Successful Programs for Fitness and Health Clubs

In today's world, a club needs to offer more than state-of-the-art equipment and certified fitness instructors to recruit and retain members. You need something that will appeal to your members and keep them coming back. In Successful Programs for Fitness and Health Clubs: 101 Profitable Ideas, you will learn how to utilize programming to meet your strategic and financial goals. Written by internationally-respected programming consultant Sandy Coffman, this book will teach you exactly what programming is and how to make it work for you.

Successful Programs for Fitness and Health Clubs: 101 Profitable Ideas presents more than 100 ready-to-use programs for use in fitness centers, group exercise studios, pools, gyms, and classrooms. The programs are designed to get hundreds of new members involved immediately. But the text is far more than just a program recipe book. Coffman addresses the challenges faced in programming, including teaching skills, communication skills, marketing techniques, and follow-up procedures. Her advice will help you design programs that unite members with common interests and abilities and foster a sense of belonging and commitment. Such programming leads to increased participation, reduced attrition, greater retention, more referrals, less downtime, and improved staff productivity.

The text will first lay the foundation for programming by presenting the key principles and concepts that need to be considered. Part I explores

-the five steps to programming success,

-the 10 keys to member retention,

-hiring and training the right people,

-why a program director is needed,

-internal and external promotions, and

-niche marketing.

By understanding and using the information in Part I, you can successfully implement the programs in Part II. Here you will find 101 actual programs, with numerous variations—including ideas for court sports, group exercise, and programs aimed at adults, families, kids, seniors, and women, covering a broad range of fitness levels, from beginners and intermediates to advanced participants. It also includes programming for specific time frames, such as the holiday season, spring, or summer. An activity finder located in the front of the text makes it easy to find programs based on criteria ranging from the type of activity or member to the type of special event.

In addition to providing vital information for planning your programs, Successful Programs for Fitness and Health Clubs: 101 Profitable Ideas comes with a CD-ROM containing more than 60 files that will help you create support materials to get your programs started. You will find printable quizzes, flyers, score cards, invitations, scoring systems, round robin tournament schedules, and logos—most of which can be customized to include information specific to your facility, such as logo, contact names, dates, times, and more. Additional files provide templates to create T-shirts, buttons, and other promotional pieces. Headings and icons in the text indicate when to refer to the CD-ROM for certain materials.

When it comes to enhancing your club offerings, follow the expert programming advice from Sandy Coffman. With it you will be able to create, implement, and deliver successful programs that will attract and retain new members and ultimately make your club a greater success.

Sandy Coffman is president and owner of Programming for Profit in Bradenton, Florida. She has more than 30 years' experience in professional programming and staff training for health clubs and recreational facilities. Coffman was part owner, program director, and staff trainer for three multipurpose facilities in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for 11 years. She now consults, trains, and gives motivational and educational presentations for businesses and corporations worldwide.

Coffman is a contributing writer to many trade publications and a guest lecturer at several state universities. She is a provider of continuing education credits for the American Council on Exercise, the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America, and the Senior Fitness Association. She is on the faculty of the International Council on Active Aging and works extensively to promote fitness among older adults.

Specializing in customer service, communication skills, retention, programming, niche marketing, and staff evaluations, Coffman's client list—in addition to for-profit fitness clubs—includes the United States Tennis Association (USTA) where she serves as a consultant for the Welcome Back to Tennis program, a multitude of YMCAs and YWCAs, and several city park and recreational departments.

Coffman is a featured national and international speaker and was voted the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association's Top Convention Speaker in content and presentation. She has received awards for her presentations at the European Bodylife Conference, the Canadian Can-Fit-Pro Conference, and the Italian Fitness Federation.

In (this book), industry veteran Sandy Coffman outlines just about everything you need to do to make a program fly and earn rave reviews...No matter how long you have been in the industry, you will find worthwhile programs that you can use at your facility in this text.

Neil Wolkodoff, Phd, Fitness Management, June 2007