Author Shavi Sharma once wrote: “Every single day, another page is added and as one book finishes, another one starts.” As we go through our daily lives we come into contact with countless individuals. Each and every one of them are experiencing life through their own lens, from their own personal experiences. The world is full of stories and every person is the main character of their life.
So how do we, as Fitness Professionals, leverage these stories to better help our members?
It all boils down to doing our homework. Knowing enough about our members to enable efficient, personalized communication. Doing this not only improves your overall connection with your members, it helps boost your communication skills in general and allows you to live life with a much more emotional and personal understanding of the stories everyone is living through around you. A potentially new member or someone you’ve known for years could come into your studio on the worst day of their life or the best. It’s up to you as the Fitness Professional to treat every one of your members (not to mention your staff) with the same compassion and grace.
How Technology Has Changed Things
Over the past ten years, perhaps more, technology has in most ways positively evolved the way we communicate with the world. Personalization in business used to be remembering a members name and approaching them with a level of confidence in what you’re selling. Of course, that still applies. But as technology continues to change so does the way we handle our member communications.
Innovations in Smart Messaging and Member Tracking data have made communication with our members, flexible, fast and most importantly: personal. This in turn has changed the way members and consumers expect to be communicated with by businesses. They not only expect, they want businesses to remember their needs. They want businesses to present information to them that is attentive and provides specific solutions to whatever problems they might be experiencing in their day to day life. Consumers expect this so much nowadays that businesses that don’t apply that personal, human touch, find themselves floundering in their market when they should be thriving.
Why Personal Communication Is So Important
Humans are social creatures by nature. We crave connection on an emotional and spiritual level that can only be satiated by strong, nurturing and honest relationships. Because most consumers in today’s modern society expect the businesses they interact with on a daily basis to approach them with integrity they approach a business relationship the same way they would a personal one. Even if a first impression of you and your business is a favorable one it is paramount that you continue to listen to your members needs. And we don’t mean just smile and nod. We mean really listen and devise a plan for how to adjust your workout routines, communication and overall practice to suit the constantly evolving needs of your members. Remember, everyone has a story and that story changes daily.
This process should naturally extend itself to your staff as well. Make personalized communication and customer service an integral part of your studios’ culture. Instead of waiting for a problem to arise and putting out the fire then and there, design ways to make member and customer communications efficient so fires never start to begin with. When engaged in the process of hiring new employees foster communication skills. Ensure that all employees are returning voicemails, emails or text messages, promptly and with a level of compassionate professionalism. Make it clear to all levels of staff, even those that do not directly connect with your members, that personalized communication skills are a pillar of your business and not following through on that is detrimental to the success of your fitness studio.
Data Is Everything
We can’t have effective, personalized communication with our members if we don’t know a thing about them. We mentioned the importance of listening to your members and that can not be underscored enough. We know it can be hectic and we also know how easy it is to feel bogged down with all of this information floating around in your head. This is where note taking comes in. As well as empowering your staff to mine personal data from your members as well. Your staff might have a different perspective on certain members than you do but that doesn’t mean the data they’ve compiled is any less relevant. Combine all of this data you’ve collected from a multitude of sources into a clean, easy to use database. This way, information is always readily available. If you and your staff are determined, it will also always be up to date. The more information you have about your members the better aptitude you have in helping them achieve their goals. Which, lets face it: That’s the reason you got into the fitness realm to begin with. You wanted to help others succeed.
Even Heroes Need Help Sometimes
Naamly, the Gym Member Experience Platform was designed with personalized communication in mind. Naamly combines all three major forms of communication, phone, SMS text messaging and email all into one sleek and easy to use application. Because of this, communicating with members and staff has never been easier when you implement Naamly into the daily routine of your studio.
Naamly allows Fitness Professionals to empower their staff to rise to the occasion. A shared inbox and the ability for all staff including yourself to reach out from the same business number ensures consistent communication. You can rest easy knowing that your staff can pick up the reins when you’re not able to. Naamly’s Smart Messaging technology is even bright enough to know the difference between messages that require an immediate response, versus those that do not.
Naamly also gives Fitness Professionals the power to leverage data from multiple sources like InBody & MyZone just to name a few. It keeps track of members’ attendance and alerts you on M.I.A. members or ones that you might be in danger of losing, allowing for a genuine reason to reach out to them. Everyone values feeling valued. This is why Naamly alerts you on members’ birthdays as well as special occasions or anniversaries in their life. The more member information that is imported into Naamly the more useful the system will be for you and your studio. As Fitness Professionals we personalize our workout routines to fit the goals of our members. Isn’t it time we personalized our communication as well?
Sign up today to get a taste of what Naamly has to offer or schedule an appointment to speak directly with one of our Coaches to help you through the process of making your member communications as robust as your workouts.