the best types!
So ask yourself the following questions:
*What type of client do you want to attract to your Personal Training business or club?
*Where does this type of client shop or spend their time or money?
*Are any of these businesses in a 10-15 minute driving radius from you?
*Do you have any close contacts with any of these businesses? (It's always easiest to approach someone who knows and likes you!)
*Which 3 businesses could you go to tomorrow to initiate a cross promotion?
When initiating this type of relationship, always remember to focus first on what's in it for THEM!
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
Wouldn't it be awesome if other people were sending you clients all the time?!
Well, what if I told you there's an easy way to do this and it doesn't cost you anything. I wanted to fill you in on the best way to develop a strategic alliance with a local business.
First, I'll share a real life example for you.
Angela is a wonderful woman who owns a little restaurant, Manhattan Cafe, across the street from our Portland studio that offers coffee, tea and healthy sandwiches and salads. She also takes my fitness classes and has the most fun, caring and charismatic personality. I recognized her as someone who has incredible influence in our community so I offered her a free membership to our club and discounted prices on all of our services. I also offered her the ability to promote her menus in our studios and on our website. In return, with our assistance she has created a number of healthy menu options and has put our logo on all of her menus. She has also put all of our promotional materials in a prominent location in her restaurant. She also raves about us to her customers because she can speak from first-hand experience. It's a WIN:WIN relationship and those are always the best types!
So ask yourself the following questions:
*What type of client do you want to attract to your Personal Training business or club?
*Where does this type of client shop or spend their time or money?
*Are any of these businesses in a 10-15 minute driving radius from you?
*Do you have any close contacts with any of these businesses? (It's always easiest to approach someone who knows and likes you!)
*Which 3 businesses could you go to tomorrow to initiate a cross promotion?
When initiating this type of relationship, always remember to focus first on what's in it for THEM!
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Create Raving Fans with 1 Step!
You need testimonials and lots of them for marketing initiatives and to promote your business throughout your community and online. But what if you don't have a lot of documented testimonials and success stories?
Here's an easy way to get a ton of really amazing testimonials.
Host a Before/After Success Contest.
Promote the contest for about 6 weeks to your clients before you launch so you get people really excited. Make it simple, low maintenance, and make it FREE to enroll in order to ensure you get lots of participation. Have clients take a before photo. Then have them follow your program for 6 weeks. Then have them do an after photo. Create a list of questions you will have each participant complete. For example, ask them to record their training program, their results, and why they love training with you. You could have a prize of say 5-10 sessions for the individual chosen as the best success story. Be sure that everyone understands and signs off that you will be using their photos and success stories in your promotional initiatives.
Voila - you'll now have a ton of really amazing success stories to use as needed. You can schedule a challenge like this once a quarter so you always have fresh new faces and happy fans who will rave about your services! Plus clients love the extra boost of motivation to help them achieve incredible results.
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
Here's an easy way to get a ton of really amazing testimonials.
Host a Before/After Success Contest.
Promote the contest for about 6 weeks to your clients before you launch so you get people really excited. Make it simple, low maintenance, and make it FREE to enroll in order to ensure you get lots of participation. Have clients take a before photo. Then have them follow your program for 6 weeks. Then have them do an after photo. Create a list of questions you will have each participant complete. For example, ask them to record their training program, their results, and why they love training with you. You could have a prize of say 5-10 sessions for the individual chosen as the best success story. Be sure that everyone understands and signs off that you will be using their photos and success stories in your promotional initiatives.
Voila - you'll now have a ton of really amazing success stories to use as needed. You can schedule a challenge like this once a quarter so you always have fresh new faces and happy fans who will rave about your services! Plus clients love the extra boost of motivation to help them achieve incredible results.
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
Monday, October 5, 2009
A tip to help you hone your skills as a Fitness Pro
Hey Fitness Pros,
This month in our business we perform On-floor reviews on our team. It's such a helpful tool to ensuring we're constantly growing and developing as fitness pros. So if you manage a group of fitness pros I would suggest you adopt this system into your business. Perhaps try it once a quarter. If you are a solo fitness pro, I would suggest you have a friend or colleague evaluate you based on some pre-determined criteria.
Here are some of the things we look for when evaluating our Personal Trainers to help give you some ideas.
*Arrives early and prepared for session
*Appropriate attire, hygiene and speech
*Gives a warm greeting to client
*Checks with client on the status of their workouts/fitness routine
*Has client sign in for session
*Finishes session on time
*Teaches exercises using an appropriate style (explain, demonstrate, client practices, quizzing)
*Session is dynamic and interactive
*Offers regular and appropriate eye contact
*Body language demonstrates focus and attention on client / Hands-on spotting
*Offers regular positive feedback and regularly looks for and acknowledges client success
*Uses client's name
*Offers at least one new exercise, a new fitness fact, or provides written literature for client
*Spends the last few minutes of session stretching/nurturing
*Announces upcoming events/seminars and Encourages Participation
*Gives something for client to work on until next session
*Client exercising at correct training level
*Client demonstrates full control and excellent technique during session
*Exercise choices are safe and exercise sequence effective - Displays an exceptional knowledge of anatomy / biomechanics of movement / equipment usage / modifications
*Method of tracking client progress is professional and effective. I could cover your client and based on the current file, would have no problem knowing exactly what to do with them and how to train them safely and effectively.
We also discuss strengths and areas to focus on to help them hone their skills.
I hope this helps you take your skills to world-class levels - my guess is that most of you are already there since you're reading this blog ;)
xo
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
This month in our business we perform On-floor reviews on our team. It's such a helpful tool to ensuring we're constantly growing and developing as fitness pros. So if you manage a group of fitness pros I would suggest you adopt this system into your business. Perhaps try it once a quarter. If you are a solo fitness pro, I would suggest you have a friend or colleague evaluate you based on some pre-determined criteria.
Here are some of the things we look for when evaluating our Personal Trainers to help give you some ideas.
*Arrives early and prepared for session
*Appropriate attire, hygiene and speech
*Gives a warm greeting to client
*Checks with client on the status of their workouts/fitness routine
*Has client sign in for session
*Finishes session on time
*Teaches exercises using an appropriate style (explain, demonstrate, client practices, quizzing)
*Session is dynamic and interactive
*Offers regular and appropriate eye contact
*Body language demonstrates focus and attention on client / Hands-on spotting
*Offers regular positive feedback and regularly looks for and acknowledges client success
*Uses client's name
*Offers at least one new exercise, a new fitness fact, or provides written literature for client
*Spends the last few minutes of session stretching/nurturing
*Announces upcoming events/seminars and Encourages Participation
*Gives something for client to work on until next session
*Client exercising at correct training level
*Client demonstrates full control and excellent technique during session
*Exercise choices are safe and exercise sequence effective - Displays an exceptional knowledge of anatomy / biomechanics of movement / equipment usage / modifications
*Method of tracking client progress is professional and effective. I could cover your client and based on the current file, would have no problem knowing exactly what to do with them and how to train them safely and effectively.
We also discuss strengths and areas to focus on to help them hone their skills.
I hope this helps you take your skills to world-class levels - my guess is that most of you are already there since you're reading this blog ;)
xo
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
Friday, October 2, 2009
What are you doing this weekend for YOU?!
Hey Fitness Pros,
TGIF! I have a question for you. What are you going to do this weekend to give back to YOU!
