Mystery Shopping Helps Anytime Fitness, Shape Their Staff Training
“Mystery Shopping is the best way to inspect what to expect from your team,” says Justin Tamsett, Managing Director of Active Management.
“When I was a club owner, I always hoped that phone or walk-in enquiries were treated exactly the way my team were trained, but I never really knew for sure. So when we launched Active Management, Mystery Shopping was the first product we released, and I employed my former club manager Stacey Hurley to manage the program. She knew exactly what owners and managers look for, so she was a perfect fit for the role,” explains Tamsett.
Last month, Active Management secured an important Anytime Fitness contract to help improve their clubs’ sales processes, using Mystery Shopping.
The contract is with the Head Office of Anytime Fitness, and essentially the franchisees are Mystery Shopped prior to their “Vitals” training. This enables the staff training that follows, to be shaped around the strengths and weaknesses that Active Management identify.
“In our first month we made 33 calls to numerous Anytime Fitness clubs based in New South Wales and in doing so, we identified several key areas for improvement,” says Stacey Hurley, Active Management’s Mystery Shopper Captain.
“While we have been working with a few independent clubs and council facilities, the Anytime Fitness owners have demonstrated a high level of proactivity, to ensure their teams are consistently delivering quality sales experiences. We have been working with one particular Anytime Fitness client for three years now, and over that time their scores have improved by at least 50 per cent since they began,” explains Hurley.
She adds, “Clubs of all sizes have benefited from the information they receive from a Mystery Shopping program. Some owners are surprised when they discover that the enquiry from our visit was never even recorded, while other owners are surprised when staff members they didn’t expect to be strong in sales, score impressively.”
“Contracting an independent Mystery Shopping service is a relatively new service within the fitness industry,” says Tamsett. “We understand that owners can be nervous about committing to a long term program and, as such, we have developed an Introductory Package which is less than $1,000, that gives owners and managers, a snap shot of how walk-in, phone and web enquiries are truly handled in their business.”
One client said “The fitness industry is now the most competitive it has ever been, so we need to handle every enquiry like gold. For this reason, employing Active Management to Mystery Shop us is the best investment to ensure we do.”
To learn how you can save 10 per cent on your Introductory Package, or for more information about Mystery Shopping, phone Stacey Hurley on 02 9484 5501.
Justin is the Managing Director of Active Management, which he began January 2004. He offers coaching to businesses worldwide in everything from start up and design to marketing and sales systems. Justin also facilitates four Australian and New Zealand ‘fitness industry roundtables’ events, which allows him to see a huge cross section of business models.