Winter Training is on the minds of many of your class participants starting today! Base building, maintaining fitness and improving power are all things that the endurance athletes are looking for from you and your class. Are you prepared to deliver these things?
Gene Nacey from Cycling Fusion joins me to discuss why you should consider offering a structured winter training program and Gene describes how he created just such a program at his Global Ride Studio.
If you are interested in participating, contact Cycling Fusion at support@cyclingfusion.com.
Listen to the Podcast below or subscribe for free using
WOW have things changed over the last three years! When I started the Indoor Cycle Instructor Podcast in August of 2008 I hated using videos in my Spinning classes and played them only when my students begged me. The simple reason was all we had to offer were bicycle racing DVD's. They were nothing but a distraction. I found it difficult to get my student's attention while they were fixated on the screen, waiting for some event like a crash or breakaway.
Now everything has changed and it's a rare class when I don't use a video from Epic Planet or Global Ride. Both of these DVD series add visuals that can form the profile for your class. Add a great playlist and I guarantee your class will enjoy the ride.
The only trouble is watching these awesome rides will have you longing to ride each route for real 🙂
Here a sample of the latest from the new Global Ride Indoor Cycling DVDs that feature three different videos; Paceline Cycling In France, Club Ride In France and TDF Climbing In France.
What unique about Global Ride's DVDs is that they include coaching tracks that could be used as a “virtual ride” in your studio during times when there is no Instructor to lead the class. You could also (actually I recommend) ride along with the coaching track by yourself to learn the profile of the video before teaching to it your class. Once you get the hang of it you can create your own profiles to use with theses videos or you can use one of ours like Audio PROfile #156
AFS – The Association of Fitness Studios – is the organization for small/boutique studios and it's my recommendation that Indoor Cycling Studio owners become members.
It's free to join as a basic member – register here.
In this episode of the Podcast, AFS founder Josh Leve and I discuss the many benefits of AFS membership. Learn why I feel joining the Association of Fitness Studios (AFS) is an important step for all Indoor cycling studio owners.
Here's Josh giving a short pitch on the benefits of membership.
Well we made it. One hundred and fifty miles, most of it sitting up front pulling our team. Amy and I have a new appreciation for what battling a continuous 20 mile an hour headwind feels like, over 70 miles – exhausting!
In past years, it was always our objective to get out as early as possible. Much of the first day is on paved railroad bike path, which can get pretty crowded. For some reason on Saturday the team decided to take a more leisurely time getting ready. Instead of our typical 6 AM start, we rolled out a little after 7:00. Not a good idea, especially when you tend to ride much faster than 80%-90% of everyone else on the ride. So we passed a lot of people and observed hundreds of bad bike fittings – some appearing to be incredibly inefficient and painful, which led to this idea…
Missed marketing opportunity for studio owners!
I've commented in the past how I see large charity cycling events as the perfect place to be promoting your Indoor Cycling studio. The MN event had over 3,500 participants and everyone is a potential customer. With over 100 Bike MS events scattered around the United States there's bound to be one near you.
I appears that the MS Society accepts two types of sponsors; paid promotional partners and in-kind sponsors. If you have a very well-funded indoor cycling studio it may make sense for you to investigate sponsoring a rest stop or a booth at one of the and points. The other way to get yourself in front of the 3,500 cyclists is to provide an in-kind service of some type. The best example would be the bike shops that provide maintenance and repairs at each of the rest stops. At the end of day-one there are a number of massage therapists and chiropractors offering their services to tired, but grateful, participants.
“But I'm an Indoor Cycling Instructor John… I can't fix bikes or massage tired muscles… what else could I do?”
Provide complementary bike fittings 🙂
Now this is just me thinking here, but if I owned a studio I'd look into providing complimentary bike fit services at the end of the first day. Trust me. there are hundreds and hundreds of clueless people, who would benefit dramatically in some simple adjustments to seat height. That might be all I would offer. If you found someone with a horribly wrong seat fore and aft position you may offer to change it or you may make some cleat adjustments. But with hundreds of potential fittings, I would be focused on quantity rather than quality. You may want to bring along a few turbo trainers to hold each bike while you check seat height. A few end wrenches, bicycle multitool and a small level + a few assistants to help would be all you need.
Your target would be the occasional rider. This event is probably the single largest ride they may ever do in their lifetime and they will appreciate any help that will improve their experience. Your service would not be directed toward the typical road bike rider who has the experience to recognize the importance of proper bike fit. You may want to set up a booth at registration with some simple signage explaining the service you provide. My guess is that you wouldn't get a lot of takers until after that first 80 mile day 🙂
Think Burma Shave signage.
You have a captive audience riding this paved trail
A series of inexpensive yard signs, positioned along the last 10 or 15 miles, with some clever verbiage that communicates how much more comfortable you would be properly fitted to your bicycle. You would have literally thousands of suffering people open to your promised relief. After all, they have tomorrow to think about… And many are dreading the thought of day two.
Leverage the event
The local TV stations love these active, feel-good events. Before I left for my class Monday morning, our local station ran a long segment about this past weekend's event. Reporters loved to be tipped off about interesting things they can talk about. If you called and pitched them about the importance of proper bike fit and how it makes for a more enjoyable long distance ride, there's a good chance they might bite on it. Your pitch is nothing about you or your studio, only about the service that you're providing to others. TV reporters know the game and it's natural for them to want to plug you and your studio in their report. With any luck you may end up on television and get the opportunity to invite tens of thousands of people to come and ride indoors with you!
I get the “Where can I get certified as a “Spin®”,”Schwinn®” or simply an Indoor Cycling Instructor?” question a lot. While trying to be helpful, more often than not my response is “I'm sorry, but you are asking the wrong person.” “The person you want to ask is the manager at the club where you would like to teach.”