In our industry we give and give and give. We have to be positive and upbeat at all times. And at the end of the week it can be exhausting. The burn out rate in our industry is high so you have to figure out what it's going to take to keep you fresh and excited for what you do. For some trainers, all they have to do is take a short holiday once every 3-4 months to just rejuvenate. Others make sure their schedule is balanced so that they only say, work early mornings 3x/week and evenings 2x/week and they take the weekends off. Others refuse to work split days. Some trainers enjoy a massage once a week to help them relax. Others meditate or pray. Some stay excited by attending workshops or conferences. Figure out what it's going to take for you and do it.
For me, I'm going to go for a short run on Saturday morning with the kids. Watch Brianna's soccer game in the afternoon. And then take the kids to my friend's house Adrienne for dinner and some great friendship time. Sunday I've got a 12 mile run planned with my girlfriend Toni. Then soccer game with the kids. A massage to help recover from the run and then some downtime in the evening. Notice - there's no work scheduled. Yahoo. Just a nice mix of exercise, time with the kids, time for myself and time for friends. Now it doesn't always happen that way on weekends but I definitely try to find balance in my days and weeks.
Take a moment to think of the things you need to do to avoid burnout and then this weekend, try to do at least one of them.
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
TGIF! I have a question for you. What are you going to do this weekend to give back to YOU!
In our industry we give and give and give. We have to be positive and upbeat at all times. And at the end of the week it can be exhausting. The burn out rate in our industry is high so you have to figure out what it's going to take to keep you fresh and excited for what you do. For some trainers, all they have to do is take a short holiday once every 3-4 months to just rejuvenate. Others make sure their schedule is balanced so that they only say, work early mornings 3x/week and evenings 2x/week and they take the weekends off. Others refuse to work split days. Some trainers enjoy a massage once a week to help them relax. Others meditate or pray. Some stay excited by attending workshops or conferences. Figure out what it's going to take for you and do it.
For me, I'm going to go for a short run on Saturday morning with the kids. Watch Brianna's soccer game in the afternoon. And then take the kids to my friend's house Adrienne for dinner and some great friendship time. Sunday I've got a 12 mile run planned with my girlfriend Toni. Then soccer game with the kids. A massage to help recover from the run and then some downtime in the evening. Notice - there's no work scheduled. Yahoo. Just a nice mix of exercise, time with the kids, time for myself and time for friends. Now it doesn't always happen that way on weekends but I definitely try to find balance in my days and weeks.
Take a moment to think of the things you need to do to avoid burnout and then this weekend, try to do at least one of them.
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
Thursday, October 1, 2009
It's time to close out the month...
Hey Fitness Pros.
It's October 1st. If you're like me, you're wondering where the heck did September go?
On the first of every month, a reminder pops up in my Outlook to perform a variety of month-end tasks to close out the prior month. This is so helpful for me to keep the pulse on our business. So whether you're a solo fitness pro or you manage a number of other fitness pros, it's a good idea to assess how you did last month. It's the best way to determine what works and what doesn't.
Here are some of the things that you might want to measure and review:
*# of initial client sessions & # who purchased - then calculate closing %
*# of clients who renewed - therefore retention ratio
*# of clients who canceled
*# of phone call/web inquiries - calculate closing % to appointments scheduled
*Where are all your new clients coming from (phone, ads, facebook, google etc)
*# of outgoing motivational and sales phone calls
*# of referrals asked or gift certificates given out
*# of cross promotions and business alliances developed
*Revenues generated (total and for each department)
*Expenses
*Profit and cash flow
*Class participation numbers
Hope this helps you analyze your business and create a plan to success beyond your wildest dreams.
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMiillan
It's October 1st. If you're like me, you're wondering where the heck did September go?
On the first of every month, a reminder pops up in my Outlook to perform a variety of month-end tasks to close out the prior month. This is so helpful for me to keep the pulse on our business. So whether you're a solo fitness pro or you manage a number of other fitness pros, it's a good idea to assess how you did last month. It's the best way to determine what works and what doesn't.
Here are some of the things that you might want to measure and review:
*# of initial client sessions & # who purchased - then calculate closing %
*# of clients who renewed - therefore retention ratio
*# of clients who canceled
*# of phone call/web inquiries - calculate closing % to appointments scheduled
*Where are all your new clients coming from (phone, ads, facebook, google etc)
*# of outgoing motivational and sales phone calls
*# of referrals asked or gift certificates given out
*# of cross promotions and business alliances developed
*Revenues generated (total and for each department)
*Expenses
*Profit and cash flow
*Class participation numbers
Hope this helps you analyze your business and create a plan to success beyond your wildest dreams.
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMiillan
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Start planning now for Winter Sports programs - help your clients and cushion the bottom line.
I know you probably don't want to hear this (unless you're a winter sports buff) but winter is on the way. So it's time to start planning for any Ski Conditioning or Winter Sports Conditioning programs/clinics that you are going to host.
Here's some tips to designing a private or group program for any Winter sport. If you manage a group of trainers, forward this to them to file and use as a template for all future program design.
You don’t need to be an expert at a sport to train someone to excel in that sport. You just need to understand physiology, anatomy and ask a lot of the right questions. Here’s a system for designing a Winter Sports Conditioning program for any type of activity:
1. Define the goals of the client – how you train a recreational versus highly competitive athlete will be very different. Your expectations will be different as well as the types of movements you incorporate. Obviously a client who wants to be able to ski the greens without getting exhausted by the end of the day will require a different approach than one who wants to aggressively ski the diamonds, moguls and jumps.
2. Define the commitment of the client – Find out how long, how frequent and how hard your client wants to train before designing the program. Adherence will falter greatly if your expectations fall outside of what the client is willing or able to do.
3. Define the demands of the sport/activity – avoid the “one size fits all” approach – See more info below.
4. Identify strengths and weakness of the client related to the demands of the sport – This is where the ‘personal’ in Personal Training comes in. Customize your program based on the client and any imbalances that you assess.
5. Design a program to increase muscular strength and endurance, cardiovascular fitness, agility, power, balance and flexibility – avoid overemphasizing one area when another area may be more important. Most athletes will benefit from addressing all fitness components with a primary focus on those specific to that sport.
6. Avoid overstepping your boundaries! Avoid exactly mimicking a certain sport movement with a heavy resistance which can be detrimental to performance and cause injury. Work in combination with the coach if possible.
Let’s review a system for easily defining the demands of the sport/activity.
Step One: Start by determining the predominant metabolic energy system and CV needs. Does the sport utilize primarily the Creatine Phosphate, Anaerobic glycolysis, Aerobic glycolysis, or Fatty acid oxidation or a strong combination of all systems. Ask yourself questions such as for how long will my client have to perform at any given time – is it seconds, minutes, hours? Are there Intervals, Periods, Shifts or a consistent energy output? This will determine how you design the cardio program and any intervals you incorporate into the training program. If the sport requires intense bursts of activity lasting about 45 seconds, guess what you’ll be doing in the training program?!
Step Two: Analyze the lower body, upper body and torso movement patterns and determine the specific muscular strength and endurance requirements. For example, does the sport require Skating, Jumping (one or two legs), hopping (one or two legs), Squatting, lunging, rotating/swinging, pushing, pulling…Watch the body during the activity to determine where your focus will be. That said, most athletes are going to benefit from a full body program and a strong core.
Step Three: Analyze the object to be moved. Will the athlete be on a board, skis or sled? Will be they be required to push against an opponent? Addressing some of these demands will be very important in the program.
Step Four: Determine movement patterns, agility, speed and power needs. A sport that requires an athlete to move straight ahead from point A to Z as quickly as possible will require a different approach than an activity that has the athlete moving quickly side to side, backwards and forwards.
