I just gave a presentation this past week at the Club Industry show in Chicago.  My presentation was on helping club owners increase productivity so that they can get more done quickly, so that they have the opportunity to live a life outside of the club walls.

It was a great group and based on the comments I received after the event, the tips I shared seemed to open a lot of their minds to the different ways in which club owners can become more productive.

Keep in mind, some of these tips are uncommon, and perhaps a bit odd, but pick a couple of them and try them for yourself.  Here are 7 tips that had the most pencils furiously jotting down notes.

1. Understand and obey Parkinson’s Law

The definition of Parkinson’s Law is that “Work will fill the time available for completion”.  For example, if you say you want to create a new cleaning list before Thursday, it will take until Thursday for it to get finished.  Instead, if you say you will have the cleaning list completed by 4:00 today, it will be finished by 4:00 today.

This has been studied in multiple settings and it is true nearly 100% of the time!  So when you have a task to do, set a specific deadline for it to be finished, and you will find that it will be finished near the time you decide it needs to be completed by.

2. Do it, Dump it, or Delegate it

When a new task or project or email or whatever presents itself to you, you have 3 choices of how to handle it.

You can Do it (or at least put it on your to do list with a specific deadline if you can’t do it right away).

You can Dump it…meaning it is definitely not a priority to take care of now or ever.

Or you can delegate it…If it needs to be done, but it is a mindless task that can be given to someone else on your staff or in your life to do, give it to them to do!  Your time and skills as the owner are too important to spend on menial tasks.

And by the way, you can delegate more than you think: thank you letters, phone calls, billing, marketing, scheduling, paying bills,competitor research, networking events, filing, data entry, appointment confirmations, cleaning, ordering…and even personal tasks such as cleaning your house, mowing your lawn, washing your car, etc.  If you can make $100/hour doing something else, why spend 2 hours mowing your lawn when the neighbor kid would be thrilled to do it for $20?

3. Email is Evil

Don’t check your email until noon, don’t respond to non-urgent emails until later (this time saver is called “batching”), have all club emails go to a staff member, create a junk email account for all emails and newsletters you “like” to read, but at your leisure.

4. Control Your Day

Prioritize your tasks the night before, set deadlines and stick to them, set a timer to create urgency, learn to say NO, batch all repetitive tasks to do at the same time so you don’t get distracted, and most importantly…always remember that there will never be another Today.  Don’t waste it.

5. Buy a separate computer monitor

Did you know that you can plug a monitor straight into your laptop or PC and it becomes an extended desktop?  I’m using mine right now. I have the powerpoint presentation on the second monitor, and I’m writing this newsletter as I’m glancing over to the other screen for ideas.  It is so much better than scrolling down to click on a separate open window, back and forth, back and forth.  And a monitor will probably run you $100.

6. Get Google-ized
Google is amazing.  If you’re in denial about this, you’re only hurting yourself.  I use Gmail for all of my emails…You can easily set up gmail to receive email from your work accounts and you can send from any account you want, all from within the same account.

Google docs is a great way to share files with those you choose to share them with.  For example, you can have a sales spreadsheet for each of your salespeople that only you and that person can view…or invite a sales manager to also view the document.

Then there is Google Calendar that can sync with your cell phone, Google Analytics that can show you all activity on your website, Google video chat, text to someone’s phone from your computer, and so much more, all located on your personal iGoogle homepage.  Google has definitely made my life much easier.

7. Magic 100 and the Seinfeld System

A colleague of mine, Dax Moys from the UK, developed a system called the Magic 100.  Essentially, you make a list of 100 things you would like to accomplish over the next 100 days.  These can be larger projects, or they can be smaller to do’s on your list.  For example, on my last list I had things such as: buy new brown dress shoes, finalize new logo for www.GymSuccess.com, wax car, buy plane ticket to Missouri, edit 4th quarter marketing plan for my client.

So some items take a little time, others can take a few minutes.  But the idea is that you can look back on the previous 100 days and feel that you accomplished a lot.

