Build it for them and they will come

Having just returned from Australia's biggest fitness convention FILEX I had time on the flight home to gather my thoughts and reflect on a great experience. My first thought was the huge benefits and lessons associated with investing time, money and effort into spending time with industry leaders that ooze passion and are constantly seeking to inspire others.

The most prominent aspect I picked up from being in the same space of leaders in the health and fitness industry like Joe Cirulli, Grant Gamble, Andrew Simmons, Paul Taylor and Paul Brown was how much self development and work has gone into improving themselves. A common theme was that everyone of these leaders has struggled and failed more than once in their business life.

The underlying message from all of these very influential people is so simple yet so very under rated in the fitness industry. Create great relationships with your clients and your staff. When these relationships are created then go about inspiring your members and staff daily. At the end of the day memberships and personal training are wonderful tools to use in keeping people healthy and well but they are worthless unless you are building trust and rapport that retains them and allows the life changing benefits of physical activity.

Unfortunately the state of our health as a nation is telling us that collectively we still have a way to go before we, the health and fitness industry, can say we are inspiring Australians to better health and wellness. By building a solid business foundation you give yourself the freedom of focusing on the job of informing and empowering your target market as well as delivering on the technical side of your business. The three tips below are very effective and easily automated processes that allow you to deliver great information to your audience.

1. Create a newsletter that goes out to your database regularly on the problems of your target market. Inform and educate them, they need your knowledge.
2. Phone any contact that expresses any interest in improving their health and ask them what information or assistance they need to help and then deliver the solutions and some more.
3. Over deliver by giving more value. Don't prostitute your services by cutting prices; give so much more than you promised. We are about to get bombarded by cheap gym memberships, do you really want to compete with them?

If you do nothing else this year but work on building a rock solid business foundation and then incorporating these three tips into your fitness business you will be providing an extremely valuable service to the needy. Australians are looking for help to lose weight, fight diabetes and battle depression. So start getting your valuable message out there today, building trust and become an inspiration to your circle of influence.

For more information on building a solid business foundation click here.

David Virgo