11 Questions...Whether You're A Seasoned Owner Or Just Starting A Fitness Center

If you're just starting a fitness center or you're interested in improving your existing business you need to consistently "take inventory" of several things.

This set of questions should help you do just that.

1. What If?

Take a few minutes and compile a list of 5 “What If” questions for you to consider. What if a large chain club moved in down the street? What if your top trainer or sales person left? Create your own “What Ifs.”

2. What part of managing your fitness center (or starting a fitness center) do you detest on a daily basis?

Decide what causes you consistent stress, what annoys you and what part of your business you’d love to eliminate. O.K. Now start taking steps to eliminate it.

3. What Are Your Top Five Strengths?

Decide what your personal and professional strengths are and explore how you can leverage those to increase profits. Also, find ways to delegate those tasks that do not play to your strengths.

4. What Are Your Top Five Weaknesses?

What are you doing to fix them or compensate for them? How can you delegate tasks that fall into these areas?

5. What Do You Want Your Business To Look Like In 12 Months? 36 Months? (This is a must for you if you're starting a fitness center)

A complete, detailed “picture”. Then the list of obstacles, reasons that picture isn’t already reality. Then five to ten possibilities for removing each obstacle, bridging each gap.

6. What Approach Have You Taken That Has Failed To Produce The Desired Results, Yet You’ve Continued To Do It?

The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing and expect different results. Where are you “insane?”

7. What THREATS Exist to your business or prosperity – and what are you doing to protect yourself or insure against them? If you're just starting a fitness center, this should play a part in your business plan.

8. WHAT DO THEY WANT? 9. WHAT DO THEY WANT MOST? 10. WHAT DO THEY WANT YOU’RE NOT GIVING THEM?

#8 has to do with needs vs. wants, and unmet desires – do you really understand what motivates your members / clients and prospects? Make the list of the top ten things that motivate your members / clients to take action, and the top ten desires they have. The answer to #9 is often used by info-marketers to choose the extra item(s) that go into the highest priced bundle of goods and services, to ‘force’ the top purchase or upgrade. That same strategy can be applied in health clubs and in personal training. #10 is: what else would they buy from you? Then either create it, find it, license rights to it, do joint ventures to provide it. Since the most difficult and expensive part of business is acquiring members / clients, you should always be searching for ways to earn more money from each member / client.

11. Why should your prospects do business with you instead of ANY and EVERY other option available to them?