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Will Phillips' Generating a Waterfall of Leads

By: Will Phillips

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The Late Will PhillipsThe Late Will Phillips

Publisher's Note: Our dear friend, Will Phillips, passed away on April 10. His Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, June 14 in Boston. As was his personality, he encourages anyone attending to wear "colorful, celebratory garb." When we went to the online press with the April 2025 Edition of Club Insider, we were able to share the news of Phillips' passing with our readers. However, this month, after deep reflection, we have decided to share one of his incredible works as a Club Insider Cover Story Classic. Brought to you in the August and September 2008 Editions of Club Insider, we hope Will Phillips' Generating a Waterfall of Leads will help you bring your business to the next level. He would have wanted it that way...

• • •

Will Wrote (truncated for space; you can read it all at www.clubinsideronline.com):

125 Lead Channels

These are presented in 21 categories as a stimulus for you to invent more channels in each category and think of new categories! I would like to acknowledge the sources of these lead channels: The 100+ club executives in REX Roundtables, and from the writings of Rick Caro, Casey Conrad, Jamie Hayes, Justin Tamsett and Karen Woodard-Chavez.

Category #1: Awareness

The Late Will PhillipsThe Late Will Phillips

One theory of lead generation says it happens in two parts. First, the prospect needs Top of the Mind Awareness or TOMA. In other words, the prospect needs to know what your club does, where it's located and maybe something about its price range. They are not yet ready to shop. It is like moving to a new city, where you may not need a dry cleaner or a dentist today, but when you do, you are likely to approach the dry cleaner or dentist you are aware of. The next part is a Significant Emotional Event or SEE that triggers your need for a product or service. "I have an important appointment, and my suit needs cleaning," or "I have a toothache and it hurts!" Now, I can SEE the supplier that I have TOMA of.

  1. 1. GREAT LOCATION - Locate your club at an intersection of two, multilane highways so thousands of motorists see your building every hour. Make your building externally attractive. Consider large glass windows so outsiders can see in.
  2. 2. GET A GREAT SIGN - Large and easy to read in a half-a-second glance as you drive by. Have a sign where you can change offers and information frequently. Maybe a new health tip every day! If your permanent signage is poor, improve it. If you face local signage regulations, seek out the state or regional sign associations. They are interested in helping their members sell signs and may help you get local approvals. Another alternative to poor signage are billboards. More on them soon...
  3. 3. PORTABLE SIGNS - When your permanent signage is bad, consider portable signs that you place on the sidewalk or trailers and cars with signs. Make these classy! A promotional trend in several major cities is a semi-trailer that is essentially a two-foot-wide and sixty-foot-long lighted sign. The truck simply drives around town all day.
  4. 4. TRADITIONAL MEDIA - This includes TV, radio, newspapers and magazines. These are often expensive, but there are many low-cost options. One club offers free memberships to a local radio station in return for daily spots on health and wellness. Much of the content for these is taken from IHRSA (now HFA) email blasts. Another owner has a weekly health and fitness call in radio show for an hour. Drive-time radio can be particularly useful if you have large traffic counts of commuters passing your club. Many newspapers will accept an ad without a date for its appearance. When they have unsold ad space, they use your ad at steeply discounted rates up to 70%. Have three different sized ads ready to go!
  5. 5. LOCAL MEDIA - Newspapers and newsletters published by church groups, outdoor groups, hobbyists of all kinds, etc. These are often more carefully read and more highly trusted than the major papers in town. One club owner spent thousands on an ad in the glossy, urban city magazine and got no leads. He then bought a year of monthly ads for $500 in the Porsche owner's newsletter: You tuned up your car, how about your body? A dozen leads came from the first issue.
  6. 6. BILLBOARDS - These are a special type of media. They are signs that are huge and not right in front of your club. The best ones can carry powerful and memorable graphic messages. To do this, they must have very, very few words and be instantly understandable. Got Milk? Some clubs are finding that billboards which refer people to their web sites work well. For example: two big bellys on each side of the billboard with the words: Are You Ready? www.website.com. You will often see a billboard that is out of date, advertising an event that occurred months ago. Call and see if you can rent space at a special price on that board until it is sold to a big buyer.
  7. 7. SCREEN CARS - Several clubs have screened cars with the club name and an offer, and these are less expensive than a billboard. A San Francisco software producer pays employees several hundred dollars a month if they have their car screened. You could do this with all full-time employee cars that are in good shape and saturate your community with moving billboards.

Remember, all the channels above get people ready to act by building awareness.

Category #2: Referrals

The Late Will Phillips, and Daugther, AnnaThe Late Will Phillips, and Daugther, Anna

These are the very best lead sources. They are more carefully chosen, and thus, member loyalty is most heavily improved by better member selection. Some of the guerilla marketing lead channels like Prop and Stop can generate high sales, but of the wrong type of person (one unlikely to use the club or stay for long). A third-party referral is significantly more powerful in creating a lead or making a sale than the company's self-promotion. Every club might consider having at least a half dozen proven referral channels with tried-and-true offers and sales scripts. Perfecting your referral repertoire so you have six to eight strong channels could drive sales up by dozens each month.

