Making It Easy

When a member wants to cancel his or her membership due to financial hardship, does your club make it easy, or hard?

It seems like common sense: If a client is having trouble paying, give them a break and they’ll be more likely to return as customers when the going is good again.

So why are huge chains like LA Fitness and 24 Hour Fitness making it so tough for members to quit?

It’s easy to chalk it up to the impersonal “service” members get at big box clubs vs. the personal touch they get at small independent facilities — each client means more to them, so they work harder to keep not only their business, but their favor.

But is it really so black and white? I hate to think so.

Surviving the Economy

Every business today has been affected by the economic downturn. I doubt any fitness facility has been immune to members who have had to either put their memberships on hold or terminate them completely due to layoffs, pay cuts, etc. The question, then, is what is the right thing for the fitness industry to do to not only help their customers, but to also reduce their attrition rates?

Several solutions are being offered for how fitness facility operators are dealing with customers who are in a pinch. But, all of these solutions deal with the dreaded “discounting.” The notion to discount our products and services has been widely discouraged over the years, namely because, by discounting, we’re sending a message that our product is not worth what we’re asking. But, is that really relevant in today’s economic climate?

For many facilities, apparently not. According to an article published last week in The New York Times titled Staying Healthy in a Sick Economy, the author notes that consumers are especially in need of a healthy outlet during this stressful period. So, to help these consumers and, of course, to keep them on the rosters, fitness center operators are willing to bargain. A couple of examples include not charging members who quit a fee to rejoin when they’re able, and offering shorter, cheaper and shared training options. (See last week’s related blog, Survival of the Fittest.)

The issue is whether the fitness industry can portray itself as the savior by tightening its belt to serve the public, and then reemerge when the economy strengthens as a product to be valued, returning to previous pricing strategies.

Maybe, maybe not. It depends on how many low-priced competitors decide to pounce on the market to lure cash-strapped customers into their facilities and away from the higher-priced ones. Look, for example, at a new line of fitness facilities named MiFit in the United Kingdom. Recognizing that people are struggling to pay the dues at most fitness centers, their new “low-cost fitness concept” provides memberships available only online at a rate of 9.95 pounds per month. According to the managing director of the corporation, MiFit fills “a gap in the market by providing premium fitness technology at a low cost.”

I guess only time will tell how the economy will affect our industry long-term. For now, facility operators will just have to do what they believe is necessary — for the good of their members and their fitness centers.

Survival of the Fittest

When times are tough, only the strong survive. The global economic crisis is about as tough as it gets, and already some fitness businesses are struggling — and failing — to stay alive.

New business ventures are being put on hold because entrepreneurs can’t get the credit to fund them. Clubs are facing increasing attrition rates because members can’t afford their dues. And there’s nothing you can do about it.

Or, is there?

According to a recent article in the New York Times, some clubs are finding ways to help their members through the economic hardships, and hopefully ensuring their own survival.

TELOS Fitness Center, Dallas, Texas, now waives applicable fees for rejoining the club for longtime members who have quit and wish to return. “I’ll put a note in their file and we’ll let them pick up their membership without any fees,” Clarisa Duran, sales and marketing director, told the Times.

What are you doing for your members to help ease the burden brought on by lost jobs, lack of available credit, and Wall Street turmoil?

Full Disclosure

Brianna Godfrey was miffed when the personal trainer she’d hired at Gold’s Gym was replaced with no explanation. Wilfredo Rivera was, by her account, a true professional. “He was very motivating, very encouraging, he knew what he was talking about — really a good guy,” Godfrey told a KUTV reporter.

She was even more miffed when she found out why her trainer went missing. Rivera didn’t call in sick or quit. He was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and rape.

This news was upsetting, to say the least, but what upset her most was that she didn’t hear the truth from Gold’s Gym. Instead, she found out her trainer was a wanted criminal — captured thanks to a nationwide manhunt called “Operation Falcon” — from a story on the local news.

Perhaps Gold’s Gym management hoped that by keeping its mouth shut about the circumstances of Rivera’s absence, they’d avoid the fallout. Instead, the club lost a customer and its reputation.

