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Fitness First! management had to first consider what effect the generous policies might have on the center’s bottom line. “Like any other risk, we weighed the pros and cons. In the end, we felt that if other industries are flourishing with these types of total customer satisfaction guarantees, then we could too,” explains Blackburn. As expected, the increase in new memberships more than made up for any members who opted for the pro-rated refund or cancel-at-any-time guarantees.

“Most importantly,” says Blackburn, “we wanted our members’ trust.” And he and his colleagues believed that showing through actions and policies that they didn’t just want to take members’ money and run was the way to achieve that trust. “The fitness industry has been noted to sign up a member and refrain from addressing that member’s needs with regard to extensions, refunds and transfers,” he adds. “We believe that in a market where all other businesses cater to their customers’ needs, we — as fitness industry leaders — must be confident in our product and offer the same.”

Although Fitness First! did promote the new guarantee through advertisements, news about the unusually generous customer service guarantee seemed to have reached many potential and current members through word-of-mouth. “Reaction was overwhelming. We have a pretty relaxed approach to membership sales. All of a sudden we had a lot of people coming into our facility and saying, ‘I’ve heard you do this?’ — as if they didn’t think it could actually be true,” says Blackburn.

Not only has the center staff received overwhelming verbal gratitude for the service opportunities it offers, but hard numbers support the popularity of the new membership satisfaction policies. A recent in-house survey found that 70 percent of current Fitness First! members listed the Total Customer Satisfaction Guarantee as one of the top three reasons for joining.

In addition, Fitness First! has a 96 percent renewal rate for those members who have elected to extend their memberships because of illness or travel (the renewal is confirmed after the extension has been completed).

Blackburn firmly believes that membership sales at Fitness First! will continue their strong growth. “Potential members feel very comfortable with our facility and its operations because of our confidence in our offerings.”