You can combine this with the Seinfeld System.  Jerry Seinfeld had to be diligent with his comedy.  When he was doing stand up, he said he kept a calendar at his house.  And for every day that he wrote new content for his shows or came up with a new joke, he put a big red X on that day of the calendar.  He didn’t want to break the chain, so he continued to write new content every day so that he could fill up the calendar.

So in this case, you want to make sure you finish one item off of your magic 100 list every single day so that you don’t break the chain.

So there are 7 things I discussed with those in attendance.  I would love to hear from YOU!  What productivity tips have helped you to be a more organized and more productive fitness professional?  Post your comment below!

Dedicated to Your Success…

Curtis Mock

A friend of mine whom I haven’t spoken to in a few years sent me an email a few days ago.  Her name is Beth, and as it turns out, she has been a personal trainer now for the last 3 years.  She works within a facility as a staff trainer.

It is obvious that she is passionate about what she does and she wants to be the very best she can be…and more importantly, make the most she can make for herself and for the studio.

Her concerns were typical.  She knows she is limited with one-on-one personal training, she doesn’t know how effective her marketing is, and she wants to create ancillary streams of revenue…specifically in her area of interest: Nutrition.

Here is a summary of my comments to her…hopefully you too can find something here that helps you too increase PT revenue.
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As for maximizing dollar per hour worked, I agree…there is a definite ceiling on your earning potential which is directly attributable to the fact that there are only so many hours you can physically work.  One of the biggest complaints of PT’s is that to maintain their current income level, they have to continue working 4am-8pm every day.

That’s no fun.  So there are really only two solutions:

1) Train more people at once.  This is why group training and bootcamps are so popular.  You can make exponentially more money training more people at once.  It’s cheaper per client, but more profitable for you since you’re training more people at once.  I’m not sure what the layout of your gym or your parking lot, etc is like, but bootcamps are ridiculously hot right now.

Many experts agree that one on one training is a dying business model.  Yes, there will be people who prefer the one on one attention, but there are far more who appreciate the discount and even the ability to share the experience with others.

And 2) Sell more ancillary products/services to your clients.  This can include selling nutritional products, online personal training, nutritional counseling, life coaching, grocery shopping services, meal plans, etc.

As for marketing, how much are you doing? A flyer here or there isn’t going to cut it.  You need to have multiple marketing poles in the water at all times.  Go to chamber meetings, visit with local business owners, set up events for charity, speaking events, write for the paper/newsletters, door hangers, referrals from existing clients, etc.  You must always have marketing working for you every minute of every day.

Consider niching your service.  If you start a group training class, don’t do one for whoever signs up.  Do one for expectant mothers, new mothers, lunchtime warriors, teenagers, older adults, employees of a particular business, gastric bypass patients, arthritic people, back problems, children, toning class, core class, abs class, etc.

Focus on a specific group of people and be a big fish in a very small pond rather than a small fish in a very big pond.

Aim small, miss small

Network with other successful personal trainers.  I am in two mastermind groups, because the information I take away is more valuable than the amount I pay.  Join a website like www.personaltrainerU.com.  It’s run by very good friends of mine in the industry.

Go to events in the industry.  You just missed a great one for personal trainers called Fasttrack to Fitness Millions. I’ll let you know when another good one is coming up.  There are definitely some that are not worth the money.

Communicate with clients and prospects often.  Send out an email newsletter to your list.  GET A BLOG!  Promote yourself as THE expert in your area.  Dominate Google for Personal Trainers in your city.

You said you don’t know how effective your flyers were for your open house/group training.  This is important to do.  You must always know what marketing is successful and what marketing is not.  Otherwise you’re just going to be throwing shit against the wall and hoping that something sticks.  Never a good strategy.

Always ask what marketing brought them to you.  Then make a note of it…simple as that!
Feel free to call me to catch up or if you have other questions.

My cell is 573…
(Okay,did you think I’d really give out my cell phone on a blog post?)

Anyway, hopefully you can find something helpful in this.

Dedicated to Your Success…

Curtis Mock

I had one of my monthly coaching calls with a long-term health club owner client of mine this morning. With his permission, I am using a part of that call for today’s topic.

