As a boy I used to love visiting my grandfather in his shop. His office was a wondrous environment filled with gadgets, tools and books that could occupy a small boy for hours. However one aspect sticks in my mind. On the back of his office door was a poster resembling a single frame of a carton. It showed an over-sized man leaning forward to smell some flowers. The caption read..." what a beautiful day, the sun is shining, the birds are singing...now watch some bastard come along and stuff it up!"
Now that poster always stuck with me and it pretty much sums up my day. Great day today relaxed, beautiful weather for spring confirming Perth Western Australia as the the best location in the world to live. Given I had a little time on my hands I thought I would progress my hunt for a new training location. As many of you know despite loving the life of a management consultant my plan is to also open my own training facility in the next 3 years. Primarily an old school facility for power lifters and strength athletes. In the interim however I am in an endless loop trying to find a half decent facility to train at.
I recently became aware of a new facility, had spoken to the owners in their first week and was interested in checking it out. Unfortunately one thing lead to the next and several months had passed. It was now time to reconnect. The website looked ok, they have a couple of cages a, new unilateral equipment (so what lol), a prowler and turf (excellent) along with a vibe that they have some idea. I was a little skeptical as they worship at the shrine of Poloquin. Yes Charles is a guru and all but you know when staff are Poloquin certified that means a heavy emphasis on flogging you his supplements and mobility assessments etc.
So with this in mind I gave them a call to get a sense of the prices, the conversation went something like this..
Them: " Hello this is xxxxx how can I help"
Me: "Hi I saw your website and was interested in finding out a few details. Could you tell me what a 1 year membership would cost?"
Them: "Ahhh I can't really do that"
Me: " Sorry..you can't tell me how much it will cost??"
Them:"No its policy but if you would be happy to pop down I..."
ME: "Really??,cmon I live a 40 min away. You don't believe in the quality of your service sufficiently to quote me a price before I take 2 hours of my day to visit you???"
Them: "No...ahhh..ummm..yeh I am sorry but sometimes other gyms call up and.."
Me: "Ok so let me get this straight, you have a gym you believe in, a gym that you suggest via your advertising that will be just perfect for me, but the cost of that experience has to remain a secret until I visit you?!!!"
Them:"Yes I am sorry but we..."
Me:"No its ok I will take my wallet elsewhere"
Now for fucksakes, what is that. That sort of stupidity i.e. Price on application (POA) smacks of the bad old days in the gym game where they forced you to come in to the gym so they could front you for the hard sell and sign-up. What this does tell me is that they are chasing the uninformed indolent fool as clientele. A sophisticated user of gyms could see the benefits these guys were offering so why play games?
I understand it's a hard game in which to differentiate but really this type of Guerilla marketing just panders to the uninformed and leaves a distinct bad taste in the mouth.
Now I contrast this against a quality gym owner like Brisbane's Damon Hayhow whose gym I have had the pleasure to train at. The guy is a great coach, goes out of his way to assist and gives you all the information you will ever need upfront: a class act!
Sadly I would have been happy to pay 20% more than my current membership to use the facilities at Floreat. But at the very first step of the customer experience they defaulted and so on principle they don't get my $$$$ nor recommendation to all of you knucklehead iron freaks out there.
So the lesson guys, if you open a shiny new gym use some common sense. Believe in the product and don't play games if you are worried you price will frighten people away then you are in the wrong game and don't need those clients. Be upfront otherwise all the shiny equipment, infra red sauna's and Poloquin endorsements won't mitigate dumb policy!
Stay Strong
Thomo
