A few years ago, at the IHRSA Institute, a speaker at that event (Bud Rockhill, then from Wellbridge in the US) posed a question that has never left me.
The question was this: What do you wish to be famous for?
It was not addressed to any of us in a personal sense. It was addressed to us as leaders of our respective businesses.
Though I have never been able to answer that question to my own satisfaction, I have never ceased probing it, and I realise more than ever before how fundamental and crucial it is, and how brilliantly it focuses one's attention on what is important!
What do you wish to be famous for? Allow me to forward this question to you.
In an increasingly competitive marketplace, this question has never been more important, more relevant, than now. Today in most major market areas every club has 10 to 20 competitors within its primary trading area. Whether those trading areas consist of a 1/4 to 1/2 mile radius around the club (as is the case in most cities) or a 3 to 4 mile radius, this intensification of competition calls for, indeed, begs for an answer to the question: what do you wish to be famous for?
The forces of commoditisation are relentless, and relentlessly they exert downward pressure on health club pricing. Yet they exist in a context. That context is your particular trading area. All one needs to do is to prevail within that definable market space. This is a winnable game.
So, let me re-frame the question. Let me put it this way: Within your own particular trading area, what do you wish to be famous for? That is the only game you need to win.
Now, may I give you a hint on where I believe for many clubs the answer will be found?
At IHRSA's recent European Congress in Rome, I heard a talk by Andrea Pontremoli, the President of IBM Italy. He said that the game in business has shifted from winning on superior products, to winning on superior service, to winning by providing a superior experience.
The winning player today and tomorrow, said Pontremoli, will be the company that provides its customers, its members, with the best experience.
A fitness equipment supplier company in the health club business has a tagline that reads: "It's All about ME." It's all about the member's experience.
If the President of IBM Italy is correct, then the question "what do you wish to be famous for?" can be translated into this: what is the differential value of the experience that you provide for your members? How is it better than the experience provided by your competitors? That is the playing field for today and tomorrow. That is the game you need to win.
If the experience that you provide your members is better, richer, warmer, more hospitable, more engaging, more enjoyable, and more valuable than that provided by your competitors, then the odds of winning are solidly in your favour. This is the game that needs to be won.
And not only is this a winnable game, it is also a game that can, market-by-market, uplift the entire industry. For if this is the game that leading clubs everywhere are playing, then the entire worldwide industry will gain, and industry growth will continue to accelerate.
It is also the great equaliser between the Davids and the Goliaths of this industry...because a 1,500sq m facility can do this every bit as well as a 150,000sq m facility.
So, if you would, please answer the question: What do you wish to be famous for?
