Creating Lifetime Fitness Club Members

BY SHAWN D. FORD AND SUSAN NANCE

Creating lifetime members of your fitness club requires a total team effort from staff. Meeting member expectations is when you do just enough to satisfy them. Striving to exceed your members' expectations lets them know you will do what it takes to keep them as a member.

Remember the last time you said "Wow!" after receiving more service than you expected? Try doing that in your club, along with the following 10 tips, and watch your members stay with you for a lifetime.

1. Physical Facilities

This is where a member's journey usually begins and ends. Features that please include enough parking space, clean walk areas, nice greenery and a conscious effort to maintain overall cleanliness of the health club and the enure facility.

2. Personnel

Entire facility staffing, not just fitness center personnel, are important in the team concept. Staff should portray a happy, smiling, warm person who listens, makes eye contact and is positive in their presence. Take an interest in each and every member by asking how they are doing. Compliment them. Remembering something unique about them shows you really care.

3. Communication

Providing materials and information is an essential and often overlooked area regarding membership retention. The communication of changes, holiday hours, special events and new offerings, portrays a feeling to members that they will be kept informed.

4. Responsiveness

The standards your club has for response to complaints, suggestions and situations can set you apart from other fitness centers. A simple standard is the return of all phone calls within 24 hours. Members appreciate that quick response and will remember that they can count on you to take action and keep them posted regarding their situation.

5. Assurance

It's essential that staff know the importance of maintaining that unique ability to be courteous and convey the warm, trusting and confident feeling to

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your members. Show members that you will always be there for them (meeting with them on a daily basis and acknowledging them by their first name) assures them of your presence.

6. Empathy

How much you care and the individualized attention you give to each and every member is important. The club and its members are your family. Treat them as your family. Take time to provide that special attention and show concern for each member as if they were special people in your life. Do it and they become lifetime members.

7. Equipment

Club members are more educated than ever. Therefore, it is important that all your equipment—from front desk computers to the equipment on the fitness floor—is high quality. The quality level of your equipent lends a perception to members as to how much you value them. Spending the time to keep equipment operational is imperative. Go cheap, let equipment break down and watch members leave. Go with quality, take care of your equipment and establish lifelong relationships.

8. Reliability

Doing what you say you are going to do is important. Perform all your services (front desk, maintenance, exercise training) dependably and accurately. Do not be wishy-washy on services. Saying one thing and doing another will send members right out the door looking for another place that does what they promise.

9. Continual Progression

Always looking to improve sends a message to your members that you're continually looking for better products, amenities and ways to service them. You'll stay ahead if you constantly evaluate your club systems, processes, equipment, amenities, and services for ways to improve.

10. Customer-defined Standards

All areas of the club should have standards that your staff follow. These standards are important to your members. Listen to club members. They will tell you and even send subtle hints as to how high they set their standards. Trying to do one better than those standards usually elicits a "wow!" 

SHAWN D. FORD
is the operations manager of the Pavilion Fitness Centre, Elk Grove Park District, and an A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer.

SUSAN NANCE
is the members/lip services coordinator of the Pavilion Fitness Centre, Elk Grove Park District, and an A.C.E. Certified Personal Trailer.

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