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NEW TO THE INDUSTRY BUT ALREADY MAKING AN IMPACT?
www.nationalfitnessawards.co.uk
Commercial thinking was the theme of the latest LFX conference where industry professionals gathered at Stockport Sports Village for a day of speaker presentations, the chance to share ideas and take advantage of networking opportunities. Workout’s Christina Eccles and Olivia Taylor rounded up some of the day’s highlights.
Fitness delegates took part in a ViPR session led by trainer Adam Daniel as part of the day, while those in the management forum heard from speakers including GB swimming coach Sean Kelly. Photo credit: Dominic Hinde.
GB swimming coach among speakers at LFX conference THE idea behind LFX is to offer a business network for professionals working in the active leisure industry, with each event offering two streams; one for fitness professionals and the other for managers. While the fitness delegates were put through their paces with an outdoor ViPR training session, the management conference kicked off with a talk from top GB swimming coach Sean Kelly, who spoke about the importance of making marginal gains, whether in sport or business. Sean who is currently working with British swimmer Lauren Quigley, revealed how he is coaching her to compete with the best in the world by working on everything from technique in the pool to her diet, confidence and self belief. Using the example of a tape measure to illustrate the distance between Lauren’s best time and the current world record, he showed that by breaking down an overall race into smaller sections and working on making marginal gains in each of the areas – each saving a small fraction of time – what seems like a huge task to start with, can be broken down into much more manageable chunks. And great results can be achieved. Outside of the sporting arena, Sean also showed how these lessons learned from elite coaching can be applied to the leisure industry. He encouraged operators to think of some of the different strands which make up their business – anything from the cleanliness of the gym, to social media use, sales and customer service – where they can make their own marginal gains – improvements in each area which will help to improve the overall club performance. He added: “It’s a game of inches.
“The budget gyms helped us to wake up. It was a major wake up call for us...” [For Lauren] the goal is about time. “Whatever you want to do, do it to the best of your ability – and give it everything you can.” Other speakers on the day included Life Leisure’s managing director Malcolm McPhail, who revealed the strategy behind some of the award winning operator’s successes. He also spoke about how the company managed to fend off the arrival of budget clubs in the area by examining their own offering – and improving the experience offered to members. This strategy included offering new membership options – including a £10.99 a month introductory offer – plus a focus on winning back members who had left to to try out the low cost facilities and making sure staff felt valued and happy within the organisation. Malcolm added: “The budget gyms helped us to wake up. “It was a major wake up call for us and led to us asking, is what we are doing at this price as good as what they can do? “How did we respond? With a new culture and a new strategy specifically targeting the budget gyms, which we executed impeccably. “You have to let them go to experience the offering. They will come back – and you should welcome them back.”