The Question of "Why?"

Have you ever really sat back and thought about WHY your members should use your clubs? It has become evident to me that if the why isn’t big enough, the purpose of the business is easily lost.

For upper management, it may be easy to retain a purpose. However, as the why weakens, it is transmitted to employees down the line, and eventually to your members.

Do you believe that strictly offering a facility for people to exercise is a big enough why? With your membership, if members only receive a facility where they can exercise, does that provide them with a big enough why, for why they should continually use your facility?

Do you believe that your members could live without your facility? Quickly think like one of your members. If you are in a warm environment all year, do you think a member uses you to escape the heat? Are you only providing them with a cooler place to exercise? When you think like a member, is that worth $39.95 a month?

How about if you own a club in an environment with harsh winters? As a member, would you pay a yearly membership to avoid exercising in the cold temperatures? If you owned a club in a temperate climate, why would a member use your club?

If you can’t be honest with yourself, and be able to decide why you would use your own club, then how is a customer supposed to develop that WHY factor? We spend a lot of time thinking about why you should read our magazine. In every article that we send to you, we continually think about why you’d need to read it.

Is everything we do going to be a game changer? Probably not, but it should provide you with information that could potentially help you operate your business on a higher level. Why should you read our magazine? Because we can help you better operate your business. For us, that WHY is deep enough to keep us churning out content. We believe so deeply in our why, that it is continually conveyed to our readers. Each day we strive to provide you with why you should read Club Solutions. We think about your perspective in every step.

Which brings me to my question: WHY should I be a member at your club? Spend some time asking your employees why they work at your club. Ask a member, or two, why they are a member of your club. If nothing else, walk to the office next door and ask your coworker why they enjoy working for your company. If you know WHY you started your company, send out a memo telling the rest of your staff and ask for an e-mail responding with their WHYs.