  1. 8. POINT-OF-SALE REFERRALS - Starting to exercise means changing habits, and one of the best ways to change a habit is to have support from family, friends and co-workers. Stop selling individual memberships and start selling social clusters. They will have more fun, stay longer and use the club more. A good average is two-and-a-half referrals per sale. Outstanding is nine, on average. Develop a script and attitude that will support social cluster selling by your team.
  2. 9. EMERGENCY NUMBERS - Emergency contacts collected at the Point of Sale. This includes e-mails and phone numbers. May we contact these people to confirm the information is correct in our system and tell them you have joined and how they can support your commitment? If "yes," contact them to confirm, educate on how to support and invite them to visit the club as the highest form of support.
  3. 10. GROUP FITNESS REFERRALS - Have salespeople in every Group Fitness Class, as participants in the class. Be sure they attend regularly enough so the class knows them. At the end of the class, they announce an offer for participant's friends: Free TRY A CLASS Passes. In one club with 50% of the users in group fitness classes, 55% of all sales come from group fitness referrals.
  4. 11. RAFFLE REFERRALS - Raffle a BIG SCREEN TV, a PRIUS, a HUGE BARBEQUE GRILL, a $1,000 BIKE, SKI EQUIPMENT or a KAYAK four times a year. Give us the names of three prospects. Every three gets you another raffle ticket, and you don't have to be here to win.
  5. 12. PHYSICIAN REFERRALS - May we inform your doctor that you have joined? May we keep your doctor posted on your progress? Of course, you must follow up regularly with the doctor. Later, we visit your doctor with information. And, leave a prescription pad for exercise.
  6. 13. STAFF'S DOCTORS - Create a packet for your staff to give to their doctors, dentists, chiropractors, x-ray technicians, etc. A small-and-elegant-something you'd be proud to give to your doctor with a great health care offer: We are both committed to helping our community be healthy and well, so visit our club and...
  7. 14. PERSONAL TRAINING (PT) REFERRALS - Prepare an elegant envelope and invitation for personal trainers to give to clients four times a year offering three PT sessions for a friend.
  8. 15. AMBASSADORS - Select 10 - 50 heavy club users who already promote the club informally. Provide special, logoed, high-end jackets, special social events, meetings where they evaluate new programs and equipment. You will need special Ambassador sales materials.
  9. 16. STAFF SALE - Every employee can sell memberships for one week to friends and family only. The offer is 50% off our rates for six months. After six months, full membership is charged. Goals are set for each department and winners chosen for each. At one club with 200 full- and part-time employees, 300 new memberships in one month were the actual results.
  10. 17. MINI FAIR - Hold a monthly two- to three-hour mini fair, alternating days and evenings to reach everyone. Solicit six to eight local businesses as an opportunity for them to reach your members. They can set up in the club, give free samples and special discounted offers. The cost of their participation is to invite all their clients to the mini fair with direct mail and in-store posters and to provide a dozen names of either co-workers or friends that might be interested in joining the club. Encourage your members to bring in their friends to the event. The visitors have an active, fun, non-intimidating environment. Your staff can also set up booths and displays on group exercise, nutrition, personal training, etc. Build the energy with strolling musicians, jugglers, etc.
  11. 18. POOL PARTIES - One club with a large outdoor pool and a great view rents out the venue to a local promoter every Friday in the Summer for a pool party. The individual promotes the party, sells tickets and provides a band and cash bar. Several hundred people regularly show up. The club has permission for sales staff to circulate and distribute offers and make sales. Aside from the revenue of renting the pool, new members are added each Friday.

Category #3: Traditional Ways to Build Net Membership

The Late Will PhillipsThe Late Will Phillips

  1. 19. FORMER MEMBERS - Provide a "no-joining fee" amnesty four times a year. For a club with 2,000 members at 50% attrition, 1,000 former members a year are created. After ten years, you have 10,000 former members as a pool to market to. Each salesperson contacts thirty in the morning and thirty in the afternoon... forever!
  2. 20. BE BACKS - Always collect mailing addresses, phone numbers and email addresses on every guest visit. Have an accurate follow-up system that begins on the day they miss with an alternative offer.
  3. 21. EXITING MEMBERS - Thank them before they leave!!! Assume: Their goal now has not changed from when they joined AND the club failed! Ask Why? Why? Why? Learn to probe for the real reason(s) for their membership cancellation. Learn why they are leaving and fix the reasons! Have 5 - 6 alternative offers ready to provide if they will stay, offers such as: three free PT sessions, three free months, selling their membership at a discount to a friend, and an at-home membership: $9/mo, 1 pass/mo, etc., and finally give them a $250 check to discount their membership when they rejoin. Skilled Exit Managers save about 30+% of exiting members.
  4. 22. DIRECT MAIL - Send out 5,000 direct mail cards each month on a consistent basis. The key is consistency. A new Planet Fitness owner reported that his direct mail went out and was received on a Friday and that fifty sales were consistently made the next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Then, he discovered, the mail was going to the wrong Zip Codes and even that worked!
  5. 23. AD CARDS - Every month, distribute 5,000 ad cards through bag stuffers, apartment complex newsletters and business-to-business relationships. Have your staff do the distribution. It will be done better than a service.
  6. 24. GRAND RE-OPENINGS - Every time an improvement occurs (new paint, new equipment), make a big deal of it! Close the club one day and have a Grand Re-opening the next day with a sale and ancillary promo. Include music and food. Plan for at least one or two such Grand Re-openings a year!
  7. 25. NO ENROLLMENT FEE FIRST DAY OF EVERY QUARTER - Offer a no enrollment fee membership once a quarter. This offer should have no date flexibility or carry-over dates. On New Year's Day, use a Post-It on the front page of the newspaper with your offer. In one group of clubs, their New Year's Day sale is their largest sale day of the year.

