How To Have A Great Martial Arts Facility
You have now moved your prospect down the line to becoming a student. You need to have a fantastic facility that welcomes people.
This is another area that many gym owners overlook, so, you want nice mats and equipment, but it goes way beyond that. The ambiance of the place matters too. Do you know the saying that you only get one chance to make a first impression? It’s true.
How welcoming is your gym? Does it smell good? Do you touch up the paint and replace broken items regularly? The best feeling is when people make their first visit and tell you, “This is way nicer than I expected.”
Look at your gym from the eyes, ears, and nose of a new person coming in for the first time. Does it smell like sweaty gym socks or something a lot fresher?
Have you ever made an online booking for a hotel and ended up being bitterly disappointed with the place the instant you turn up? You’re like, “This is not how it looked on the website!” a troubling thought isn’t it?
You know the sort of thing that there’s nobody to greet you so you just stand around looking at stuff to pass the time. Bad stuff. The wallpaper peeling off the wall, the crooked pictures that look about 200 years old, and it smells like a dog peed in the corner.
Eventually, you walk around looking for someone or anyone who works and serve you there. This is most definitely not the top dollar experience you thought you were paying for!
Now, you’re trying to figure out how to get your money back from the website because you don’t want to stay there.
Does someone’s first experience at your gym resemble this example? I hope not, because prospective members will just turn on their heels and head for the hills.
Task 7: Check out the customer experience with other businesses
How well your gym is organized and how you greet and serve people is crucial. To get some ideas on how to get to the next level visit some high-quality venues and use some of their systems.
Apple store
This is one of the cleanest and most organized stores on Earth. Customers are always greeted right away and all of the products are displayed nicely.
They are all about service and making sure you are taken care of. No wonder they make so much money per square foot of retail space.
Five-star hotels
How different are you treated at a five-star hotel versus a two-star? You need to think of your gym this way. Nobody wants a two-star gym but that is what happens if you skip the little things. Start to treat your gym like a five-star hotel and keep looking at ways to improve it.
Mystery shopper
Go a bit ninja and try out other gyms in your area. They can be MMA gyms or regular ones. Book yourself in for a free tour. How are you greeted? How does their place look inside? This is how your prospective customer will be met too. Take notes and make sure you do a better job of it. If you’re worried you’ll get found out, send a friend.
Get on top of maintenance jobs
You should be inspecting your place on a regular basis, or else, some things will need checking more frequently than others. Divide up what needs to be checked into a monthly and daily list.
These are called standard operating procedures (SOPs). They help you to do things the right way on a consistent basis.
Following SOPs is how big companies like McDonald’s create the same set-up in all their outlets, so customers know exactly what they are getting wherever they are.
Your SOPs will help you to create the same, consistently high level of service and experience in your gym. As well as being great for improving the customer experience, they are great for you too. SOPs are the real secret to scaling your gym and giving you more freedom.
Once the instructions are written down, your staff can help follow them and it takes a lot of weight off your shoulders.
Check out Part 5 of this series Here.
If you’re wanting to grow your academy, I’d recommend starting with a review and plan for your business. Click Here To Apply To Work With Us.