Nate

I’ve not been in a hurry to get a website live because of many of the comments above. I pride myself on the delivery of customer service. My members definitely feel a sense of community. We’re in a small newly developed town outside of Denver and our gym has been open for 6 months. We are on track to make our first real profit next month once the New Years draft kicks in. It is very exciting right now and there is a great buzz in the gym and in the community.

Thank you for the great resource. Not only is the show full of useful information, you make it fun to learn new things. And you’re pretty easy on the eyes ~

Looking forward to more

Jessica Pinney

Stacia – I encountered a problem similar to yours (still do). The solution is to wait until you’ve clicked the banner that appears at the foot of your monitor, then click on the biztv screen. This should restart it again and you should be able to watch as normal.

Curtis – I don’t know if it’s just my browser, but when watching the show, there are green bars along the top and bottom of the screen, and the top one obscures the links tabs.

Can’t wait for the next show!

What totally sold me on the value of community is that I did one workout a couple of different CrossFit gyms and even though I was the “new guy” I was totally welcomed. I went back to the low cost gym the next week and even though there were at least 50 people in the building I felt very alone.

I think a lot of people would like to be part of a welcoming community.

The hot thing in internet web pages, and Curtis mentioned it last week, is the “done for you” web page. The idea is the template is done for you and all you have to do is personalize it and make it your own. Why couldn’t you do the same thing with your facility.

Okay here’s my analogy: the low cost clubs are basically just opening their doors and giving people a place to work out. The most regular members who will renew the memberships month in and month out will be the self motivated people who already have a fitness goal and plan. Think of this crowd as the tech geeks who design websites and actually enjoy it. They know what they are doing and don’t need guidance. They don’t care for the done for you web pages, because they feel like they have a grip on what they’re doing.

Almost any other type of person, who is new to fitness, or is not self motivated, who may join these low cost clubs will find after a few months, don’t know where to start, when they’re going to get there, or what is realistic for them. This is your opportunity to create a done for you experience, for them. If you have trainers and a nutritional staff you can set them up with the “plan.” If not, you could provide an ebook or training guide to all new members detailing workouts for different goals and nutritional recommendations. Then set up a social community for your facility or have goal setting gatherings once a month for these members.

My second point is, it is possible to compete with low price competitors. Look at Wal-Mart. They are in nearly every neighborhood nation wide now. They’ve been attributed with “killing the little man,” but really how many “little men” are still in business and doing well where Wal-Mart is located? People who couldn’t compete with price knew they could destroy Wal-Mart on the shopping experience. And, there are a lot of people who care more about the experience than the lowest price. Find these people and market directly to them.