interview


stand for – to the point that members and prospects can see that manifested in our clubs on a daily basis – I don’t believe we should feel under pressure. We call this being ‘brand-hearted’. “We’ve therefore done a lot of work


over the last few years in terms of understanding what the Spirit brand is. Any one of our team members in our clubs should now be able to tell you about the demographic profi le of our brand as well as their own club. We’ve created a brand turnkey based on an awareness of who our members are, what they like, what their interests are, the reasons they’re with Spirit. We’ve done all types of surveys into what our members want out of life. We now have, I strongly believe, a clear brand identity based on distinct and relevant USPs. “The next step will be looking at how


we communicate this to our members. We have to make sure we employ people with the right behaviours, who can communicate on the right level and using the right language with all the different user groups at our clubs.”


engaging members So what projects is Mantell most excited about at the moment? “Something that’s worked very well for us is an initiative we launched last year called The Winning Spirit, tying in with Holiday Inn’s sponsorship of the Olympic Games.


36


As part of the IHG Group, Spirit members benefi t from discounts on food and beverage in the hotel bars and restaurants, as well as on hotel breaks


“All our existing and new members


receive a passport, which contains their bronze, silver and gold goals. A bronze goal would typically be a behavioural goal rather than an outcome goal: coming to the gym twice a week for the fi rst eight weeks, for example. Silver goals tend to be more outcome- orientated, and then there’s the aspirational gold goal, which has to be achieved by the start of the Games. “Even if you join the programme a


month before the Olympics, although you’d have very short-term goals, you would still have behavioural opportunities to change something. And everyone who completes one of their goals goes into a national draw, where they can win some great prizes like weekends away. “It’s also a great tool that all our


instructors can use on the gym fl oor. Rather than having a generic retention system where we say: ‘Let’s get people into appointments, let’s get them back for assessments,’ this is something tangible the guys can walk around with and discuss with members. “Even if a new member has used a


gym for years and doesn’t want a full induction, we would still arrange to


Read Health Club Management online at healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital


meet them for their fi rst workout. We might chat to them while they warm up, for example, just talking to them about their goals along the lines of: ‘As an experienced exerciser, you know as well as I do how important it is to set goals, so what shall we think about for your fi rst goal? In fact, let’s record that on this Winning Spirit passport.’ The initiative allows us to get quality contact with everyone. Just as importantly, we’re setting the expectation that we’ll contact them again in a few weeks to upgrade their goal.” And how about going forward?


“I think it would have to be the opportunity to take the Spirit brand to new places. After a couple of years of consolidation, there’s real interest at the moment in what we’re doing – hotel operators are seeing the value of what Spirit could bring to their business and are proactively coming to us. “Ultimately I’d like to see if we can


refi ne Spirit as a product to be passed on to other hotel operators. To be able see a brand that you’re passionate about grow – that’s a very exciting prospect.”


healthclub@leisuremedia.com kate cracknell


april 2012 © cybertrek 2012


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