The Revenue Report

By Casey Conrad

For months, we’ve all been hearing about the Surgeon General’s report on Physical Activity and Health, and what a tremendous opportunity it represents for the health and fitness industry.  Well, the report is finally here, and now the question for club operators becomes, “What are you going to do with it?”

Exactly how are you going to use the report in a way that will have a positive impact on your business’ bottom line?

Surprisingly, even though IHRSA has been proselytizing about the report for nearly a year, and sent out a Surgeon General’s Club Action Kit (sponsored by Life Fitness) in May, a recent poll of association members indicated that many still don’t have a structured plan in place to leverage the report’s vital message:  namely, that inactivity is hazardous to one’s health.

As powerful a statement as it is, the report is simply a vehicle for getting more people to begin exercising regularly . . . Therefore, if, as an industry, we want this study to eventually have the same sort of dramatic impact as the 1964 Surgeon General’s report on smoking, it’s imperative that we develop both short- and long-term strategies to “drive” the information home.

Let’s take a look at some basic things every operator should be doing to spotlight the report, and use it to attract new members to his or her club’s doors.

The Educational Imperative

The first step to maximizing the impact of the Surgeon General’s report is … education, education, and more education.  As one radio commercial for clothing puts it:  “An educated consumer is our best customer.”  As an industry, we already know that; statistics confirm that people with more schooling exercise more regularly than others.  They key, then is to appropriate the information contained in the Surgeon General’s report and use it to educate the general public so it can make better, more informed choices about physical activity.

Although there will undoubtedly be public service announcements aplenty, and even more related paid advertising, as well as subsequent, supporting reports – all seconding the Surgeon General’s message – we in sales know that word-of-mouth is the very best type of endorsement.  Add to that the fact that the most powerful inducement for people to begin exercising is the support of a friend or family member – it ranks even higher than a doctor’s recommendation – and you have a compelling reason to get as many people as possible touting the Surgeon General’s findings.

In order to tap the incredible power of referrals and word-of-mouth, clubs should adopt a three-tiered approach to the educational process:  (1) educating their employees; (2) educating members; and (3) educating the community.

Education requires information, and information flows form the top down.  In terms of the dissemination process, IHRSA facilities are going to have t o regard themselves as the source from which the Surgeon General’s information flows. Let’s face it:  once the initial luster of the report has worn off, and the media has turned its attention elsewhere, it’s health clubs that are going to have to carry the torch.

If clubs are going to be the source, it’s imperative that every employee have a solid understanding of the report, and be able to articulate some of its more basic, but compelling findings.  One way to accomplish this is to stage a mandatory, in-club seminar at which certain staff members each lecture on one area of the report.  The four- and 14-page summaries of Physical Activity and Health included with this issue of CBI will be a valuable resource for these meetings.  You can also invite doctors or nurses from the community to speak.  On the other hand, if you’d like to take a more laid-back, entertaining approach, you could distribute copies of the summaries beforehand, have each department create a skit about one part of the report, and then award prizes for the best performee informed and excited about the Surgeon General’s report.  Their well-informed enthusiasm will, in turn, generate interest and excitement about the report on the part of members as well as their own friends and family members.

Motivating Members

Once your staff is in-the-know and with-the-program, it’s time to begin educating your members.  Rememb3er, they’re already experiencing and enjoying the benefits of regular exercise.  Hearing about the details of the Surgeon General’s report will validate their decision to join your club, reinforce their commitment to exercise, and motivate them to get the people they care about exercising too.

Of course, how you go about informing them is limited only by your creativity and budget, but there are a few basic things that should be a part of every plan.  One is having a Surgeon General’s information center at the club – an attractive display that spotlights the report, and provides copies of the summaries, or other handouts that provide short, simple-to-understand outtakes.  By rotating the display frequently, and stocking it with different handouts, you can get members to make use of the center regularly.

Another way to educate members is with games.  For instance:  Each week, a multiple-choice question (poster-size) is posted at the entrance of the club.  Receptionists and fitness-staff employees encourage members to fill out an entry form, and take a guess at the answer.  All of the correct answers are entered into a raffle, and the winning entry is drawn at the conclusion of that week’s contest.  Prizes are club water bottles or T-shirts.  The right answer and the winner’s name are then posted the following week.  Simple games like this will expedite the educational process, and keep members’ interest in the report alive for months.  If you want to take member-education to a higher level, you can also conduct an in-club, report-related lecture serious featuring community health experts.  In addition to inviting members, you could also open up the program to the general public.

Community Outreach

The final step in the educational process is getting the Surgeon General’s message out into the community.  Again, there are any number of things you can do to maximize the amount of exposure the report receives.  One of the most basic is to send out news releases to all of your local daily and weekly newspapers (a sample letter was provided in the IHRSA/Life Fitness Club Action Kit).  Another is to arrange to have your head trainer or exercise physiologist appear as a guest on radio or TV talk shows that focus on the report.  Such programs are always looking for new, and newsworthy topics, and, if your club can provide some background information and recommend appropriate guests, the producers will be much more likely to tackle the topic.

A variation on the latter approach is to take your own talk show onto the road, offering free lecture to civic and nonprofit organizations.  Groups like Rotary, Kiwanis, Toastmaster, and the JCCs are always looking for speakers to appear at their meetings and luncheons.  With a little effort, your presentation can easily be customized to highlight special areas in the report that will be most interesting and relevant to each audience, thereby increasing the likelihood that listeners will be inspired to pursue a more active lifestyle.

Generating Traffic

Of course, with employees, members, and the community all aware of, educated about, and talking up the Surgeon General’s report and its dire findings about sedentary behavior . . . your club is perfectly positioned to attract new members.  It’s at this point, when the educational process is well along, that clubs should use the report to create direct-traffic generators.

A basic, but effective such generator is a short-term “Surgeon General’s” membership.  This program, designed specifically for people who, were it not for the report would probably never have ventured into your club, might include before-and-after fitness assessments, three personal-training sessions, admission to educational seminars, and a T-shirt emblazoned with the Surgeon General’s warning, “Physical inactivity may be hazardous to your health.”

Another great traffic generator is an in-club referral program featuring “Surgeon General’s” guest passes.  To differentiate this form past programs, have special passes printed up, make them good for longer than usual, and find exciting new ways to incentivize members to distribute them to friends and family members.  Armed with Surgeon’s Generals passes, and statistics, your members will be better-equipped than ever before to prompt inactive loved ones to begin a program of regular exercise.