It’s possible that management was embarrassed. Indeed, they should have been. Not only was one of its personal trainers arrested for a violent crime, but he had previously served time in a federal prison for drug and weapons charges.

Gold’s Gym had the chance to prove itself as a forthcoming, up-front business when Rivera was arrested. Management could have stepped up and been honest about the circumstances of his disappearance, and reassured members that the charges weren’t brought by another member. Instead, management kept its mouth shut, leaving Godfrey feeling confused and betrayed.

And why’s that? Apparently, Gold’s doesn’t hire its trainers. Instead, it contracts them through a separate agency called Professional Fitness . “A spokesperson for Gold’s Gym said he was assured background checks were being performed, and that every trainer had come up clean,” reported KUTV. “Now he says they are evaluating if they will continue their relationship with Professional Fitness.”

Um … evaluating? Is that a joke? How about terminating its relationship with Professional Fitness? That seems a more appropriate response to the situation.

But then, I think we can all agree that there was nothing appropriate about how Gold’s handled any of this.

Everyone makes mistakes; but, informing your membership when an employee has been arrested on suspicion of committing a violent crime? That’s a no-brainer.

Murphy’s Law

Some of our readers don’t like it when FM columnist Rob Bishop gets exasperated by the fitness industry. Those readers should probably skip this blog post.

Thanks to Murphy’s Law, it’s difficult to understand why fitness facilities offer amenities. Why bother going above and beyond when there is so much potential for it to blow up in your face?

Senior Editor Anne McDonnell and I puzzled over this question at the Athletic Business Conference in Orlando, Fla. Some readers stopped at our booth and commented on her article about towel service, and we said it was tough to find the upside to offering that amenity. It seemed like lots of work for little to no return. The readers confessed that the only reason their fitness center had a towel service was because members expected it. And, every good club strives to meet — even exceed — their members’ expectations. Right?

I would like to put it out there that some expectations are, perhaps, better left unmet. Why? Because of Murphy’s Law.

You opened a daycare center? Some kid will bite another kid and you’ll get sued. You invested in a snack bar? One of your members will get food poisoning. You forked over a ton for a fancy locker room? It’ll still get robbed.

Stopping an amenity once you’ve started offering it is a difficult proposition, and not one I’d care to advise any fitness facility on how to do. But I would suggest that, before you start thinking about all of the new extras you can give members, think twice. Three times. Maybe even four.

And then forget about it altogether.

Big, Black Boxes of Sin

I don’t know about your members, but I go to the gym for one reason: to watch hot chicks and smokin’ guys shake their stuff. There, I said it. I don’t run for an hour on the treadmill for my health; I do it so I can get an eyeful of scantily clad women lip-syncing to top 40 hits, or bumping and grinding next to a shirtless, scowling rap star. Don’t call the cops just yet — I’m not doing anything illegal. I’m just watching the videos playing on the TVs scattered throughout the club. Those big, black boxes of sin are chock full of sex, I tell you. SEX!

OK, so the previous paragraph is not entirely true. I don’t actually go to the gym to watch music videos. I do run on the treadmill for my health, but I’ve only clocked an hour once and that nearly killed me. But there is a group of concerned — no, HORRIFIED — students in Utah who are doing whatever they possibly can to get that filth off two area Gold’s Gym closed-circuit televisions.

I promise you, this time I’m not kidding.

Five “organizations that fight pornography in the community are upset with the videos at the gym and say they have collected nearly 1,000 signatures on a petition calling on Gold’s Gym to quit showing the videos,” reports KSL5. Dallen Johnson told the KSL5 reporter, “I’ve had to leave, honestly! There have been four times I’ve run out of the cardio cinema because of racy and inappropriate things being shown, things I personally view as pornography.” You know, there are certain shoe displays so alluring that I view them as pornography, but I’m not demanding that the stores take them down. I just want a discount.

Jesse Yaffe says the injustice goes even further. Not only does Gold’s broadcast porn, but apparently those sadists force him to watch it. “Once you are a member here, you basically don’t have the choice anymore,” Yaffe told the reporter. “You’re forced to watch indecent material because it seems everywhere you go there’s a TV.” And you thought your members wanted entertainment options!

