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The 3 C's Of A Great Nutrition Experience

by Matt O'Neil (BSpSc, MSc(Nut&Diet) � Founder of SmartShape.com.au)

The 3 C's Of A Great Nutrition Experience Without a good diet, your members� efforts to get into shape could be in vain. Matt O�Neill shares the three C's (connection, consistency and certainty) for giving members a positive nutrition experience.

By the time an adult joins a fitness centre they have decades of nutrition knowledge, eating experiences and attitudes absorbed from parents, schools, health professionals and the media. Individuals may have lost their confidence with food and lost their trust of those who offer advice.

Recognising this starting point, the challenge is gaining the commitment of members to work positively on dietary changes. Here are three strategies to consider in formulating your plan.

Connection
The very best counsellors establish trust with their clients within the first few minutes of speaking. Rapport building and empathy open the door for advice to be heard and understood. In the fitness centre environment, failing to establish a dietary connection can be the trip at the top of the stairs for all nutrition advice that follows.

Staff connect with clients about nutrition when they:

  • Reassure clients that their own diet is not perfect, so clients don�t feel intimidated.
  • Acknowledge past dieting efforts as valuable learning experiences rather than lapses in willpower.
  • Quickly pinpoint major dietary challenges and offer reassurance that there are solutions and support available.


    Creating a connection about nutrition is common sense, but rarely becomes a natural part of service delivery. Consider making the nutrition connection as important as developing trust in your fitness product during the membership sales and induction processes.

    A few standardised questions about diet can create a positive impression:

  • What is one negative dietary habit you would like to change?
  • In terms of healthy eating, what has worked for you in the past?
  • What is most likely to sabotage your healthy eating efforts?

    Profiling members� diets will provide trainers with guidance on where they should focus their advice. This also reduces the chances members will receive advice they have already heard.

    Consistency
    Consistency in customer service is well demonstrated in the hospitality industry. From the initial booking inquiry, to check-in and room service the clear objective is a seamless �wow� experience.

    But what happens when your members ask for dietary advice? If the response involves allowing individual personal trainers to offer their personal suggestions on demand, there are risks. These include; conflicting technical recommendations and inappropriate practical advice heavily based on personal eating philosophies. The initial connection can be undermined by the lack of consistency.

    Establishing diet advice policies and standardised nutrition counselling can offer members a consistent positive dietary experience.

    Certainty
    Many trainers lack confidence in giving nutrition advice. This is partly because they are susceptible to the same confusion as their clients. It�s also due to the spoken or unspoken rule that nutrition is not their area of expertise and they shouldn�t go there.

    We need to overcome this uncertainty and mental constipation around food; otherwise we leave a huge gap in the members� fitness experience. Trainers do not have to know the answers to every nutrition question, but they do need to deliver simple advice well, backed up with useful tools.

    Weight Watchers runs a profitable business staffed by leaders, most of whom have no formal nutrition or fitness training. The starter kit, weekly menus, calorie counter and training provide a structured package that offers both staff and customers product certainty.

    Meeting the diet challenge by creating a nutrition connection, building consistency in advice and providing certainty in product structure offers the opportunity to deliver a better experience and more results for members.

    Matt O'Neill provides instant resources and training on nutrition, weight loss and fitness challenges for fitness businesses at www.SmartShape.com.au

    Click here For Matt�s FREE REPORT to get the facts about �Meal Timing & Weight Loss� and subscribe to his website.

    Matt has been a member Australia�s National Health and Medical Research Council Overweight & Obesity Working Party, the Weight Loss Industry Code Administration Council and Nutritionist for the Australian Consumers� Association. In 2000 he was awarded the Australian Fitness Network�s Presenter of the Year and Author of the Year in 2005.



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