Category #4: Guerilla Marketing By Individual Sales People

  1. 26. DOOR HANGER OFFERS - Focus on neighborhoods to create some buzz. Offer 5 days for $5. Offer "Come as a Pair" - 10 days for $5. Focus on neighborhoods where you already have members. Mention that 24% of the members of this apartment belong to our club or your neighborhood has 47 members of our club. People like to do what others do!
  2. 27. MAGNETIZED WIND SCREEN OFFERS - These are offers similar to a lead box or tear off or door hanger. But, these are placed on wi28. COVER A CARndshields or made as refrigerator magnets and stuck on car doors. Some shopping center lot owners do not like you to use these as customers complain and they create trash, but magnet messages are less likely to be thrown away, and they do produce leads!
  3. 28. COVER A CAR - If you get free pass magnets, order 1,000 and print a big sign with the word FREE MAGNETS! in large type. Put the Free Magnets sign on the windshield or side of your car. Cover your car with the magnets and park your car where people will see it! Stand by and watch the magnets disappear!
  4. 29. LOCAL PUBLICATIONS - Every local publication, newspaper, magazine, Penny Saver, etc. can be assigned to a champion to manage. The champion's job should be to scan issues to identify their needs, events and other opportunities for contacting prospects. These might be local events where your club can have a kiosk with a wheel to spin with offers.
  5. 30. LEAD BOXES - Every salesperson should build relationships with potential lead box sites. Dry cleaners, submarine sandwich shops, printers, small retailers, etc. should get passes and/or free-discounted memberships for employees in exchange for permanent placement of a lead box in their store. For example, lead boxes for dry cleaners should have a sign on them saying: "We recommend Atlas Health Club." This can generate 100 sales per salesperson per month, if properly managed.
  6. 31. LEAD BOX QUEEN - Not every person is a natural with lead boxes. One club found a college student to work part-time. She was self-scheduled to place lead boxes and collect slips. Her very engaging personality meant she personally managed 200 lead boxes in a few hours a week. She collected slips weekly and built relationships on each visit. She served a local group of six clubs, and it resulted in one hundred sales a month.
  7. 32. TEAR OFFS - Use the same distribution approach as you use for lead boxes but a different look. Start with a really nice poster focusing on the prospect's needs (one more poster of a sea of equipment is not a very unique way to sell your club). Provide five tear-offs per poster, little business card size tear-offs... attached along the bottom of the poster. Produce each tear off to have a different offer. For example: a $10 for 10-day sample or get information online about starting to exercise. This leads them to your website for a free download, or you can provide a coupon for a free assessment of what exercise will best suit the prospect.
  8. 33. PROP AND STOP - This is a very aggressive way to get leads, and it is used more in the U.K. than the U.S. These are items imprinted with your club name and contact information and an offer that costs less than a dollar.
  9. 34. MEMBER BIRTHDAYS - Free Personal Training session or a gift for you when you work out on your birthday with a friend.
  10. 35. FACEBOOK - Encourage all staff to be on Facebook or another social network. Reward them for any links that come from their FaceBook site to your website. They can nurture the links by what they say about exercise and the club on their site. This is one place where it is easy to see how Raving Staff can create Raving Members.

Category #5: Significant Emotional Events

  1. 36. BIRTHS - Simply scan the local list of newborns in the papers (or birth certificates registered in your city hall) each week. Then, send a congratulatory offer about a month later to the mom and be sure to mention getting back in shape after her child's birth.
  2. 37. RETIREMENTS - What better way to attract the 50+ market than to keep your eye on local newspapers and business chronicles for retirement announcements and then follow up with a congratulations card along with a one-month trial membership for the new retiree.
  3. 38. POST PARTUM DEPRESSION - The exact number of women with depression during pregnancy or within a year after giving birth is unknown, but researchers believe that depression is one of the most common complications during and after pregnancy. Often, depression is not recognized or treated because some normal pregnancy changes cause similar symptoms and are happening at the same time. Normal exhaustion, problems sleeping, stronger emotional reactions and changes in body weight may occur during pregnancy and after pregnancy. But, these symptoms may also be signs of depression. We know exercise is a powerful antidote to depression, and every pregnant woman has about a 19-month span when she is at risk for post-partum depression. You can identify many pregnant women in your market though baby shower announcements, encouraging your members to share the names of pregnant friends and partnering with baby retail stores, etc.
  4. 39. WEDDINGS and ENGAGEMENTS - Establish a Buff Brides Program! Sell your club's program to all-in the wedding party. Encourage them to work out as a group. Measure and take before and after photos. Then, collect online kudos. Work through and with wedding consultants and retail wedding stores.
  5. 40. PROMOTIONS - Scan all local publications for promotions, especially newsletters from local and major employers. Offer the newly promoted person a special for building resilience, confidence and stress management to handle their new responsibilities.
  6. 41. GRADUATIONS - Every high school and college graduate is entering a new phase of life. This is a great time to form new habits, like exercise. USA Today reported that overweight people face a real disadvantage in hiring and promotions. Promote exercise and weight loss as a way to enhance the career opportunities of new graduates. You should be able to easily access lists of graduating seniors in your area.
  7. 42. BIRTHS - GRANDPARENTS - Grandchildren are one of the most significant pleasures available to grandparents. The grandparent relationship is powerful enough that grandparents often make major decisions, such as where to live, just so they can be near their grandchildren. If you are a grandparent who is in poor health, so you can't take a walk with a grandchild or lift your grandchild up and give them a hug, there is a great loss and a great motivation to build strength, balance and wellness. This is a wonderful promotion to every grandparent. How do you reach them? Start with your members' grandparents, and then, find how to link to families with newborns through hospitals, doctors, and retail baby stores.
  8. 43. DIRECT MAIL ON BIRTHDAYS - Purchase birthday lists online for your zip codes. Mail a birthday gift from your club: 10 days free for you and a friend! You can have staff hand address (more are opened this way) about 100 a day. That would be 100 x 365 = 36,500 birthdays a year you could reach.