Many people skip that step – here's why you shouldn't…
Sometimes I feel like Dr. Alfred Lanning from the movie I Robot where Will Smith's character, Detective Del Spooner, is quizzing Dr. Lanning's holographic image. The Doctor looks at him and says “I'm sorry. My responses are limited. You must ask the right questions.”
The right question is; “what do I need to do to teach a regularly scheduled Indoor Cycling class at my local club?”
UPDATE: It can't hurt to check first to see which studios & clubs are hiring. This Instructor jobs board is a great place to start 🙂
“That's a question I can answer” 🙂
I'll put this in the context of a question our daughter Abby, a Junior in college, asked us last fall; “I'd really like to write for a car magazine… and get to drive a lot of cool cars!” “How do I get a job like that?”
“My responses are limited. You must ask the right questions.”
“OK, so what would you suggest I do to get into the car business?”
“That's a question I can answer.”
Our advice for our daughter Abby was to find a company (any company) in the car business and see if they have some type of entry level job where she can get her feet wet. Luckily for Abby, her mother (Amy) had a friend who's husband (Brandon) is an area manager for Enterprise Car Rental. Not “Car and Driver”, but for a 21 year college junior, quite possibly the perfect place to get her start in the “car business”. Long story short, Abby met with the manager and learned that they offer a select number of summer internships. During this initial meeting she asked a lot of questions about what Enterprise is looking for in the people they hire. Armed with this “insider information”, she was able to successfully navigate a long interview process (there are hundreds of applicants) and she starts Enterprise's summer Management Training program next month 🙂 It's hard to say where it will lead, but it's a very positive start for a sharp young women.
I feel the same thinking applies to securing your first teaching gig; there are a lot of people who would like to teach, but few who will do the exploratory ground work where they can “ask the right questions”. It's really just the tried and true sales process that's been followed for thousands of years. Here are the steps:
Decide if you are willing to do whatever (within reason of course) it takes to secure a regularly scheduled class.
Identify your prospect(s) (potential customer). You are after all selling something here; YOU! There maybe only one location, or there could be a dozens near you. Don't rule out anywhere that offers Indoor Cycling. Your objective is to get a scheduled class. I shouldn't matter where and it may not be in the most convenient location.
Find the decision maker at the club/studio. This shouldn't be too hard; take a class there (everyone offers a free class) and ask the Instructor after class. It's important to be very direct with your intent; which is to learn who can say YES to you teaching there! Tell the Instructor that you are interested in learning about becoming an Instructor and you would appreciate knowing who makes the hiring decisions. That's all you want to learn from the Instructor – nothing more! Resist the temptation to ask if they are hiring – people tend to be protective of their “turf” and you want a friend, not someone who's fearful that you want to take their job. Be sure to get the Instructor's first and last name because you will need it later.
Repeat at every location. Rejection is much easier to handle if you have multiple prospects 🙂 Do yourself a favor and don't get emotionally committed to only one studio if at all possible.
Contact the decision maker (by phone or in person – never by email) with the objective of scheduling a short meeting where you can learn more about what the club looks for in an Instructor. That's it, nothing beyond the commitment to meet at a later date. You may say something like this; Hi Ms. Jones, my name is John and I took a class at your club last week. It was with (insert full name of the the Instructor here) and I wanted you to know that I really enjoyed her class and your club! Next you show him/her you're concerned about them; Am I catching you at a good time? I have a quick question I'd like to ask you. Wait for their response. If it's anything but I'm OK, offer to call them back when it's a better time. “What can I help you with?” I'm really interested in learning everything I can about becoming an Instructor. (Instructor's first name) told me you have a lot of experience in the fitness industry and I have a number questions. I realize you have a busy schedule but could we schedule a time for a short meeting this Thursday or Friday mid-morning? Always offer an either / or option, not a question that can be easily answered by NO. If the response is anything like “we aren't hiring any new Instructors” affirm this and again ask for the meeting; Sure, I understand that you aren't hiring now. I was just hoping to gain from your experience. It should only take 15 minutes or so… would Friday at 10:00am work for you? There's nothing wrong with being persistent! It must have taken Abby a month for her to get Brandon's commitment to the first meeting. We had to repeatedly encourage her to keep after him and in then end he told her that it was her persistence that caused him to finally agree to the meeting.
For many, securing the appointment will be the second hardest part of this process. With a meeting in hand you know the drill; show up on time, look nice, smile, etc… Keep your commitment to asking questions. Here are a few suggestions:
What certification do you require?
What makes for a popular Instructor?
Is there a certain type of Instructor your members appreciate more than others?
Do you feel you are missing/lacking any specific type of class format that would appeal to people who aren't currently members?
How do you decide on what types of classes you offer?
Do you have specific times during the year when you make class scheduling changes?
This isn't the time to talk a lot about yourself 🙁 Even if the manager gives you an opening “why do you want to be an Instructor?” resist the temptation to say too much. Keep your answers brief and end them with another question. People love to be interviewed and talk about themselves, so keep asking them questions.
How long have you been in the fitness industry?
Why did you first get into the fitness industry?
Do you participate in any events; triathlon, 5k, charity rides, etc.. ?
Then comes the hardest part (and only if you feel you've developed some rapport with him/her) where you ask a “If I could, would you?” question, as in; If I could get a (insert the certification they named) would you consider evaluating me as a potential Instructor? And then wait for the answer.
Many clubs and studios now accept an online certification. If they will you can get certified here.
If it's not positive, ask some more specific questions to learn exactly why and then thank them for their time and move on to your next meeting.
Please let me know if this was helpful to you by leaving a comment below – or visit indoorcyclinginstructorjobs.com to find your new class 🙂
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