LEAVING PROCESS
Too many members do workouts that will never bring them progress, so it’s important for clubs to help them gain results Melvyn Hillsdon
Associate professor of physical activity and population health, Exeter University, UK
T
he decision by a member to initiate the termination
of their membership could be seen as a small window of opportunity for the operator. Encourage them to reflect on the benefits they glean from membership and assess their motivation to continue to exercise, with the express aim of trying to get them to talk themselves into continuing their membership. A three-minute intervention
may save a small number of memberships, and even those for whom it’s too late will leave feeling more positive about the club, and speaking favourably about it to friends. So what should the
intervention look like? Based on the principles of motivational interviewing, it might go something like this: “First of all, I’m sorry
to hear you’re thinking of leaving us. Would you mind if I spent just a couple of minutes to understand how you arrived at your decision?
Could we start by you telling me some of the good things for you about being a member of the club?” Then just listen and summarise. Next: “And right now,
what are the three most important reasons for you to continue with exercise?” Again, listen and summarise. “What could we do as a
club to help you continue to exercise?” Just listen. Then offer them a reason why they might stay, without telling them they should. An example might be: “A number of members in your situation have found that a few sessions of PT remotivates them to get back into the exercise habit. I could offer you some free sessions if you wanted to stay for a while longer.” This process shows
you’re interested in their views, gets them to talk out loud about why your club/ exercise is good for them, and gives them a reason to give you a second chance.
Bård Windingstad
Evo Fitness, Scandinavia
retention process as soon as a member joins your club. It’s about managing expectations from the outset and helping every member work out a bit better; too many people do workouts that will never bring them any progress. When a member has
O
decided to leave, it’s too late to change their mind. If you try – if you complicate the leaving process – you’ll just annoy them. We make it easy to leave and to rejoin: you can cancel your membership online with the click of a button, and it will expire at the end of that month. People seldom leave saying
“I’m never going to work out again as long as I live”. By making it simple to leave, there are no bad feelings and they’re happy to rejoin at a later date. Indeed, at some of our clubs that have been open for more than three years, approximately 15 per
50 Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
ur philosophy is that you have to start the
cent of current members are members for the second, third or fourth time. When a member leaves
Evo Fitness, they have to answer two questions. Firstly,
‘why are you leaving?’ – some of the multiple choice answers are things we can help with, such as not reaching their goals. Where appropriate, we follow up with communications after they’ve left. The second asks them to rate Evo Fitness on a scale of one (lowest) to six (highest): 85 per cent of leavers rate us four or above. So we’re not offering a bad service – they’re just leaving to do something else. For example, we see
patterns emerging whereby people join in September and leave in March every year
– because they’re leaving to do outdoor activities in the summer. I see those as loyal members, and we wouldn’t want to make things hard for them to come and go.
June 2014 © Cybertrek 2014
PHOTO:
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/ KURHAN
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