Category #6: Internet

  1. 44. FREE PASS - Make sure your website has a strong, clear offer on its home page. Change it regularly. Have ending dates. Consider one day sales.
  2. 45. ONE MONTH TRIAL MEMBERSHIP - Another offer on your website.
  3. 46. FREE DOWNLOAD - of health, nutrition and exercise educational articles from your website.
  4. 47. YOUTUBE - There are the hugely successful commercial viral campaigns, such as Blendtec's "Will It Blend?," the brilliant video series on various household objects that are run through a Blendtec blender, including: marbles, batteries and golf balls. They also emailed their customer base and asked for suggestions of things to blend. They were featured on a Today Show segment the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. iVillage Live did a segment on them too. They were interviewed by Newsweek, Playboy Magazine and the New York Times. Blendtec had a surprisingly low budget. The first five videos ran somewhere between $50 to $100, including: buying the domain name, a video camera and some marbles and a few other supplies. Web sales were more than four times greater than in the previous top-selling month. All other channels have seen big increases as well.

    Online jewelry retailer Ice.com made its first foray into YouTube marketing with its "Mr. Cupid" interviews of passers-bys. One product that got some excellent brand recognition and building from being on YouTube was Smirnoff's Raw Tea. Smirnoff produced an uproarious music video called "Tea Partay," with preppies rapping.

    Another beverage, Mountain Dew, executed a successful YouTube campaign with its videos of jive-talking octogenarian Sue Teller offering surprisingly hip advice to young viewers. H & R Block is used YouTube to promote its Tax Cuts software. The promo to the "Me & My Super Sweet Refund" contest was the most linked to comedy video in the history of YouTube.

    You tube guide: Make it fun, poke fun of yourself and your clubs, demo your club's services and equipment, and be real. Watch the best of You Tube and learn what works.
  5. 48. MYSPACE - Publisher's Note: Moved into antiquity.

Category #7: Medical Niches

Your prospect may already be suffering from cancer, diabetes, back pain, etc. Each niche has special programs, knowledge and experience. Each niche has its own referral sources. Each has national organizations to collaborate with. For example, three studies by the American Cancer Society show regular exercise is related to lower cancer incidence: 30% for breast; 45% colorectal; 50% for ovarian. For each medical niche, you will need knowledge, medical community relationships, special programs targeted to that niche, a staff champion (manager), a special flyer, local speakers and member advocates. Each niche lends itself to a separate web presence.

  1. 49. PARTICIPATE IN A WEIGHT LOSS EXPERIMENT - A different type of offer that seems to always appeal to some. Run it three to four times a year.
  2. 50. ARTHRITIS WEBSITE - Build a home page saturated with arthritis info and offers. This will target your marketing to arthritis users. Link the home page to your main website for information on programs, equipment, location(s), etc. Write or get permission to use a booklet explaining the impact of exercise on arthritis. Offer it as a free download. When someone clicks to download, have them enter their email and zip code. You just generated a lead! Knowing the zip code tells you if it is a lead for your club. The next step is to send a personal email (auto responder can do this automatically) thanking them for taking advantage of the download, asking if they have questions, provide information on a free upcoming arthritis and exercise study your club is doing. Collaborate with local arthritis doctors and make sure their office has a special arthritis brochure from you.
  3. 51. CANCER RECOVERY WEBSITE;
  4. 52. WEIGHT LOSS WEBSITE;
  5. 53. TYPE II DIABETES;
  6. 54. PHYSICAL THERAPY FOLLOW-UP;
  7. 55. BACK PAIN;
  8. 56. LOW ENERGY;
  9. 57. HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE;
  10. 58. MENOPAUSE: Similar to #44.
  11. 59. TRIPS AND FALLS - Also similar to #44. Every person over 65 knows the story of friends who tripped, fell, broke a hip and never left the hospital! These can be reduced dramatically with the right training. Sell balance, not fitness here.
  12. 60. MULTIPLE WEBSITE STRATEGY - Each website should be focused on a particular market niche vs. a cluttered website that tries to appeal to all market niches. Cluttered websites rarely develop strong search engine optimization. Provide information for those contemplating joining and action for those ready to join more and more clubs are exploring online sign up. In the UK: 32% who joined online never visited the club. 42% said online joining was more convenient. 11% were former members. This is full joining online including taking an exercise history, credit card info and explaining all important policies.

Category #8: Current Events

When the general news spotlights an item, it drives sales of items that are related to the news. When the Mars Lander arrived on the planet Mars, it was in the news for weeks, and the sales for MARS Bars jumped up during those weeks. Link your promotions to current events. For example:

  1. 61. GAS PRICES SOAR! JOIN NOW - $100 GAS CARD OR - For every month of membership you buy (you can extend current memberships), we pay your gas cost to come and workout. 10-mile average commute X 1 workout a week = 40 miles a month = 4 gallons x $4 = $16 a month discount.
  2. 62. $40 BILLION IN TAX REBATES GOING OUT NOW - Some retailers gave 10% discounts if the prospect spent his tax rebate with the club. This plan works well for IRS tax refund checks as well.
  3. 63. NO SALES TAX WEEKEND - A Massachusetts tradition in August.

Category #9: Gambling

This can be a touchy issue, but you can link some promotions to gambling. For example:

  1. 64. NO PAYMENTS UNTIL PATRIOTS LOSE!
  2. 65. SPIN THE WHEEL! The noise attracts people. People love to gamble. It builds crowd energy. Put various offers on the wheel such as a free month, five free Personal Training sessions, a water bottle, six months free, then add a $20 and $100 bill. Sign up for our newsletter and get a spin. Buy a wheel online or call (phone number), the sales distributor.
  3. 66. ROLE THE DICE FOR YOUR DOWN PAYMENT - Use enough dice so that all sixes equals the current down payment.
  4. 67. THE MORE YOU WEIGH, THE LESS YOU PAY - Get a one dollar discount for each pound you weigh over your ideal weight. If you weigh 220 pounds and your ideal weight is 180, you get a $40 discount. Fitness DK in Denmark, a chain with forty clubs, did a one-day sale like this and sold 5,000 memberships.