Gold’s Gym officials in Utah, bless their hearts, are taking the time to listen to the students’ complaints. “Gold’s says music helps to energize people who are there to exercise, and say they don’t want anyone to be offended at the gym during their workout experience,” reports KSL5.

However, it seems the offenses don’t stop at lascivious videos. The students have demanded that Gold’s install blinds on the group exercise room because the exercisers’ “dancing” is “very provocative.” Unless the cocktail-loving ladies from Flirty Girls Fitness have stumbled into a Gold’s by mistake after a wild night of pole dancing, I fail to see how group exercise could be so provocative it should be behind closed doors.

Don’t get me wrong. Some people prefer a more modest environment to work out in, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Heck, we’ve written about facilities that cater to those people. But it’s my opinion that Gold’s should stay strong. A club should not change to accommodate the few — nor should it do so in a manner that suggests all of its other locations are doing something wrong or indecent. If the students are unhappy there, then Gold’s should refund their money and send them on their way.

And I’m not kidding about that, either.

Today’s “B” Session: Club Service (Still) Sucks

I cancelled my gym membership today. It shouldn’t have taken me so long to take this step, as I’ve been thinking of cancelling for more than a year. But, I kept thinking “things” at my club would get better.

I’d been a member of this facility since I first moved to the area, almost six years ago. When I joined, it was a small facility located within a physical therapy clinic. Because of its size, the facility had a kind of local appeal to it, and I got to know the owner, the fitness director and a couple of the trainers. A few years later, the owner decided to build a new 20,000-square-foot facility next door. The original fitness director and trainers went their own way, and new faces were hired. With the new facility, there was more opportunity to provide additional types of programming, such as aquatics, racquetball and group exercise, and, I must admit, I was excited. I run outdoors and have my own weights at home, so I only use the facility for two reasons: 1) when the weather is intolerable, and 2) to participate in group exercise and maybe swim a few laps now and then. With this new facility, I would definitely be spending more time there.

But, to my dismay, rather than working out at the new facility more, I began to go less. First, it was about familiarity. I didn’t seem to know anyone anymore, and none of the staff seemed to care who I was. And, I wasn’t the only one. On two different occasions while running on the treadmill (due to inclement weather), I had to provide assistance to people who were clearly at a loss about how to operate the equipment. One woman stared at the console so long that I jumped onto the side rails, took of my headphones and asked her how I could help. She just wanted to know whether she should use the pre-programmed options, and how. Another woman tried and tried, unsuccessfully, to figure out how to turn the personal television screen on until, once again, I removed my headphones and told her how to do it. Where were all the employees? And, why didn’t these people get any sort of orientation on how to use the equipment?

I could get over the staff issues, however, if it meant I could participate in some fun group exercise classes. Unfortunately, the facility failed to hire any real group exercise instructors, and instead relied on personal trainers to fill the void. We all know that personal trainers do not make great group exercise instructors. And, to top it off, their most exciting classes are weight training and boot camp. There are no fun dance classes that offer high-energy excitement, which is what I want — and, I discovered in conversation with other participants, that’s what many of them want, as well. (See my blog, “Where Did the Fun Go in Group Exercise?”) So, I emailed the fitness director to voice my concern, and even made some suggestions, including attaching some of the articles we’ve published in the magazine. Can you believe that I wasn’t even given the courtesy of a reply?

For the past eight months, I’ve used the facility exactly three times — twice due to inclement weather and another time to try another group exercise class, which was disappointing. At $39 a month, I’ve calculated that I paid $104 for each of those visits. Those are some expensive workouts!

So, you may be asking, what am I going to do now in the event of inclement weather? Well, I’m joining a chain fitness facility (I won’t mention which one) that just opened last month. It may be 10.1 miles from my home versus 4.3, but I’ve been told by a couple of friends that the facility offers some really fun and exciting group exercise classes taught by real group exercise instructors. Heck, I figure if I’m going to be ignored anyway, which I surely will at a large chain, then at least I’ll get some good workouts in for my dues! And, guess what, it’s cheaper, too!

