Are you setting your members up to fail?

Evening everyone,

Can't believe it snowed all night!!! Not funny any more.

I want to share my thoughts on a common problem that we have in our industry.
When a new person joins our club, we go through all the usual questions about what they want to achieve, why they want to lose weight, how much etc. We probably ask what they like and create a program for the customer that lasts between 30 ad 60 minutes.

The question I would like to focus on in this blog is this;
'How often will you be coming to the club?'

This is probably one of the most important questions you can ask a new member.
I always ask trainers during WS education, what they normally say to a member who responds with 'How many times SHOULD I train per week?'
The answer is always 2-3 times!
Believe me, if all your members visited your club 2-3 times per week, you would have big problems.

The problem with responding to the members question, we (the trainer) take full responsibility for the members visit frequency. We therefore can not be surprised if our members do not meet this goal and in the process feel guilty that they are not doing what the trainer recommended.

This is what I mean by 'setting them up to fail'

When someone joins your club, please do not think for one second that they have worked out what day/time of the week they will be coming. People join and then try to make it fit. Some much better than others. This is why you will find that the average visit frequency for your club is probably less than one visit per week.

It is your trainers responsibility to set your members up to succeed. To do this effectively, they must help the member to plan their week and ask the member to say when they can commit to visiting the club. Believe me, this is not easy as most people want to avoid responsibility and commitment at all cost. However, if the member commits, they are much more likely to actually follow through with THEIR visit goal.

So, what to do. My suggestion is that you create a one page, branded/logo week planner which has the days of the week along the top, and then morning, lunchtime and evening down the side.
The trainer can then simply go through a customers week and tick the days and times they can commit to. They can then go and stick it on their fridge to remind them of their exercise days.
The simple things in life are often the most effective.

Good luck and have a great week

George