Knowing and understanding your target market

Dear Friends,

Following the recent customer satisfaction survey that we sent out I feel it important to look at ways that I can communicate directly to you on a regular basis. I will start to write a blog with news from the industry, ideas on how to engage your customers, retention statistics and all things Wellness System.

Please bare in mind this is designed to be a communication between Norway, Sweden and Finland customers. It will therefore be quite general, and some of my suggestions might not be right for your specific business.

The most important thing is that as operators, we are always aware of the trends and what is happening in the industry.

This blog will contain many articles from around the world, not just about the industry, but also information about what other Wellness System customers are doing.

If you have any suggestions or ideas that you would like me to research and publish for all to see, please email me at george@norskfitness.no

I want to start with a short story.

I recently visited a new club in our region. The owner was very proud of his club and explained to me that he wanted to stand out as a high standard club and that his focus was to look after all his members offering personal attention with a firm focus on Wellness, not Fitness.

I asked the owner 'who is your target market?' 'who are you trying to get to join your club?'
He responsded confidently that he wanted 'everyone who wants to get in shape and feel good about themselves.'
'Wow' I said, 'you should be full in about two weeks, this is nearly everyone in your town.'
I asked the owner if he thought the local competitor was trying to attract the same people to which he replied, 'no, they look after all the people who want to lift heavy weights for the cheapest price.'

This is a familiar story and many operators are wanting to offer a higher level of service than they can actually deliver. It is all well and good saying that you want to offer high service level, but if the reception staff do not make a point of saying hello and goodbye to customers, this strategy falls down at the first hurdle. I ended the conversation by asking the club owner what steps he was taking to ensure that all his staff in the club cared as much about customer service as he did. He had no answer!

The most important thing is to offer a consitant service level, enforce it and measure the results using mystery members (members that you set up to call the club, visit the club and even join in order to get feedback about your service level) You can also use the Survey module on the Wellness Expert to get a snapshot of what your customers think of your service. (if you are unsure how to do this, please contact your country Wellness System Manager who will send you a short 'How To' video.

You can target any number of groups who you want to join your clubs, but it should be strategic and there should be a plan for each target group. Age groups, male/female, income, exercise history e.g. beginners all require a different approach. We are no longer in a one size fits all industry.

The questions I want you to take away from this first blog and really think about are these:

1. Who is my market?

2. Why have I decided to target this group?

3. Do I have a specific marketing strategy to attract the target group I want?

Have a good week and keep up the great work

George