We started October with the 3 areas we know and love – education, business and fitness. As a partner of the FitNation event, we actively participated in the international conference which took place in the wonderful city of Amsterdam.
The event was truly inspirational, we heard some magnificent talks delivered by expert speakers from a variety of backgrounds. We were delighted to brush shoulders with some of the highest level European leaders in the fitness industry.
A speech that certainly made a great impression was the first Keynote talk by René Moos, the current CEO at Basic-Fit. As the pioneer of Europe’s largest growing gym chain, it was amazing to hear Rene sharing his array of experiences. We were particularly impressed with his five golden principles that can be used to achieve success.
1. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes
According to René, Health Clubs are constantly learning and should NOT just focus on achieving success. Of course, it’s nice to be successful, but Rene feels it’s worth remembering that we learn more from our mistakes. Failure gives Health Clubs the valuable feedback they need to make important changes. By applying this philosophy, Basic-Fit are always open to trying out new experiences.
We also made reference to this when we advocated the idea of putting in place an effective NPS system, so we couldn’t agree more.
What mistakes is your Health Club afraid of making? What’s holding you back?
2. Build a Strong Team
René secondly contended that only a loyal boss has a chance to build a reliable, trustworthy and dedicated team. He stressed that we often see and hear such statements time and time again, but still, they are not taken seriously within the fitness industry. BasicFit are passionate about hiring the right leaders, as they are well aware that high employee retention leads to greater retention of club members.
This is an area we haven’t gone into depth about, and one perhaps we will do in the future, but on our previous posts, we have talked about ensuring your Personal Trainers are bought into your new product launches. Only through recruiting the right Personal Trainers will you be able to achieve this.
Do you need to be more committed to your staff recruitment process? Have your Human Resources department established what the ideal psychological profile of a Club Manager looks like?
3. Act, don’t wait
René’s third big statement was that the ‘here and now’ is an extremely important moment in business. René believes that often it is not worth delaying making decisions. His idea is that if you want to do something, do it now, do not wait until it is done perfectly. He maintains that striving for perfection is positive, but in business, it is better to make a decision at the right time than to act too late. He then referred back to his first point and suggested you can always improve yourself in the next step by drawing conclusions from any mistakes.
As a perfectionist myself, I found this very insightful. Maybe, we are often guilty of trying to ensure everything is flawless before putting it into practice, I only recently wrote a post suggesting that you don’t rush decisions and weigh up the risks. However, few could argue with what René has achieved so maybe it’s time we all were a little more unhesitating and decisive.
Are you trying to achieve perfection on a regular basis? Is your relentless attitude towards being impeccable actually delaying your Health Clubs progress at times? If you feel like you are always being pipped to the post by a competitor, maybe it’s time you did listen to René.
4. Focus on the goal
The penultimate assertion from the BasicFit CEO was that it is better to be a powerful leader in a few markets than a market follower in many. During his talk, he affirmed that Health Clubs should be really clear about their strengths and weaknesses so they don’t try to compete with everyone, at everything. He stresses that a good plan, a specific goal and consistency in action are the key to success.
We recently wrote an article on the art of planning a fitness budget, you can see from this just how meticulous you must be in your forethought. This same mindset should be adopted whenever you decide to do something big, just as long as it doesn’t stop you acting in the here and now I guess.
Are you trying to do much, are you constantly thinking about hitting new markets with new products while your main business is not actually performing as well as it could be? You should probably take a leaf out of BasicFit’s book, get back to your own ‘basics’ and watch your Health Club grow again.
5. Be innovative
Finally, Mr Moos highlighted that you should learn from your competitors, however not those competitors which are around the corner or a few roads down from you, but ones from other countries. He insists that by looking at activity on a global scale, and by following trends from around the world, you will be more innovative, more creative, and will always be ahead of the game. ‘Research, check, make decisions’ is René’s mantra. Rather wisely, he also states that while you should not be afraid to learn from leaders, you don’t need to follow absolutely everything they say as well. He maintains that you should try to be yourself and your Health Club should not try to mirror anyone else either.
Another valid point from one of the most inspirational figures in the industry, we also highlighted the need to monitor competitors on a global scale in a post about choosing the right club management system, so it was great to hear these beliefs being reaffirmed.
How are you innovating your Health Club? Do you keep an eye on what is happening in other continents or are you spending too much time worrying about those who are in closer proximity?
All in all, this was a fantastic event and one we were delighted to be a part of
For more inspirational content covering a wide range of business and fitness topics, check out our other blog posts here.