Thomas Plummer - Anyone Can Sell: Creating Revenue Through Sales in the Fitness Business

Creating Revenue Through Sales
in the Fitness Business

Thomas Plummer

2007 Healthy Learning. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Healthy Learning. Throughout this book, the masculine shall be deemed to include the feminine and vice versa.

ISBN: 978-1-58518-049-3

Library of Congress Control Number: 2007925523

Cover design: Bean Creek Studio

Book layout: Bean Creek Studio

Healthy Learning

P.O. Box 1828

Monterey, CA 93942

www.healthylearning.com

Life followed love and then happiness was set free
But it was the faith of a good woman that allowed me to finally see
All things are possible in the journey of life
But the adventure has new meaning with the love of my wife

Thank you, Susan, for your love and support and the thought of forever.

My life has definitely been blessed. I live by my terms, run the path I choose, make my own mistakes, and enjoy a quiet success surrounded by a handful of people that really matter.

If there was only one lesson I could share with a seeker of knowledge and life, however, it would be that no matter how far youve come you and how much success youve had, you have had help and you are obligated to acknowledge those whove helped you along the way.

Perhaps the unwritten sin in business is that we forget where we came from and who has helped us along the way. If you are successful, you have had help. That first loan, the kind words of support from a friend, that caring person who answers your phone call in the middle of the night when youre afraid you cant go on, or maybe your first customer, all made a difference in who you are and where you are in life. And most people cant even begin to calculate the help from parents and how valuable that is over the span of your life.

You can, however, ruin your life on your own. Bad life choices are usually made when you go it alone and lose faith in yourself and those around you. We celebrate success together, but we often choose defeat alone.

I have tried to acknowledge most everyone who has helped me over the years in previous books, but the list just continues to grow and another book is just another opportunity to say thank you to those who have been part of the adventure.

If there is a negative to moving a lot and the fast pace of having a certain degree of success in business it is that important people in your life tend to get lost. Ive had a great number of friends that are important to me, and who helped me more than they realize, but who are not currently part of my life.

We will meet again, but for now I do want to take this opportunity to say thank you, and I miss you all in my life, to Robin Dyche, Smed and Jamie Blair, Don Coleman, Matt Fox, Jerry Mastrangelo, Shawn Smith, Bill Clark, and Chuck Hawkins. You probably will never see these words, but somewhere in the future I will find you all again.

Its been about 30 years since I first started in the fitness business as a sales guy. During that time, I have gathered a few bits of information from all perspectives in the business, including as an owner, lecturer, consultant, and student of small business, as well as from time spent in the financial end of the business. I have also, by loose calculations, had more than 50,000 students go through the seminars that I have been teaching since 1980, and their questions and needs have guided much of my study and learning in the business.

The gathering of this information has led to this book on sales and selling in the fitness business, the third club business book Ive written for Healthy Learning. Many people who get into the fitness business believe that many different paths will get you to the top of the mountain of financial success, but after all these years I think the roads to the top are few and are all based upon learning the principles of good business before you attempt to once again reinvent the fitness industry.

I was once asked why our company doesnt do case studies and publish them. My answer was where? The lack of any type of vehicle to gather data and study this industry has led us over the years to gather our own information and do our own analysis based upon those results. The International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) is expanding into more research and you can look forward to great information coming out of that organization during the next few years, but for now most of what happens in an independent club is our domain, and we probably know more about these clubs than anyone else just because we started there and that is all we do as a company.

Because the research presented is the work of my company, the numbers and formulas used in this book are mine and are based upon my thoughts and the many years of experience I have had dealing with thousands of different owners and their business plans. If it works and can be explained through numbers, then I use it. If something works once but cant be duplicated in other clubs, then it isnt used because its a flukeand chasing flukes isnt a great business plan.

One of the debates over the years is that the information in my books wont work in the chain clubs and that these clubs have developed their own sophisticated operating systems. If you look back into the recent history of our industry, you will find that a number of big chains have failed, and a few are now in dire straits, and many of the mistakes they make are the result of simply ignoring the numbers and the business rules we all must follow.

The people who believe that many of the principles discussed in my books dont apply to them are simply wrong. There is nothing in any of my books that probably wouldnt benefit almost any type of small business as well as the chains. The touted business plan of the month by that next new and exciting group often fails while good owners who practice good business just seem to keep going.

This information also applies to nonprofits. In the age of accountability, nonprofit players, such as Ys and hospital-based fitness businesses, are now feeling the pain of having to generate revenue on their own without the eternal assistance from the community or profitable hospital. If you generate income and become profitable, you will be able to reach a bigger segment of the community rather than burn up your gifts covering operating losses because your management team refuses to operate like a real business.

Nonprofits, especially those who subsist by the goodness of those in their communities, have a moral and ethical obligation to learn how to make money, so money given in good faith is not wasted by inept management and the arrogance that leads to thinking that you are too good to practice the rules of business. If you deal with the public, then you need to learn how money works in the fitness business and you especially need to learn how to present your business in the best possible light and enroll the largest number of new members possible. Remember, you cant change lives if you cant even make the person a member.