http://www.snewsnet.com/ If it happens in the outdoor and fitness markets, SNEWS® is there so you can listen in. Always insightful, sometimes humorous, absolutely invaluable. No one covers the outdoor and fitness markets better than we do, period. In print since 1983, on the web since 2000, and now in audio for your listening pleasure. Interviews, special reports, event coverage, and more. en Copyright SNEWS® LLC, all rights reserved Tue, 13 May 2008 07:00:09 -0600 60 http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/11814.html I recently was talking to a small business owner about a tool that he developed for dealing with his staff and others. He calls this tool the 3 E’s: Empathy, Encouragement, and Empowerment. He makes a point at least once each day to cover each of the 3 E’s with each of the staff he encounters. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/11814.html Mon, 12 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/11813.html How to sell water-treatment systems. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/11813.html Mon, 12 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/11601.html Quite simply, a climbing helmet is designed to protect your skull from impact from above. They are a necessary piece of safety gear for trad climbers, mountaineers, ski mountaineers, rand racers and others who risk injury from falling debris and other impacts. Read on for our tutorial on How to sell: climbing helmets... http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/11601.html Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/11588.html On a drive in the outskirts of Toronto, our mystery shoppers took a detour to check out the Fitness Depot store in Mississauga to see how it would do selling home gyms. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/11588.html Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/11514.html As I listened to Jennifer Blakeman talk about the keys to her success as a Mary Kay representative, there was one item in particular that grabbed my attention. She talked about how she took time every day to put on her “boss’s hat” as she planned, critiqued, and otherwise evaluated what she would need to do as her own employee. As she talked, I was taken back to the spring of 1999 when I made the most significant business purchase in my young career – the purchase of a twenty-dollar book. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/11514.html Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/11427.html The Basics • Know your customer and sell to their needs • Comfort is king • Women want women-specific product • Ensure the proper fit before they leave the store • Start selling with high-end features and move down http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/11427.html Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/11391.html A first-aid kit should sit at the top of any "10 Essentials" list for outdoor travel. One of the recent trends in first-aid products is manufacturers are making preassembled kits, as well as modular packets that serve specific circumstances as add-in items to existing kits. In any case, first-aid kits have never been more consumer-friendly. By asking a few questions, you can quickly steer a shopper to the right product. Of course, there was a time when people compiled their own first-aid kits from supplies off store shelves, and that option still exists for those with more experience and training in first aid. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/11391.html Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/11338.html We’ve all seen it at one time or another on the emails that come across our computer. A glaring warning statement that reads: “This message and any attachments are intended only for the use of the intended recipient, are confidential, and may be privileged.” Weighty words, but will they stand up in a court of law when push comes to shove? To understand the court’s final verdict about email confidentiality statements, we first need to understand what confidential and privileged communications are and the differences between the two. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/11338.html Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/06654.html When home gyms in the late '90s broke away from the traditional arms and levers that were fixed in form and path, a whole new mode of strength-training was born. Although physical therapists had talked of "functional training" for a very long time, it was a concept just being learned and accepted in fitness training. And one that was to leave its imprint on all things moving forward. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/06654.html Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/11081.html SNEWS® was in Toronto, Ontario, during the holiday season and decided to see how our Canadian neighbors would handle a mystery shopper sales scenario. We learn something every time we do one of these and hope you do too. Don't forget to visit our Training Center to see our entire lineup of past Mystery Shoppers, both fitness and outdoor, for additional perspective on the state of specialty retail. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/11081.html Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/03610.html As the biggest selling, most popular and still easiest to use piece of cardiovascular equipment around, treadmills nevertheless aren't a piece of cake to sell. They are high-end machines with brushes, bearings, decks, motors, rollers and horsepower. You may be really into all that tech talk, but we can guarantee you most consumers couldn't care less. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/03610.html Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/10969.html Despite all the high-tech gizmos on the market today that are promoted as helping to motivate and track a fitness program, pedometers remain a simple, inexpensive and relatively low-tech piece that can do that and more. They can be easily added-on to other sales as a supplement to home exercise equipment, too. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/10969.html Mon, 04 Feb 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/10837.html Although indoor cycling was something that outdoor road cyclists did as a part of normal training, the indoor cycle trainer as we know it didn't become a huge part of the indoor fitness world until classes began to spring up at clubs in the '80s. The trainer made it easy to simulate outdoor cycling while indoors without the hassle of bringing in an outdoor road bike and clamping it up on a trainer so you could cycle without going anywhere. The masses responded to the concept -- first, in clubs and, then, at home -- as did the manufacturing community, which looked for ways to make indoor trainers more comfortable and more authentic. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/10837.html Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/10832.html The previous two articles in this three-part series used a standard outline form as a way to describe how we communicate and how we can fill in that outline to create context and understanding. The higher up the outline, the more foundational the concept. The lower we went on the outline, the greater the level of detail. The more the outline hierarchy is filled out for people, the more they share your level of understanding. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/10832.html Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/10775.html The upright bike -- the original piece of programmable, computerized exercise equipment -- has evolved since its earliest days into a go-to standby that can give anybody, anywhere a workout. It can offer a cruising, comfy workout for those interested in a less intense ride; a hard-driving, intensely aerobic or even anaerobic workout for those seeking hard-core training; and it can provide anything in between to all shapes and sizes. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/10775.html Mon, 14 Jan 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/10704.html Ever since recumbent bikes entered the fitness equipment market some three decades ago, they have maintained their niche. At first only a sub-category of bikes, recumbents have become a category of their own with wide appeal and importance to the fitness retailer who should not ignore them despite being in the shadows of ellipticals and treadmills. That's because recumbents attract a demographic that may not normally be fond of or comfortable on other pieces of exercise equipment. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/10704.html Mon, 07 Jan 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/10707.html In the first installment of SNEWS®'s series on creating understanding through communicating context, we introduced the concept of thinking of our communications as if they were in outline form. In part two of the series, it's time to look at the role of context in delegation. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/10707.html Thu, 03 Jan 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/10590.html An incentive program is a powerful tool that can be used to enlist the creativity of your staff toward increasing sales and profitability, encourage implementation and support for effective cost-controlling measures, and, ultimately, drive meaningful and sustainable growth for your company. Over the years, though, we've seen more of these programs executed poorly rather than successfully. We've blown a few ourselves. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/10590.html Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/10601.html This is the time of year not to forget to tap into a wealth of selling information in the SNEWS® Training Center, especially into our two and a half years of concise informational guides for retail staff covering the in’s and out’s of various product categories in our “how to sell” articles. Of course there are more topics coming. We’ll be adding categories again starting in the New Year. Meanwhile, take the time to peruse our list of current how-to-sell guides. They could help you make that next sale this holiday season. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/10601.html Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/10577.html We don't always hit up major metro markets: In fact, recently passing through the Central San Joaquin Valley of California, we decided to see how specialty fitness was performing in Fresno. We learn something every time we do one of these and hope you do too. We always like to point out: Our goal with these Mystery Shoppers is not to praise one particular store or person -- or to pick on one person or one store -- but to point out what went wrong and what went right and, we hope, to offer a learning experience. Each and every shopping experience can be widely different, even at any one store or with any one person. Don't forget to visit our Training Center to see our entire lineup of past Mystery Shoppers, both fitness and outdoor, for additional perspective on the state of specialty retail. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/10577.html Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:00:00 MST