FitnessBiz Insight   What we can learn from Dogs   Training Your Sales Team – part III   Anytime Fitness Comes Down Under   Branding – what is it?   WIN . . . an awesome book!   Guerrilla Marketing Tip #25   If you were Prime Minister	People are Talking About   Green Health Clubs   Are we really going green?   You Tube Marketing   And the winner is . . .   Between Then & Now for Justin

FitnessBiz Insight

With just 4 weeks to go until FitnessBiz 08 hits a city near you, this month here is an insight in to Emmett’s session on marketing.

Where ‘things’ are placed on a newspaper ad, poster in the club or even a letter to the members is critical to gain maximum response.  We call the lay out a Z formation:

• Across the top – a strong (and we mean strong) emotional
  benefit based headline.  Something that shows the reader what
  is in it for them by coming to see you;
• Down the ‘/’ – put some bullet points or copy that expands upon the headline.  A picture tells a 1000 words so try and include a happy, smiley person who is enjoying the results or benefits of using your product or service
• Bottom left hand corner – your logo and contact details
• Bottom right hand corner – your call to action!  What do you want them to do: Call now!  Log on to our website! Pop in and see us!  Always re-state your phone number if you want them to call.

Emmett’s session will share the key aspects to making any advertising work well to produce maximum results.  It is a great session and you will only hear it at FitnessBiz 08, so book now by clicking here.

Click here to find out more about FitnessBiz Insight and click here for the link to the info sheet.

What we can learn from dogs

If  a dog was the teacher you would learn things like:

• When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
• Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
• Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.
• Take naps.
• Stretch before rising.
• Run, romp, and play daily.
• Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
• Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
• On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.
• On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.
• When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
• Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
• Be loyal.
• Never pretend to be something you're not.
• If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
• When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently

Training Your Sales Team – part III

This month Casey shares the key performance indicators you should sue to monitor the success of your sales team.

If you missed parts I & II then you can see our old newsletters by clicking here.

And if you want to do more, from anywhere in the world, we highly recommend jumping into Casey's on-line marketing program. This will change your business profoundly and gain you massive understanding into the power of the internet and your business. To find out more click here

Anytime Fitness Comes Down Under

The Team at Active Management love hearing about success stories from industry peers.

This month we were really excited to hear that our great friends Jacinta and her brother Justin have been granted the Australian & New Zealand head franchisee status for Anytime Fitness!  This is great compliment to 2 industry young veterans!

Anytime Fitness is the world’s fastest growing fitness franchise with a club opening every day!  And Jacinta & Justin as budding entrepreneurs, who have been in the fitness industry for over 15 years, and will do awesome job in Australia and NZ.

Currently, they are looking for a Site Development Manager to help replicate the growth in the USA.  So if you have:

• Property Industry experience highly regarded – but full training is provided
• Good research/analytical skills
• Good Written/verbal skills
• Word/Excel skills
• Attention to detail
• Passion for health and fitness
• Office is Sydney based

Then the salary of $44-50K plus performance bonuses could be yours. Email Justin McDonell now

Of course if you are interested in a franchise opportunity then contact Jacinta.

Branding – what is it?

Over the next few months we are going to share some thoughts on branding that we gained from reading a powerful article by experts Duane Knapp and Tryg Jacobson.

"Branding represents the intangible part of your business.  Products are tangible. They're made in factories and stored in warehouses; they're things you can hold in your hand. A brand, by contrast, is a collection of intangibles -- ideas, feelings and word associations. These intangibles reside in the real estate of your mind," says Jacobson

"A brand must stand for something larger than just a product benefit," adds Knapp. "It represents a value proposition. Consumers choose one particular brand over another because of this intrinsic value."

Summarised your brand is your reason for being!

According to Knapp, a "brand blueprint" consists of five basic components:

• Brand name: A name that is unique, memorable, distinctive
• Graphic representation: An icon, symbol or image that vividly expresses your brand's identity
• Byline: A descriptive word or phrase that tells consumers where to place your brand in their mind's eye, and that always appears with the brand (i.e., Whirlpool Home Appliances).
• Tagline: The message that expresses your product's functional and emotional benefits to consumers
• Brand story: When you identify your brand, be sure to communicate and preserve its heritage.

Next month we’ll share the 4 pillars of branding.

			Win . . . an Awesome Book This month you can win an awesome book: The Little Black of Connections. In his irreverent way Geoffrey Gitomer shares the keys to making lifelong business connections that will enhance your business. How do you win it? Forward this email to anyone whom you think could benefit from learning more about the fitness industry and even just improve their business, as many of the tips cross over into other businesses!

