From Club Insider News February 2008

4 KEYS TO RETENTION: 

UNDERSTANDING YOUR MEMBERS

By Bonnie Patrick Mattalian

            There’s been a slew of press regarding the health club industry of late, starting with the report on health clubs by Consumer Reports, which was then picked up by U.S. News and World Report and many local media outlets.

            Any time this type of report comes out, clubs will feel an immediate impact with prospect and member feedback and questions, such as “How can I get a lower rate?”, “What new programs and services will you offer so I don’t leave and go to XYZ club down the street?”, and “When are we getting some new equipment around here?”.  When in fact, what they are really asking is “What are you going to do to take better care of me and to earn my business every day?”.

            To speak with a member as they hand in their cancellation notice is admirable. Eliciting a proactive approach to member service, sales and retention is more effective.  Strategizing the plan is typically not a problem.  Consistent execution is where the ball gets dropped.

            Here are a few examples of a proactive approach to ensure and measure service delivery:

1)            MYSTERY SHOPPERS AND MYSTERY MEMBERS – These services will provide you with a strong snapshot of what your club’s delivery of services looks like.  A Mystery Shopper will go through all initial processes as a prospect and report back on the experience.  This will give you a look through a prospect’s eyes as to the initial club experience. 

            A Mystery Member is a professional who is hired to go through the sales process, join as a member, and actively participate in the club for a period of time.  This has been one of our most successful ways to help operators understand where the opportunities lie.

We utilize carefully screened fitness professionals as our Mystery Members, who exercise at the club a few times each week, engage in Personal Training, take numerous Group Exercise classes, and participate in any number of programs.  Since the Mystery Member has a fitness background, he or she brings an understanding of exercise protocols, equipment use and program set up.  The professional Mystery Member evaluates whether a trainer listens, observes things such as how proactive the trainers are when a member is struggling with equipment or how engaging staff are with members. 

Some of the most honest comments are exchanged informally between members after a group exercise class, program, or in the locker room.  The Mystery Member does not solicit feedback nor “set up” the staff person or member.  But he or she is right in the middle of the informal grapevine of member feedback.  Maybe the staff are divulging information to members that should not be made public – the types of things that make the hair on the back of our necks stand up.  That type of behavior needs to be stopped and corrected quickly, before damage spreads.

            And then, the Mystery Member stops going to the club for a few weeks.  Some clubs have processes in place for low users – these processes are tested during the non-usage period.  And finally, the Mystery Member comes back to the club and cancels.

            A detailed report is generated for every visit.  This gives operators an understanding of the good, the bad, the gaps and opportunities, and helps to determine what is needed to move the experience from where it is to where it needs to be. 

The most important part of this evaluation is what happens after.  When we go back to the club staff and say, “here’s what we found…”, typically we’ll get a “yeah, but…” answer.  Working side by side with the front line to understand process problems and by removing barriers from job functions will greatly impact the success of improving service delivery.

2)            MEMBER SURVEYS – Most clubs utilize some sort of survey for their members.  Various mediums should be offered for surveys, not just typical mail, including web-based, email, phone, and in person.  There are a number of canned survey versions available like surveymonkey.com and zoomerang.com.  And there are numerous industry professionals who can assist with a customized solution.

3)            OTHER MEMBER FEEDBACK MEDIUMS – Have you Googled your club’s name with the word “Blog” after it (i.e. XYZ Club Blog)?  It’s a good idea to keep an eye on the informal blogs that are out there about your club.  Post one on MySpace and monitor it.  If you’re doing a good job, there should not be a problem.  If not, you’d better find it and fix it fast.  In the future, I believe most members and customers in general will shop for services via these informal blogs and testimonials on the web.  Many online listing services are already showing ratings and testimonials, which many of your prospects see before making a buying decision.

            The good old fashioned suggestion cards and comment cards are good too, but more often than not are negative based on a single incident, and also frequently are a venue to express feedback on group exercise classes.  It’s important to acknowledge feedback from the members by contacting them, by tracking suggestions, and by putting a plan in place once a problem is defined.

            Member focus groups can create a good exchange of information between members and your team.  These sessions should have an agenda and be facilitated to lead constructive discussion, as opposed to becoming a gripe session.  Member selection is critical to the success of such a meeting. Follow up the meeting with an outline and plan, with measurable goals and objectives.

            Does each member have a point person they can call, speak with, or email at any day, any time, about any thing?  There should be a relationship between the staff person and this member, so that the member trusts the staff person to accept the feedback and at the very least bring it to the attention of the correct person.

