Take Charge with Choose to Lose
Start planning now for a Spring 2015 promotion to build leads, sales and ancillary revenues. Last week at Club Industry in Chicago, I had the opportunity to present some thoughts on how healthclubs and wellness facilities could expand their referral network in the healthcare community. We have had success with developing self-referrals through a community-wide event, Choose to Lose. Here are some steps to get started.
First, identify the following:
- Project Goals
- Planning Phases
- Team/Resources
- Analysis & Results
I. Set Project Goals for Weight-loss Program (8 or 10 weeks)
Losing even 10 pounds can impact a variety of chronic disease conditions.
- Participant objective, enroll 500
- Sales objective, 125 new members, plus 8-week guest pass sales of 250
- Community involvement of fire/police teams or other civic group. Your center/club will help them meet their objectives.
- Program objective is to build awareness of your center’s leadership role in the community as a resource for health & wellness
- Participant completion objective of 30%
- Public relations objective is to receive press coverage of civic team and the medical fitness
- Establish marketing/communication budget & tactics that integrate with your Facility’s role as a Thought Leader
 II. Project Phases
- Planning (Several key components below)
- Sponsorship & Partnership Outreach
- Development of 8-week self-guided program, supplemented by educational sessions with our experts (tie-in local physicians)
- Police & fire program, identify fitness leaders to coach groups to reach goals
- Communications plan, internal & external
- Weigh in & Weight outs, data analysis
- Results & PR
III. Team/Resources
- Your Staff
- Local Healthcare organizations for Screenings or Referrals
- Screen Team & Screening tools
- Potential local business partners for sponsorships
IV. Final Analysis & Results
- Press release with results to all local media
- Article/blog for digital media
- Video testimonials of participants with results
- Analysis of program, did it meet goals, why or why not?
PLANNING – Thought Leadership
- Develop Theme/Concept for Promotional Campaign
- Identify key groups for building awareness
- Create content for press/your center’s blog
- Solicit other media sponsors
- Create messages for front-line staff
PLANNING — Program Content
- Reference organizations, resources for weight-loss, walking
- Determine staff needs for weekly weigh-ins, education
- Determine method for follow-up, emails, e-news
- Organize fun event to incent people to complete 8 weeks
- Tie-in sales promotion to successful completion or special offer during program
- Assign staff for phone call follow-up on regular basis
- Track usage of guest passes
FACILITY PLANNING — Sign up Week & Weekly Weigh-ins
- Develop process for weigh-ins, other screenings & data collection
- Develop registration form, HIPAA compliance, waiver for data, etc.
- Testimonials from participants, release for images/story
- Handouts/guidelines for participants on key health benefits
- Speaker schedule for educational sessions at key intervals
- Determine if data will be logged in system/website, establish criteria