INTERVIEW
There are currently four Fit for Free clubs in the UK, in Bury (pictured here), Liverpool, Birmingham and Worcester
”In the UK, we’re still at the point of having to explain why it’s
called Fit for Free but has a price attached”
gym, with fewer bike-related and cross- training activities and more treadmills. “But the biggest difference is that we
have a more expensive payroll in the UK: in the Netherlands they have a very lean staff set-up. We tried it initially, but within three months I had to increase staffing levels by about 20 per cent. I was adamant we couldn’t rely on one member of staff to run the whole place on a daily basis.”
PERSONAL TOUCH Those higher staffing levels help maintain the sort of customer service levels Kearney believes are key to success. He explains: “We trade from 6.30am to 10.30pm and have fitness staff on every morning and evening; in the larger locations or multi-floor locations, they’re there during the day as well. Factoring in admin staff and management, we have on average one and a half people on-site at all times, plus cleaners and studio instructors. “The fitness staff’s sole responsibility is to be on the gym floor, interacting
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with members. Interaction at reception is key too: above all else, the one thing we drive through in our interviews and inductions is the need to make eye contact with members as they arrive and leave. The very least every member should expect is a ‘hi’ and a ‘bye’. “We employ a lot of apprentices
too. Their primary role is to clean the equipment, but we also task them to chat to members: they have a target to engage with 10 new members a week, asking about their goals and encouraging them to attend the free classes.”
FIT ‘FOR FREE’ Returning to the differences between the Netherlands and the UK, Kearney
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
continues: “We have to be more aggressive and more diverse in the way we market. In Holland, Fit for Free is a national brand with high awareness. In the UK, we’re still at the point of having to explain why it’s called Fit For Free and yet has a price attached.” Which is a fair point, I observe. How
does the ‘for free’ concept work? “We partner with local retailers who
then advertise on our website and our member platforms for free, with a box ad promoting a special offer for our members. We regularly ask our members what sort of offers would be useful, and typically it’s things like takeaways, hair products, beauty, dry cleaning, flower delivery, tyre repairs.
November/December 2013 © Cybertrek 2013
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