On The Way to 50 Million

Research undertaken in this report identified six initiatives that industry leaders ranked as either "important" or " very important" in helping them grow membership both at their own clubs and in the industry as a whole.

Those six initiatives were:

1. The Development of a Bi-Monthly "Best Practices" Membership Retention Newsletter This will enable clubs to continually compare their retention initiatives with those of clubs that have already achieved industry-leading results.

2. The Development of Marketing and Sales Strategies that would be effective in deepening penetration of the Baby Boomer market

IHRSA will undertake consumer research aimed at identifying exactly what Baby Boomers are looking for in a club experience, and how best to communicate to them.

3. The Development of a Bi-Monthly "Best Practices" Club Marketing and Sales Newsletter This, too, will continually provide club operators with sales systems and practices that characterize industry-leading companies.

4. The Development of Sales and Service Staff Training Videos IHRSA will continue its series of sales training videos aimed at giving sales managers a variety of training tools to upgrade sales effectiveness.

5. The Continual Distribution of Updates on Research Relating to the Health Benefits of Regular Exercise IHRSA will continue disseminating to club industry leaders and to leading lifestyle and health journal- ists everywhere the results of every significant research study pertaining to the benefits of exercise.

6. The Development of new flyers/brochures highlighting the health benefits of regular exercise

IHRSA will initiate plans to develop a new series of visually attractive, yet low-cost brochures, each highlighting a distinctive health benefit of regular exercise.

All of these initiatives are in the various stages of implementation. Some are already operational. To be specific:

1. IHRSA, in partnership with FitLinxx, is already committed to the continuation and further devel- opment of its bi-monthly "best practices" newsletter pertaining to breakthroughs in membership retention.

2. Pending final approvals, IHRSA intends to initiate a series of consumer research projects aimed specifically at identifying what the industry can do immediately to accelerate penetration of the Baby Boom market. Indeed, this research has already begun. A benchmark study, tracking the present awareness, image, and interest of Baby Boom (and other) consumers in fitness and in health clubs is now being completed and will be released by IHRSA later this year.

3. IHRSA has already received a commitment of support from another of its longtime partners, Checkfree, to begin development of a bi-monthly "best practices" sales and service newsletter, commencing in October 1999.

4. IHRSA has also already received a commitment from SalesMakers, one of the industry's premier sales consulting companies, to partner with them in the continuation of the IHRSA sales and service staff training video series. The next training video will focus on teaching staff how to maximize the value of the telephone with respect to both outgoing and incoming sales-related telephone calls. This training video will be released in mid-1999.

5. Thanks to the continuation of a long-term partnership with Technogym, IHRSA plans to expand circulation and distribution of its electronic and fax updates on the latest research reports pertaining

to the health benefits of regular exercise. These reports document every late-breaking research development with respect to the health benefits of regular exercise. They are rapidly becoming a central component of many clubs' overall communications strategy.

6. Finally, efforts are already being made to begin development of an entirely new series of low-cost, visually compelling "benefits of exercise" brochures, each documenting a distinct and separate health benefit of regular exercise.

These steps are only the beginning. They represent only the first phase in the long march to 50 Million by the year 2010.