Owning a box means taking care of a lot of things, but the bread and butter are the members. It is important to take care of them. Why so? Your box serves as a platform for like-minded people to get together, train and be healthier, for passionate coaches to coach others to the best of their abilities, and as a place for a community to grow. Basically, without your members, your box will lose its meaning. So how do you show them you appreciate them?
People both old and new will come through the doors of your box — which is great because you’re either retaining old members or gaining new ones. This is exactly why you need to think of ways to take better care of your community. Gaining new members is important, but so is retention.
Here are a couple of things often overlooked to help you out in making sure you’re taking good care of your members.
1. Get to Know Them
People won’t know you are the owner if you sit on your hindquarters and watch as they come and go through your doors. Your members will greatly appreciate it if you take time to get to know them. Greet them as they come in and say goodbye when they’re leaving. Pick up their names and faces so you know exactly who is who.
It doesn’t seem like much, but people just want a little love in their day. Knowing who they are and giving a sincere hello and goodbye might just be what they need.
2. Take Care of Your Equipment
For obvious reasons, your equipment matters a lot to your members. Keeping it clean, up to date and working properly is part of running your box. Don’t be cheap with your equipment by neglecting it or foregoing upgrades.
Your members will appreciate any effort you put into your box’s equipment. Seeing a new upgrade or repair is a sign that they’re important to you, and they’ll feel good about giving you their business. They use this equipment on a daily basis, so make sure to take good care of them.
3. Pick the Right Jams
No, we’re not talking about delicious fruit jam here — we’re talking about music! Sometimes you might want to blast your favorite type of music through the speakers, but is that really what your members want to hear while they’re working out? Probably not, and that’s why you should take time to know what type of music works for your members.
You can run a Google search for workout music or even do some reading about the effects of music on workouts. Just make sure to have the right selection. Your members will love (and appreciate) it.
4. Maintain Your Bathrooms and Showers
This is probably a no-brainer but often overlooked by a lot of people. Sure, the bathroom is mostly used to relieve oneself and the showers are for getting clean, but that doesn’t mean people don’t notice the dirt or odors. They don’t want to have to deal with that! It’s totally disgusting to be using bathrooms and shower areas that have not been cleaned.
Here’s what needs to be done.
- Make sure there are no unpleasant odors.
- Keep your paper products in stock.
- Keep your soap in stock.
These facilities matter a lot to your members — they’re used quite often, so maintain them to the best of your abilities. Your members will notice and they’ll be glad you put in the effort to do it.
All these things seem quite small, but they do have an effect on how your members perceive your box. Still, there are a lot more things you can do to show them you care about them and their experience.
Take good care of your members. Show them they matter, and they’ll keep coming back!
Main image: CrossFit Culmination/Facebook