What I can’t get over is the fact that I would have expected this kind of poor customer service from a large chain, but, given the history of the facility I just quit, I didn’t expect to be treated the way I was there. If you’re an operator or fitness professional at a locally owned fitness center, you need to ask yourself whether you have members who feel like I do, and if you do, I suggest you take a long, hard look at how you can improve your customer service, your staff and your programs.

Consumer Reports Takes on the Fitness Industry

If you read my blog entry from a few weeks ago about the Better Business Bureau, you may see a pattern: how outsiders view the fitness industry. Now, the ultimate in consumer guides has, for the first time, rated fitness centers. Consumer Reports recently released its guide for consumers (your potential members) on the types of facilities that rate the best, and what to look for when deciding where to join.

The ratings are based on responses from more than 10,000 ConsumerReports.org subscribers who answered an online survey. Responders rated fitness centers on classes, crowds, locker rooms, billing issues and more. In addition, Consumer Reports sent 12 mystery shoppers to branches of the major chains in nine states. (To view the entire report, you must be a Consumer Reports subscriber.)

Results found that members don’t need a big, fancy facility to be happy. Responders gave higher marks to YMCAs/JCCs, community centers and corporate fitness centers than to most of the big chains that were rated. Yoga, Pilates and dance studios also outscored most of the chains.

In addition to the type of facility members preferred, they were asked about membership fees. Among respondents with paid memberships, 16 percent had a problem with their contract or fees, such as an unexpected dues hike or inability to suspend their membership temporarily. And, many members had difficulty canceling a membership. Thirty-eight percent of respondents who had canceled their membership in one of the big chains had at least one problem, such as receiving bills after cancellation, or excessive time and effort to cancel.

Should you care about this report? Absolutely! Even if you are not one of the big chains reviewed (Bally’s, Life Time Fitness, Curves, Gold’s Gym, 24 Hour Fitness, LA Fitness and Town Sports International), your category of facility is most likely included (independent, YMCA, corporate, etc.). Also, the guide gives tips to potential members on what to look for in a facility, including staff, cleanliness, value, equipment and programs.

Now, in addition to cars and vacuum cleaners, Consumer Reports helps customers make informed buying decisions about fitness centers. The industry should take guides such as this to heart, and find out what current and potential members want and need in a fitness facility. According to this report, it’s not all about brand or having the best equipment. Members are happy with great service, a good value and fair business practices.

Don’t Ruin Your –or the Industry’s - Reputation

January is a big month for most fitness centers — a busy time when people join with the best of intentions. During these critical first few months of the year, don’t blow it for everyone else in the industry by using hard sell tactics or ignoring members once they hand over their money.

It is no secret that the fitness industry doesn’t have the best reputation among consumers. People can feel ignored, confused or embarrassed as new members, or cheated when they have a problem with their membership. Remember that Friends episode when Ross tried to quit his gym and they wouldn’t let him? The industry’s reputation precedes you.

The Better Business Bureau ranks consumer complaints by category. The category “Health Clubs” was in the top-25 of U.S. businesses that had the most complaints in 2006 — out of almost 4,000. (In Canada, Health Clubs ranked No. 7!) Health Clubs was also one of the categories that received the most requests from consumers who were looking for reputable companies (in the top 100 of categories requested). Again, people are weary about joining (and they’re doing their homework).

With so many new people coming into your fitness center this January, make them feel welcome not only into your facility, but to the fitness industry as a whole. Get to know new members, ask them how their workouts are going, create a clean and welcoming environment, take complaints seriously, and be up-front and professional about your membership contracts, initiation fees and dues.

People don’t like to feel like they were tricked into doing something, or to find out that someone else got a better deal for the same products and services. Fitness centers, like used car dealerships, have the reputation for “hard selling,” and then leaving the customer out in the cold after the deal is made. We all need to help change this image. When the new year comes around, let’s make new members feel welcome and wanted, and not just one more sucker who helps pay your monthly utility bill.