Step Five: Determine balance needs. Most winter sports incorporate a high level of balance – some more than others and some just in different ways that others. For example, how you train a figure skater will be different than how you train a bob-sledder. There are differences even within a certain type of sport. For example, the balance requirements for a solo skater are different than a pairs or speed skater. Or you’ll train a freestyle boarder different than a boadercross, alpine or slalom boarder.
Step Six: Determine flexibility needs. Clearly a figure skater will require a higher level of flexibility than a cross country skier.
Step Seven: Determine areas that hold a high risk for injury and associated strategies for minimizing risk. Find out how athletes in the specific sport usually get injured and program to accommodate that to lessen the risk.
Step Eight: Determine which exercises, tools and drills will address each need – be sure to assess your clients’ strengths and weaknesses. This is the fun part!
Here’s how we might approach a Ski Conditioning program:
• Energy system: Anaerobic Glycolysis/Aerobic Glycolysis
• Lower Body tucks and squats, Lateral weight transfer, torso stabilization and rotation, quiet upper body
• Moving the body on skis
• Requires linear and lateral movement strength, agility, speed and power
• Requires high level of dynamic balance
• Flexibility requirements low for performance (high for reduced risk of injury)
• Risk areas – knee, back
– Requires Hamstring/Gluteal strength, Core stabilization and flexibility
• Exercises/Tools/Drills
– Balancing on a ProFitter/Wobble Board, BOSU Trainer using two/one legged dynamic/static positions, Slide training, Squats, leg presses, lunges, plyometric leg training, Rotational throws with a medicine ball, rotation/pushing with exercise tubes, agility training through cones, one or two leg jump training, AT/sprint training, stepping while holding a full glass of water
Putting it all together. Here is what a workout template might look like for this type of athlete.
• Warm-up
• Compound lower body exercise
• Compound upper body exercise
• Compound full-body movement
• Upright torso movement
• Agility/speed/power drill
• Balance drill
• Repeat 6-10x with different exercises
• Cool-down and stretch
Here is a list of useful training tools for Winter Sports Conditioning:
• Cones/funnels
• Rope/tubes
• Coloured tape for agility marking
• Steps
• Wobble boards/Extreme Balance boards/Bongo boards/BOSU Trainers
• Foam Rollers
• Medicine balls/Stability Balls
• Profitter/Slide
• Stairs
• 2 x 4 balance board
Here is a list of effective agility drills for Winter Sports Conditioning:
• Stop/Go drill
• Right/Left/Backwards/Forwards drill
• Square drill - shuffle, sprint forwards, shuffle, sprint backwards 10xR/L
• Figure 8 running
• Carioca drills
• Good ole "Suicides"
• Lateral side to side drills
• Shuffling drills - add medicine ball
• Reaction Time catching
• Step drills
• Hurdling over Steps - one leg/two legs
• Jumping over the step - one leg/two legs/on the spot/moving
• Fast out and in
• Fast tap ups
• Over the step (1/2/3 fast)
• Ski jumps onto step - on the spot/moving forward
• T-Tape/Tube drills - one leg/two legs, out/in, jumping one leg/two legs
• Cone drills
• Bouncing balls in/out cones
• Jumping over followed by sprint
• Agility ladder drills
Here is a list of effective power drills for Winter Sports Conditioning:
• Vertical jumps
• Bounding
• Step Power lunges - forwards/backwards + adding lateral movement
• Power jumps up/down onto step
• Knee tucks
• Broad jumps
• Exercuff tube drills
– side to side steps
– side to side jumps
– hip extension
– knee lifts
• Treadmill running against tubed resistance
• Partner Resisted Runs/Pulls
Here is a list of sample balance drills for Winter Sports Conditioning:
• One leg drills - eyes open/closed/bouncing a ball/catching a ball
• BOSU Trainer / Wobble board drills - 2 feet/1 foot/performing exercises
• Extreme board drills - squats catching ball
• Bongo board drills
• Profitter drills - add medicine ball
• 2 x 4 drills
• Balance drills are effective as warm-up, cool-down or recovery exercises
Sample Torso Exercises for Winter Sports Conditioning:
• Throwing drills with medicine ball - forwards/overheads (single/double)/sideways
• Torso rotation with tubes/med balls
• Table top/Plank variations
• Tripod/Dipod variations
• Push-ups on medicine ball/wobble board
• Full sits with medicine ball
• V-sits with medicine ball with rotation
• BOSU/Stability ball torso exercises
I hope this provides you a system for being able to help any type of winter athlete.
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
Here's some tips to designing a private or group program for any Winter sport. If you manage a group of trainers, forward this to them to file and use as a template for all future program design.
You don’t need to be an expert at a sport to train someone to excel in that sport. You just need to understand physiology, anatomy and ask a lot of the right questions. Here’s a system for designing a Winter Sports Conditioning program for any type of activity:
1. Define the goals of the client – how you train a recreational versus highly competitive athlete will be very different. Your expectations will be different as well as the types of movements you incorporate. Obviously a client who wants to be able to ski the greens without getting exhausted by the end of the day will require a different approach than one who wants to aggressively ski the diamonds, moguls and jumps.
2. Define the commitment of the client – Find out how long, how frequent and how hard your client wants to train before designing the program. Adherence will falter greatly if your expectations fall outside of what the client is willing or able to do.
3. Define the demands of the sport/activity – avoid the “one size fits all” approach – See more info below.
4. Identify strengths and weakness of the client related to the demands of the sport – This is where the ‘personal’ in Personal Training comes in. Customize your program based on the client and any imbalances that you assess.
5. Design a program to increase muscular strength and endurance, cardiovascular fitness, agility, power, balance and flexibility – avoid overemphasizing one area when another area may be more important. Most athletes will benefit from addressing all fitness components with a primary focus on those specific to that sport.
6. Avoid overstepping your boundaries! Avoid exactly mimicking a certain sport movement with a heavy resistance which can be detrimental to performance and cause injury. Work in combination with the coach if possible.
Let’s review a system for easily defining the demands of the sport/activity.
Step One: Start by determining the predominant metabolic energy system and CV needs. Does the sport utilize primarily the Creatine Phosphate, Anaerobic glycolysis, Aerobic glycolysis, or Fatty acid oxidation or a strong combination of all systems. Ask yourself questions such as for how long will my client have to perform at any given time – is it seconds, minutes, hours? Are there Intervals, Periods, Shifts or a consistent energy output? This will determine how you design the cardio program and any intervals you incorporate into the training program. If the sport requires intense bursts of activity lasting about 45 seconds, guess what you’ll be doing in the training program?!
Step Two: Analyze the lower body, upper body and torso movement patterns and determine the specific muscular strength and endurance requirements. For example, does the sport require Skating, Jumping (one or two legs), hopping (one or two legs), Squatting, lunging, rotating/swinging, pushing, pulling…Watch the body during the activity to determine where your focus will be. That said, most athletes are going to benefit from a full body program and a strong core.
Step Three: Analyze the object to be moved. Will the athlete be on a board, skis or sled? Will be they be required to push against an opponent? Addressing some of these demands will be very important in the program.
Step Four: Determine movement patterns, agility, speed and power needs. A sport that requires an athlete to move straight ahead from point A to Z as quickly as possible will require a different approach than an activity that has the athlete moving quickly side to side, backwards and forwards.
Step Five: Determine balance needs. Most winter sports incorporate a high level of balance – some more than others and some just in different ways that others. For example, how you train a figure skater will be different than how you train a bob-sledder. There are differences even within a certain type of sport. For example, the balance requirements for a solo skater are different than a pairs or speed skater. Or you’ll train a freestyle boarder different than a boadercross, alpine or slalom boarder.
