#Filex2017 Insight From Entrepreneurs Ben & Emma From Pinnacle Health Clubs

By JT | May 5, 2017

Whilst Ben and I have been in the fitness business for over 9 years, FILEX 2017 was only our 3rd convention. We look back to before we found FILEX and think, ‘were we living under a rock’?

We have also attended FIBO in Germany and IHRSA in the US, and for us, FILEX trumps them both.

We now take our Managers as well, for three reasons:

  1. Their own professional and personal development;
  2. Reward them for their hard work with a trip to Sydney and the fun extras that come with being away with your peers; and
  3. We find that we have their buy in to initiatives we wish to implement much faster upon our return, and therefore our business benefits from a year long of improvements and innovation.

This year the top of mind key insights for our business were:

  • Our customers come to us 3, 4 or 5 times per week (hopefully). If you think about it, that’s a lot of opportunities for failure on service, and so the risks are high. Obviously you can train your team, and systemise wherever possible to ensure the experience is excellent every single time, but in a service based industry, human error is inevitable. We will be working on putting in place a sound procedure for ‘recovery’ when these situations arise. It’s most definitely how you respond to problems that is most important, not that a problem occurred in the first place.
  • Consumers are savvy and more educated. We need to let them determine their own journey with us, rather than telling them what to do. Our services need to be seamless and easy to navigate. Ultimately, we will be reviewing our service model and delivery to ensure our model is changing to the way the consumer is changing.
  • Better products don’t win, better perceptions win. Marketing wins. We will be working with our team on improving our ability to communicate our difference in the marketplace in the eyes of our consumers, and to tell our story.
  • The simplicity of psychology towards exercise and health was in the spotlight this year. The entire industry is still struggling as a whole to help the health epidemic that is obesity. Contributing to this is our inability to show consumers how exercise can be a gift, not a chore. A gift of feeling energised and motivated following a workout, making social connections, and having fun are just some examples. Our next 12 months will hold a strong focus on communicating these gifts to our community to help inspire them to get moving, as well as to continue to foster our connections with our members.

If you go to FILEX with an open mind, there are so many learnings you can take away, no matter how long you have been in the industry.

Active Management Note

Emma and Ben are the owners of Pinnacle Fitness. They have 3 locations and a studio location in Victoria.  Check them out at http://www.pinnaclehealthclub.com.au.

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