RETENTION SERIES FREE WEIGHTS


Clubs should train staff to think of themselves as hosts


Welcome TO MY HOUSE


I


like to believe that the majority of gym owners and managers have a good grasp of the importance of providing good service to their


members – of the impact it has on retention and thereby their clubs’ overall success. However, while great customer service definitely starts at the top, it ultimately has to reach your members through your frontline staff. In light of this, I’d like to share with


you a different perspective regarding customer service and the impact it has on retention. At face value it’s a simple, ‘back to basics’ perspective – and yet,


November/December 2012 © cybertrek 2012


of all the topics we’ve covered on our blog, this has led to by far the highest levels of positive feedback. So much so, in fact, that we’ve been invited to deliver training days and seminars on the topic. Here’s how it works.


DELIVERING THE INTANGIBLES When a business provides a service or product to its customers, there’s an exchange taking place. On the surface it can be a very simple exchange, but running beneath are a tremendous number of intangibles, and these are


Richard Ekstrom, president of Retention Management, shares his thoughts on a very personal approach to customer service


very important factors in the customer’s decision about whether to continue with the exchange in the future. So what are you exchanging with your


members? State of the art equipment, convenient hours and location, quality instruction, a clean facility – these are the basics of the exchange for a typical gym. However, if a club opened up next door and offered the same for less, you would lose members. This is happening everywhere, every day. It’s the intangibles that keep your


customers from taking their business elsewhere, and these are very much


Read Health Club Management online at healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital 57


© ROBERT KNESCHKE/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM


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