Step Six: Determine flexibility needs. Clearly a figure skater will require a higher level of flexibility than a cross country skier.
Step Seven: Determine areas that hold a high risk for injury and associated strategies for minimizing risk. Find out how athletes in the specific sport usually get injured and program to accommodate that to lessen the risk.
Step Eight: Determine which exercises, tools and drills will address each need – be sure to assess your clients’ strengths and weaknesses. This is the fun part!
Here’s how we might approach a Ski Conditioning program:
• Energy system: Anaerobic Glycolysis/Aerobic Glycolysis
• Lower Body tucks and squats, Lateral weight transfer, torso stabilization and rotation, quiet upper body
• Moving the body on skis
• Requires linear and lateral movement strength, agility, speed and power
• Requires high level of dynamic balance
• Flexibility requirements low for performance (high for reduced risk of injury)
• Risk areas – knee, back
– Requires Hamstring/Gluteal strength, Core stabilization and flexibility
• Exercises/Tools/Drills
– Balancing on a ProFitter/Wobble Board, BOSU Trainer using two/one legged dynamic/static positions, Slide training, Squats, leg presses, lunges, plyometric leg training, Rotational throws with a medicine ball, rotation/pushing with exercise tubes, agility training through cones, one or two leg jump training, AT/sprint training, stepping while holding a full glass of water
Putting it all together. Here is what a workout template might look like for this type of athlete.
• Warm-up
• Compound lower body exercise
• Compound upper body exercise
• Compound full-body movement
• Upright torso movement
• Agility/speed/power drill
• Balance drill
• Repeat 6-10x with different exercises
• Cool-down and stretch
Here is a list of useful training tools for Winter Sports Conditioning:
• Cones/funnels
• Rope/tubes
• Coloured tape for agility marking
• Steps
• Wobble boards/Extreme Balance boards/Bongo boards/BOSU Trainers
• Foam Rollers
• Medicine balls/Stability Balls
• Profitter/Slide
• Stairs
• 2 x 4 balance board
Here is a list of effective agility drills for Winter Sports Conditioning:
• Stop/Go drill
• Right/Left/Backwards/Forwards drill
• Square drill - shuffle, sprint forwards, shuffle, sprint backwards 10xR/L
• Figure 8 running
• Carioca drills
• Good ole "Suicides"
• Lateral side to side drills
• Shuffling drills - add medicine ball
• Reaction Time catching
• Step drills
• Hurdling over Steps - one leg/two legs
• Jumping over the step - one leg/two legs/on the spot/moving
• Fast out and in
• Fast tap ups
• Over the step (1/2/3 fast)
• Ski jumps onto step - on the spot/moving forward
• T-Tape/Tube drills - one leg/two legs, out/in, jumping one leg/two legs
• Cone drills
• Bouncing balls in/out cones
• Jumping over followed by sprint
• Agility ladder drills
Here is a list of effective power drills for Winter Sports Conditioning:
• Vertical jumps
• Bounding
• Step Power lunges - forwards/backwards + adding lateral movement
• Power jumps up/down onto step
• Knee tucks
• Broad jumps
• Exercuff tube drills
– side to side steps
– side to side jumps
– hip extension
– knee lifts
• Treadmill running against tubed resistance
• Partner Resisted Runs/Pulls
Here is a list of sample balance drills for Winter Sports Conditioning:
• One leg drills - eyes open/closed/bouncing a ball/catching a ball
• BOSU Trainer / Wobble board drills - 2 feet/1 foot/performing exercises
• Extreme board drills - squats catching ball
• Bongo board drills
• Profitter drills - add medicine ball
• 2 x 4 drills
• Balance drills are effective as warm-up, cool-down or recovery exercises
Sample Torso Exercises for Winter Sports Conditioning:
• Throwing drills with medicine ball - forwards/overheads (single/double)/sideways
• Torso rotation with tubes/med balls
• Table top/Plank variations
• Tripod/Dipod variations
• Push-ups on medicine ball/wobble board
• Full sits with medicine ball
• V-sits with medicine ball with rotation
• BOSU/Stability ball torso exercises
I hope this provides you a system for being able to help any type of winter athlete.
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
Monday, September 28, 2009
A couple Fall programming ideas...
Hey Fitness Pros,
It's almost the end of the month! Where did September go?
Anyways, fall is upon us and it's such a good time to start planning for some of the upcoming fall holidays.
Let's start with Halloween. Perhaps you could schedule a special Costume Class. Ask everyone to dress as their favorite athlete or fitness instructor. Or perhaps, you could plan a special Client Costume Dance Party.
Then Thanksgiving is shortly after (or before if you're Canadian). Perhaps organize an Exercise-a-thon, maybe a 3 hour fitness sampler including 10-15 minutes of dance, kickboxing, step, bootcamp, core conditioning, yoga, pilates and more. Everyone brings clothing and food to donate to a local shelter. It's super easy to organize, a ton of fun, a great workout and such a great way to give back to the community together!
Hope this gives you some ideas. But don't wait to finalize the plans. In order for your ideas to be an overwhelming success, start the planning process now.
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
It's almost the end of the month! Where did September go?
Anyways, fall is upon us and it's such a good time to start planning for some of the upcoming fall holidays.
Let's start with Halloween. Perhaps you could schedule a special Costume Class. Ask everyone to dress as their favorite athlete or fitness instructor. Or perhaps, you could plan a special Client Costume Dance Party.
Then Thanksgiving is shortly after (or before if you're Canadian). Perhaps organize an Exercise-a-thon, maybe a 3 hour fitness sampler including 10-15 minutes of dance, kickboxing, step, bootcamp, core conditioning, yoga, pilates and more. Everyone brings clothing and food to donate to a local shelter. It's super easy to organize, a ton of fun, a great workout and such a great way to give back to the community together!
Hope this gives you some ideas. But don't wait to finalize the plans. In order for your ideas to be an overwhelming success, start the planning process now.
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
Monday, September 21, 2009
Set the Plan on Mondays
Hey Fitness Pros.
It's Monday - the start of a new week. It's a great opportunity to inspire those who you influence.
So if you manage a group of trainers or instructors, send out a Marvelous Monday Morning Memo (MMMM). Direct them towards the focus of the week. Provide some praise and thanks to your team. Be sure they have all the information they need to perform at their best. Set the intention for the week. Remember, you are the head cheerleader, the leader from where all inspiration trickles down from.
If you a trainer or group fitness instructor, then you manage a group of clients and participants. Do the same for them. Send out an inspirational email, text or facebook post. Help to provide focus and intention for the week.
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
It's Monday - the start of a new week. It's a great opportunity to inspire those who you influence.
So if you manage a group of trainers or instructors, send out a Marvelous Monday Morning Memo (MMMM). Direct them towards the focus of the week. Provide some praise and thanks to your team. Be sure they have all the information they need to perform at their best. Set the intention for the week. Remember, you are the head cheerleader, the leader from where all inspiration trickles down from.
If you a trainer or group fitness instructor, then you manage a group of clients and participants. Do the same for them. Send out an inspirational email, text or facebook post. Help to provide focus and intention for the week.
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Leadership - What's more important, Skill or Character?
Hey Fitness Pros,
At the recent IDEA conference, I worked with a group of Fitness Directors and we discussed the Top 10 most important traits for strong leadership.
Check out this clip that provides you insight into what I believe is the #1 Quality of Strong Leadership.
If you can't view the videoclip above, here is the direct link on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8Z90kjXALc
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
At the recent IDEA conference, I worked with a group of Fitness Directors and we discussed the Top 10 most important traits for strong leadership.
