#JTInTheRaw Show 4: How the Face Of Gyms Screw Our Business & Win Back Strategies

I am very excited to have received my first question this week, so I am starting with answering that!

The question from Lisa in Los Angeles emailed me “How can I get my staff listening to your show?”

It’s simple, just share the video across any platform.  Feel free to share #JTInTheRaw as much as you feel comfortable.  You can hit share or tag people you want to listen to the show.

Ask Questions to Me…

You can ask questions by putting them in the comments below or tagging #AskJT.

Special Shout Out…

A HUGE shout out to the Anytime Fitness Community in the US.  Last weekend Tina Hines lost her battle with cancer.  Even though Anytime is a massive company, Tina’s story has touched every person involved with Anytime. So to Bobby Hines and Tina’s family this is for you . . .  #TeamTinaTough

What I have been doing this week . . .

I want to start with a story . . .

This week while training in a gym, I arrived as a brand new member arrived and started her first ever PT session near where I was working out.  I could hear everything and see everything going on between this new member and the personal trainer.

My first observation, the PT took NO notes during the conversation.  She recorded nothing!!!  Just asked questions and nodded.

The PT asked almost ALL the right questions – what was her exercise history, any medical conditions, etc.  but she did miss the most obvious: what are your goals.

I heard the lady say, “I have never been to a gym before.  So I am a little nervous.”  And the response, “You’ll be right.  I’ll show you some exercises today.”

As I trained over the next hour our paths crossed and I watched and where possible listened.  From my observations, there was no real order to the workout.  The member was walked all over the gym and I mean walked, the trainer 2 to 3 feet in front of the member at all times.

I guess she was trained in body parts but she covered miles in the gym. Walking from one end to the other. I have no idea how this new member and new person to exercise would remember what to do and where to go.

We stood next each other at the assisted chin dip machine and I swear the PT said “Have you seen this machine before?”  Remember this lady had never been to a gym before!!!  OMG

She then demonstrated an exercise wonderfully and her cueing to have the lady do the exercise was great.  In the 5 minutes we were there, the trainer smiled and tried hard to make the client feel at ease.  But never used her name once!

At the end of the session, she said goodbye to the client – no use of name again.  And in the workout nothing was written down and nothing given to the client.

With these experiences occurring in many gyms across the globe every day, is it any wonder that we have retention issues when trainers, who are the face of our business, are treating new clients or gym members like this.

What I have been reading…

This week, I read a great article on “Winning our Lost Customer Back.” This article is the results of study by V Kumar that was published in the Journal of Marketing in July last year on 53,000 former telco customers. They determined that these customers are like customers of any business that does periodic billing and high churn rates – e.g. gyms!

The study stated we maybe better to spend more energy trying to get old customers than get new ones, for 3 simple reasons:

1. They have shown a need for your product, making them better prospects than cold leads;
2. They know you, so no need to build brand awareness & what you do;
3. With the use of technology, you can craft specific win back strategies that are more personalised.

The main people to focus on to win back are those who have:

• Referred others;
• Never complained or
• Had their complaints resolved satisfactorily.

The study also showed that those who had left and returned generally stayed longer than their first stay. And people who left owing to price, stayed the longest on their second stint!

And your offer:

• Service upgrade has the lowest response rate but generally the cheapest strategy, so the highest return;
• A bundled offer of a discount & service upgrade had the highest success rate but was the highest cost and lowest return.

Here is the study link:  http://journals.ama.org/doi/abs/10.1509/jm.14.0107

FitnessBiz…

Many of you Aussies listening will be starting to receive FitnessBiz Brunch marketing.  I’d love to know what you think on our message and if you’d like to come!  We are visiting every capital city – click here to see when and where.

Active Management Ninjas…

This week we finalised our first 6 ninjas for Active Management Members.  These are world experts in their fields, like Dr Michelle Segar and An Coppens, and will be running virtual Q & A sessions for our members. This is super exciting as there is nothing like this happening for fitness business owners on the planet!

This Week…

I have to admit I haven’t been listening to any podcasts in the past 2 weeks, as my cardio has dropped off in the gym.  I expect this to start again in the next 2 weeks, so get ready for some podcast thoughts!

This coming week, I am finalising the agenda for the Personal Trainers Industry Leaders Roundtable meeting and putting the final touches on a new presentation called Likeability: The key to sales, retention & business growth!

Quote of The Week…

‘Handwriting notes will help you recall what you heard.  It will also show your customer they have your focus and you care.’