Making Sense of Staph

At a recent industry trade show, the FM booth had a prime location: right next to Gojo Industries. People flocked to the booth next door with hands outstretched, eager for a product sample. Guess what were they were selling? No, not beer, though the product does give off a faint whiff of alcohol. Gojo Industries sells hand sanitizer and related accessories.

It’s no wonder fitness facilities are enamored with hand sanitizers. The recent drug-resistant staphylococcus aureus outbreak — and subsequent media freak-out — has shoved fitness centers into the same dark corner as school locker rooms and hospitals. Suddenly, working out in a fitness center — where people, God forbid, sweat — is now perceived as potentially dangerous to their health. Therefore, facility managers are eager to show proactivity and awareness of their members’ concerns — and complimentary hand sanitizers are an easy and relatively inexpensive way to accomplish this.

Unfortunately, the industry’s lack of regulation continues to haunt it. According to an article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “There aren’t any state-mandated regulations or routine inspections of [fitness] facilities, except for those with pools, spas and hot tubs. … And they’re not required to report staph infections, because most infections are very mild and result in skin irritation.”

Still, no matter how mild a rash may be, if a member thinks they got it at your facility, you’re in trouble.

It’s likely that your facility has measures in place to combat infections of all kinds — and it’s also likely that most of them rely on members doing most of the work. You probably have signs endorsing frequent hand washing, towel requirements or services, and available disinfectant sprays. But, what should members expect from you? What are you doing to show members that you take the staph outbreak — and every disease concern — as seriously as they do?

For more information about Staphylococcus aureus, visit the CDC
website.

The "Big Fat" Truth About Health Clubs

If knowledge is power, and I believe it is, then fitness facility operators will want to know that their secrets are out. A new book titled, “The Big Fat Health and Fitness Lie,” by Craig Pepin-Donat singles out the fitness industry to show consumers how they have been leading lifestyles of doom by not having the facts about addiction, supplements, diets and health clubs. Yes, health clubs. Pepin-Donat devotes an entire chapter to spelling out the techniques fitness center salespeople use to get consumers to purchase memberships, why they and management couldn’t really care less whether consumers come to the club once they buy, and how much more money, in addition to the monthly dues, it really is going to cost members to accomplish their goals.

But, believe it or not, this is not a bad thing that Pepin-Donat has done. This book is actually good for both consumers and for our industry. Pepin-Donat’s goal is clearly to help the consumer to understand how to lose weight and get in shape, and he does not discourage fitness center memberships. In fact, he encourages them. But, he warns that fitness centers have to earn consumers’ business. “There is nothing wrong with a salesperson trying to help you make a decision to purchase their product or service,” he says. “The only thing you need to be concerned with is how they do it. If the salesperson comes across as being overly aggressive and negative in any way, walk out. If the company cannot at least train their sales force to be professional and courteous, they haven’t earned the right to get your business.”

The mess fitness facilities have made of customer service needs to be cleaned up. Pepin-Donat provides some good, solid facts about how facility operators run their businesses. And, it’s not all negative toward fitness centers. He gives some good explanations for why facility managers do the things they do, for their business’ sake. The key is that by making consumers aware of this, and why, perhaps consumers can get past the obstacles of joining a facility. For instance, he explains why salespeople have the attitudes they do (“Unfortunately, many fitness salespeople do not care about you or your goals.”), and why most facility managers don’t make it a practice to communicate regularly with their members outside of the facility or to get inactive, paying members back to the club to work out (“most clubs avoid sending direct-mail communication to their current member base because there is always the fear of awakening the sleeping giant of members who are not using the club.”).

Consumers need to exercise to lose weight, and Pepin-Donat has clearly painted a picture that one of the best ways for them to do that is in a fitness facility. He is quite frank about what consumers should look for in a facility, making a comparison of the equipment and amenities in a Curves vs. a “quality fitness club,” and, in a separate chapter, decrying the quality of some home fitness equipment and the gimmicks companies use to sell it. But, as he says, “In order to get results from joining a fitness center, you have to use it consistently, and most club joiners never come close.” Because of this, he makes no bones about what it takes to make a commitment to succeed. “If you don’t really know what you are doing and have limited or no fitness experience, joining a club without assistance and guidance can turn out to be a total waste of time and money.” This is where personal training comes in. Pepin-Donat spells out just how much more expensive getting fit at a fitness center can be, and, if consumers are going to buck up for the extra cost, what they really should look for.