This client, all in the past year has gone through an ugly divorce, had his club flooded (only to find his insurance policy didn’t cover floods), had a Planet Fitness move two blocks from his location, had knee replacement surgery when all ligaments were snapped in a pick up basketball game, had to fire two personal trainers for stealing (one had been with him for 7 years), and had seen a decrease in monthly EFT by nearly 30% due largely to the economy and the increased competition.

That’s a tough year no matter how you look at it.

But here is the amazing thing. This client never seems unhappy. He is always positive and only focuses on the good. So today I bluntly asked him…What is your secret to staying happy no matter the circumstances?

His answer was simple and piercing…

What other choice do I have?

Then silence…

I really didn’t know what to say. I know tons of people that deal with issues much less difficult than any this guy has encountered. I personally try to maintain a very steady mindset, but even I falter, sometimes when it is only a simple problem. But not this guy…

To hear those words come from him were very powerful. Hell, I want to refund his consulting fees for the month because the lesson he just taught me was that valuable. I’m not refunding him, but for a fleeting moment I felt I should J

So I guess the moral of this story is that we all have a choice, every day of our lives. Life throws curve balls, sometimes it seems every day. How we handle these situations is entirely up to us. We can either let them bring us down, or we can shrug our shoulders, recognize the situation for what it is, and make up our minds to learn from the mistake and push forward.

And for the record, this client (I’m certain because of his positive attitude and not because of my consulting), has improved every aspect of his business. His EFT was back above breakeven last month for the first time in 10 months, his personal training revenue has doubled since letting the personal trainers go, he’s playing basketball again, has recovered completely from the flood, he has a great girlfriend in his life, and he still has that positive attitude. I can almost picture that confident grin on his face every time we talk on the phone.

I hope that those of you who are currently struggling can see how powerful it is to have a positive outlook on everything. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade; When one door closes, another opens;

All of these sayings may be very cliché, but they are so very true. As for my client…My hat is off to you sir. I am proud and humbled to be a part of your life.

Dedicated to your Success…

Curtis Mock

This week Vitality Consultants across the country are breaking company records. Last week you might have read about VMG Consultant, Micky Brodersen’s $11,000 sales day. Well this week it’s Skip Blair, the newest addition to the VMG team that is setting the bar with $17,000 gross sales… IN A SINGLE DAY.  In addition to Skip’s record setting day, we have also seen:

Micky had $42,500 in total sales last week and $110,000 in 3 weeks at a small club in Massachusetts.  They have made so much money in fact that they just paid for me to come up there to make sure they had a solid personal training system in place to make sure they capitalized on all of the new health club members.

The first day Tom’s mailer landed in Iowa, he set 36 appointments.  We have high hopes for this campaign and Tom feels the ownership at the health club is progressive enough that they will be able to easily continue his success after the campaign is complete.

Jessica just got started at a club in Wisconsin and she quickly sold $6k in membership sales at the end of last week.

In addition to Skip’s amazing $17k day, his first two weeks at a medium sized club in Alabama he has sold just shy of $80k in memberships

Of these three campaigns, over the past 3 weeks we have signed up over 400 new members, have grossed a quarter of a million dollars in sales, and increased EFT at these clubs a combined $10k/month!  (In 3 weeks!)

Recession Reshmeshion!  In addition…

We are experiencing a 900% Return on Investment

Our New Business Outreach program is netting triple digit qualityleads

We currently have an 85% closing rate at our campaigns!!

In my opinion, these numbers validate VMG’s recent statements about marketing “into” the recession. And that the market is ripe for membership sales as long as you take the right marketing approach.  This is NOT the time to try to wait out the storm!  You must take action when others are not, even if it means spending money you don’t necessarily have.  If you wait until 2nd quarter, you will be too late. Find me on the GymSuccess.com discussion forum and we can discuss this more.