Check out this clip that provides you insight into what I believe is the #1 Quality of Strong Leadership.
If you can't view the videoclip above, here is the direct link on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8Z90kjXALc
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Secret Shop your Business to create an incredible and consistent experience for your clients!
I worked at McDonalds for 5 years. I know, I know... that's a story for a different blog! Anyways, when I worked there we would get Secret Shopped all the time and of course, you always wanted to get a high score. So you ended up just practicing the correct protocol all the time because you just never knew whether you were being shopped or not. So you became very good at always greeting with "Hi, may I take you order please" and always asking "Would you like some fries with that?" and finishing with "Thank you and have a great day!" We always knew we had to keep busy because "if there was time to lean, there was time to clean!" All large corporations utilize Secret Shops because they know it works to help create the kind of wonderful and consistent experience for their customers.
At Northwest Personal Training and Northwest Women's Fitness Club, we also use a Secret Client Evaluation process which evaluates our team on whether we are delivering the type of service that we all envision. By keeping it 'secret', it ensures that our team doesn’t just shine when they know they are being evaluated but instead, they follow protocol and procedures all the time because they just never know when they are being evaluated. But it's important to note that our team does know they are getting evaluated, they just don't know when. Plus we give them the check-list of what they will be evaluated on so there are no surprises and the expectations are very clear.
We have a Secret Evaluation process for all important aspects of our business including an evaluation for the Initial Complimentary Training session, Initial Phone Call, Initial Tour, Ongoing Training appointments, Group Fitness classes and more. We have created a check-list of everything that should happen in each of these scenarios as the ideal vision for the client experience.
When we assign a ‘client’ to perform these evaluations, we have used:
• Actual Clients
• Friends
• Prospective Clients
• Business Associates
We provide them with a Free Personal Training session ($70 value) as a gift to them for taking the time to go through the process and to complete the evaluation form.
At Northwest Personal Training, we strive for world-class consistency and excellence in everything we do and have found this program to be invaluable for us. We hope it helps you too.
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
ps. If you don't want to have to spend the time to create your own evaluations and check-lists, we sell the license to utilize our systems. It will definitely save you a lot of time and be ready to implement immediately. If you're interested, you can email our Fitness Education Director Kari Schunk at kari@nwpersonaltraining.com
At Northwest Personal Training and Northwest Women's Fitness Club, we also use a Secret Client Evaluation process which evaluates our team on whether we are delivering the type of service that we all envision. By keeping it 'secret', it ensures that our team doesn’t just shine when they know they are being evaluated but instead, they follow protocol and procedures all the time because they just never know when they are being evaluated. But it's important to note that our team does know they are getting evaluated, they just don't know when. Plus we give them the check-list of what they will be evaluated on so there are no surprises and the expectations are very clear.
We have a Secret Evaluation process for all important aspects of our business including an evaluation for the Initial Complimentary Training session, Initial Phone Call, Initial Tour, Ongoing Training appointments, Group Fitness classes and more. We have created a check-list of everything that should happen in each of these scenarios as the ideal vision for the client experience.
When we assign a ‘client’ to perform these evaluations, we have used:
• Actual Clients
• Friends
• Prospective Clients
• Business Associates
We provide them with a Free Personal Training session ($70 value) as a gift to them for taking the time to go through the process and to complete the evaluation form.
At Northwest Personal Training, we strive for world-class consistency and excellence in everything we do and have found this program to be invaluable for us. We hope it helps you too.
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
ps. If you don't want to have to spend the time to create your own evaluations and check-lists, we sell the license to utilize our systems. It will definitely save you a lot of time and be ready to implement immediately. If you're interested, you can email our Fitness Education Director Kari Schunk at kari@nwpersonaltraining.com
Friday, September 11, 2009
Watch this Video Clip on how to Stretch out your Clients.
Hey Fitness Pros,
I've written in the past about the importance of spending at least 5-10 minutes at the end of every training session stretching out a client and/or utilizing tools such as stretching sticks or balls to provide a muscle rub-down. There is a reason why we make this a mandatory component of all of our training sessions at Northwest Personal Training - we know the clients love it and that is good for business!
So hopefully, you all understand the importance of this type of customer service initiative. Today, I'm going to give you some tips to take it to the next level.
Watch this Video Clip of my 'Partner Stretching' workshop at the recent CanFitPro conference in Toronto Canada. It will provide you an approach that will get your clients anxiously awaiting the last few minutes of their workouts with you!
If can't open the video above, click on the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXji9yWYMKA
Stretching out your clients is not only good for your clients but also, great for your business and overall client retention!
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
I've written in the past about the importance of spending at least 5-10 minutes at the end of every training session stretching out a client and/or utilizing tools such as stretching sticks or balls to provide a muscle rub-down. There is a reason why we make this a mandatory component of all of our training sessions at Northwest Personal Training - we know the clients love it and that is good for business!
So hopefully, you all understand the importance of this type of customer service initiative. Today, I'm going to give you some tips to take it to the next level.
Watch this Video Clip of my 'Partner Stretching' workshop at the recent CanFitPro conference in Toronto Canada. It will provide you an approach that will get your clients anxiously awaiting the last few minutes of their workouts with you!
If can't open the video above, click on the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXji9yWYMKA
Stretching out your clients is not only good for your clients but also, great for your business and overall client retention!
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Team Meetings that People Want to Attend
Most people dread meetings because they perceive them to be a waste of time and extremely boring. However, a carefully planned and orchestrated meeting can be one that staff look forward to, that creates a culture for success, that offers some excellent team building opportunities and is productive at teaching your team the skills they need to excel in their position.
So if you manage or work with a team, read the info below. Bottom line though - you've got to figure out how to make your meetings somewhat enjoyable and fun or else no one will come. So check out this video clip from our team meeting yesterday and see how I took an otherwise boring review of our company mission, vision and competitive advantage and made it silly and fun by splitting our team into groups that each had to come up with a company commercial. After you're done watching, review all the info below and start planning your next team gathering.
If you can't view the clip above, click on the link below to watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0teUUELYgpA
Getting them There: First, we schedule our meetings one year in advance and distribute this list to our team so they can schedule the meetings into their dayplanners. This way, if they are planning a vacation and are flexible with dates, they can work around our team meetings. Our company meetings are once per month for two hours. Second, our meetings are mandatory for all team members. It’s important to note however, that in order to make meetings mandatory we have to pay our team for their time. So we have instituted a meeting wage which is just minimum wage and it enables us to at least compensate our team for their time. If someone can’t make it to the meeting, they are still responsible for meeting with us or their direct supervisor. This ensures they are up-to-date with all the meeting information and since everyone knows they are going to have to meet anyways, they might as well come to the team meeting and have more fun. Last, offer food and they will at least come to eat!
Agenda: In order to ensure you make the best use out of a meeting, it is important to be organized, plan ahead and know how you will spend the allocated time. Then create an agenda to help everyone stay focused and to ensure the meeting stays on track. At each meeting, we try to ensure we include the following topics:
Social Time: The first 5-10 minutes of each meeting, we allow our team to mingle, chat and share anything with the rest of the team. You would think when people work 30 plus hours per week together they would know everything about each other. But that’s not the case. During work hours, our team is focused on clients and often don’t get enough quality time to spend with the rest of the team. So during meetings we allow our team to share what’s going on in their life (ie. I’m training for a marathon, I’m graduating next week, We’re pregnant, It’s my 12th Anniversary etc.). This helps to create team camaraderie and to develop great friendships. When your team likes each other, if they ever leave, they're not just leaving a job but multiple friendships. This can help reduce turnover.
