Why Confuse A Customer With Gobbledegook
Why I Cancelled My Planet Fitness Contract
I was at the gym this morning pretty early. As soon as I walked in at Planet Fitness I was presented with a sign. The sign said that today was the day that they were going to assess 'maintenance fees'. I thought "Wait? Shouldn't maintaining this place be part of what I pay each month? Why are you charging me for this?" Honestly, I don't really get it. I pay $19.95 a month at the gym I go to. Now they are going to charge me an additional $41 for 'maintenance' on that gym? I'm thinking about sending them a bill for me maintaining my account there. It makes just about as much sense. It's not really what you want your clients to be thinking is it? Why not charge $24.95 a month, and drop the maintenance fee. All your really doing is alienating your customers. They may not say it, but at least 90% of them think it.
Why Are You Here?
I had a meeting at 7am. We met at Panera Bread. I went to the window to order coffee. The girl behind the counter said "What size?" I said. "Medium. Isn't that what most people get?" She didn't even look up. She just looked away and nodded her head. So, I thought maybe I could brighten her day. I said "10% of the people get small. 10% get large, and the other 80% of us get mediums. So medium is the average size ordered. I guess we're all average eh?" She didn't even acknowledge me at this point. And that's why I don't go there very much any more. The first year they were open I checked in there 312 times.
Missed Opportunities
What should have happened is her acknowledgement of my conversation. And at THAT point, she could have said 'You use to be a regular here, but you don't seem to come in much anymore. Do you know about our new super salad?" All it would have taken is a bit of coding in the checkout process. I won't get into that in this post. But I will say that if you continue to spend your marketing dollars on finding new customers, rather than optimizing the relationships you have with your current customers... you're not maximizing your engagement opportunities. To be more direct, which customer is easier to make a sale to? The one skipping over your Facebook and twitter ads???? Or the one standing in front of your cash register? Do the math.
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