The mission of Healthy Steps Nutrition is to help people take control of their health one step at a time so they can reverse and prevent chronic diseases. In order for us to help more people, we need gym owners running nutrition programs in their gyms to be successful. Completing a nutrition program review will help gym owners and nutrition coaches get a better understanding of what their goals for the business are, and what they need to do in order for them to get there.
If you are in the fitness industry and have a nutrition coaching program in your gym, this blog post is for you! We will show you how to complete a nutrition program review with your nutrition coaches in order to set your nutrition program up for success in 2024!
Defining What Success Looks Like For You
In order to determine what a successful nutrition program is, it’s very important for you as the gym owner to understand what you want to get out of your nutrition program. From there, finding out what your nutrition coach wants from the program is the next step. The two of you, or maybe three to four of you if you have more than one nutrition coach, need to be able to communicate what each party needs from the program.
For example, the gym owner may have a certain number in mind regarding the amount of revenue the nutrition program needs to bring in each month. If this number equates to needing more nutrition clients than the current nutrition coach can handle, well then there needs to be a discussion regarding hiring another coach.
So first things first, determine what success looks like for each one of you before you get any further into the program review process.
Reflecting On The Past Year
I love the sentiment of always looking ahead and never looking back. However, in business, sometimes it’s important to look back so you can see what you would like to change moving forward in order to be more successful than you were previously. This is why you need to reflect.
Ask yourselves these questions:
What went well with your nutrition program?
What areas for improvement are you seeing?
What goals did you meet for the program in 2023, and did you do everything you wanted to do this year?
If you did not do everything you wanted this year, what held you back?
How much revenue did your program bring in this year?
How many leads did you get to the program, and how many of those leads signed up for your program?
Where did your leads come from?
Nutrition coaches specifically:
How often did you participate in coach development?
Does the amount of nutrition clients you have meet your income need?
Are you living up to your full potential as a nutrition coach, or is there room for improvement?
How many of your nutrition clients converted from the first twelve weeks to ongoing coaching?
Don’t Leave Out The Details
Doing a nutrition program review is a process that is time-consuming. But, you do not want to leave out any details. Be as specific as possible so that you can develop a process that will ultimately enable employees, and clients to be more successful.
Nutrition Program Best Practices
Every year at HSN Mentoring we encourage all of our clients to do a nutrition program review, just like we are writing about here. Over the years we have compiled a list of best practices for gym owners and coaches who operate a nutrition coaching program.
Several factors lend to a nutrition programs success, and this list has been fine-tuned to what the gyms bringing in the most revenue, and helping the most people to live a healthy lifestyle are doing on a regular basis.
Here are just a few of the best practices:
Program Launch - Six Months Running
Owner and coach are attending monthly mentoring calls with their HSN mentor
The gyms front end offer includes an option to start with nutrition coaching plus fitness
All the fitness coaches in the gym are on board with the nutrition program and know how to get members started with a nutrition coach.
Ongoing Coaching Program
The nutrition coach is being evaluated by the owner, or an HSN Dietitian in our ongoing coaches development program every 12 months
Nutrition is being sold from the free intro front-end offer at least 50% of the time
Monthly meetings are being held with the nutrition coach and gym owner, or manager
Gym members see the presence of nutrition inside the gym through a nutrition board, a wall of success, nutrition coach videos in the private member’s group, and posters
The gym’s social media, email marketing, and website reflect nutrition as a top priority and show client success stories regularly
The nutrition coaching program is bringing in at least $2999 per month on a regular basis
Setting SMART Goals
Through the nutrition program review process you will develop an understanding of where you want to go, and what things have been missing in order for you to be successful. It’s now time to set some goals for your program.
SMART goals are a framework designed to help set clear and achievable objectives. The acronym SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.
Here’s a breakdown of each component:
Specific: The goal should be clear, well-defined, and specific about what needs to be accomplished. It answers the questions: What, Why, and How.
Measurable: There should be a way to measure progress and determine when the goal has been met. This often involves quantifiable criteria or specific indicators.
Achievable: The goal should be realistic and attainable, considering the resources, knowledge, and time available. It should stretch you but still be possible.
Relevant: The goal should be aligned with broader objectives and relevant to the overall mission or vision. It should matter and make a positive impact.
Time-Bound: There should be a specific timeframe for achieving the goal. This adds a sense of urgency and helps in evaluating progress over time.
An example of a SMART goal could be: “Increase nutrition program membership by 20% within the next three months by implementing a targeted social media marketing campaign to attract new clients who are interested in our nutrition programs.”
By using the SMART criteria, you can create goals that are well-defined, feasible, and conducive to success. This framework is widely used in project management, business planning, personal development, and various other areas to enhance goal-setting effectiveness.
Break Your SMART Goals Into Categories
There are a lot of roles and tasks that need to take place in order to run a successful nutrition coaching program. Because of this, when setting goals for the program after the nutrition program review, I like to break my goals into categories.
The categories that I use to reflect on the program, and set goals are:
Free Intro Process (Do I have a front-end offer, and do I feel comfortable in this process)
Social Media Presence (Posting Consistently On Instagram, and Facebook)
Email marketing (Am I sending emails)
Nutrition Services & Packages (Is my pricing and packaging on point)
Nutrition Presence In The Gym (When people walk in do they know we offer nutrition & fitness?)
Nutrition Coach Development & Continuing Education
Expansion (Are we ready to expand to corporate wellness or kids nutrition)
Taking Action
Always remember that with every goal, comes the need for action. It’s not enough to just set goals. The goals need to come with a plan in order to make things happen! We will use the example of “increasing nutrition coaching revenue by 20% within the next 3 months by implementing a social media strategy”.
In order to make this goal happen, make a list of what needs to be done. After you make a list of what needs to happen:
Write down your name, or the nutrition coach’s name next to each task
Write down the date the task needs to be done by
Create a check and balance system that each of you can follow in order to hold each other accountable
Wrap Up
I wish it were as easy as simply giving general nutrition advice, doing some personal training, helping clients pick out their food, and teaching them they don’t need to be on a lifelong diet. But unfortunately we have to worry about all that business stuff too. Often times the business stuff isn’t our strong suit. But by using this article, you will be able to help yourself run a nutrition program review.
The action I expect you to take from this is to come up with a goal, and 1 action step for each category to improve. If you are not ready for expansion, leave that action step off.
Shoot me an email! I would love to hear what you are working on in 2024!
