are. And being in the ‘people business’
means that each and every staff member
or contractor should view each fitness
facility member or client as a guest – and
themselves as hosts.
I have been in and out of fitness facilities
for over 30 years. I am now a paying member
of a leading health and fitness club. I don’t
always feel like their guest. As I walk past staff
or trainers, I’m often invisible. Sometimes
the staff are young, unsure of their ability
to communicate, hesitant in their relational
skills. I’m worried that this also means that
they aren’t great motivators. And with the
increasing health and social burden of ageing
baby boomers, as well as the overweight and
obese market, society has never needed great
health and fitness motivators more. This is
supported in the findings of the Australasian
Fitness Survey conducted by Ezypay, in which
over 70 per cent of those surveyed who had
hired a personal trainer acknowledged that
they did so for one primary reason: motivation.
It is imperative that as the fitness industry
moves into the next decade, we don’t stand
As I order my wake-up coffee, I reflect. If she and her team
are hosts, then we are the guests. It’s a game-changer.
still. This means looking and learning from
other comparable industries. We are in
the people business. Our reason to exist
is motivation. It is also to keep our guests
returning, year after year, season after season.
While technical skills are critical for fitness
professionals, so too are customer-service
skills. We are in danger of having a generation
of younger fitness professionals who are
qualified to prescribe exercise programs, but
don’t know how to ‘meet and greet’.
Owners and managers must hunt out
the people who are effective at both – and
love what they do. On-the-job training
needs to ensure that staff and contractors
learn the importance of engaging ‘guests’
in the fitness experience and giving them a
sense of belonging. In Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy
of Needs’ this need sits underneath selfesteem and self-actualisation. That’s what
people strive for throughout their lives. In the
fitness industry we can help all of our guests
feel a sense of belonging. Sometimes all it
takes is a focus on acknowledging that we
are hosting them for a short time in their day,
and to treat and respect them as our guests,
making their time in our facilities count
socially as well as physically.
Wendy Sweet, MSpLS is a fitness industry educator,
consultant and resource developer. In 2014 she was
named Australian Fitness Network’s Author of the
Year in recognition of her contribution to the ongoing
education and upskilling of fitness professionals.
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