Guerrilla Marketing Tip #25

Have you ever wondered why your newspaper ad or direct mail piece doesn’t work?  Well this month, thanks to Thomas Smith in London in 1885, it dawned on me:

1. The first time a man looks at an advertisement, he does not see it.
2. The second time, he does not notice it.
3. The third time, he is conscious of its existence.
4. The fourth time, he faintly remembers having seen it before.
5. The fifth time, he reads it.
6. The sixth time, he turns up his nose at it.
7. The seventh time, he reads it through and says, "Oh brother!"
8. The eighth time, he says, "Here's that confounded thing again!"
9. The ninth time, he wonders if it amounts to anything.
10. The tenth time, he asks his neighbour if he has tried it.
11. The eleventh time, he wonders how the advertiser makes it pay.
12. The twelfth time, he thinks it must be a good thing.
13. The thirteenth time, he thinks perhaps it might be worth something.
14. The fourteenth time, he remembers wanting such a thing a long time.
15. The fifteenth time, he is tantalized because he cannot afford to buy it.
16. The sixteenth time, he thinks he will buy it someday.
17. The seventeenth time, he makes a memorandum to buy it.
18. The eighteenth time, he swears at his poverty.
19. The nineteenth time, he counts his money carefully.
20. The twentieth time he sees the ad, he buys what it is offering.

Just be patient and as Jay Conrad Levinson so clearly articulates it is about frequency, frequency, frequency!

If You Were Prime Minister

Last month during one of my Round Table meetings, a report came out that stated Australia is the fattest nation – click here to read it!  So I posed this question to the Round Table, if you were the Prime Minister what would you do and here are the suggestions – in no order of priority:

• Make gym memberships tax deductible
• Compulsorary PE classes for K to 12 in our schools
• Reduce fast food advertising
• Ensure health insurance rebates on gym memberships and usage
• Enforce a pedometer is built into every mobile phone
• Change the Fringe Benefits Tax, so companies can promote health and wellness and not be taxed
• Shock advertising to get people moving
• A basic fitness level must be reached and maintained to remain a politician
• Recognise that a registered fitness leader is a health provider

While some of these ideas seem farfetched everything starts with an idea! 

Last month I read about David Hardy, an IHRSA Board Member, who led the fight in Canada for the government to provide a tax credit for children who were, enrolled in physical activity programs!

Are you coming to FitnessBiz 08?  Click here to find out more
and click here for a link to the info sheet.

People Are Talking About

iJoy Board by Human Touch – You stand on the board, pop a button on the remote control and voila, realistic snowboard/surfboard/skateboard action. Designed to help increase your core performance and coordination.

Politicians in Mississippi – A Republican state representative proposed a bill that would prohibit restaurants from serving obese customers.

New Staff Interview Technique – searching the applicant on the internet search engines such as Google, My Space and Facebook.  You may learn more about your potential new employee!

Green Health Clubs

Healthworks Fitness Centre For Women in the USA, is a great example of a health club not only implementing green practices, but promoting them effectively to increase community value, business partnerships and revenue.  They have established a sub-branded portion of their website called “greener”. It offers a distinctive look and feel with an enhanced logo and dedicated navigation bar that lets viewers see different types of green information.

Healthworks is establishing itself as a green resource in its community by not only communicating what they do to go green, but by encouraging others to follow them by providing green tips. Smartly, the tips are sponsored by different organizations. It’s an exceptional business example of using the power of green to offer new value while simultaneously building additional marketing channels and potential profit streams.

We would love to hear what you are doing to make your health club or business ‘green!’  And why not join the trend and go to www.greenhealthclubs.org.

And are we really going green?

You Tube Marketing

I have always wondered how successful marketing yourself on You Tube is!  Should we do it?  Well Mike from Zento sales training does and is gaining great coverage with a weekly sales snippet – to find out more click here

The question for you, could you use My Tube to market your business?  What if you ran a competition for members to design, film and place an ad for your business? 

Maybe you could do video testimonials, like this one for Round Tables – click here to watch.

We can all learn from the internet and possibly have a greater presence so that people can find us and can see why they should do business with us!

And the winner is . . .

Last month the winner of the ‘Rules of the Red Rubber Ball’ was Marynes from Sao Paulo in Brazil!  Congratulations Marynes and your book is on the Qantas jet today to you!

Between Then & Now for Justin

I am very excited to say that since we last chatted I have spent the majority of time at home!  This has been awesome. While I love travelling the world, it is nice to sleep in your own bed regularly.

This has meant that I have been able to work on a few projects:

• A new ‘Mystery Shopper’ product that we hope to roll out across the world within the next 90 days;
• New Zealand Round Table which we hope to launch in late 2008
• FitnessBiz 08
• And more . . .

So keep your eyes peeled for what Active Management will be rolling out over the next few months!