Hey guys it’s Pete here from petetansley.com, and today I’ll let you do something that’s really, really important in your fitness business. It’s that about creating an amazing atmosphere.
So, I remember a book I read about 10 years ago from Howard Schultz. Howard Schultz is the CEO and founder of Starbucks and he had this interesting theory, it was a major part of the book called— he was talking about how a business—the walls can talk.
When I first read that I was like, How? What? You’ve been overdosing on caffeine. What are you talking about?”
What he meant by “the walls can talk” is that when you walk into a business, you can get a feel of the atmosphere by just listening and feeling how the place is.
If you look around and you know watch the staff and watch the customers and taking the sights and smells, you can get a really, really good feel about how the business is in general.
I think when you’re designing your business and trying to create that perfect business for you, we have to put ourselves in the mind of the prospect. So for most people, walking into a gym or fitness gym for the first time is really daunting.
It’s not an enjoyable thing.
So with that in mind, you have to make it really, really comfortable for them. You have to be different and think what are my prospects’ first impression of my place when I first walk through the door.
I want to teach you three key lessons on getting your atmosphere really, really good.
1.The first lesson I want to share is on the first impression.
So, you need to try to see your place with fresh eyes. When somebody walks in for the first time, what do they see? They see computer cord sticking out and dust in the corner and a dirty entrance and windows you not quite clean.
Do they hear screamo music as they first walk through the doors? Now that’s perfect for your prospect that’s fine. But, we have to put ourselves in the mind of a prospect and think of that first impression. Cleanliness is not really a marketing tip, but cleanliness matters so much for your center.
If you look at feedback and surveys of big gyms, one of the biggest things always is cleanliness. Now I get it, nobody’s going to come to you and join in because, “Hey my friend Sally said you’re the cleanest gym in town.” But, they will leave if it’s not clean.
So keep that in mind first impressions matter.
2. Tip number 2, is everything counts.
I want you to think get everything the prospect will see, or smell, will look at, the uniforms, the staff the music you’re playing even the smells of a gym. Howard Schultz and his book said they invested tons of money on two things which surprised me.
Number one was the smell when he was making stuff or making a certain toasted cheese bagel or a sandwich. The smell was revolting. It’s burnt cheese so they redesigned their entire store to have a better fan to suck out the smell of the toasted cheese sandwich. But he left no stone unturned.
So let’s think about the smells of our gym, the sounds, the music. What the smells, the sounds, that are coming is really important to think about.
3.Tip number three is the atmosphere’s the sum of everything.
The sight, of the smell, of your team’s uniform of your presence, of your humility.
Did you use people’s name? You know if they’ve been there once or twice be nimble with them once or twice, the whole team should know their names.
The atmosphere, I think, comes in the sum of all those three parts.
The wrap up where I just mentioned I just mentioned in this message, in today’s video:
Everything matters.
The top three things I touched on was first impression, and cleanliness has to come into that. How can you tidy it up?
Number two, think of everything the smell, the sight, and the sound.
And number three atmosphere is the sum of all parts—of everything.
So, leave no stone unturned, just like Howard did. Be humble. Use names, and always put yourself in the prospect’s shoes.
