We’ve consolidated our videos, guides, webinars and more into the AFS Business Learning Center. Browse the resources, and use the concierge service if you need help with any topic.

Insight into consumer attitudes and behaviors can help shape your brand’s value proposition and positioning. Plus insight into industry trends from finance to marketing to operations can help frame your journey.

Video, Operations, Business Start-up, Marketing

It can be challenging to keep heart rate training terms straight - from resting heart rate to recovery heart rate, from submaximal heart rate to maximal heart rate.  This blog post will provide a brief explanation of some of the most common heart rate training terms and will explain how to use a heart rate monitor to measure each aspect. 

In addition, this blog will share some insight into how to make the most of moments of your day when you are not participating in purposeful physical activity (and maybe not wearing your heart rate monitor).

Blog, Client Resources, Revenue producing programs, Operations

Finding people that fit the culture you've worked so hard to achieve can be a challenge for many studio owners.   

Video, Human Resources, Operations, Business Start-up, Strategy Articles, Quick Answers

Is lack of curiosity killing your ability to connect with your clients? Being curious was something we all were great at as a kid. Think back to when you were younger, you asked questions about everything as a way to learn about life.

In school, we gathered information by asking specific questions in order to get specific answers, which shaped our way of thinking.

Blog, Client Resources, Operations

One of the most frequent questions I get asked about marketing to older adult is “What works?”  Trainers want to know where to go and what to do in order to build their loyal clientele of affluent older clients. 

Sometimes their current methods and strategies just aren’t working very well or they just don’t have enough time and energy to figure it out on their own.  There are certainly a lot of misconceptions that trainers have about how to find and engage with these potential clients so here are some tips to help you get moving in the right direction.

Blog, Marketing

No matter what stage of growth your fitness business is in: taking-off, survival, existence, success or maturity - developing a team of leaders is the most common topic I coach fitness business owners on.

As the communities we serve are becoming more savvy in their health and fitness needs and wants, the quality of team leadership is becoming increasingly important. Thus, the question...

Blog, Operations, Human Resources

AFS and Rick Mayo from ALLOY Personal Training Solutions are excited to bring you this very important webinar focused on how to build training options that work for your market, your physical space and your skillset. 

Webinar, Video, Operations, Marketing, Revenue producing programs, Finance

Increasing your customer acquisition or conversion rate is one thing - improving the lifetime value of your customers is quite another.

Blog, Operations, Revenue producing programs, Marketing, Retention

With all of the competition there is now you have to find ways to set your business apart. Why should your client choose you over some place else?  The last thing you want to do is to get into a price war where they are only choosing you because you are cheaper. You can’t be the best and the cheapest at the same time. Don’t be tempted to play that game.

Instead here are a few ways to set yourself apart:

Blog, Marketing, Operations

Leadership development is a key ingredient in any success fitness studio.  No matter how you approach it, these skills need to be refined and applied on a daily basis.

 

Video, Nutrition, Strategy Articles, Human Resources, Operations, Business Start-up, Quick Answers

Ingrid Owen along with AFS Founder & CEO Josh Leve discuss how fitness studios can build community around the ideas of health and wellness.

 

Video, Marketing, Operations, Retention, Strategy Articles, Quick Answers

The 4th quarter of the year has arrived.  Many fitness studios get scared there will be lack of revenue and attendance will decline.  However, a small percentage see opportunity and abundance and a time to create greatness.  Which group will you be in?

The purpose of this article is to empower you with an arsenal of marketing and client appreciation strategies to fuel an incredible Q4 and gain some serious momentum to come charging into the New Year.  Let’s get to it!

Blog, Marketing, Retention, Client Resources, Revenue producing programs

In the world of leading and managing a team, it is inevitable that we will have people on our team that act as little more than dead weight.  Sometimes it’s a bad hire.  Sometimes, its rooted in people growing disgruntled over time. 

Sometimes a management change or change in team dynamics can cause a team member who once was engaged to be disenchanted.  Fact is if you lead people over a period of time, you need a degree in psychology as team dynamics and engagement are ever evolving and changing.

Blog, Operations, Human Resources

The growing aging Boomer population is huge, affluent, well-educated and looking for trainers that can safely and effectively improve their health and fitness.  In essence, they are the ideal client group. 

However, many fitness marketing messages and strategies that work well with younger adults are ineffective with older adults and may even repel them.  It takes more time and effort to move them through the sales process but once they make the decision to train with you they are loyal clients that stay with you for a long time. 

Blog, Marketing

Ingrid Owen a consultant in the fitness industry provides her insight on why every fitness business knows to maximize their programming by identifying their niche.  

Video, Marketing, Programming, Strategy Articles, Quick Answers

In the business of fitness, TIME is your clients #1 asset. If you can deliver time efficient workouts that get results in half the time, your clients will invite their friends to join them. Most trainers have trouble drawing up a 30 minute program.

Brent walks you through a simple ABC, 123 program design that you can start working on today and delivering results in 30 minutes or less.

 

Strategy Articles, Video, Operations, Programming, Marketing, Design, Quick Answers

Think back to the year 2010: How busy were you? How much free time did you used to have?

Now today: How much busier are you than in 2010? Should I even ask about free time?

Blog, Operations, Client Resources, Marketing, Video

During the past 12 months AFS has undergone a huge transformation.  Within that time frame our growth has been extraordinary.  We've added more benefits, more partners, and more value that make up a compelling case for membership, including our ROI calculator.

During these past several months, AFS has also traveled across the country, literally - from being headquartered in Chicago to now the Bay Area.

Strategy Articles, Video, Business Start-up, Marketing, Equipment, Fitness Accessories, Blog

Whether or not they admit it to you, most clients and club members care about calories. Has someone at your facility ever asked any of the following:

“Are the calories on this treadmill/elliptical/bike accurate?”
“How does this equipment know how many calories I burn during my workout?”
“This piece of equipment says I burned 600 calories. Is that right?”

If so, you know that it can be difficult to explain caloric expenditure to clients and club members.

Blog, Revenue producing programs, Fitness Accessories, Equipment

In the last five years, one in every three deaths in the USA was attributed to Cardiovascular Disease (CVD). The latest statistics have also revealed that 60% of Americans don’t take part in regular physical activity and 25% are not physically active at all.

On a positive note, research tells us that statistics like these could be significantly improved if more people simply started exercising on a regular basis.

Blog, Marketing, Retention, Operations