Passion & Purpose: We also allocate a few minutes to read any cards, emails, or letters that clients have recently sent us bragging about one of our team members, listing all the results they’ve achieved since working with us and how we’ve helped to change their life. We find it extremely valuable to regularly remind our team why we’re here and why we do what we do. It’s important to remind them that it’s more than just an exercise program but in fact, we really are dramatically improving people’s lives. When we are all reminded of this vision, it makes it easier to come to work and give it everything you’ve got.
Customer Service: The Personal Training industry is a customer-service based industry and any business who grasps this and practices it regularly will succeed. So we ensure our team understands that the customer is the boss and they must have a ‘drop everything for the client’ attitude. So at meetings we spend time to discuss how we can all pay attention to the little details that set us apart from others. We brainstorm on customer service initiatives we can implement. We may have someone read an article or book on customer service and then summarize it for the group.
Sales: As business owners, we know how important it is to be financially viable and successful. So we ensure we allocate time to role play phone calls, tours and how to help our staff overcome objections that clients have that are hindering them from getting started with us and achieving their goals. Most people don’t enjoy role playing but recognize how valuable it is. If you can get good in this kind of awkward, unnatural environment, imagine how good you’ll be in person. We may also have someone read a book or article on sales or listen to a Sales DVD and then give a report at the staff meeting.
“In the Know”: Many employees at various companies complain that they feel they are out of the loop. They don’t know what’s going on and are often blind-sided by client questions. The worst response you don’t want a staff using is “I don’t know, I just work here”. So we always spend time making sure everyone on our team knows what’s going on and what’s coming up. We’ll review upcoming promotions, staff and client incentives, upcoming seminars, client events, staff events, travel schedules etc. This open communication is critical to ensure you have a team who takes full ownership of the day-to-day operations and success of events, incentives and your business in general.
Break Off
The above meeting components are critical for all members of our team. Once we’ve covered these general areas, we’ll often split into various departments and cover issues specific to that department. For example, the trainers and group fitness instructors might split up and someone might present some new exercises using a new, innovative fitness product. They might discuss a special population or medical concern and review exercise and program modifications that need to be made. The CSRs might split off and discuss some scheduling or computer issues. Or they might role play how to deal with an upset client.
We’ll often finish the meeting maybe watching a fun, inspirational video or just thanking people for their time and their willingness to make it to the meetings to help us solidify as a team.
Meetings are a time and financial investment that we feel are worth it to the success of our business and to our fabulous team environment that we believe is second to none. It costs us about $16/person totaling $640 in payroll costs per meeting (we have 40 team members between our two locations) and about $150 in food, not to mention our own personal time. But believe us, if we weren’t convinced it worked, we wouldn’t do it.
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
So if you manage or work with a team, read the info below. Bottom line though - you've got to figure out how to make your meetings somewhat enjoyable and fun or else no one will come. So check out this video clip from our team meeting yesterday and see how I took an otherwise boring review of our company mission, vision and competitive advantage and made it silly and fun by splitting our team into groups that each had to come up with a company commercial. After you're done watching, review all the info below and start planning your next team gathering.
If you can't view the clip above, click on the link below to watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0teUUELYgpA
Getting them There: First, we schedule our meetings one year in advance and distribute this list to our team so they can schedule the meetings into their dayplanners. This way, if they are planning a vacation and are flexible with dates, they can work around our team meetings. Our company meetings are once per month for two hours. Second, our meetings are mandatory for all team members. It’s important to note however, that in order to make meetings mandatory we have to pay our team for their time. So we have instituted a meeting wage which is just minimum wage and it enables us to at least compensate our team for their time. If someone can’t make it to the meeting, they are still responsible for meeting with us or their direct supervisor. This ensures they are up-to-date with all the meeting information and since everyone knows they are going to have to meet anyways, they might as well come to the team meeting and have more fun. Last, offer food and they will at least come to eat!
Agenda: In order to ensure you make the best use out of a meeting, it is important to be organized, plan ahead and know how you will spend the allocated time. Then create an agenda to help everyone stay focused and to ensure the meeting stays on track. At each meeting, we try to ensure we include the following topics:
Social Time: The first 5-10 minutes of each meeting, we allow our team to mingle, chat and share anything with the rest of the team. You would think when people work 30 plus hours per week together they would know everything about each other. But that’s not the case. During work hours, our team is focused on clients and often don’t get enough quality time to spend with the rest of the team. So during meetings we allow our team to share what’s going on in their life (ie. I’m training for a marathon, I’m graduating next week, We’re pregnant, It’s my 12th Anniversary etc.). This helps to create team camaraderie and to develop great friendships. When your team likes each other, if they ever leave, they're not just leaving a job but multiple friendships. This can help reduce turnover.
Passion & Purpose: We also allocate a few minutes to read any cards, emails, or letters that clients have recently sent us bragging about one of our team members, listing all the results they’ve achieved since working with us and how we’ve helped to change their life. We find it extremely valuable to regularly remind our team why we’re here and why we do what we do. It’s important to remind them that it’s more than just an exercise program but in fact, we really are dramatically improving people’s lives. When we are all reminded of this vision, it makes it easier to come to work and give it everything you’ve got.
Customer Service: The Personal Training industry is a customer-service based industry and any business who grasps this and practices it regularly will succeed. So we ensure our team understands that the customer is the boss and they must have a ‘drop everything for the client’ attitude. So at meetings we spend time to discuss how we can all pay attention to the little details that set us apart from others. We brainstorm on customer service initiatives we can implement. We may have someone read an article or book on customer service and then summarize it for the group.
Sales: As business owners, we know how important it is to be financially viable and successful. So we ensure we allocate time to role play phone calls, tours and how to help our staff overcome objections that clients have that are hindering them from getting started with us and achieving their goals. Most people don’t enjoy role playing but recognize how valuable it is. If you can get good in this kind of awkward, unnatural environment, imagine how good you’ll be in person. We may also have someone read a book or article on sales or listen to a Sales DVD and then give a report at the staff meeting.
“In the Know”: Many employees at various companies complain that they feel they are out of the loop. They don’t know what’s going on and are often blind-sided by client questions. The worst response you don’t want a staff using is “I don’t know, I just work here”. So we always spend time making sure everyone on our team knows what’s going on and what’s coming up. We’ll review upcoming promotions, staff and client incentives, upcoming seminars, client events, staff events, travel schedules etc. This open communication is critical to ensure you have a team who takes full ownership of the day-to-day operations and success of events, incentives and your business in general.
Break Off
The above meeting components are critical for all members of our team. Once we’ve covered these general areas, we’ll often split into various departments and cover issues specific to that department. For example, the trainers and group fitness instructors might split up and someone might present some new exercises using a new, innovative fitness product. They might discuss a special population or medical concern and review exercise and program modifications that need to be made. The CSRs might split off and discuss some scheduling or computer issues. Or they might role play how to deal with an upset client.
We’ll often finish the meeting maybe watching a fun, inspirational video or just thanking people for their time and their willingness to make it to the meetings to help us solidify as a team.
Meetings are a time and financial investment that we feel are worth it to the success of our business and to our fabulous team environment that we believe is second to none. It costs us about $16/person totaling $640 in payroll costs per meeting (we have 40 team members between our two locations) and about $150 in food, not to mention our own personal time. But believe us, if we weren’t convinced it worked, we wouldn’t do it.
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
Friday, August 21, 2009
What Women Want...
What do women want?
I attended a fabulous session with Karen Wischmann, the president and CEO of Total Fitness & Spa for Women, one of the most successful women’s only clubs in the world.
