The Retention People Australia help Aquazone double member retention rates

The Aquazone aquatic and recreation centre at Warrnambool has boosted its retention rates by using The Retention People Australia's (TRP) Interact software to identify members 'at risk of leaving'.

Explaining that Interact has seen not only a doubling of retention rates but also the attraction of more members, Aquazone Service Manager Ray Smith states "TRP have helped transform the entire culture within the club.

"Our retention rates have significantly increased by 40% as well as our member base. The solution does exactly what it said it will. It provides a solid structure to how the fitness team operates and has provided some great benchmarks."

In 2012, the management team at Aquazone identified their membership retention levels were lower than they would have liked (under 40%). Being a regional based town with a population of around 34,000, the management team felt that solely focusing their energy and investment on sales and marketing would be ineffective and instead chose to address member retention and services as effectively as possible.

As a result, the management team decided to source a retention solution that would help identify high risk members, be able to track the interactions and ensure they stayed for longer.

They wanted a way of quantifying the fitness team's time with their members, to ensure it was spent effectively and delivering great service.

Choosing TRP over many other retention solutions, Smith recalls "(TRP was chosen) as they provided a wide range of solutions, with a major benefit of integrating with our membership system."

TRP's 'Interact' software enabled the club to identify members 'at risk of leaving' and to then deploy fitness staff to interact with them, supported with a proactive retention consultancy and benchmarking service to help develop strategies for improvement in performance.

The software enabled Aquazone's fitness teams to focus on engaging with the right customers at the right time, with the fitness teams tasked to achieve a certain number of 'points' per shift to achieve the business' key performance indicators (KPIs).

Being able to quantify the effectiveness of interactions with members ensures the management team can measure the performance of the fitness team and highlights those instructors who need further support to improve the interactions they are delivering.

By implementing Interact, the system allowed Aquazone to provide help and guidance to the members who needed it the most.

Smith adds "the solution does exactly what it said it will. It provides a solid structure to how the fitness team operates and has provided some great benchmarks."

Results to date have shown a significant impact on the average length of stay of their customers, which has improved on average by 40%. Since having the system in place they have reached the highest net growth in the last 10 years and the amount of members has increased from 800 to 950!

As Smith concludes, "TRP have helped transform the entire culture within the club. Our retention rates have significantly increased as well as our member base."

The Retention People (TRP) are the leading providers of Customer Experience Management (CEM) software and solutions to the leisure industry.

A full case study of The Retention People's work with Aquazone's will be presented by TRP National Retention and Coaching Director Spresa Vella at the upcoming Australian Leisure Facility Association (ALFA) Facility Manager's Networking Breakfast 2014.

The event is being held on Friday 4th April 2014 in conjunction with the 2014 Australian Fitness & Health Expo.

Click here to contact The Retention People Australia via their entry in the Australasian Leisure Management Supplier Directory.

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