Asking your members the right questions-and following through on their answers-can minimize attrition rates.
How many people have joined your club over the years only to quit after a short period of time? The best way to lower your rate of attrition-a key component of your success-is to better engage your customers from the moment they set foot in your facility. How do you do this? By asking the customer questions that get to the heart of why he is there. Your current process most likely involves asking a few superficial qualifying questions, followed by your sales pitch, but there is a much better way of gathering more pertinent information-by asking powerful questions.
Here are some examples of powerful questions:
- Why do you really want to join a gym?
- What is your perception of gyms? Of exercise?
- What are your concerns about gyms/exercising?
- What kind of experience are you looking for?
What you are looking for when you ask these questions are your members’ fears and their true motivation. Getting this type of information takes skill. You don’t want to appear to be nosy with all the questions, but as you get better at it you will create greater bonds with people.
Once you have sold a member on the idea of joining your gym, it is imperative that you have a system for follow through. Make sure every new member is given a program based on his specific needs and that the program has two specific goals, short-term and one long-term-a short-term goal might be you lose 5 pounds this month; a long-term could be to be able to run on the treadmill at 5 mph for 30 minutes by the end of 6 months. People want to see results quickly or they get discouraged, but they also need to focus on the long run in order to create valuable lifestyle changes. Gyms have cultures, and many people quit the gym because they never acclimate to those cultures. If you want people to stay, you have to invest time in to getting them acclimated. Schedule an appointment with them for 30 days after their first visit to see how they’re doing. Find out if they’re on the right track-and if not, make sure you figure out a way to get them going.
This is all basic relationship building, but most places do not employ these principals. Most newcomers who walk into your facility are intimidated, insecure and full of preconceived notions about exercise and gyms. They’re looking for help, not a sales pitch-which one are you giving them? If you can get to the heart of the matter you have a much greater chance of getting them to create the type of life-long habits they need to build, and in turn, they’re likely to stay with your club a lot longer.
Yosi Knecht is the Canadian Territory Manager for Atlantis Strength Equipment. He can be contacted at 877.454.2285 extension 248 or by email at yknecht@atlantis-fit.com .