Category #10: Anniversaries

  1. 68. YOUR CLUB'S ANNIVERSARY - Celebrate your club's founding/opening with free food, a hot local band, a health fair and a special membership promotion. Do this every year.
  2. 69. FOUNDING OF YOUR CLUB'S TOWN OR CITY - Contact the local historical society and create a joint celebration.
  3. 70. LOCAL HISTORICAL EVENTS - Contact the local historical society for a joint celebration.

Category #11: Holidays

  1. 71. VALENTINE'S DAY - Who do you love? Give them the gift of love: health! Decorate your club with hearts. Lovers join with no initiation or an extra two months.
  2. 72. THANKSGIVING DAY - Fight the annual weight gain from the holidays by joining now and losing a few pounds.
  3. 73. MOTHER'S DAY - Keep Mom Healthy. Do you know a mother who is stressed, in menopause, recovering from cancer or has arthritis?
  4. 74. FATHER'S DAY - Keep Dad healthy!
  5. 75. MEMORIAL DAY - Celebrate the arrival of Summer!
  6. 76. JULY 4th - Celebrate America's Independence Day and fight for freedom from your old habits and the extra pounds you carry around.
  7. 77. CHRISTMAS IN JULY - Join now and get December FREE, and you'll have more money for presents! Arthur Saran, of Davol Fitness and Spa, Providence, Rhode Island, quadrupled his July membership sales.

Category #12: Strategic Partnerships

  1. 78. RETAIL PARTNERSHIP - Here is an example of what you might do with retail partners. Approach a nutrition or sporting goods store to setup a booth in front of the main entrance to the business on a Saturday. Set up your booth with a contest promotion box (Lead BOX) for a FREE six-month membership drawing. The business will like it because you are attracting people to their store. At the booth, offer free body fat testing, group fitness demonstrations and/or Personal Training demonstrations using exercise balls and/or bands. "Spin and Win" wheels work well in attracting a crowd. People love a contest to win anything. Have a drawing every 15 minutes for one month free. Tell the people waiting for the drawing to browse the store until it's time for the drawing. Call all leads immediately and setup appointments for a "second chance" drawing at the club.
  2. 79. BAR/NIGHT CLUB PARTNERSHIP - Have a "best chest" for guys and dolls contest with your most club friendly local bar operation! The bar offers cash prizes and you offer a free six-month membership. All of the "best chest" contestants, as well as the customers, enter a drawing to win a six-month free club membership and other door prizes that you might arrange with other local community businesses. Use the entries to book a second chance drawing, maybe at a mini party at the club.
  3. 80. RESTAURANT - CLUB LINK - This is a great membership-lead generating promotion for a high-end club to team up with a dozen high-end restaurants. The club features one restaurant a month in its lobby. Anyone who refers a new member that month receives a $75 gift certificate for the featured restaurant. It gives Julie Main's Santa Barbara Athletic Club 60% of their yearly memberships.
  4. 81. COUPON BOOKS - Feature 10 to 12 or more products and services, such as sporting goods and travel discounts sold for a good cause, such as school sports programs. The coupon book sellers are partners and students. All partners finance the coupon books.
  5. 82. TALENT SCOUTS OPEN CALL - Club arranges relationships with modeling/talent agencies to host open calls in the club. The agencies structure the events with individual interviews or performances for talent scouts in hopes of gaining representation. One of my client clubs hosts one of these events a month. The events draw up to 100 participants. Everyone gets a one-week free membership and a drawing for a longer-term free membership. Hotels often host these events and charge the agency for space in the hotel. In a strategic partnership between your club and a modeling agency, your club provides the space for the modeling agency and you get the leads.
  6. 83. HOTELS - Charge hotels a flat fee for unlimited passes for their guests. The guest passes includes local restaurant promotion, shopping promotion and additional guest passes are provided for people the hotel guests are visiting. The hotel guest becomes your agent... so their buddies choose that hotel!
  7. 84. DRY CLEANER TAGS - Produce dry cleaning hanger tags with a printed club offer on one side and a strategic partner/local merchant offer on the other side (a sporting goods store, a local restaurant, a weight watchers clinic, etc.). The local merchant pays for the tags. The inducement for the dry cleaner is that an offer from the dry cleaner appears on the bottom of each side of the tag. Use sparingly so they don't become common.
  8. 85. PROFESSIONAL SPORTS - Several clubs have partnered with professional sports teams. The club provides workout space for the team or the team's cheerleaders in return for highly discounted tickets they can use in promotions, billboards in the stadium and/or Jumbotron ads for their club e.g. This touchdown brought to you by SUPER FIT HEALTH CLUBS. There are a myriad of other promotional partnerships where the pro team supports kids fitness or fund raises with the club for a local charity like the Boys and Girls Clubs.
  9. 86. REAL ESTATE DEVELOPERS - These are people to connect with and explore how your club can be an amenity to residential or office buildings they own. In return, they foster your prospecting of their tenants. You might even consider designing and/or running small in-house fitness facilities for them or providing on-site classes, massages, etc. In-office massage has become a fairly wide-spread corporate perk, especially during peak workloads, such a CPA firms during tax season.
  10. 87. BUSINESS BANK AND CLUB - A great source of new member prospects is the bank where you and your club do business. Get to know your banker, if you don't already. Give him the idea of having a special "Hello Day from Club ABC/Bank ABC." Provide the bank with nicely done two-sided glossy cards that are about the size of a check. Make it a mutual deal. Arrange for his tellers and managers to each have a stack of your glossy cards and for them to give one to every customer with their deposit slips, cash, etc. (Be sure to give all tellers and managers the same offer before you start!) Make the offer on your card a good one: "One month free at your ABC Club or 50% off your Enrollment Fee." In exchange, offer to do the same thing at your reception desk on the same day. Work hard for the bank at your club. Then later, discuss and arrange to do this once a month. A win - win deal.

