In the Game

Chris Skinner’s 40 years in supplying fitness equipment

Chris Skinner of HF Industries has recently passed 40 years of supplying equipment to the fitness industry and, while looking back at his many achievements and innovations, he is also looking forward playing an ongoing role in the future of the industry.

Over those four decades he has seen many come and many go, and a few come back again.

For him, its about building a business on layers, over time moving to the next plateau.

Having seen many explode onto the marketplace with quick growth and decline even quicker, he explains “at HF we work on a seven-year program, looking to reach the next comfortable level, sustain that for a period and then start work on elevating to the next.

“If that produces two good years of growth and five years of maintaining that level, then we will prosper in our business.”

He has never looked for the business to be number one in the industry, commenting “two and a half, one out one back suits us well.

“We came into this industry with long term goals. To be successful in our region you need a good team, good products, good support and lots of luck.

“Australia being the size it is with the population it has you have to keep turning up in all areas of your business, continually offering something new, something different that will enhance your clients’ business and help them prosper … and if there is nothing new, create something.”

Balanced Body’s Exochair (top) and Chris Skinner at HF Industries’ Sydney base.

He looks at business as simply a game of rugby league, advising “we turn up to play the game, as do the competition. We have our front row, midfields and backs already for the whistle. On the sideline is the support crew, the stands are full of our potential client and above them in the viewing box are the owners and our suppliers all wanting us to push forward and score.

“There’s no half time or oranges, the coach watches the game yelling out instruction, changing the game plan and this is where the day is won or lost.”

Skinner says one of HF Industries’ advantages has always been to be able to instantly change direction when needed but stresses “when the whistle blows at full time the game is over for the day.

“Where you come on the ladder is irrelevant it is only how you played the game. Never burn bridges and remember that the name HF stands for ‘Have Fun’.

“In life the past is the key to the future and business is no

Tamara O’Reilly, owner of The Pilates Workshop in Wollongong, NSW (and below).

different. First and foremost, learn from your mistakes, as many don’t.

“For our 40-year history we have gone to find partners – suppliers - that were synergistic with our thinking and who produced products that were the highest quality.”

Skinner says he never had any qualms of being the most expensive in the marketplace as long as he had the best product, although that does have its disadvantages when the client’s highest priority in purchasing is based on price.

He cites that as the reason for HF Industries seldom applying for tenders these days.

With relationships key to the success of his business, one of HF Industries’ longest partnerships has been with Balanced Body. Having worked with some of their team when they were previously with Cybex, they introduced Skinner to the Balanced Body range of Pilates products.

Describing how Pilates equipment began as “a bed with some springs on the end, to which springs were later added for resistance” he states “we just saw that concept and said ‘ok this is no different to what we see in other equipment, we’re just using a spring as opposed to pulling a weight’, we can work with this.”

Advising how he has worked with Balanced Body founder and Chief Executive Ken Endelman, he comments “Ken and I are roughly around about the same age, have been 40 years in business and operate to the same principles.

“It’s those principles that keep the relationship strong and meaningful.”

With HF Industries being Balanced Body’s largest distributor

worldwide, Skinner notes “our dealings are all still based on the original agreement … and such agreements are pretty much the same with all of those we represent and the way we keep our partnerships strong, not through contracts.

“We don’t need a 50-page contract to establish what we need to do, we just need to promote each product to the best of our ability, not owe them any money and buying their product as we go along while also taking their products from their traditional markets and finding a place for them in other markets within our industry.”

HF Industries has enjoyed ongoing success with Pilates, creating a niche in each market segment so that, as he says “everyone enjoys the fruits, our clients especially and the end user.”

Today Pilates is prevalent from the traditional Pilates place of old to the physiotherapy markets. Used extensively in the sports arena, as a conditioning and rehab tool, to the fitness markets who, more recently, have seen the benefits or introducing Pilates to their facilities, bringing to their client base something that has multiple variation to capture their interest long into the future.

Another element that Skinner sees as important is not only establishing partnerships but also retaining relationships, with both suppliers and clients, adding that “holding onto friendships is even more important even if you no longer represent a product or lose a customer … for the simple reason that you never know what tomorrow brings.”

Here he recalls “I’ve seen good concepts but sometimes their manufacturers feel that their product is the ‘be all and end all’ and think that we should only be selling their product.