Since 54% of club members are female and 70% of Personal Training is purchased by women, it’s probably a really good idea to understand their needs and do whatever we can to meet them.
Let’s start with some interesting facts:
• 85% of all customer purchases are made by women
• 90% of all food purchases are made by women
• 55% of all electronic purchases are made by women
• 80% of home buying decisions are made by women
• Women use the web more than men (51% vs 49%)
• Women spend $3.7 trillion dollars per year
So what does that all mean to us? First, women seem to like to spend money – especially for something they want and feel they need!
Psychology of Marketing to Women:
Karen pointed out that generally, men shop for what they need right now. Women tend to shop for what will benefit them over time. Hence the popularity of lotions, scrubs, hair products, and anti-aging products with women. Compare a guy’s list of must haves for his daily routine – deodorant, razor, and a 3-in-1 shampoo, conditioner and body wash and he’s good to go. Compare that to the products required for a woman’s daily routine and you’ll see the difference and how that relates to retail sales. Bottom line – men keep it pretty simple. Men want to look and smell good right now whereas, women want the same but they have the foresight to think about what they want to look like in the future.
Women generally need to understand the value of a product or service and this helps them feel good about the buying decision. For example, a woman doesn’t care how many treadmills or dumbbells your club offers. She wants to know that she is going to look and feel better by working out with you. She wants to know that her bone density will strengthen, her posture will improve, she’ll raise her metabolism making it easier to lose weight She wants to know that she is going to get toned and sculpted and fit back into her skinny jeans. She doesn’t really care that much about the workout and the program as long as it delivers results. She doesn’t want a membership or Personal Training, rather, she wants to get excited about the results and her new life! She doesn’t like to exercise - she likes how she FEELS when she works out and how her whole life is so much better when she's in good shape.
A great line that Karen scripts her staff to use is this:
“It’s really simple. You just do exactly what we tell you and your entire life will change!”
Karen emphasizes that when selling to women, you HAVE to sell from the heart. You have to focus FIRST on developing a relationship and making a connection. You have to listen to her closely. What are her needs? What is she concerned about? If you focus on bending over backwards for a female member, she will be a client for life! Once you fully understand a woman’s goals, then you can show her how your service, membership, and/or personal training are going to help fix the problem.
Women often come to us after they have let themselves go due to kids, work and trying to juggle life. They have put their health and fitness on the backburner and they need us to help them get their life and their body back. They need to know that you understand this.
Specific Guidelines for the Fitness Industry:
There are certain areas of our clubs and studios that are women dominated. For example, the Kids Club, Women’s Locker room, and Group Exercise studio are used almost exclusively by women. Pay special attention to décor and cleanliness in these areas. Women want to know that the showers are cleaned regularly throughout the day – there is nothing more disgusting for a woman than walking into a shower with a clog full of hair. Women want their club to smell great so Karen suggested the Air Fresheners that send out a spritz of fresh air scent every so often – nothing too overbearing but something that just smells refreshing and good. Women want to know that the Kids Club area is cleaned and the toys are sterilized regularly. She wants to know that day staff are CPR certified and are women, preferably other mothers, that she can trust with her kids so she doesn’t have to worry about them when she’s working out. She wants to feel good when she walks into these areas so hire a designer to help choose warm colors, beautiful and inspirational art and perhaps paint meaningful quotes on the walls.
.
Women will pay for quality: All women like a deal but will pay more for quality. Case in point, consider Whole Foods which saw a 1,552% increase in stock value. Women will pay a lot more for certain items and an atmosphere that is pleasant, customer-service oriented and offers knowledgeable staff. Karen mentioned that she often discusses the price issue with members in the following way:
“Are you looking for the cheapest club? Because we are definitely not that but we’re also not that much more than our big club competitors. But if you’re looking for value and results than we are definitely the place for you!”
Women love to be complimented. It makes us feel great. But you have to be genuine and authentic. So when talking to a member or potential client, if you notice her cute shoes, fabulous purse or great hair cut, comment on it. There’s nothing more pleasing to a woman’s ears than “Your shoes are adorable” or “That outfit is killer!”.
Women appreciate the little touches…thank you cards, inspirational emails, a motivational text message…
Women are social beings: Ramp up your social media outreach. Women in their 40s and 50s are one of the fastest growing segments on FaceBook. Start an educational, interactive blog and encourage comments from members. Make it mandatory that all new members go through a group equipment orientation. Not only is it better for liability insurance reasons but also, it allows the opportunity for relationships to develop. Regularly encourage and inspire women to participate in group fitness classes, host group events and get-togethers, offer small group training…It’s important to note that surveys show us that the happiest members and therefore raving fans are those that participate in group fitness and personal training so do whatever you can to get women involved in these programs.
Specific Marketing Tactics for Women:
• Women respond to soft and warm colors, they find sunsets, sunrises, golds, browns, yellows, and rust hues very appealing. Avoid blues and cold colors.
• Women respond to photos of beautiful but realistic women
• Women respond to lots of detail; women will read the text
• Women respond to an add that implies “Use this product/service and you’ll look like me”
Changing the world - one woman at a time!
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
I attended a fabulous session with Karen Wischmann, the president and CEO of Total Fitness & Spa for Women, one of the most successful women’s only clubs in the world.
Since 54% of club members are female and 70% of Personal Training is purchased by women, it’s probably a really good idea to understand their needs and do whatever we can to meet them.
Let’s start with some interesting facts:
• 85% of all customer purchases are made by women
• 90% of all food purchases are made by women
• 55% of all electronic purchases are made by women
• 80% of home buying decisions are made by women
• Women use the web more than men (51% vs 49%)
• Women spend $3.7 trillion dollars per year
So what does that all mean to us? First, women seem to like to spend money – especially for something they want and feel they need!
Psychology of Marketing to Women:
Karen pointed out that generally, men shop for what they need right now. Women tend to shop for what will benefit them over time. Hence the popularity of lotions, scrubs, hair products, and anti-aging products with women. Compare a guy’s list of must haves for his daily routine – deodorant, razor, and a 3-in-1 shampoo, conditioner and body wash and he’s good to go. Compare that to the products required for a woman’s daily routine and you’ll see the difference and how that relates to retail sales. Bottom line – men keep it pretty simple. Men want to look and smell good right now whereas, women want the same but they have the foresight to think about what they want to look like in the future.
Women generally need to understand the value of a product or service and this helps them feel good about the buying decision. For example, a woman doesn’t care how many treadmills or dumbbells your club offers. She wants to know that she is going to look and feel better by working out with you. She wants to know that her bone density will strengthen, her posture will improve, she’ll raise her metabolism making it easier to lose weight She wants to know that she is going to get toned and sculpted and fit back into her skinny jeans. She doesn’t really care that much about the workout and the program as long as it delivers results. She doesn’t want a membership or Personal Training, rather, she wants to get excited about the results and her new life! She doesn’t like to exercise - she likes how she FEELS when she works out and how her whole life is so much better when she's in good shape.
A great line that Karen scripts her staff to use is this:
“It’s really simple. You just do exactly what we tell you and your entire life will change!”
Karen emphasizes that when selling to women, you HAVE to sell from the heart. You have to focus FIRST on developing a relationship and making a connection. You have to listen to her closely. What are her needs? What is she concerned about? If you focus on bending over backwards for a female member, she will be a client for life! Once you fully understand a woman’s goals, then you can show her how your service, membership, and/or personal training are going to help fix the problem.
Women often come to us after they have let themselves go due to kids, work and trying to juggle life. They have put their health and fitness on the backburner and they need us to help them get their life and their body back. They need to know that you understand this.
