I was talking to a local health club owner recently when he revealed that he was advertising for a new manager. After some further discussion I asked if I could see his ad. It was fairly standard; there were a list of duties ranging from performing assessments, writing exercise prescriptions, sales, supervising staff… and business development.
While I applauded his inclusion of a business development function (which I have been recommending for years) the problem is these are two (at least two) separate people.
The person who is highly competent at the technical skills (assessments, exercise prescription, exercise demonstration and supervision) is rarely highly competent at the business skills (sales, marketing, and business development)… these are two very different animals.
Of course, it would be good (especially for small businesses) if one person could fulfil all of these functions but it is rarely the case.
I suspect that the candidate that gets hired will be a serious compromise and the owners will be stuck with a mediocre technician with mediocre business skills… sometimes you’ve got to choose.
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