April 1, 2009

Member Appreciation. . . Not

When I joined my gym back in October, I spent a good 10 hours negotiating a rate. I left a couple times, refused to return phone calls, and then finally signed a contract when it was what I wanted in the first place. It kind of felt like buying a car. . . for a gym membership. Ridiculous.

Yesterday was "Member Appreciation Day." One of the manager's approached me as I was starting my workout and asked me if I'd like to take advantage of their "special promotion" for members. I currently pay $34.99/month plus $7.00/month for the Kid Zone. I negotiated no initiaition fee on the sign-up. I didn't want to pay one to get a lower rate, because honestly, I didn't know how much I'd like the gym or how long I would truly last.

The promotion they were running yesterday was this: give my current membership to my husband and then pay $840.00 up front for three years. Basically, you pay for two years and they give you the third free. They also said they'd throw in a Kid Zone membership for my second child for free for one year. On the surface, it sounds good. My monthly rate would be cut from $34.99/month plus the $7/month for KidZone, down to about $22 spread out over those three years. After that, you're "grandfathered" in at $23/month.

It's a great deal if:

You know you're not going to tire of the gym over the course of many years.
You have $840 to put up for it right now.
You're interested in giving a gym that kind of money, committing yourself for three years, and giving away any leverage you have when issues come up.

I considered it and thought it was initially a good plan; but Mr. BBM and I are currently looking for a new car. We'd also like to landscape and build a patio on our house. In addition, I really want to get Lil C to Disney World while she's still little. All of those things require cash, and so do the knee surgery bills that are still rolling in from January.

I'd like to make a couple suggestions to the gym for how to really, truly appreciate your members.

First, allow your members with children to bring an additional kid to Kid Zone for free (or at the very least, the same rate of your first child) over the summer months. This would make a lot of mom members happy; mom members talk (a lot). Word of mouth is good for business.

Second, give out free padlocks, workout towels or water bottles. It costs very little to do this, but people like getting free stuff. Why do you think there are so many review blogs out there? Plus, free towels or water bottles with the gym name on them is also good for business.

Third, when you say you're going to give us a free month when we sign up, make sure it shows up. How can I trust any deals you have when you're not honoring our original one?

Fourth, offer to give members a lower monthly rate, paid monthly instead of all up front, with a one year committment. One year committments are way less scary than a three year one.

Finally, don't act like Member Appreciation Day has anything to do with appreciating members. It's about sales, money and volume. You probably shouldn't leave your little check-off until bonus sheet right in the middle of your desk. Suddenly, I'm not an appreciated member; I'm just number 16 on your list. Ask any woman and she'll tell you that we don't ever like being tick marks on a sheet.