Ep 132 - Ian Mullane: Stop predicting and start preparing.

What is the data on coronavirus telling us? Nothing. This episode will tell you why.

Ian Mullane, CEO of Keepme.ai, leads us on a comprehensive conversation around pandemic data, its reliability depending on how it's gathered, and the widespread misinformation that's a result of changing metrics around the world.

Through his years of insight identifying trends and quantifying risk, Ian tells us what the effect of the coronavirus on the fitness industry is going to be, and why we all need to be prepared.

For more information on the Escape Your Limits podcast visit https://escapefitness.com/podcast

Video – https://youtu.be/h31nYHa0aBw

Escape Your Limits homepage – https://escapefitness.com/podcast

For two decades, Ian Mullane worked with some of the biggest names in fintech, such as Thomson Financial and SS&C Technologies. Leaving his career as COO for Sundgard's Asia Pacific business, Ian has since founded and grown a number of businesses, including Locowise.com and Vanda.fit.

A revenue acceleration platform for the fitness industry, Keepme.ai is all about smarter member retention using artificial intelligence and machine learning. The platform identifies members who are close to cancelling and win them back before they even plan to leave.

Through SaaS expertise, Ian and his team exist to help health and fitness businesses retain more members. Regardless of whether customers are big box or boutique, pay as you go or contractual, Keepme.ai equips them with the ability to accurately target and engage members, implement behavioural science approaches, and allows operators to truly understand the people they serve.

 

Episode highlights -

• How the pandemic is proving to be a catalyst to many factors for change in the fitness industry, and how it will expose many businesses or consolidate other areas.
• Why the numbers surrounding coronavirus are not reliable, and what effect the 24-hour news cycle has on our education surrounding COVID-19 and our confidence.
• What the likelihood is of further lockdowns around the world, and what effect this is going to have on business.
• What risk is likely as businesses open and communities increase contact, and what the fitness industry need to consider when social distancing measures are relaxed.
• How there are some products in our industry will face challenges in hygiene when the pandemic passes, with new levels of standards being implemented post-coronavirus.
• What rules and regulations the fitness industry is facing in areas of the world such as China that are now reopening following coronavirus closures, and how we can learn and predict how we need to act in the west.
• Why your cash flow forecast has to be the most diligent document that you have as a business, and why it has to be more accurate than you've ever considered before.
• Projections for the percentage many clubs and operators are going to lose in the way of members and cashflow, from a reasonable timeline and how it will affect your business after lockdown.
• How much of an impact home workouts such as Peloton will have on the future of bricks and mortar fitness, as more people create habits of exercising at home.
• What opportunities are going to present themselves in mergers and acquisitions following dynamic changes from coronavirus activity, and why some gyms and chains that get caught out will surprise us.
• How huge companies such as Google, Apple and Netflix are going to bring to the fitness industry, and how they could make a massive difference with little effect on their own balance sheets.
• Why this is the biggest opportunity that any business has to plan forward, once they are over any issues concerning cash flow.
• How you can get a bigger share of voice with your marketing efforts now, as many businesses have cut down their ad spend and even slowed post activity due to resource and budget restrictions.
• How machine learning and artificial intelligence can create models from the data around coronavirus activity to discover how members are likely to react around future black swan events.

 

Join Matthew Januszek in conversation with Ian Mullane…