4)            ONGOING MEMBER COMMUNICATIONS – How is information about your members captured, utilized and updated?  I venture to say 80% or more of us don’t utilize our membership management software even partially to capture and track this information.  Every note about every contact with a member should be documented in your software, so that all staff can share in that knowledge.  Ritz Carlton hotels has all staff walk around with palm pilots or small notepads.  Interactions and preferences with every guest is noted.  This information is then utilized for future business exchanges with the guest.

What are the points of contact in your club for communications with every member in a week?  A month?  A year?  

What staff members call your members and when? 

What emails are sent out to members, why and when?  Take a look at www.retentionmanagement.com for information on how this can be easily and successfully automated for your club.

What programs are offered and marketed that are specific to individual needs?

How do you reward your members?  Loyalty programs have proven to increase

usage, revenue per member and retention.  Look at www.fitrewards.com to learn more.

All members and customers “see” into your club through a unique window:  by the words and actions of your front line staff. 

            Take the time to plan and look carefully at your day to day processes and service delivery.  Now that the spotlight is on the industry again, those clubs that have defined their product, identified an implementation plan, measured member experience, and improved staff performance, will be the clubs that are listed in the positive media headlines, thriving and capturing a larger market share.

Bonnie Patrick Mattalian is President of the Club & Spa Synergy Group Consultants, delivering stronger bottom lines for clubs through a network of award-winning specialists and processes.  www.clubsynergygroup.com.  Contact Bonnie at info@clubsynergygroup.com or 732.236.2273.

CLUB INSIDER NEWS February 2006 “Best of the Best” Consultants Feature Cover Story     Bonnie Patrick Mattalian Club & Spa Synergy Group

THE CLUB EXPERIENCE: DEFINING YOURS

By Bonnie Patrick Mattalian

from Club Insider News January 2005

Look around our industry and you’ll see a myriad of types of clubs:  from the small, do-it-yourself facilities for convenience, to the sprawling 200,000 square feet multi-use clubs, to the urban/funky/hip group exercise-driven clubs, to the nationally known franchises, to the personal training/yoga/pilates studios, to the local average middle-of-the-road club.

By providing such a selection, consumers are attracted to certain clubs for a number of reasons for each individual.

Even those of us who have been around the industry for a while need to look at our total club experience, to refresh and raise the bar, in order to keep attracting members and to keep our existing members satisfied.

I had the pleasure of working with Lou Carbone of Experience Engineers at The Health and Wellness Center by Doylestown Hospital.  Carbone helped Disney create the “how” of the “what” of the Disney experience.  So many of us talk about creating exceptional customer experiences.  How we do it is a different story. 

The delivery of service must be managed through an experience management system, including metrics to understand what is working, and what still needs work.  Carbone says we can’t NOT have an experience – sometimes it’s a good one, sometimes it’s not so good, sometimes it’s just OK.  Consumers have a choice, and their choices are based on personal preferences.  It’s up to us to understand their preferences, and deliver a full experience to truly help motivate them to either join the club or to stay a member.

Here’s an important exercise you can do to help define your club’s experience, that will also help in responding to the questions that follow in this article: 

·   What three words define how your members

feel? 

·   What three words define how your members

WANT to feel? 

Recognizing these differences, and creating solutions to move towards a member-centric experience can help chart the course for your club’s success.

We can look at some ideas to help acquire new members and retain our existing members in the following categories:  Programs, Product, People, Pricing.

PROGRAMS

Many facilities do an excellent job of promoting their programs.  More and more clubs are embracing the idea that programs can help existing members to achieve their goals, and can attract people who are not members in to the club for a one-time or short-term program, with the hopes of converting the latter group into members.

How many of us have tried offering programs, only to have low or no attendance.  Why does that happen?

A program is only as good as its presenter, but more importantly, as it is promoted.  The typical flyer on the locker room door is a good start, but our members need more.  Try a multimedia approach to promoting programs to members, such as:

• Have group exercise and aquatics instructors mention the program at the beginning or end of their classes.  These instructors are very much the “Pied Pipers” of our clubs, and what they say, the members will follow.

• Utilize email.  You should be able to do mass emails to members from your club software.  Better yet, gather demographic information on their likes, needs and goals, and specifically target that member with an email notice when a program is being offered that meets their needs.

• Utilize other software.  FitLinxx can send a prompted email to all members as they log on to their system.  Retention Management helps keep members utilizing the club with electronic messages and offers to their home email, sorted by user type.

•  Look into electronic displays.  DMX offers great new lighted changing display boards.  Try a few in your club.

• Have a “you gotta trip over it to not see it” display in the club.  The more elaborate and wild, the better.  For example, when offering a new skiing conditioning class, put together a display including skis, ski boots and poles, some fluffy white cotton for snow, and a display poster.  Have a sign up sheet for those interested right there at the display.  Then have a program coordinator contact the person, and motivate them to come to the program.

