Luke Carlson HEALTH & FITNESS ASSOCIATION BOARD CHAIR

Your Club Is Not Just a Building

Much is said and written about community in our industry, but what does the term actually mean?

I hosted a panel on the topic of community at The HFA Show a few years ago. The panelists were awesome—smart, thoughtful, and successful. I started by asking each panelist, “What is community?” (I think it’s a good idea to define terms before beginning an informed discussion.) Each panelist had a different answer. More to the point, many of their answers were in direct opposition to each other.

Some suggested that community meant “inclusiveness.” Communities, by at least one definition, are built on a common set of shared values or interests, which means they are exclusive, not inclusive, by their very nature. Furthermore, when I asked the panelists what the business purpose of community is, they really couldn’t answer. It was an enjoyable discussion, but it lacked concrete takeaways.

At another HFA show, I attended a session where the panelists (very experienced operators and thought leaders) pontificated on the future of our industry. Almost to a person, they said the successful health and fitness business of the future will be built around community. Yet, again, no one could define what community is, at least in this context. And nobody could speak to the ROI of community.

For a topic that seems to have universal import for our industry, why is our understanding of community so amorphous?

Maybe that’s not surprising. The Merriam-Webster definition of "community" lists nearly a dozen examples of criteria (geographic, demographic, biological, common interests, etc.) that can define communities. But we have businesses to run. We should be able to speak clearly about what community means for practical, day-to-day operations.

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The Ties That Bind

For all of us focused on community, maybe the more important questions are:

• Does our prospect/customer want community? (Is this a value proposition they are interested in?)

• Does community drive willingness to pay?

• If every club and studio is providing community, how can we differentiate and build a strategy that attracts and retains customers around community?

I don’t have answers to these questions. I’m also not convinced that the future of our industry is community. Here is what I am convinced of: People want to believe in something and long to be a part of a shared purpose.

Think of attending a religious service. The four walls, the physical structure, doesn’t define the faith community. It’s the theology, core beliefs, customs, and rituals that make it a meaningful destination. People don’t go to a church, synagogue, or mosque without a religion—there’s always a set of beliefs that bind them. A church building without a religion is just another building.

This analogy is, admittedly, an imperfect one, but if we’re serious about community playing a central role in the future of our industry, we should understand what that means. As commercial operators, we don’t offer a religion to bring people together—we offer services to those willing to pay us for them. If we’re going to create a community that people long to be a part of, it has to be built around a set of beliefs or values—a shared purpose that people identify with. And, most importantly, it has to be differentiated from other clubs and studios.

The successful club or studio of the future will attract customers who see themselves reflected in the ideology or ethos of the facility. The questions you have to ask yourself are: What set of beliefs does my brand represent? What shared purpose does my facility offer that will bind people together?

Even if community isn’t the answer to our industry’s future success, those are questions still worth asking. Otherwise, like a church with no religion, your facility is just another building.

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Health & Fitness Business (HFB) is the leading health and fitness industry publication. Published monthly by the Health & Fitness Association (HFA) and distributed free to the industry, HFB offers analysis of the opportunities, challenges, issues, and news that impact the industry.

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