Native Wellness Centers
4 WAYS to improve your FACILITY
Gotta love the NEW YEAR, especially when you are in the health club industry!!! As health clubs see an uptick in the beginning months, so do our Native Wellness Centers.
Here are 4 easy to follow base expectations that almost any facility can start focusing on TODAY to help improve member experience!
Clean Facility
Welcoming Staff
Properly Working Machines
Fitness User Sanitization Systems
1
Clean Facility
This has to be a priority – our people expect it and we should too.
For a smooth running facility you will need two check sheets:
- The first is a daily cleaning check sheet where staff has to check off items to make sure all the cleaning gets done throughout the day.
- The second is a weekly check sheet to make sure some of the bigger tasks get done (i.e. deep cleaning restrooms and mopping).
It is a must to provide adequate equipment for your staff to use so that cleaning is as fast and easy as possible. The last but most important thing in maintaining a clean facility is to train your staff on how to clean, don’t just assume they know how – I have been proven wrong on multiple occasions.
2
Welcoming Staff
This is customer service.
In the private sector we focus a lot on customer service, it is what can set us apart from our competition along with keeping our members coming back. In Native Wellness Facilities we have such an opportunity to go above and beyond and really create a sense of community.
Have your staff come out from behind the desk:
- Welcome every person who comes in
- Thank every person as they leave
- Know the names of every member
Focus on those three things and “magic” will happen!
3
Properly Working Machines
Nothing is worse than having equipment down.
A lot of Indian Country is in rural USA which means our wellness facilities spend a lot of money to get service techs to our locations and wait for prolonged periods of time to get stuff fixed.
There are several things you can do to keep your machines working and downtime to a minimum along with saving money:
- Have existing staff test each piece of equipment weekly.
- Provide a set of basic tools – most common repairs are simple.
- Call Manufacturer – most have service departments that can help you directly over the phone.
- Train a staff member to do basic preventative maintenance – hire someone to come in to train the staff or send staff off to get trained by reputable companies like NativeFitness.org.
This alone will not only save money but also create more job satisfaction.
4
End User Sanitization System
Holy crap that sounds like something really technical but essentially it’s what your members use to wipe down the machines after use.
My advice here is make sure your solution is:
- Easy to find
- User friendly
- Smells good
I like to use just a touch of mint essential oil to our system – every time a member wipes down the equipment they are also making our facility smell incredible and clean.
These four steps are all about creating a foundation on the fundamentals and meeting today’s members base expectations. Let’s face it… exercising consistently is HARD!!! The last thing we want to do is give our members a reason not to come back or take away from their exercise experience at our facility.
We are the change!
Post by OJ Fiander
Orien (OJ) is an enrolled member of the Grand Ronde Tribe in Oregon. He grew up most of his life on the Yakama Reservation with a few years on the Nez Perce Reservation. A successful entrepreneur, former division 1 athlete, husband of 24 years and counting, father of 6 and a weekend “anything outside” warrior!
