In a previous article on how you should ensure your email addresses are domain-based, I mentioned briefly my recommendation about using function-oriented addresses instead of individual staff names. I would like to expand on that recommendation a little today and explain in more depth what I was talking about.
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Many businesses have one, even in the fitness industry. A staff member who is more than what their job description says they are. In this case, someone who harbors a latent interest in computers. They could be anyone; one of your receptionists, a membership consultant, maybe your group exercise coordinator. Like Superman and Clark Kent, by day they spend their time spreading the good word of fitness to your members, and by night they're at home on their computer installing the latest beta version of Ubuntu Linux in a VM so they can check out the new Unity environment. If you're one of the very lucky fitness businesses that has someone like this on your team, I'm here to tell you to nurture and encourage them as much as you can. They may end up being one of your most valuable team members.
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There is a great episode of The Simpsons where Homer is giving his email to someone. To wit:
Homer: Now, if you need to reach me, my email is chunkylover53 at AOL.
Dexter Colt: Chunky Lover 53...
Homer: It's one word.
Dexter Colt: One word.
Homer: Chunkylover53.
Dexter Colt: At AOL.
Homer: Dot com.
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I've done technical support in the fitness industry for around 15 years. When I first started, I didn't even own a computer (!) so all the technical phone assistance I gave to customers was done using purely my memory. I'd be giving the person on the other end of the phone step by step instructions with my eyes closed as I desperately tried to picture in my head what screens the person was seeing, what button they needed to click on next, what would happen when they did, etc. Tough times.
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You have a great Web site for your fitness business. You spent a lot of money and probably even more time having it professionally designed, coded and hosted. You meticulously wrote every word on it to beautifully convey your brand, explain your services and hopefully increase enquiry rates. It's a masterpiece of HTML and it is an excellent addition to your business's intellectual property.
Until one of your members who happens to use Google Chrome as their Web browser looks at it....
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If you're currently paying for your anti-virus software, today I'm going to potentially save your business hundreds of dollars.
Anti-virus software is one of those bits of kit that most people consider mandatory issue in today's computing environment. Computer viruses and malware are an increasingly concerning problem for businesses and users. Back in the good old days of computing, viruses fell more into the category of nuisances or annoying. They'd play pranks on you, pop up messages that I assume the virus author thought was funny and if you were really unlucky, they'd go the extra mile and maybe delete some of your documents.
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I remember the very first computer I ever used at a health club in a professional capacity. It was an ancient IBM XT with one of those monitors that displayed nothing but green text on a black background. She was a beauty. It was state-of-the-art at the time and would have cost the club owner a small fortune. I have many happy, geeky memories of that machine, one of which was how the monitor was only 12” or so, and was as deep as it was wide and weighed more than my bench warm-ups.
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There are two ‘facts’ that have not changed at all for the more than 20 years I have been working in the Australian fitness industry; the first is the golden 10% statistic where 10% of the population regularly participate in exercise. The second is that there is a concerning lack of information technology expertise with comprehensive, real-world, fitness industry experience.
Addressing the “Golden 10%” is outside my skillset, and is the domain of the many, many sales/marketing and retention consultants, experts and gurus that have saturated the industry. What I can do however is attempt to address the dearth of fitness industry-specific IT information that is available to club/studio managers and others who have an interest in ensuring they are getting the most out of their computer systems for their business.
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