It’s not only our campaigns that are seeing record numbers. Jesse, a VMG Total Club Solution consulting client’s recent direct mail campaign has been a great success. Using VMG’s systems Jesse says, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

These are just a couple examples of the results of sales systems and recession proof marketing methods you could be using right now.  But are you? Do you have a solid plan for the next 30-60 days? And are you prospecting your market correctly?  Now is the time to strike while the irons hot. The winter and spring membership season will be ending soon and you don’t want to miss it. This summer is going to be even tougher for our industry.

As a health club owner you need to know that there is a lot of opportunity out there and we have the results to back it up. If you aren’t clear which direction to turn please don’t hesitate to contact me.  And if you would like us to implement some of our record breaking methods in your club, now is the time.

VMG consultants like Micky, Tom, Skip, and others can be at your health club within the next two months, but you have to act quick.  And that’s not some gimmicky marketing BS.  We don’t fail.  We only create successful clubs.  We are ready to help you now. We have expanded our campaign scheduling in response to these amazing sales figures. If you think your club is a good candidate, fill out our Club Profile at www.GymMarketing.com.

Even if a full campaign isn’t right for you, either myself or Chris can teach you how to implement all of these strategies through one of our consulting programs.  We have a program that will work for you!

Dedicated to your success…

Curtis Mock

2009 is two days away! 

Do you know what numbers you need to have a successful January for your health club?  You’d better figure it out soon!  Total revenues, new members, referrals, PT clients, add on sales…you need to have a specific goal for each of these and you need measurable objectives to help you reach these goals.

It has been proven many many times over that whatever goal you set for yourself, you are likely to reach it.  That sounds simple enough, but what exactly does that mean?  If you set a goal for your gym to sell 125 memberships in January, you will probably sell 125 memberships.  You probably won’t sell 150.  BUT, if you would have set a goal of 150 new members, you will probably sell 150.  It is amazing how we work toward our goals, but only to meet them and not to exceed them.

So your goals in all areas of your gym should be high, but not so high you have no faith in reaching those goals.  How many memberships do you feel you can sell during January?  80?  So if you firmly believe you can sell 80, do you believe that 100 is attainable?  Probably so.  What about 120?  Hmmm, maybe.  Set your goal for 120 in this case, share your goal with your entire team, and be amazed at how close you actually come to 120!  I promise you, if your goal is 80, you will likely come very close to that number, whereas if your goal is 120, you will come equally close.

This is not one of those “if you believe it, you can achieve it” feel-good kind of things.  It is just how we as human beings are wired.  A more believable example would be…If I know I have 8 hours to complete a project, it will probably take me the full 8 hours to complete it.  But if I tell myself I only have 2 hours to complete the project, guess what?  It will take me 2 hours to complete the project.  When you tell yourself you must reach a goal or a deadline, you will come very close to whatever goal you set for yourself.  It amazes me all of the time to see this work over and over again, every time, without exception.

So set lofty goals for all areas of your health club in January.  Share those goals with your staff.  Break goals down to daily and weekly goals to help make them seem more achievable.  It sounds much more achievable to your staff to average 30 memberships a week or 5 memberships per day than if you were to tell them they need 120 this month.  If you have 20 members participating in your PT programs, shoot for another 20 members in January.  So if your membership goal is 120, you need to sign up one out of every six new members on a PT program.

Do 200 members check in at your front desk every day?  Challenge your staff to sell one drink or protein bar to 40 people each day, or 1 out of every 5 exercisers.  Have a solid inventory of protein and meal replacement supplements.  Your new members are sponges for information on how to get the best results in the shortest time.  Every other member should purchase a nutritional product.  They are motivated to help themselves reach their goals.  Sell something to every other health club member.

Setting goals is important…you know this.  But don’t settle for simply reaching a believable goal!  Push yourself and push your staff to maximize all sales in all areas.  Set specific and slightly out-of-reach goals, and you will find that you will come very close to those goals, and will likely exceed those goals.  But don’t take my word for it.  Try it out this next month and watch your January numbers carry you through the entire year!

To your success…

Curtis Mock

Everyone has heard that you need to work ON your business and not IN your business…and I completely agree.  But what does that mean exactly?  It means that your health club should have the systems in place so that you don’t HAVE to do things at the club each day.  You can choose to be at the health club and you can work on things that will improve your facility, but you are not forced to be there in order for you to operate a successful health club.

