Wednesday, September 19, 2012

CrossFit Member Retention

In my 7 years with Concept2 I probably toured over 100 clubs  - from throughout the US and beyond. What I found time and time again was that I could tell in a matter of seconds if the club I was visiting was successful and was going to be around for the long term - or if they were headed into oblivion.

What were the indicators of success?

1. A welcoming front desk experience. The great clubs made you feel welcome from the moment you walked in the front door. The key here was that the truly great clubs didn't just do this by having someone nice manning the front desk - rather they installed a culture of acceptance among their members.

2. Bright and clean. Obvious right? If the club looks messy, disorganized and dark, most often they weren't going to be around the next time I went back to check on them.

3. Recognition of success. This is where I fit in... The great clubs had programming that allowed them to recognize personal performance - whether a 60 year old grandmother just swam the length of the pool or a 19 year old hot head just benched a club record - recognize and reward was a key to retention. The key principle behind logsitall was to give clubs the ability to put together easy programs to recognize performance among their members.

This blog is designed to give free ideas to CrossFit affiliates and health clubs in general (large and small) to motivate, inspire and retain their members using the combination of recognition and reward.

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