In addition to the ability to attract new customers, Clubs would be foolish to ignore the potential of recovering those they have lost.
The costs of signing a new member can run to significant sums.
When you know what that figure is you can then gauge how aggressive you can be to get back members who have left you.
First up you need to adopt the view that your terminating members are no longer paying you anymore so you can’t lose in this game. You do need to change the circumstances to get any positive outcome. Go the extra mile to get them back.
First Off: The Follow Up Call:
The direct approach is best, and it shows intent. This should be within 7 days of notification to leave and needs to be done by your most skilled of staff members.
It’s vital to acknowledge if not actually to apologise that something must have gone wrong with the service they received to lead to this situation.
Often members will be on the back foot when you make the call. They are not expecting it and often will do anything to get you off the phone.
Surveys are almost always 100% useless at this point. The ex-member will say just about anything to avoid upsetting you and get you off the phone. They will most likely praise the club to such a level that its often impossible to work out why they left!
It’s safe to assume that your ex customer is going to need the motivation of a new supervised programme with a member of staff that they have respect for to change their mindset.
Secondly: The Face:
Once you have presented your proposed way forward, you need to get the commitment to sit back down with you face to face to arrange the new programme.
This is no different to the prospecting stage with new members and you need to use the same techniques.
A useful tip here is to offer a very appealing FREE GIFT just for coming back into the club to meet you or at worst to come to the club in their own time.
Utilize any F&B facilities you may have such as free coffee, meal, and if you need to broaden the appeal so it’s something that the ex-member can share with a partner.
The critical point to repeat is that if they don’t come back you have Zero and if they come back you could make a further £500 for example. The question is how much are you prepared to spend to get the next ranch of revenue?
Finally: The Call To Action:
Finally, and most importantly you need to create a “Hurry Up”. A call to action.
To summarize the process so far:
• You have apologized for the circumstances that they find themselves in.
• You have uncovered the motivations they had when they were active members.
• You have presented a solution that’s exclusive, valuable and hits the spot for that member.
It’s time to get the customer to act and come back down to the club to meet you. In order to incentivize this, you need to have a Fixed Deadline on the offer.
Probably 14 days is the longest period I would use, and I would leverage milestones in that period to email the customer and remind him or her to book that there is a ticking clock on the appointment and that after this period the benefit will not be available.