Do you want to be one of those people who spend the next decade building up your health club only to look back with regrets, wondering where the last 10 years went?  Of course not!!

One of the mistakes health club owners make is that they try to create a personal life around their club business.  They try to find time for things they enjoy when they don’t feel they need to work.

But that’s precisely the problem!  There will always be things to do.  Phone calls to make.  Articles to read.  Emails to compose.  Things to clean and do.  But those things will always be there to do.  Your days and time however, will not.  You need to begin creating your business around your life.

Why did you start a health club?  Was it to work 14 hour days, every day, watching the weeks fly by?  I doubt it.  Your business is a tool you put in place in order for you to reach your life goals and dreams.  You love fitness and people and found a way to make money incorporating both.

So what do you do to turn things around?

First you need to determine what you want out of life.  How much money do you want to make?  What do you want to be doing in 5 years…10 years…20 years from now?  Be honest and specific with yourself. 

Second, you want to start with the end in mind.  What do you want and how do you plan to get there?  Work backwards.  If you know you want to be able to take 3 day weekends to spend with your family, what must you do to begin toward that goal?

Third, you absolutely must take action!  Remember the goal achieving program I use? (click here)?  It has helped me tremendously.  You need to have a plan in place otherwise you will remain frozen forever, finding yourself doing the exact same thing and worrying about the exact same things a year from now and 10 years from now.

Finally, you need to put yourself first.  What do you want to do today?  What activities would you like to be involved in?  Do you need a vacation?  Do you need more time with your kids?  Plan your days and weeks around those things, not around duties at work!  Those duties will still be there waiting for you even if you take 8 hours to enjoy a day with your family.  Make your personal life the priority and your business life simply the method you use to enjoy your personal life!

To your success…

Curtis Mock

I fell asleep on the couch last night.

Turns out the combination of turning 31 this week and sleeping on the sectional is not a good combination.  I am beginning to feel the effects of getting older.  Not old, just older.  Some of you in your 40’s and 50’s are thinking, “you just wait”. 

It’s funny how something meaningless like that can remind you of the sobering reality that life is short and time moves fast.  My early twenties feel like last year.  It’s been a decade.  What do I have to show for my life?  Quite a bit actually.   I’m very happy with where my life is now and the hard work I have put in to get here, but I can tell that my work habits are changing to fit the lifestyle I want to have.

I have learned to be more productive, and to focus only on the tasks that need focused on.  But I’m still working long days and rarely getting a full nights sleep.  Granted, I love what I do and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.  I’m starting to realize that I am going to need to begin working smarter.  

Efficiency is the key to balance, and planning is the key to efficiency.  I have been writing down my goals for a long time, but recently I have been making sure to write down absolutely every short term objective that will help me reach my goals faster.  And guess what, I’m very happy with the results!

I’m using a system that has you write down 100 things you want to do in the next 100 days.  Some tasks small, a few large, and many in between.  What I’ve found historically is that my borderline A.D.D. mind will store information, my to do list, and lots of ideas and things I try to remember.  This causes me to always feel like I should be doing something more.  This is good in some respects to always keep me motivated, but not good when it comes to allowing myself to relax.

I am 34 days into the program and I’m pleased to say that I have accomplished 41 things on my list, two of them sizeable projects!  I feel that I am beginning to work smarter now and that I am freeing up my schedule and my mind to enjoy life more.  I have had more time to spend with my dog, go to the beach, and read a book (for fun!)

Which leads me back to the title of this message.  I’m not getting any younger and neither are you.  Are your days quickly becoming weeks and your weeks quickly becoming months?  I know that they are!  What are you doing about it?  You know I preach about Systems all the time, but what is your system for time and project management?  Is your to do list being completed each day?  What are you doing about it?

Do something about it.  Implement a system.  Perhaps like mine, perhaps better than mine.  I’d love to know what you’re doing to better manage your time…I might even steal your idea if it helps me be more productive as well   If you’re interested in the system I’ve been using, you can view it by clicking here.

