Why Should You Care?

A few nights ago, some friends and I were discussing the differences between various fitness clubs.

One friend observed that sports training clubs - like the martial arts school he attends - care deeply about the attendance of their members, because they are invested in teaching those members and developing their skills. On the other hand, he commented, typical gym owners don't care how often their members visit the gym to work out, since the owners receive the monthly membership dues, and don't require anything more.

As I've been thinking about my friend's comments, I've come to disagree.

That is, I agree that most gym owners probably don't care whether their members work out every day, or once a week, or hardly at all, but I believe that good gym owners do and should care.

Sure, a gym owner still receives the same membership fees whether his members attend once or thirty times each month. But if a customer pays a gym membership, without ever actually visiting the gym, sooner or later she will decide to stop wasting money and cancel her membership altogether.

Even if a customer does attend the gym regularly, but her gym owner doesn't really care, that customer could easily be convinced to switch membership if another gym opens that is closer, less expensive, more lavish, or offers more appealing classes.

But what if there was a gym owner who did care about his members? What if their physical fitness mattered to him? What if he spent time thinking of new ways to help his members stay healthy? What if he helped to motivate his members to work out more, and offered them free services to teach them more about their bodies and about fitness? What if his members knew that he cared about them as individuals? How would that affect their membership?

I suspect that those members would be motivated to continue their membership over many years, that they would be loyal to the gym and fairly resistant to the promotions of competing gyms, and that they would rave about their gym to friends, family, and coworkers.

I postulate that those members will have a longer (and more profitable) relationship with the gym owner.

The good and successful gym owner is the one who actually cares about his members.

The good and successful business owner is the one who actually cares about his customers.

Do you care?