Author: JT

It is super rewarding when people say thank you.

It makes you feel good.

You realise you have impacted them in some small way or hopefully large way.

When they go to the effort that Kylie, Caitlin, Courtney & Tania have done from Fitness Matters it just rocks! To me it shows the culture of the organisation by taking the time to hand write a thank you note.

Kudos ladies!

 

I presented at their annual conference 2 weeks ago and this is a franchise on the way up. They are doing some cool stuff around branding, weight loss and more.

My blog yesterday “‘No Contract Gyms’ Maybe Booming But Is The Fitness Industry?’ created a stir with many people making comments on social media and me receiving a terse response from Plus Fitness.

The goal of the blog was not to bag a brand. It was sharing my opinion that as an industry we need to be united to get more people active. So perhaps I could have worded this better.

Not surprising Plus Fitness came out swinging at me for having an opinion.

As I stated in the blog, “It is possible that Plus Fitness are growing the number of people exercising, are helping with obesity and are not putting other gyms out of business. Nowhere in this article does it say this.”

Plus Fitness Have Created Positive Change

I am please to share with you some of the information that was shared with me.

• Above 50% of their membership base are new exercisers.

This is great news. They are certainly having an impact on the obesity levels of Australia, where the industry has traditionally lacked traction.

• Plus Fitness is helping people get fitter, stronger and healthier across more than 110 communities across Australia.

This is fantastic for an Aussie brand to be so successful. I wish this were the thrust of the article as a positive and good news story.

• They have reduced attrition and increased the average length of membership by moving to a no-contract model.

This is awesome for the many members across the country they are helping and another good new story for any media outlet to share.

• They have also made fitness more accessible to a larger portion of the Australian community through their business model and a variety of consumer offerings.

Great kudos to the brand.  Yet another good news story to share with the public that more people can now exercise in a gym.

So again I would say three cheers to Mr Miller and his Team as these stories would instill greater confidence in the industry and everyone would benefit.

Thank-you For Your Time

I greatly appreciated the long email response Mr Miller and his fellow Directors sent me last night.  I am even very comfortable with the insults, as I expect this when I go out on a limb with an ill-informed opinionated blog.

Their response showed me how deeply they care about their brand, their members and indeed the industry. Plus their openness to share their successes has allowed me to share the positives that this brand is bringing to the community and the industry.

Congratulations to Plus Fitness, their franchises and their company for doing many great things.

Damn Tabloid Press!

But yet again tabloid press takes a good news story and puts a damn negative spin on it.

I am totally aware that tabloid press takes a snippet of information, twist it, re-shape it and then twist it again to get a story – that’s what sells newspapers. But that is what the public reads and they are not privy to being corrected as I have been.

What is fantastic is that Plus Fitness are currently addressing the ‘gross misquote’ by the so called reporter Simon Black. The press needs to be held accountable for these inaccuracies as it impacts the whole fitness industry.

I hope Fitness Australia support Plus Fitness and the industry by pressuring Mr Black.

It would be awesome and highly recommended that Mr Black does a story on the awesome results that Plus Fitness are achieving, wouldn’t you agree?

Not The First Time

This is however, not the first time that as an industry we thought we were sharing good news and it has been twisted.

We must ALL learn from this experience.

I suggest there should be only Fitness Australia that speaks on behalf of the fitness industry and industry trends.

I am as guilty as the next person to be blinded by the bright lights of seeing my name in the press. Five minutes of fame for my brand or me is very tempting.

But knowing full well what the media will do to our comments, I think that we must remain disciplined and direct all media enquiries about the industry to the peak body.

They can speak on behalf of the industry. It is one of their roles.

My Apology To Plus Fitness

Finally, the Directors are right I could have (and in their mind should) have called them to get their side of the story before writing my blog.

That is a good lesson for me as I could have written a more balanced blog and corrected the inaccuracies early and not perpetuated them, which would have been better for the industry.

I am happy to unreservedly apologise to Mr Miller, the Directors, the franchisees, and the members.

My blog was simply my opinion on what I read on Sunday, looking at the article through the eyes of the consumer.

Not surprisingly the headline ‘No contracts boom as gyms get set for summer’ grabbed my attention on the weekend in Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph.

Expecting to read how the number of Aussies exercising has increased and perhaps even see a quote from Lauretta Stace from Fitness Australia I was sadly disappointed.

In just the 4^th paragraph disappointment turned to disillusionment with the fitness industry.

If you haven’t read the article let me quote the fourth and fifth paragraphs that come from Nigel Miller the owner of Plus Fitness:  “We love it when people still lock people into contracts because they’re feeding us. We can set up shop across the street from them, put a no-contracts sign in the window and take all their customers.”

Well three cheers for you Mr Miller! You have robbed Peter and paid Paul!!!

Here is what your quote tells me:

• You have not grown the number of people exercising;
• You have not helped the growing obesity levels in Australia;
• You may put an industry colleague out of business;
• You may have given people who don’t like your club or service offering nowhere to train if you put the gym across the road out of business.

In deed, it is possible that Plus Fitness are growing the number of people exercising, are helping with obesity and are not putting other gyms out of business.  Nowhere in this article does it say this.

This is just another example where the fitness industry loses credibility with the consumer as we show less unity than the Australian Labor Party!

As an industry we have a responsibility to change the health of Aussies by educating them and giving them a place to exercise where they feel comfortable.

Further, what the article doesn’t tell us is if Plus Fitness charge less per month than the gym across the road or what services they offer that the other gym doesn’t – which is why people are attracted to Plus Fitness.

The assumption is people are joining Plus Fitness because of no contract.

I would suggest from 20+ years in the industry no contracts is not the only relevant feature for them joining. A major factor in creating the decision to join is what people are paying per month.

The real question I would like answered is “Are Plus Fitness gaining members from their competitors because they offer superior equipment, services and staffing or because they offer cheaper memberships not because of no-contract memberships?”

And if it’s because of cheaper memberships, then that doesn’t help anyone!

Missed the article, check it out here: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/no-contracts-boom-as-gyms-get-set-for-summer/story-fni0cx12-1226713172848