In the past few days, I've been hit four times with problems to which I had no answer. However, I think I've found one stone to slay all four birds. But first, the stimuli:
- Drywall had a post in which he referred to a girl at a bar as "...dirtier than a CrossFit bathroom." If we struggle anywhere in our business, it's shower cleanliness. Luckily, a few clients whose honesty makes them duty-bound to report issues in our Box are quick to point out the state of our bathroom when they visit, or else I'd never know about this stumbling block.
- Charles made an astute observation about this blog: if you're a newcomer, how do you jump right in? Which posts are most relevant; which provide perspective on all the rest? Which 'frame' the conversation?
- Nicki Violetti posted about a CrossFit 'secret shopper' who had visited several Boxes and noticed some common insights.
- After this post, Enterprise Rent-A-Car noticed their own name and passed it around internally a bit.
When I sold fitness equipment, the store owner (thankfully) lived in a city three hours away. Sometimes (about once every fifteen minutes) she'd call the store, and I'd be too busy to answer the phone. Usually, she'd leave a terse message about calling back immediately. Code red. Stat.
Once, though, she got through to me: "Chris, every time you don't answer the phone, you potentially lose a client. Every phone call is worth ten thousand dollars."
To this day, an unanswered phone call drives me crazy. How many am I missing?
Solutions:
- We're going to take all the posts from Dontbuyads.com and put them into a book, in an order that makes sense. This is going to take some effort, so it won't be free, but it won't be expensive either.
- We already make a lot of our materials available here (and, after many requests in the last 48 hours, we'll post our 2010 business plan and Trainer contracts soon.)
- We're going to make you an offer: for 5 Affiliates, we'll try something: we'll call your Box five times, over the course of a few days, at different times. If you like, we'll call 10 of your clients, too, using a blocked number, and ask them a few questions about their experience at your Box. We won't store their numbers, and if you're up for the challenge, we'll send you a list of their responses. Want in? Respond below, or email me privately ([email protected]). No charge, all in the name of science.
Let's keep making this whole thing better.
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