Life is short, don’t waste it by working inefficiently.  Learn to cram 10 hours of work into 8, and allow yourself to enjoy the extra 2 hours you have created! 

To your success…

Curtis Mock

“Wow!  You own a gym?!”

While on the surface, one might think owning a gym sounds lucrative and exciting, nearly every club owner I work with is barely making ends meet.  They are constantly struggling, constantly hovering around break even, and nearly always living paycheck to paycheck. 

And of course, paycheck means something entirely different to gym owners.  Your pay is often dependent on how much money and how many memberships you generate the previous month.  This is no life to live!

The main thing that I notice with struggling gym owners is that there is always a lack of financial systems.  And I’m not talking about the systems you need for your business, I’m referring now to budgeting for your personal life.

The word “System” is a difficult word for many to grasp.  But it is something every person needs to understand.  Probably the most important system you can learn is Budgeting. 

Budgeting is so important, yet no one attempts to make sense of it in their own lives.  Budgeting does not mean knowing you are receiving a paycheck each week for $1,000, and you make sure you don’t spend more than that. 

Budgeting is more than simply never running out of money.  Budgeting is allocating a specific amount of your earnings to all of the possible things you can spend it on.  Budgeting is saving for a rainy day…or a rainy month, planning for retirement, funneling into a savings account, knowing how much extra you have to spend on fun things.  Because after all, life is short!

It’s all about a system.  With a budget in place, you worry less about your finances.  Are you stressed about your finances?  Do you worry about what “might” happen?  Stop worrying and start doing something about it.  Did you know that if you took $25 each week and put it in a 10% interest earning account or fund, in 30 years that $25 is worth $228,500.  That’s right!  Your $25 becomes nearly a quarter of a million dollars for you to have during retirement.

Create a system.  Create a budget.  Eliminate your worries and enjoy life.

To your success…

Curtis Mock

You’re guilty.  I’m guilty.  Everyone is guilty.  We all choose to do the easy things so that we can experience a faster victory over our day.  But this doesn’t help in overall productivity, rather it’s just a feel good method.

Prioritizing your to do list and determining what tasks are most important is difficult to do!  If you’re managing a health club, selling memberships, handling member concerns, overseeing your staff, and cleaning the facility, you’ll never have time to do the things that are most important!  You can’t plan a quality referral program, you can’t take the time to properly train your staff each week, and you can’t be consistent in sending out a newsletter to your members.  It is impossible to do everything.

Here are some things that I’ve learned that can help you get more done each day.

Do the hardest thing first.  Author Brian Tracy calls it “Eating the Frog”, meaning you should always do first the thing you are dreading most.  For example, if you were to eat a frog every morning, the rest of your day would be a breeze compared to that task.  Always get your most pressing, most difficult task out of the way.

I’m completely guilty of checking my email too often.  It doesn’t help that I’m a blackberry user.  My email follows me everywhere, I cannot escape.  Sometimes this is good, but overall it’s probably not a good idea.  I might feel like I’m connected and productive, but in actuality, I’m wasting my time and energy checking each time I get a new message.  Nothing kills your a productive mood like junk mail arriving on your phone.  I just found out that I can turn off the email notifications.  Kind of pointless perhaps to have the “push” technology if I’m not using it, but when I need a block of time to concentrate, this will come in very handy.

I have begun writing out my to do list each night for the following day.  I have found that I hit the ground running a little faster by doing this.  I still haven’t been able to get 8 hours of sleep in a while, but that will come as I get a grip on all aspects of prioritization…hopefully.

Delegate.  Delegate.  Delegate.  If someone else can do it, let them.  Don’t try to do everything at your health club.  Don’t do follow up calls with delinquent drafts, don’t clean your gym facility, don’t do your own accounting, and don’t handle sales.  Get someone else to do it.  You might think you can’t afford to pay someone to do these things, but I promise you can.  Think of how much time you will save by delegating those time consuming mindless tasks.  Your time is better spent focusing on working on your business, not in your business.

To your success!

Curtis Mock