Fitness Management is the magazine for owners, managers and program directors in physical fitness facilities. Founded in 1985, the magazine publishes 12 issues per year with editorial content emphasizing facility management and preventive health care.

Fitness Management is the magazine for owners, managers and program directors in physical fitness facilities. Founded in 1985, the magazine publishes 12 issues per year with editorial content emphasizing facility management and preventive health care.

Fitness Management also publishes an annual Buyer's Guide with listings of the industry's suppliers, and runs the annual Nova7Awards competitions, which recognize fitness facilities and suppliers for innovative excellence.

Fitness Management is the premier industry publication used by fitness managers to make the decisions that run their facilities. It is also the best read publication in the industry, with more than 78% surveyed reading 3 of the last 4 issues, (according to a 2007 Readex Preference Survey).

Market: Fitness Management serves the $17.6 billion fitness facility industry, including: health clubs, YMCAs, JCCs, hospital and medical fitness centers, corporate, fire and police fitness programs, college and universities, hotel and resort clubs, country clubs, and property development firms.

View Fitness Management Magazine, August 2008

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FEATURES:
28 The ‘Issue’ Is Customer Service
Ronale Tucker Rhodes, M.S., Editorial Director
The ‘solution’ is to get to know your members, communicate with them and show them how much they’re appreciated.

30 Be Our Guest!
Debra Atkinson, M.S.
To improve member relations, your frontdesk staff can implement these 25 tips.

32 Managing for a Competitive Edge
Matthew Kutz, Ph.D., ATC, CSCS
Intentional and effective leaders and managers give their facility a competitive edge by following personal, professional and contextual guidelines that provide excellent customer service.

34 Thanks a Million!
Laurie Cingle
Thank members for their support and acknowledge their achievements through appreciation programs, parties and gifts.

38 Meet the Expert: Supplement FAQs
Joe Cannon, M.S., CSCS, NSCA-CPT
Give your staff the answers to members’ questions about the dietary supplements sold in your juice bar and pro shop.

44 Science Update: Free Weights
Stephen Holt
Trainers can design free weight exercises that are safe and effective by using the principles of biomechanics.

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Issues & Solutions for Fitness Facilities.

Editor’s Note
BY RONALE TUCKER RHODES, M.S., EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

The Value of a Smile

A smile “costs nothing, but creates much good. It enriches those who receive it, without impoverishing those who give it away. It happens in a flash, but the memory of it can last forever. No one is so rich that he can get along without it. No one is too poor to feel rich when receiving it. It creates happiness in the home, fosters good will in business and is the countersign of friends. It is rest to the weary, daylight to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad and nature’s best antidote for trouble.

Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed or stolen, for it is something of no earthly good to anybody until it is given away willingly. Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give.”

I was reminded of this anonymous quote one day when I was driving into my gated community. Most times, the guards at the gate just wave without making eye contact; some don’t even acknowledge you at all. But on this day, a new guard stood up from her stool, leaned out the door, smiled warmly and waved emphatically, as though she were a family member there to greet me when coming home at the end of a long day. Automatically, I smiled back, waved and, guess what, I felt happy!

It seems like such a small thing, yet a smile can make all the difference in someone’s life in that moment. And, since that day, as I go about my business, I find myself watching people when they come into contact with others — especially employees at the grocery store, cleaners, my fitness center — looking for their smile. Sadly, a majority of the time, there is no smile. Just a formal greeting, if there is a greeting at all, followed by a business transaction. How much different our lives would all be if, in every situation, a sincere smile was given along with those transactions!

In this issue, we focus on customer service — from the way management drives policy and empowers its employees to the friendliness and helpfulness of the front desk staff and the variety of programs and services you can create to make your members feel appreciated. But, what we don’t talk about is the fact that customer service always begins with a smile.

A smile on the face of the fitness facility manager is contagious to his/her employees. It says to staff that this is the atmosphere we want to project: a happy, friendly atmosphere. Smiling employees are happy employees.

A smile on the faces of your front desk staff will be the first thing your members see when they come in to work out. In almost all instances, if members are smiled at when walking into your facility, they will also smile, which then sets a positive stage for their time in the gym. It can actually transform an “I just have to get in and get it over with” attitude to a “This is going to make me feel so good today!” attitude.

A smile on your personal trainers’ and fitness instructors’ faces will make them more approachable and more effective motivators. Being in this industry, we all know the effects that a smiling, energetic instructor has on the class experience — even if it is hard work.

So, when you feel too tired to give your employees a smile, or your employees feel too down to give a smile to members, remind yourself and them that it’s the person with the smile who will go the extra mile! That’s true for your staff in their work, and it’s true for your members in their workouts.

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