• New member orientation.  Offer 1-5 fee programs for free for new members, for a limited time. 

• Have trainers steer new and existing members into special programs, based on a rapport with individual members.  Hold staff accountable for signing up a certain number of members into programs.

• Have reception staff call attention to special programs for members at check in. 

• In the program itself, offer an incentive to sign on for the next program.

• Hire spectacular, energetic program leaders.  This is the single most important aspect of whether a member will join a program (they heard about this leader) or will sign on for another program (they enjoyed the leader so much and accomplished the desired results).

PRODUCT

Your facility can attract members who have an understanding of the culture of your club, if they can easily get there (5-12 minute drive), if they could feel comfortable in your club, and if there are other people similar to them in your club.

The way your club is portrayed in your external marketing is critical to the type of prospect you will attract.  How clear is your message?  What do your models look like in your ads?  Is your website up to date and easy to maneuver, attracting new members?  Is your offer price driven, or does it present the value of your club membership?

How does a prospect feel when he or she walks into your club for the first time?  How does someone on a trial membership feel when they try out the equipment or a group exercise class?  Are they truly receiving the experience they’re looking for, with little or no staff interaction?  How is the new member integrated into the club to assure they will stay with it?

What is the physical plant of the club like:  upscale, clean, hi-tech, homey, warm, noisy, etc.?  Look at what a person sees when they pull up to your club, and when they first step foot into the club.  First impressions are made in the first 3 seconds of someone walking through your door.  What is the FIRST impression and feeling you want someone to have?  Comfortable and friendly are the most popular words.  Delivering comfort and friendliness in the way your entry is designed, what staff says, how they look, and keeping the specific needs of the type of member you want to attract and retain is key.

In the sales process for a prospect, try to engage all of their senses:  see the display console on the treadmill, feel the smooth motion of the elliptical, touch the water in the pool, smell the moisturizer amenity in the locker rooms, taste a fruit shake or protein bar.

PEOPLE

As mentioned above, hiring and maintaining spectacular staff is the best way to attract and retain members.

Take a look at your hiring process.  Besides interviews, try having the person work for a few hours in a setting in the club.  Do they think on their feet?  Are they proactive and outgoing?  Do they ask questions?  Do they smile and make things fun?

Look at your existing staff.  How do they interact with members and with each other? What types of ongoing training and staff development do you provide?

How does your staff communicate to guests and members?  How do they know who is a guest and who is a member?

Look at your department managers and your General Manager.  What type of leader are they?  What are the words that come to mind when you think of these leaders?  Are those words the words that identify your club?  The leaders create the culture of the club.  The members and prospects will have an experience based on the culture created by your leaders, implemented by your front line staff.

PRICING

I intentionally kept this category for last.  It’s not just about the price.  Think about it – we’ve all been to Disney, and we keep going back to Disney.  We wait on lines, pay a lot of money to go there.  For what?  For the Disney Experience.   

If a member has an experience that is preferred for them, whatever that looks like to them, they will gravitate toward what is best for them, despite the cost.

Pricing programs, services and memberships is important – second only to having the right people delivering those items.  Know your demographics and the desired experience.  This is what will then drive the fees.  Profitability is expected in a preferential experience model, if the experience is managed, delivered and measured.

The value of your services needs to be very clear to each individual.  How this is promoted and explained is critical to the individual understanding what the services are, how they work, and what it means to them.  So training, communication, and staff audits are critical to delivering the correct message.

MEASURING THE EXPERIENCE DELIVERED

In future articles, I will be addressing intake processes and follow up, and metrics for successful experience delivery.  These seem to be the areas where clubs can easily differentiate themselves for their defined and desired experience. 

Of course it is equally critical to measure expenses against the delivery of the services to ensure profitability.  But if everything else described above is in line, it can be done.

Take a look at your club, your staff, your programs, your pricing, and then look at your members and your prospects.  Does the experience they’re looking for in those three words that describe how they want to feel get delivered consistently?

We’re in a great industry.  Finally we have become a part of health care.  Disease management and chemical “fixes” (pharmaceuticals) have been the driving forces of health care in the past, successfully to an extent.  People with chronic conditions account  for 78% of all health care spending.  The percentage of our population who has single or multiple chronic conditions is staggering.  Obesity and sedentary lifestyle alone comprise the majority of our population’s risk factors now. 

If we can refine our intake processes and follow up with members to assure retention, the results will follow, including hugely significant healthcare savings and longer, healthier lives.

I encourage you to take a moment to reflect on the experience you create for your members and prospects.  With statistics like those above, it’s worth it to create and manage positive experiences, for a profitable business, to improve the economy and to help save lives.