Specific Guidelines for the Fitness Industry:
There are certain areas of our clubs and studios that are women dominated. For example, the Kids Club, Women’s Locker room, and Group Exercise studio are used almost exclusively by women. Pay special attention to décor and cleanliness in these areas. Women want to know that the showers are cleaned regularly throughout the day – there is nothing more disgusting for a woman than walking into a shower with a clog full of hair. Women want their club to smell great so Karen suggested the Air Fresheners that send out a spritz of fresh air scent every so often – nothing too overbearing but something that just smells refreshing and good. Women want to know that the Kids Club area is cleaned and the toys are sterilized regularly. She wants to know that day staff are CPR certified and are women, preferably other mothers, that she can trust with her kids so she doesn’t have to worry about them when she’s working out. She wants to feel good when she walks into these areas so hire a designer to help choose warm colors, beautiful and inspirational art and perhaps paint meaningful quotes on the walls.
.
Women will pay for quality: All women like a deal but will pay more for quality. Case in point, consider Whole Foods which saw a 1,552% increase in stock value. Women will pay a lot more for certain items and an atmosphere that is pleasant, customer-service oriented and offers knowledgeable staff. Karen mentioned that she often discusses the price issue with members in the following way:
“Are you looking for the cheapest club? Because we are definitely not that but we’re also not that much more than our big club competitors. But if you’re looking for value and results than we are definitely the place for you!”
Women love to be complimented. It makes us feel great. But you have to be genuine and authentic. So when talking to a member or potential client, if you notice her cute shoes, fabulous purse or great hair cut, comment on it. There’s nothing more pleasing to a woman’s ears than “Your shoes are adorable” or “That outfit is killer!”.
Women appreciate the little touches…thank you cards, inspirational emails, a motivational text message…
Women are social beings: Ramp up your social media outreach. Women in their 40s and 50s are one of the fastest growing segments on FaceBook. Start an educational, interactive blog and encourage comments from members. Make it mandatory that all new members go through a group equipment orientation. Not only is it better for liability insurance reasons but also, it allows the opportunity for relationships to develop. Regularly encourage and inspire women to participate in group fitness classes, host group events and get-togethers, offer small group training…It’s important to note that surveys show us that the happiest members and therefore raving fans are those that participate in group fitness and personal training so do whatever you can to get women involved in these programs.
Specific Marketing Tactics for Women:
• Women respond to soft and warm colors, they find sunsets, sunrises, golds, browns, yellows, and rust hues very appealing. Avoid blues and cold colors.
• Women respond to photos of beautiful but realistic women
• Women respond to lots of detail; women will read the text
• Women respond to an add that implies “Use this product/service and you’ll look like me”
Changing the world - one woman at a time!
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
Monday, August 17, 2009
Highlights from the IDEA Convention
Hey Fitness Pros.
I just returned from IDEA. My sessions were a blast and I also took a number of sessions. For those of you who couldn't be there, I wanted to share with you some of the things I learned. I'll try to post something everyday over the next little while to pass on any nuggets of info that I think you would benefit from. However, it is summer and CanFitPro is this weekend, so I'll do the best I can. :)
Also, FYI, you can purchase numerous DVDs of the live sessions so you can still be a part of the event. Here's the link. Two of my sessions were filmed if you're interested "Partner Tubing" & "Fun Games and Drills for Small Group Training".
http://www.ideafit.com/world-video-package-2009
Highlights from the IDEA KeyNote Presentation:
I attended the keynote with Matt Weinstein, a motivational speaker and author. He said the problem with all the self help books is that they're too hard to remember - the 8 secrets, the 7 Habits etc...So he's come up with the 4 unforgettable keys to a Successful Life. He promises that you will never, ever forget them! I thought I’d share them with all of you in hopes that it will help you live your dream life.
#1 Key to an Incredible Life: ‘ Row, Row, Row your Boat’
This is your boat – your life! And if you want something, you’re going to have to work at it – you’re going to have to row, and row, and row some more. You’re going to have to put some muscle into it. Rowing can be a challenging activity but you can direct which way you want that boat to go! This is your life to create!
#2 Key to an Incredible Life: ‘Gently down the Stream’
Go with the flow. Don’t fight so hard. It's so much easier to row your boat downstream rather than upstream! You’ve got to Focus on your strengths – that will make everything so much easier.
#3 Key to an Incredible Life: Can you already guess it??!! Yep – “Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily”
Be positive. Be content. Focus on what you have versus what you don’t have. Look for the good in everything. Notice everyday miracles. Incredible opportunities come to those with a joyful spirit. No one wants to be around or offer opportunities to those who are negative! Why? They are just going to complain about it anyways!
#4 Key to an Incredible Life: ‘Life is But a Dream’
Life should be a dream – a pleasant, beautiful, wonderful dream - Not a nightmare. Reality happens first in your mind. Dream big for your life. Make the life that you want so vivid in your mind that it’s easier to make it come to fruition!
That’s it! Four keys that you will probably never, ever forget. Simple but powerful messages! We’ve all heard it before and now all we have to do is live it! I hope it gives you a little boost for your week! Maybe you could share these tips with your clients and members. Stay tuned for more IDEA highlights...
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
I just returned from IDEA. My sessions were a blast and I also took a number of sessions. For those of you who couldn't be there, I wanted to share with you some of the things I learned. I'll try to post something everyday over the next little while to pass on any nuggets of info that I think you would benefit from. However, it is summer and CanFitPro is this weekend, so I'll do the best I can. :)
Also, FYI, you can purchase numerous DVDs of the live sessions so you can still be a part of the event. Here's the link. Two of my sessions were filmed if you're interested "Partner Tubing" & "Fun Games and Drills for Small Group Training".
http://www.ideafit.com/world-video-package-2009
Highlights from the IDEA KeyNote Presentation:
I attended the keynote with Matt Weinstein, a motivational speaker and author. He said the problem with all the self help books is that they're too hard to remember - the 8 secrets, the 7 Habits etc...So he's come up with the 4 unforgettable keys to a Successful Life. He promises that you will never, ever forget them! I thought I’d share them with all of you in hopes that it will help you live your dream life.
#1 Key to an Incredible Life: ‘ Row, Row, Row your Boat’
This is your boat – your life! And if you want something, you’re going to have to work at it – you’re going to have to row, and row, and row some more. You’re going to have to put some muscle into it. Rowing can be a challenging activity but you can direct which way you want that boat to go! This is your life to create!
#2 Key to an Incredible Life: ‘Gently down the Stream’
Go with the flow. Don’t fight so hard. It's so much easier to row your boat downstream rather than upstream! You’ve got to Focus on your strengths – that will make everything so much easier.
#3 Key to an Incredible Life: Can you already guess it??!! Yep – “Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily”
Be positive. Be content. Focus on what you have versus what you don’t have. Look for the good in everything. Notice everyday miracles. Incredible opportunities come to those with a joyful spirit. No one wants to be around or offer opportunities to those who are negative! Why? They are just going to complain about it anyways!
#4 Key to an Incredible Life: ‘Life is But a Dream’
Life should be a dream – a pleasant, beautiful, wonderful dream - Not a nightmare. Reality happens first in your mind. Dream big for your life. Make the life that you want so vivid in your mind that it’s easier to make it come to fruition!
That’s it! Four keys that you will probably never, ever forget. Simple but powerful messages! We’ve all heard it before and now all we have to do is live it! I hope it gives you a little boost for your week! Maybe you could share these tips with your clients and members. Stay tuned for more IDEA highlights...
Yours in health, fitness and business,
Sherri McMillan
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