Most of you know that the truth told about fitness centers in “The Big Fat Health and Fitness Lie” comes from a credible source. Pepin-Donat is known as a seasoned operator in the health/fitness industry, having operated more than 450 fitness centers in 11 countries. He left his last job in the industry prior to publishing this book, saying, “There is no way I could convey this information while being employed within the health and fitness industry. I would be fired.” And, when warned about alienating an industry he has worked in for more than 25 years, he says, “Why would anyone be threatened or alienated by the truth? The answer is that the truth can hurt the profits of companies that rely on the insecurity and vulnerability of consumers.”

Consumers who read this book will likely not be turned off about fitness facilities. And, those fitness center operators who read this book and are turned off — well, I guess you know why. Either way, this truth could just help you to make some changes in your business where possible. But, more importantly, it may empower you to know that the next person walking through your door may know more about your business than you once thought. You could use that to your advantage — or not.

Attention Fitness Center Managers!

Ahem. I have an annoucement.

Attention fitness center managers! Your services are no longer needed. Please proceed in an orderly fashion toward the exit, and best of luck in your future professional pursuits.

If this announcement doesn’t fill you with joy — if, in fact, it makes you just the slightest bit angry — don’t shoot the messenger. I only realized fitness center managers were on their way out the door after reading an article about a new kind of manager — the non-human kind — making its debut in one of the largest chains in the business. 24 Hour Fitness, San Ramon, Calif., purchased RetailAction, a software application manufactured by Reflexis Systems Inc., Dedham, Mass., that promises to “boost operational productivity and consistently execute its corporate strategy in all of its more than 375 clubs in 14 states.”

24 Hour Fitness also believes its new, automated managers will actually help make members happier and more satisfied. “We are confident that integrating labor scheduling, task management and compliance management will enhance customer experience significantly at our clubs,” says Dan Benning, senior vice president of operations for 24 Hour Fitness Worldwide.

In light of the renewed focus on making fitness centers a hub of social activity that extends beyond sets and reps, am I alone in thinking that this is a strange step for an industry leader to take? How can a bunch of fitness center employees working at the beck and call of a computer effectively serve the needs of a notoriously unpredicatable group of fitness center members? Call me crazy, or just old-fashioned, but I have a hard time imagining a workforce happy to be micromanaged by a computer chip.

Dangerous Trash

Do you like to dig in the trash? Me neither, but if you had some time on your hands, lived in North Texas and didn’t mind the smell, you could have found enough personal information to steal the identities of dozens of people. If you’re in to that sort of thing.

And you’d owe it all to one company: Life Time Fitness Inc.

Life Time Fitness in Fort Worth, Texas, was hit with a lawsuit after investigators found more than 100 records with customers' personal information that were dumped in publicly accessible trash bins in six different North Texas locations.

It seems Life Time Fitness discarded the personal information of people who had discontinued their memberships by simply tossing them in the trash. Nothing was shredded. Nothing was blacked out. No effort was made to protect (or respect) the sensitive information contained on those discarded documents.

Now Life Time Fitness says it intends to work with the Texas Attorney General's office to ensure that members' sensitive personal information is properly protected. Sounds like too little, too late, to me.

What is your club’s process for discarding (or, better yet, destroying) personal information? Identity theft isn’t just the subject of a techno thriller coming to a theater near you. It’s a real concern for people who put their personal information into your hands — whether or not they’re still paying dues.

Hear Your Members ‘Loud’ and Clear

Leave it to the Internet to get people to speak their minds — or just to get people to say anything about everything. I guess that’s why we, the people who use the Internet to share information, were named Time magazine’s Person of the Year. Think about it: It’s extremely powerful, how the Internet has changed the world.

