Five Tips for Increasing Loyalty, Referrals and Profit at Your Health Club

by Joanna Johnsen (Vice president sales and marketing for VicteliB LLC)

Concentrating on current customers can increase referrals, reduce switching to competitors, reduce price sensitivity and increase repeat purchases.

The desire for instant gratification, more clients, more revenue and more profit leads many club operators to forget their current loyal members. The cost to acquire new members can be six to seven times more than retaining an existing member. Concentrating on current customers can increase referrals, reduce switching to competitors, reduce price sensitivity and increase repeat purchases.

Here are five great ways to increase loyalty, referrals and profit:

1. Listen to your members. When a customer approaches the front desk, membership sales, the personal training department or enters the group exercise room, they have a need they want met. To find the real needs of customers, you need to engage them in a conversation. Ask them about their needs, and then listen as they explain those needs. Listening to the customer means that you stop talking, remove distractions, empathize and recap what you believe you have heard. Only then should you respond.

2. Utilize technology. Use Facebook to interact with your members. Most business owners are scared to engage in social media because everyone can see the good, the bad and the ugly. Be transparent, turn the ugly into beautiful and be a hero in the eyes of the customer and audience. Let's take Virgin Airlines for example. On a Virgin Airlines flight, a man wrote on their Facebook page that he was aggravated because he had yet to receive his food. The social media department responded immediately to the customer with the following statement: “Sorry about your wait and your food is on its way!” The social media department then sent word to the pilot that the customer in 2B hadn't received his food. The pilot passed the message onto the flight attendant who immediately served the passenger his food. Virgin Airlines was able to turn the ugly situation into a good situation by utilizing the very same social media tool in which the complaint had been received.

3. Be present. Make the customer feel they are number one. If you have ever had the opportunity to shop at Lululemon, you immediately sense they have a different view on customer service. Lulumon's employees make you feel like you are the only customer in the store, even when they are packed. They do this by greeting you with a smile and asking, “Is there something we can help you find today?” When you find your clothes, you are escorted to the dressing room, where the Lulumon associate writes your name on the dressing room door. You never have to go find another size yourself because a Lulumon associate is always there to assist you with additional sizes, colors or styles. At checkout, they ask about your shopping experience. When customers feel they are number one, it increases loyalty.

4. Create a winning team. Employees are your first customers. Investing in your employees creates happy employees. When you have employees who feel like they are number one, they pass on the same feeling to your customers. This in turn will ensure happy customers. Your employees' attitudes and behaviors determine the quality of customer service. One way to invest in your employees is to provide opportunities for education. The education can be as simple as a weekly conference call or webinar or as in-depth as providing college reimbursements. When the employee feels that you have invested in them, they will invest in your customers.

5. Walk the talk at the top. The owner and management staff must have the desire to provide excellent customer service. Develop a culture of solution providers by uniting employees and customers to develop a system to provide better customer service. Make sure your employees see you walk the facility and interact with your customers.

Employees are not just working for a paycheck; they want to experience success and be part of a team. Customers are not just a paycheck, they are the experience. Enjoy them and invest in them, and they will keep coming back.

BIO
Joanna Johnsen, vice president of sales and marketing for VicteliB LLC, is an experienced business consultant, wellness coach and social media marketing strategist with vast experience in all aspects of sales, large group fitness training solutions, fee-based fitness programming and management. You can reach Johnsen at joanna@victelib.com, at 314-229-1663 or through the company’' website at www.victelib.com.