Ideas of a Tired Mind

My boss called me today, and asked if we had any customers come into the shop today. My response was, "Not a single one! Not even a phone call!"

Obviously this wasn't good news to him. Even though it is our slow season, we should be getting some customers! He commented that we need to start doing something about that. I laughed and told him that maybe we should start going door to door!

His concern kicked my brain into high gear, and I came up with a few ideas. They may not be good ones, but its a start at least.

I have been thinking a lot about why someone would buy fitness equipment, besides their obvious need for an extra place to hang the clothes out to dry. The biggest reason I can think of for someone to purchase fitness equipment is to better their health. But not everyone thinks about their health all that much, aside from weight loss. And a lot of people get fed up with their weight, start a work our program, only to stop in only a few weeks. The reason? Because they don't really know what they are doing, or where to start. I know thats the case with me. I quit for two reasons mainly. Either because I don't see any results, or working out is too hard. And I think both of those reasons are because I don't really know what I'm doing.

So maybe the question I should be asking myself isn't "What prompts people to buy" as much as "What causes people not to buy". And maybe the biggest reason is because people aren't educated about fitness. How to do it, why its even necessary, what it does for your body, how it can improve quality of life.

That's what really attracts me to the idea of holding free community classes sposored by Columbia Fitness and Club 24. I think as people become more educated about the benefits of fitness, and how to do it, they will become more interested in doing it, and want to purchase fitness products.
I also had the idea of creating a company blog. Somewhere like this forum, to discuss the same sorts of things. Why fitness is important, how to do it. What exercise programs and products are a scam, and what things actually work.

You know, one of our company slogans is "We Make Fitness Fun". But I can't really think of a way that we do that. I think that is one of our biggest opportunities for advertizing/generating sales. To actually make fitness fun!

I got really excited about the blog idea. I also got excited about making a CFS news letter to send out along with our postcard ads we send out every now and then.

Maybe I'll work on getting some rough draft ideas for all of these things to show to my boss, and see what he thinks.