Bally Pumps Up Its Image

CRM: Did you have any help going mobile?

Thier: We had two consultants for our mobile sales process, which we implemented in June 2011. We had used the user experience group Manifest Digital as a firm for a number of years for our Web site and other interactive media. Then Magento helped us build out the code.

CRM: Are there any loyalty elements to your mobile strategy?

Thier: We have a text-based loyalty program, so there are QR codes around the club, which you can scan with your phone or text a number to enroll in the loyalty program. The offers for that program are different depending on your situation. Once we get a critical mass of people on that mobile loyalty program, we'll start geofencing. When you appear at some destination within our geofence, you'll get a text from us either with an offer or a reminder about Bally or some [message] like, "Hey, we miss you, you haven't been in the club in X number of days." We are working on geofencing, [which is scheduled for] Q1 of [this] year, and I just haven't decided if I'll do it around our competition's gyms or our gyms at this point. We also have a mobile app in partnership with a company called PumpOne. They have a nice suite of exercise videos and the ability to build exercise plans on a mobile device or a Web site. All of our members have access to that service for one month free, and then there's a fee to continue with them.

CRM: Speaking of loyalty, the fitness industry can be notorious for customer churn. Has this been an issue?

Thier: We do member satisfaction surveys on a regular basis. Our member satisfaction scores have steadily been improving since we've been moving to this culture. As far as member churn goes, part of the challenge is the members who quit are the members who don't come to the club. If they don't come to the club, they don't get to experience the change in culture. It's going to be a bit of a [challenge] because we have members who haven't been to the club in six months, so they haven't experienced all of the changes. We're struggling with, "How do we get that message out to those people to come back into the club, and experience the new Bally?"It will be about saying, "You are a member, take advantage of what you're paying for," as opposed to, say, you don't come to the club and you realize there's this credit card fee you're being hit with. It's quite a bit of a challenge there, but I feel the members who are taking advantage of the club and coming in are seeing a big difference, based on our satisfaction scores. For those people, the churn is much lower.

CRM: What about competition from other gyms?

Thier: The most successful competitors right now are probably the low-price competitors like Planet Fitness, so what we're shifting to is actually a new model, which is still in its infancy in the fitness industry. We just happen to have clubs that have amenities. And we now have a cost structure that would allow us to support matching that low price. We're introducing that new concept in a couple of our markets, where it's the same price as at Planet, but you get so much more. You get a pool, you get access to group exercise classes. You have personal trainers, and all of those amenities that don't exist in those competitive models.

CRM: Did you have more members before or after the remake of your strategy?

Thier: It's tough to compare membership then and now, because we've sold off a bunch of clubs, but right now we have 400,000 members.

CRM: What's next for Bally?

Thier: I think the future is really the low-price model with all of the extra amenities, along with a truly changed culture of really being interested in every member and making sure they meet their fitness goals as opposed to some way of selling [them] something else. We're trying to be creative as to what comes with your membership, like the access to that mobile app where you have the ability to build your own fitness routines off the mobile app. Or the access to free personal training sessions and kids' care. And I'm starting to look at what other ways we can make the gym experience more convenient for our members through the use of technology. So in some cases, we've put QR codes on the gym equipment, and we have this concept called circuit training, where you go around and spend a minute on each of 10 pieces of equipment. [By scanning the QR code, you hear] how to use each piece. We also have juice bars in some of our clubs, so one of the apps we're working on is when you're getting close to finishing your workout, you can order your smoothie ahead of time and [it] will be ready when you're ready for it. So I think there are a lot of good things coming to enhance the member experience. Eventually, I want to get to the point that when you walk in the gym, you're essentially "swiping in" as a member through geolocation.

Fast Bally Facts and Stats

• Once Upon a Time: Bally wasn't always in the business of fitness. In the 1930s, Bally Manufacturing Corp. built gunsights for B52 bombers. Over the decades, the company expanded its reach into gaming and amusement parks. Because it foresaw long-term potential in the fitness market, in 1983 Bally acquired Health & Tennis Corp., followed by Life Fitness just one year later, officially marking the corporation's foray into fitness.
• Real Results: Using Sword Ciboodle (now KANA), Bally was able to eliminate many of its manual customer service processes, and cut average call handle time by 12 percent within the first three months of using Ciboodle One agent desktop. New member service representatives were able to achieve full productivity three weeks faster using the desktop.
• Virtualizing Training: Bally's new virtual trainer application (virtualtrainer.ballyfitness.com) gives members step-by-step instructions for 750-plus workouts, as well as full-length fitness videos and an option to build their own workout.

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