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Delegation is easier said than done. If you've ever used the phrases,
“There aren't enough hours in the week” or “Why are there only seven days instead of eight”, you're not alone and many other business owners share your stress.
While it seems difficult to loosen your grip over your business, there are enormous benefits to learning how to delegate in your gym or studio:
- You'll have more time to focus on your customers
- Areas of your business will grow faster
- Your coaches and staff will feel valued and empowered
- Parts of your business you put on the back burner can now be revisited
- Your business will run more efficiently and you'll reduce your headaches
By implementing a few simple delegation strategies you can ease the burden currently on your shoulders.
Why delegation is important for a fitness business
From the moment you start handing over some of the large items on your plate that shouldn't be there to your staff and your gym management software, a heavyweight will be lifted. It's normal that as a founder or owner you want to take on the responsibilities of making sure payments get made, clients are attending, classes are running successfully, pointing out things that need improvement, and ultimately controlling everything in your power.
But the reason you use gym software or hire staff is so that you don't have to do it all on your own. Training your team to run better classes and ensure you're gym is providing a safe experience to your members while the key features in your software handle the bookings and payments knocks quite a few big-ticket items off your list of to-dos. As those repetitive tasks, you couldn't stop focusing on getting lighter and lighter, you'll find yourself simultaneously becoming a better business owner.
If you want your business to grow, your customers to stay happy, retention to skyrocket and revenue to increase, then delegation will help you get there.
To break it down, there are three areas you can delegate tasks to improve your business efficiency:
- Staff
- Software
- Outside help
Let's start with staff...
Use your staff's strengths to your advantage
An important part of hiring the right people and the training process is identifying what each of your staff excels at. They each bring something different to the table, whether it is skilled in marketing, an eye for accounting, excellent programming, or one's ability to get things done quickly. Work out what they thrive at and give them responsibilities you know they're equipped to handle on their own.
If you really want them to succeed in the long run and develop their skills, bring your staff into shadow things you're working on our give you input. As an owner or manager, you're integral in their growth and development and this can help them prepare to take on bigger tasks as your business grows.
Clear communication is key
Regular communication with your team is a vital part of learning to effectively delegate. Hold regular team meetings to make sure everyone knows what your short-term goals are and what you're ultimately striving for. Keeping everyone in the loop ensures that each member of your team is pulling in the same direction.
It also means that everyone knows what their role is and what they are responsible for individually and as a team. This prevents confusion leading to people doubling up on tasks, or certain jobs not getting done at all.
Give regular, individual feedback
One-to-one meetings with your team keep the quality of your gym and studio high. Instructing staff on what they can improve on with helpful input or what they're doing well will eliminate you from having to step in often and feel you need to do it yourself.
As much as possible, keeping them working on areas that they will find beneficial to their own development means they will remain motivated and on task. It also creates a positive working environment.
Where software can help you delegate
Assess what admin can be automated with gym management software
Utilising your gym management software to the fullest is an easy way to delegate the more time-consuming and repetitive tasks you come up against. Your TeamUp account is so much more than just a booking system. It is equipped with features to take control over those admin tasks that when done manually, eat up the hours of the day, such as:
- Communicating with clients about class schedules and availability
- Collecting payments
- Onboarding new members and organising memberships
- Organising new services and informing members of them
- Marketing and reminders about class times
- Monitoring attendances and your best and worst performers
There are numerous tools that can take over these responsibilities and leave you to focus on the customer experience. Here's how.
Make your availability clear with scheduling
One of your system's biggest benefits is giving customers a place to view your schedule and availability and book on their own. There's no need for you to inform your customers of every class time individually when they can look it up online for themselves. If you do want to make sure they don't forget adding your calendar to places such as your social media, your website, and your newsletter ensures they see your availability and remember to book class themselves. Say goodbye to waiting by the phone or email for members to confirm, you'll both see it when they do.
Give staff permissions to manage your system
Staff permissions make it easy for your team to be able to manage the areas of your business within your gym booking software system. It's the perfect pairing that gives your staff more control, but still keeps it all in one place for you to check on when necessary. Anything from managing class scheduling to updating customer details and pushing through payments, you set what your team can and can't access.
Take advantage of helpful integrations and automation
Your system is full of automated tools and integrations that can improve your workflow and get things done faster than you can. When it comes to communicating with members and setting up class time reminders, you can either set that up using notifications or build newsletters with tools such as Mailchimp and Constant Contact to go out on regular basis.
Tools such as Zapier connect TeamUp and your marketing together so that when members perform an action, they tell your systems how to respond, such as with a newsletter, an email, or an SMS. It's got it all covered.
Use detailed reports to help you run your business
If there is something that's going to save you time and boost business growth simultaneously it's your reports. In-depth or at a glance you have all the information you need to make the best decisions for your business at the click of a button.
For example, you can see your clients' progress stats. You can see the conversion rates of leads to signed up clients. You can also keep clear records of your revenue and income. When it comes to tax season, you can export that information into a spreadsheet to send to your bank or accountant.
No more time wasted on reviewing class attendance manually or asking teachers and instructors about best and low performers. Your reports will tell you and your team can help make informed decisions by accessing them too.
And when there are tasks you can't delegate to your staff or gym management software, it's ok to ask for outside help and expertise.
Ask an accountant to help balance the books
Finance is a good example of this. Each year, instead of labouring over receipts and accounts to balance the books, use the information you've collected from your reports and hire an accountant to help you. Turning to someone who knows the ins and outs of the process takes this stress away, they may find ways to save you money as well.
Reach out to fitness business coaches for advice
It doesn't matter how long you've been at it, at some point, we all need some guidance to take the next step up in our professional lives. Turning to a fitness business coach, someone who has walked the same path as you can give you the advice and assurance you're looking for. They'll be the first person to tell you delegation is important. Delegating some of the items we have discussed in the article will give you more time to seek out the mentoring business coaches can offer you to take your business to the next level.
To sum up
Learning to delegate tasks in your studio improves efficiency and gives you more time to build a better customer experience. Rely on your staff to help manage the load, your gym management software to cover all of your bases with automation, with outside help and expertise to help you boost your business growth. All you have to do is start reducing your control and you'll be on the right track.
To find more tips and ways to improve running your business, check out our guides on tips and tools for fitness businesses.