Category #13: Corporate Connections

Corporations are becoming more and more aware that exercise reduces health care costs and absenteeism, while improving morale and production. Begin by building a list of corporations within a 10- to 15-minute drive time of your club and make a list of your members and where they work. Then, start looking for connections and using some of the corporate programs that follow. Remember, a typical club salesperson will not be prepared to sell at the corporate level. Most likely, the owner will be the best salesperson here: one CEO to another.

  1. 88. CORPORATE FAT LOSS/MUSCLE GAIN CHALLENGE - The local bank's business customers may nominate up to three of their top employees. The bank or the company pays for three months at the club, which includes personal training sessions four days a week and a Monday weigh in.
  2. 89. REALTORS WELCOME TO THE AREA PACKAGES - Be sure to get the realtors into your club and working out. Try a realtor's special. One month free will help your club link to new people who've transferred into your community and are in the home market.
  3. 90. WELCOME TO THE COMPANY PACKAGES - Similar to the new movers welcome packages but for new staff hired by local companies. Make this connection by coordinating with the human resources department of local corporations. This opens the corporate door. The bigger the company, the more you should invest in opening the door. Some single clubs earn up to $30,000 a month from corporate-sponsored memberships. Use public relations and press releases sent to local business media public relations to be sure this news gets out.
  4. 91. A CORPORATE PROGRAM - The Club offers a discounted package with additional benefits to companies based on their size and level of promotional commitment and support of the club. Benefits to the corporate member:

    0.00 to $50.00 enrollment;
    Two weeks to one month free dues;
    A corporate tanning card (10 free tans);
    A corporate guest card (30 days of free guest privileges);
    A corporate play center card (10 free visits).
  5. 92. DIFFERENT FORMS OF ADVERTISING WE OFFER TO COMPANY EMPLOYEES:

    Payroll stuffers;
    Company newsletter article submissions;
    PDF flyer to distribute via email;
    Posters for break rooms.

    The club's marketing department creates all marketing materials for corporate accounts. Offer onsite enrollment opportunities right in the company office/business. If you do an "onsite," pair up with a fitness coordinator to do BMI testing or bring a massage therapist to do a chair massage.
  6. 93. CORPORATE APPLES - Produce corporate proposals professionally. Use all the hot Humor Resources language: Absenteeism, Presenteeism, Workers Comp Costs and Productivity. Deliver a big box of apples with a proposal on top. So far, this program has brought in $35,000 in corporate membership sales.
  7. 94. CORPORATE STRESS MANAGEMENT - Masseurs/Masseuses go to the corporation location. Provide on-site classes in yoga. Conduct health-wellness fairs on-site. Provide membership program package during visit.

Category #14: Community Outreach

Sponsor events such as a middle school fun run. Support local charities so you are central in the minds of the community. Create and provide an adult education center on wellness issues and give access to your community for free.

  1. 95. SPEAKER SERVICE ON HEALTH AND WELLNESS - Choose staff and/or members who have the ability to speak in public and formulate one or two presentations (this is not free form) about health and wellness topics. Then, promote your speaker services to groups in your community that have speakers and to all public schools at all levels. Speak mostly about the impact of exercise with a brief history of your club. Maybe some examples of how your club has changed some member's lives. Have an offer that you quietly place at each person's seat before you start speaking.
  2. 96. MEETING VENUE FOR THEIR GROUP - If your club has nice meeting space, offer it for free to groups in your community, such as the Realtors Association, Chamber of Commerce, cancer support groups, etc. Provide great audiovisual support like a laptop and LCD projector, flip charts and pens, whiteboard, etc. Offer to cater coffee or lunches. The goal is to increase non-member traffic and enable them to be comfortable meeting at your club and to nurture their referrals.
  3. 97. JOINT PROMOTION (TO HELP THEM RAISE FUNDS) - Instead of waiting for a local non-profit to solicit your support, design a health-wellness promotion that could enlist support and raise funds for an appropriate charity. One New England club has a spinning bike marathon and raises money for the local Heating Oil Fund for those not able to heat their homes in the winter. This event regularly gets evening TV News broadcast coverage.

Category #15: Fundraisers

Utilize a "10 for 10 Program" to help schools, churches, charities and other civic groups with fundraising efforts. The cards allow ten workouts and are sold by the charity for $10 each. Do not charge the civic organization anything. Print the cards and deliver whatever amount may be needed. This program establishes a strong relationship with the community and consistently produces new leads and guest traffic.

