Smart Business Magazine, Sept 2012

September 2012 Smart Business Florida 13 is upsell percentage the percentage of customers who buy the Gold Membership instead of the Basic Membership because of the extra benefits that come with it like tanning massage half price drinks and unlimited guest passes Our models projected that these test gyms would have an upsell percentage of about 20 percent We ended up with an upsell percentage over 50 percent much higher obviously than we thought we would experience and also much higher than the industry average Based on these test gym results GGI decided this past spring to move forward full throttle with development of the Golds Gym Express line of small low cost gyms Well probably end up with between 50 and 100 Express gyms by the end of 13 including those that will be in the pipeline So we feel good about that Its right in line with our projections Proceed with caution Snow says its important to avoid the knee jerk reaction of simply lowering your price and your standards to meet the competition head on Dont jump to conclusions about discounting until youve researched and understood all the possibilities available to you Snow says Discounting is typically the first reaction that everybody has and its typically one of the worst things you can do Your services and your product line are based on certain things you did when you built the product to maintain certain margins So just going and cutting your rates and allowing your product to stand as is while this will probably drive some volume will destroy your margins And it will be very difficult to ever come back from that Snow also recommends that if an executive is considering introducing a new product line that will affect the companys overall brand its crucial to avoid getting ahead of yourself and hurrying the process There are times when you would like to move faster as a leader Snow says But its difficult to move fast until your internal teams have bought in You cant go forward without them In the end as with most important tasks that businesses face teamwork and group sacrifice were key elements that enabled Golds Gym International to successfully grapple with the tough competitive challenge it faced Theres no problem that we would cross here in this company that any one person believes they have the perfect answer to Snow says We operate as a team Its a team environment HOW TO REACH Golds Gym International 972 444 8527 www goldsgym com The Snow File NAME Jim Snow TITLE President COMPANY Golds Gym International Born Manhattan Kansas Education Bachelors degree in marketing Kansas State University What important business leadership lessons did you learn during your time in school that you use today My marketing classes helped me understand the value of consumer studies customer focus and the need to drive top line revenues Today my primary role is to balance revenues customer service and the owners priorities And everything starts with revenue Youve got to look for it everywhere and drive it incessantly What was your first job and what important business leadership lessons did you learn from it One of my first jobs coming out of college was with Marriott Corp Marriott gave me an excellent basis of training for my future career One of the things they taught is that they expect their managers to work hard and perform at a very high level I took that credo and told myself Im always going to be the hardest working person I know and Ive tried to do that throughout my career Do you have an overriding business philosophy that you use to guide you Youve got to have a dynamic culture that supports your associates And youve got to have an organization that takes the needs of the customers into account and a mentality that doing those things will take care of your owners requirements What traits do you think are most important for an executive to have in order to be a successful leader Youve got to be transparent Youve got to be courageous enough to go the uncomfortable route when you dont have complete buy in Youve got to be confident in your direction Youve got to think big And youve got to be willing to swing the bat Whats the best advice anyone ever gave you Be aggressive and set the expectations very high for your company