In May, we published an article titled Ego-Surfing for Improved Customer Service. The article showed examples of complaints found on U.S. websites about health clubs. Recently, one of FM’s staff members stumbled upon a website called Loud Campus. The site is hosted by Cornell University, and allows its students to voice their opinions on the university and issues across the nation. Students can click on any number of topics, one of which brings up a host of comments about Cornell’s fitness facilities. Cornell has several fitness centers, about which we wrote an article in January 2004 titled Why Stop at One?

The site made me think what a great opportunity it would be for facilities to have a Loud Club site open to members only. This could accomplish several things: 1) It could be a way for members to meet each other by finding others with similar interests, thus growing your club’s community; 2) It could act as a forum for members to express their compliments and complaints about your facility and 3) Because you are able to view what your members, and your members only, have to say about you, you have the ability to improve things! I wonder if there are any facility operators out there doing something like this already? And, if so, have you used it to your advantage?

It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s Super Secret Shopper!

Secret shoppers are a valuable tool for business owners who want an objective opinion on their staff’s service skills (Amy Scanlin writes all about how fitness centers can make the most of secret shoppers in FM’s February issue). But I’ve always had a more romantic view of these covert crusaders. I think of secret shopping as a kind of sweet, sweet justice.

The terrible customer service I’ve received in my lifetime has been impressive in its consistency. I’ve been treated like the invisible woman, a buzzing mosquito and a close-talker with a wasting disease. And, in those moments when I’m being ignored, tolerated or avoided, I daydream about being a secret shopper. What could be better than knowing that smug salesperson will get the shock of his life when my Super Secret Shopper Report ends up on his boss’ desk? Imagine the satisfaction of knowing my report would make him as uncomfortable as he made me when I asked if he could please ask the red-faced man on Treadmill 14 to honor his 20-minute time limit, or why the water fountain doesn’t work!

Being a secret shopper must be like being a superhero. You’re incognito, flying under the radar, doing good, busting the bad guys, making them pay. POW! ZAP! BING! I get all tingly just thinking about it.

If I were a secret shopper, I’d bring justice to all members who suffer bored front desk staffers, overbearing personal trainers and annoying managers who wear disinfectant spray bottles in a holster like they’re heading for a wild west showdown. My brief, yet brutal secret shopper reports would end the domineering step instructor’s reign! Knock the bull-horn-abusing lifeguard from his perch! Erase the night manager’s annoyed smirk when members gently point out the deadly mold flourishing in the showers!

Who knows? I might give this secret shopper thing a try. I wonder if I can wear a cape…

Sleeping in Their Bed

There is a treadmill in my fitness center that has problems with the incline function. It seems to be fine, at first. However, when I change the speed, the incline goes back down. Strange. What’s stranger is that this treadmill has been this way for weeks, and it’s never once been repaired.

I suspect the staff at my fitness center doesn’t follow the sage advice of Miss Manners, the syndicated columnist. She has a word of advice for people expecting house guests: sleep in their bed. Not with them, but sleep in the bed in your guest room to make sure the mattress is comfortable, the clock works, there are hangers in the closet, etc. Maybe you need to take this advice when it comes to your fitness center.

Fitness managers should actually use their fitness centers. Try out each cardio machine, use the weight machines and free weights, take group classes, try the menu items in your juice bar and use the locker room.

If you wait until your members tell you that something is dirty, broken or unsafe, you may have already lost them. It is frustrating for members to keep seeing the same problems over and over. And, if you think that your members will report every problem, think again. They may be in too much of a hurry to seek out a staff member, or they may just not want to look like a whiner.

You and your staff members should follow daily, weekly and monthly checklists that cover your entire facility. But, there are some things you may not notice unless you actually use your facility — like the treadmill at my fitness center.

There are countless other ways to offer great customer service to your members. Look for more ideas in Fitness Management’s Article Archive.

Good customer service means paying attention to every detail. You may actually be losing members to things you don't even think they notice.

Do you work out regularly at your fitness center? Do you have a story about something you found that was broken, unsafe, dirty, etc.? Share it!