  1. 98. OUTREACH FITNESS TESTING LOCATIONS: Clubs, Schools, Meetings, Mall, Sports Store, Community Center, etc.
  2. 99. ADVISORY BOARDS: Medical, Elementary School, Middle School, High School, Adventure Travel, Religious, etc. Form an advisory board that meets in your club 2 - 3 times a year to discuss how to encourage healthy lifestyles among the people the board represents.
  3. 100. ELEGANT SCHOOL FUNDRAISER - Begin with a health month at schools where every staff is in a class teaching health, exercise and nutrition fundamentals to youngsters. Build relationships and support with the school superintendent and the PTA. "21 Days for $21:" Give to middle schools in the Fall to raise money for the school. The school collects the $21. Everyone who shows up provides $21 more for the school. The middle school with the most people participating gets $1,000. The top 100 sellers get a family evening of fun at the club. Get a local business (perhaps a bank) to sponsor the fund raising and cover the materials and local adds in the newspapers.
  4. 101. COMMUNITY WIDE ACTION - 10,000,000 steps a day in our community, 1,000,000 pushups in four hours, halftime group fitness demonstration at school sporting events... Community Outreach: Rotary, Chamber, PTA, garden clubs, political parties, travel clubs, investment, alumni, church club, soccer coaches, historic, music, soccer leagues... all community groups that are worthy of support. Provide a speaker on fitness-wellness and build relationships with each Champion for each group.
  5. 102. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE - Best Lead Generation - One club representative reports., "The best lead generation program that I feel we have used is our involvement with the Chamber of Commerce and other civic groups, such as the Kiwanis Club. The Chamber has proven to be a valuable networking source for leads, as well as contacts that we can use within our day-to-day business. Even though the actual Chamber leaders may not be members of the gym, they constantly promote our business throughout the county.

Category #16: Strategic Stars

The Local Stars have an audience. The Strategic Stars need such things as: Weight loss, Exercise, Post-operative Recovery, Stress Management, Meeting Space and Training for BIG Events. By recruiting them face-to-face for a trial membership, you have the opportunity to change their lives. To make them raving fans of your club, and guess who they will rave to about you? Consider all the following channels:

  1. 103. MINISTERS, PRIESTS, and RABBIS;
  2. 104. MEDIA PERSONALITIES;
  3. 105. POLITICIANS;
  4. 106. SPORTS FIGURES;
  5. 107. SPORTS TEAMS;
  6. 108. ENTERTAINERS;
  7. 109. HAIRDRESSER - Work out a relationship with each hairdresser in your shop of choice whereby they put a small fishbowl at their styling chair with a sign that says, "My customers receive a two-week membership to ABC Club. Simply fill out a slip and drop it in!" Hairdressers love to talk, and they have a fabulous rapport with their customers. What men may not know is that women book their hair appointments sometimes weeks in advance simply to ensure they can see "their stylist." The point is, if this hairdresser likes you and your club, they will refer clients to you. In exchange, either offer them a referral fee for anyone who joins (yes, that means $) or give them a temporary membership to the club that is renewed on a monthly basis as long as they keep the fishbowl at their station. This is an ideal option for two reasons: 1. It doesn't cost you any out of pocket investment and 2. They become a raving fan. Thanks to Casey Conrad for this one.

Category #17: Strategic Niches

  1. 110. SPORTS SPECIFIC TRAINING - Golf, Soccer, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, etc.
  2. 111. INDIVIDUALS WHO'VE BEEN LAID OFF - Have a special section of the club offering special staff and focus on helping the laid off person prepare for a new job. Offer special incentives to come in and exercise and special rate opportunities to help the laid off person find a new and better job.
  3. 112. SUPPORT GROUPS - One club has launched a support group for parents of autistic children. This becomes a unique and easily defined niche. Autism networks have promoted the group so that it is self-marketed. Why should this be in a club? Because it brings two things to the club: First, "Wow! Isn't that cool that the Super Health Club sponsors this and makes space available? Aren't they the good guys?!" This is positive reputation building which enhances all your marketing as it makes members and prospects proud to be associated with your club. Second, it brings people into your club who might never cross your threshold. Once in, they find out what a cool, comfortable place your club is to join!
  4. 113. SALES TERRITORIES - By street, By development, By condo, By office building, By neighborhood, etc. Take half the staff and canvas a condo going door to door or an office building.

