LEAVING PROCESS This is not goodbye
Why are gyms making such a mess of the leaving process, and how can they do better? Kate Cracknell asks the experts
W
hether handcuffed by a contract and not allowed to leave, or at the opposite end of the scale being allowed to quit without staff so
much as batting an eyelid, sadly few members would score their gym (or, rather, ex-gym) particularly highly when it comes to its handling of the leaving process. Further light was shed on this issue in
recent research commissioned by Health Club Management. Conducted by Leisure-net Solutions, the qualitative study found that clubs routinely failed to try and rectify the situation when members decided to leave; if they did anything, they put obstacles in the way rather than trying to understand individual needs and encourage people to stay (see HCM Jan 14, p62). Research carried out by Dr Paul Bedford also highlighted a broad sense of apathy on the part of operators, with members feeling their gym didn’t care if they stayed or left (see HCM March 14, p52). Bedford’s research also looked at why
members decided to leave in the fi rst place. This is vital information according to Bård Windingstad of Evo Fitness in Scandinavia, who takes a more rounded overview of the ‘leaving process’. He believes retention has to start the moment members join, to hopefully avoid a leaving day altogether, but that if a member does decide to leave, you have to let them – making sure you fi nd out why they’re going, so you know if/how to try and win them back. So what can operators do to better manage
the three key phases of the leaving process: before one of their members decides to leave and while they’re wavering, the event of leaving itself, and the weeks and months afterwards? We ask the experts.
48 Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
Members may leave to train outdoors in
the summer, but then re-join in the winter June 2014 © Cybertrek 2014
PHOTO:
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM / DUDAREV MIKHAIL
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