“As a company, and for the companies that we represent, we have two rules: that they don’t sell against us in our own marketplace and they don’t sell to anyone else in the same marketplace.

“A number of companies have broken that rule and a number of them we are no longer the distributor for because of it.”

Skinner has also adapted to the concentration of buying power in the industry, noting “probably 70% of the market is controlled by 12 guys and if you don’t have a contract with one of them, you’re probably not in such good shape in the business world.

“Getting a new product out there into the market place today is harder in that, if you have a product which may be a functional piece of equipment like an Activ Motion bar for example, the only way you know how this works is if you put it in your hand and feel it.

“So the knack is now how do you get that into a person’s hand for them to feel how it operates and them say this is a great piece of kit.

“So you have to create the market as we have with Pilates.” Looking back, Skinner explains that the business began in

Balanced Body Reformer - below and opposite. Distributed by HF Industries.

Balanced Body MOTR and Pilates Foam Arc.

1978 with the introduction of the Hydra-Gym to the Australian market. Totally different to Universal’s multi station weight stack units popular at the time, his concept for the Hydra-Gym system was to get 20 people into a group circuit class working to a timing beeper, using 10 x Hydra Gym units and 10 in between stations.

He recalls “the fitness centres that took it up soon found that they were doing 10-12 circuit classes per day with 20-30 people turning up to take the class … and we ended up with 400 systems around the country.

“In the early 1980s, the aerobic movement then took off, movie stars were making workout videos some of the early clubs such as Valentines and Aerobic City were going crazy with aerobics.”

At this time Skinner helped pioneer the step, branded for many years as the Reebok Step, and now as the Original Step, which has been a perennial best seller for him.

He advises “it’s still the same platform, it’s still the same four blocks, and I know there are steps out there that we sold 25 years ago.”

Later in the decade, HF Industries became the distributor for Cybex equipment, becoming, as Skinner explains “their largest distributor and being part of making the brand what it was over 20 years.

“In those days Cybex focused on strength and didn’t have cardio equipment so we took up Star Trac and we were their distributor for 24 years.

“That gave us the potential of supplying Star Trac in their cardio line, and Cybex in their strength line so we were able to supply our clients with the complete package.

“That was great for a long while but, as so often happens many companies are taken over, businesses are bought out by bigger organisations who want more or think they should have more market share.

“Our only goal was to maintain a long-term presence as we saw ourselves as staying in this game for a long time – which we’ve basically done for the last 40 or so years.

“This was achieved by finding a niche in the market, some might say boutique and about that time, we then decided that we wouldn’t have all of our eggs in one basket … we would never deal with one company.

“Looking to diversify we set a target of picking up a new product each year, sometimes in the markets we already played in and sometimes taking on something we knew absolutely nothing about.

“Some of these we’ve been really successful with and some not so much.

“As an example, more than 20 years ago we found a children’s play station product called Keebee which we successfully supplied to crèche areas in fitness clubs and can now be seen in malls, airports and hospitals across the country.”

Skinner also has some firm principles about business

conduct, advising “over a period of time it is important to show your existing client base that you’re not going to undercut the prices they are paying to someone down the road.

“Why should someone who buys 20 get a better price than the person that bought 10 just because they buy more.

“Our purchase price per product is the same whatever we buy, our duties and taxes are the same our shipping costs the same. Therefore, to offer a cheaper price only means cutting into our margins which in effect means we can’t provide as good a support service.

“10 to 15 years ago a salesperson dealt with a particular area, they had their customers and their client base, they would visit on a regular basis. However, clients today don’t have time to sit and talk, they will contact you when they want something, they’ll contact the sales person, they’ll also send you an email from two or three accounts all trying to get a better price.

“You make life way too difficult by bartering on prices, so we just don’t do it.

“If price is the major factor, we understand that, but at the same time we also believe that in setting a fair price, our clients see the value in our products, and just as importantly our products hold their value come the time to trade in or resell.

“Part of our job is to bring value to our consumers; in the fitness industry we have seen competition to the point that the only thing a centre can offer as different is price point. Free joining fee, $8 per week and bring a friend free, just driving the market down.

“If a customer feels that they can go down the road and use something which is better and a service to match, that’s where they’re going to go and nine out of 10 times are prepared to pay for that service.”

Looking to the future, Skinner comments “we’re still a family company and besides me getting older, both of my daughters work in the company and many of our team have been with us for years.”

ALM