Category #18: Programming

  1. 114. PROFESSIONAL GROUP EXERCISE - Having a group exercise program with new choreography every quarter and classes at several levels gives you the opportunity of a new launch every three months. In the best group exercise classes, the participants can be your best salespeople. Set up a strong referral offer for them to bring friends and family.
  2. 115. SPRING GARDENERS SHAPE UP - If your club has some external landscaping, consider working with a local garden store to run a six-week "Spring Gardener Shape Up." A study in the U.K. showed that individuals ages 46 to 70 who gardened improved their fitness a bit better than those only using a health club. Learn how to garden without straining arms, legs back and shoulders!
  3. 116. FIVE-WEEK PROGRAMS - These are five-week accelerated results programs. Two weeks to sign up plus six weeks of program equals two months a session. Create and offer several programs a session based on your community, your members and your staff's capabilities and interests such as: flexibility, balance, abs, legs, arms, butts, etc. Create catchy names, make the classes tough and tell participants exactly what to expect. Spell out what they will get and guarantee it! Price at $79 to $149 a program for non-members and give members a big discount on the non-member rate. Design the program pricing to make membership attractive to non-members. Use half-hour classes and allow each participant to attend two a week, but schedule ten per week so it fits the user's schedules. Let people reserve a class, and if they miss it, there is no transfer, they lose it. Keep classes small, say 20 people maximum, for personal attention and to make these people feel special. This is a great way to enable your best staff to earn significantly more income. Look for a champion for each type of program i.e. "Awesome Abs" and pay them for "Awesome Ab" classes that others teach. This way, a real go-getter can operate a mini-business with several part-time staff members. One club claims that a Champion can earn another $20,000 a year.
  4. 117. BEGINNER'S GROUP FITNESS TRAINING ON EQUIPMENT and FREE WEIGHTS - This concept involves scheduling start times for new and current members to go through a beginners level group equipment and free weight training class with one instructor. Here is how it works: Each month, the club produces the Beginners Group Fitness Training Class Schedule and provides it to members just like the Group Exercise Class Schedule. Then, the club keeps a sign-up sheet for each class time at the reception desk. This is done to limit attendance to 10 to 12 members. This number might be greater but depends on the fitness floor space and equipment alignment. This is a perfect program for Personal Trainers to teach the very basics for machine use and very basic free weight training. This initial contact will provide Personal Trainers with a very steady stream of potential new clients, as long as the Personal Trainer approaches this program with the spirit of an employee of the club first, then makes his presentation with an upbeat, friendly and helpful attitude and manner. Importantly, if you have ten Personal Trainers, pick the ones with the best attitude about the program, and then, divide up the schedule so those trainers do the beginners teaching and get the prospects that result from the classes they teach. This introductory class can be the basis of a promotion. Ten Dollars for Ten Sessions: A Special Class Designed to Introduce Beginners to Free Weights.
  5. 118. MEMBER TRANSFERS FROM FAILING CLUBS - Keep tabs on all clubs near you that are small local operations. Contact and have coffee with the owners of any club that you know may be struggling. Wish them well, but make it clear that, if and when, they may need and be forced to close, your club will offer a transfer of their members to your club (instead of them just announcing that their club has failed and is closing, thus putting them in a position where they may have to pay refunds). Prior to the "D-day," arrange to have the owner announce to their members in a letter they will send that everyone who is a member of their club will automatically become a member of your club on the day that owner has chosen to close, and on the first of the month, the members of the closing club will be able to join your club at their existing rate. Remember, you will have to re-sign all the monthly members, and it is very wise to go ahead and honor the prepaids for their term, too. This is important for a total takeover of the closing club's membership. Have the owner that is closing the club explain in his letter to his members that their current rates will be honored and will apply for X months, the length of their current contract and then their rates will increase to your club's rates. If you have developed a good and proper relationship with the club owner that is in trouble, a letter, carefully crafted and written by you on your club letterhead and then distributed by the closing club owner with his own announcement letter is an excellent way to make this transition.
  6. 119. WEIGHT LOSS CONTEST - Promote and sell a contest rather than membership. Choose a timeframe like three months and have big awards ($1,000) for the Biggest Loser, the team that loses the most per person, etc. Encourage families and teams and other local social groups, like the garden club, to field a team. Everyone has full access to the club for three months, and everyone pays an entry fee of $99 or 10 times the number of pounds they want to lose in the three months. Have a kickoff weigh-in and look for some TV coverage. Then, provide classes for contestants three times a week, cardio, strength and nutrition. Offer all participants a special membership at the end.

Category #19: Unique Promotions

  1. 120. SOCIAL CLUSTER CD - Explain to your new members that whenever a person tries to change a habit or build a new one, like regular exercise, they will experience three forces that will work against the change. Those forces are:

    1. The general environment ads, fast food, you deserve a break today, etc.

    2. The people around you, your family, friends and co-workers. Explain and warn your new members that their family will want them home after work, not exercising. Explain that their friends can discourage them. Explain that they must have the discipline to show up and exercise regularly, at least three days a week.

    3. Last is yourself, and your own lack of commitment or self-discipline. Clubs rarely address these barriers head on. Consider producing a very short audio CD for playing in the car which your new member can give to their family, friends and co-workers to learn how they can help you with your new commitment to exercise with an offer at the end for them to visit the club within two weeks of receiving this CD so they can learn how to become a true fitness supporter.
  2. 121. SORORITY SAMPLER - If you are near a college with sororities (or fraternities), meet with the leaders of these groups and offer a contest. For every activity (group class, circuit, cardio equipment, etc.) a sorority member participates in, they get ten points. At the end of the month, the sorority most committed to fitness (most points) is announced and all the members are given a 25% discount. And, the club donates a dollar a point (or a dollar for 10 points) earned to the sorority's social fund.

Category #20: Public Relations

Public relations is the process of getting covered in the media as NEWS. This means you don't pay for it, and it is a bit like free advertising. Clubs strong in this area count the minutes of airtime on radio and TV and the column inches in printed media each quarter. Clubs with strong PR might get a total annual count of 500 - 800 minutes and inches combined. This is a wonderful third-party endorsement for your club. To get PR, you must understand the needs of your local media and one of the number one needs is LOCAL NEWS. Search the web for a few basic articles on how to make PR work for your club. Consider hiring a part-time PR expert in your community for $1,500 a month. It is inexpensive advertising.

  1. 122. ONE HOUR SALE AT MIDNIGHT - Party and dancing at eleven! And, a one-hour sale, let's say no joining fee or a six-month special.
  2. 123. $129 BILL - Print up a weird $129 dollar bill with your club logo on it. Make it FUN! Make it so funny it does not look like you are counterfeiting! And, be sure you print: "Promotional Currency Negotiable Only for ABC Club $129 Enrollment Fee." The offer is for a club with a standard $129 enrollment fee, adapt this idea for your enrollment fee rate. Mail to all ex-members. The $129 bill covers only the enrollment fee in a one-day sale. One club sold 67 memberships in five hours, 33 brought in the $129 bill.

Category #21: Social and Emotional Bonding

  1. 124. and 125. Valuable research on customer loyalty has been done in close to a dozen other industries. Everything boils down to this statement by one of the researchers, Fred Reicheld, "All customer loyalty is emotionally based. Quality is a given. People expect good looking, well-equipped clubs. But, what keeps them there? The emotional connections they have with staff and with each other." In one of my early Roundtable meetings, fifteen years ago, Ben Emden reported some research he did on retention. The figures are representative. Family memberships were retained at 88% a year, couple memberships at 73% and singles at 70%. Any club with tennis is familiar with the high retention of tennis-playing members. All of this higher retention is based on the connections members have with other members, their friends. When your social circle is at the club, it is extremely difficult to leave the club. And when you make a new friend, they are brought to the club to join.

• • •

Thank you to Will Phillips for this exhaustive list of productive ideas. May Will Phillips Rest In Peace.

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