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Needed: A Killer Differentiator

So, if these factors are correct. You want to anticipate change to stay ahead of the curve. Otherwise you get caught flat-footed in a market that has passed you by.

… the beauty and the popularity of 30-minute express gyms are their simplicity, so the danger would be to make gyms too complicated like our brethren with the legacy health clubs.

Ideally you would want a "killer differentiator" over your competition down the street. Especially if that competitor down the street is a highly branded one. All things being equal, if members are offered the exact same amenities, they will favor a brand that they recognize over a no-name.

Sorry, all that extra hard work an extra customer service still won't carry the day. Your product mix has to be far superior.

Now Is The Time For Express Gyms Plus

What I'm suggesting is that the Spartan 30-minute express gym served us well up until this point. It will even attract some straggling new members, but experienced members will start to drop off. It's time to move the product offering from the extreme left of the spectrum above a couple of notches to the right.

With that said, the beauty and the popularity of 30-minute express gyms are their simplicity, so the danger would be to make gyms too complicated like our brethren with the legacy health clubs.

So, where's the balance point? What are those critical added elements that can bring in more member benefit without throwing too much cost into the business model?

Requirements for Candidate Feature Sets

The way to think about this, a winnowing process, is to establish some requirements for any amenity that considered for addition to a club. To help you get started, I'll offer the following:

Space efficient
Affordable
Difficult to replicate by competitors
Long product lifecycle
Variety
High return on investment

ROI's have to be carefully measured as each feature is added. The legacy clubs have often overlooked this in their rush to get bigger and bigger.

The next step is to catalog a list of candidate amenities and then put them through the requirements check off list and see what holds up.

Table of Amenities

This is a highly personal business decision that only you can make, and once again to get you started offer the following lists of candidate amenities in alphabetical order:

Amenity	Member Needs Met
Aqua Massage	Similar to massage, this is a machine that requires no labor.
Balance Training	As members age, balance training becomes more important, you could use Bosu or wobble boards, will need supervision.
Cardio Machine	Strict circuit training is not enough, people need cardio training in their week, ellipticals are easiest on the joints.
Corporate Wellness Programs	If you knock on the doors of the companies in your area, and offer a group plan, companies are dying to reduce their health care costs.
Cholesterol Testing	In the category of fitness assessment, cholesterol testing devices can be purchased at Wal-Mart for $100. A vital health biomarker for your members.
Dance	Falls in the category of group classes, women have always loved to dance, always will.
Energy Bars	In contrast to smoothies, these require no plumbing and can be sold at the front desk.
Fitness Assessments	There are innumerable ways to measure progress, from using tape measures, and calipers, to automated devices. But if members can see a numerical progress, they'll be encouraged to stay with the program even if their bodies don't look different.
Full Body Vibration	Small footprint vertical device, stimulates muscle. People just feel healthier and better all day, it's addicting.
Functional Fitness	Single or double joint movement exercise is good, but best forms of exercise for an aging population are multi-jointed cross planar exercise. Vortex offers a very small footprint machine that can sit in a corner.
Goji	Functional foods also help members achieve goals quicker, a big health and anti-aging supplement and because they achieve their health goals faster, they feel good about your club.
Group Classes	Requires more space, can be taught with a live teacher, or with a video screen, can use the Step, or the Ramp, or any form of dance.
Kettlebells	In keeping with low space requirement, these devices provide maximum gain in minimum time.
Kids Fitness	This may require an additional investment in machines designed for kids, and some special supervision, but then you can start attracting entire families.
Massage	Low space requirements, add a pampering spa element to your club.
Meal Plans	They're a third-party companies, that can actually provide meals to your members, to increase the success of meeting their weight loss goals.
MYTRAK	Coaching feedback helps members achieve their personal goals, fully automated, ties into corporate wellness programs.
Nutrition Classes	Exercise alone won't get them there, most members just don't know how to eat correctly. Local professors and nutritionists are great candidates to give sit down lectures at your club.
Parties	Gyms have gotten away from the spirit of a "club", that is, creating a sense of community among all the members. You could offer socials at night in your facility to help members bond with other members.
Personal Training	This is not just the big clubs, personal trainers can offer a lot of benefit to express gym members. You could also become a broker, and book personal training into people's homes.
Rewards Systems	This falls under corporate wellness, and some companies will reward their members for achieving wellness, provided it's measurable (see MYTRAK)
Smoothies	These are delicious, nutritious, drinks, that can add a profit center, and finish off a workout, but, it requires plumbing, refrigeration, and sanitation.
Stretching Stations	If you're not offering yoga, you can offer a stretching stations for that other important component of fitness.
Supplementation	Supplements help members achieve weight loss and muscle gain goals quicker. The value-added vitamins and anti-oxidants sever a vital service - see Suracell.
Suracell	A highly targeted supplement based on each individual's DNA makeup, unique anti-aging component.
Tanning	Part of the spa mentality, tanning booths have gone vertical to require a lot less space today.
Weight Loss Partner	You could affiliate with a legitimate weight-loss company. This could add a vital profit center while helping your members to shed the pounds. Again, exercise alone probably won't get them there.
Yoga	This hot offering shows no signs of slowing down soon, very popular with the boomers. You can roll away your machines for an evening or weekend class. There are dozens of certified instructors in every city.

This list is by no means complete, there are ingenious people devising their own amenities, or start up companies coming out of fresh ideas every day.

Take to heart the famous saying that Bill Gates said, that if you don't obsolete yourself every few years, the competition shortly will.

Spread the wellness.

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