Connect Four – The 4 levels of knowing your members

How well do you know your members?

I call them the Connect Four levels of knowing your members. These are also ordered by importance. As part of any club induction, staff should be trained to know the how, and why of Connect Four.

1.You know their name
2.You know their training goals
3.You know something about what they do (career and/or hobbies)
4.You know something about their family

Level 1. You know their name

If you don’t know their name, it’s ma’am or sir. It’s one of my 10 commandments for customer service. The only way around that is to introduce you and ask their name. This is the very least you should know about a member.

Level 2. You know their training goals

We are in the business of changing, enhancing and improving lifestyle. All staff should make it a goal to know what every members training goal is. From reception to sales, everyone can use this knowledge to keep members motivated. You can ask how they are progressing with their training goals and it’s a great way to keep up an ongoing conversation with them each time they visit the club.

Level 3. You know something about what they do

The natural progression from the first two levels is to know more about what they do. Finding out their hobbies and interests builds a greater connection with you and the member. Often there are common interests you can also talk about together and allows you to introduce them to other members with a similar interest or vocation. I highly recommend you read IHRSA’s guide to retention. It talks about how member-to-member connections are stronger than staff-to-member connections and are a key to good retention. Connected members stay longer, and are more likely to refer friends and family. It starts by you and staff creating ways to make those connections. It starts at level 3.

Level 4. You know something about their family

Everyone has a support system. And for most of us, that source of support is our family. Ask members about their family and how they feel about the support they get from family in achieving their training goals. Sometimes we know their children through the club crèche. Or their teenagers and spouse who are also members.
Connect Four Share

The key to connecting strong on all four levels is to reciprocate. Getting to know members better is far stronger when they Connect Four with you. So as you ask, you must also share. Share your interests. Share your successes in helping people at the club. Share your goals in life, photos of family and your own support network. Make sure that you share your own training goals and progress.

But most important of all, share your passion about why you love being involved in our industry to assist in changing people’s lives.

I believe the true metric to a quality of life is in the strength of connections we have with other people. To support each other to be well on our way.

My Training Tip:

Play Connect Four
At the beginning of a shift, challenge your team members to connect with four members in the club. Follow up on progress during the day. Test their knowledge by quizzing them on what level they achieved and shared with four members during that day. And don’t forget, report back on your Connect Four as well.

Good luck! And let me know what else you’re doing to…

Be well on your way!