Discuss about the Marketing Service and Experience for Fitness First.
I am a 25 year old Australian resident. I have been studying in Australia and I have a rather hectic schedule. With this schedule, I realized that I was finding it difficult to pay attention to an effective health care routine. The tight schedule often demanded ready to eat foods and many cups of coffee. The binge eating indulgence made it difficult for me to stay healthy. Over the last few months, I realized that I was falling ill too frequently. I felt sad and frustrated about leading such an unhealthy lifestyle. It was then that I realized that I must focus on improving my health.
Initially I decided I would start going for an early morning run. However, after many failed attempts at waking up in the morning, I decided to join the gym. I asked my friends and enquired in the neighborhood. A lot of friends had the ‘fitness first’ gym membership. I tried to read online reviews about the place a lot of them were positive. Somehow the reviews confused me even further so I decided to pick up the phone and call the facility.
The lady who answered the phone was polite and soft spoken. She attentively listened to my plight and offered me to visit the gym and take a tour. I quickly took up the offer and booked myself an appointment for the weekend. This was the first time in my life that I visited the gym and the moment I entered, it was precisely like how I had imagined. It was a large gym located in the center of the city. The gym was spread over two floors and there were over 60 members when I entered.
I reached the reception where the same lady was there. She offered me juice and tried to understand my reason behind joining the gym. I felt happy after going there. I explained her my plight and hectic schedule. She empathized with me and suggested me to find one hour, four times in a week to devote to the gym. She even called a trainer who then gave me a tour of the gym and helped me understand the efforts that I need to put in order to lose the extra pounds.
I loved the ambience of the place. When I saw so many people working so hard, I felt motivated and promised myself to follow a strict work out regime. After the tour, I enquired about the fees. They shared all the details with me and offered me to first experience the service for a couple of days before paying the fees.
In my experience, I would recommend the gym to my friends. My experience so far has been fairly positive and I can see the effects of it on my physical as well as mental health. I felt happy and motivated after going there. I was determined to take a membership and get fit after joining that gym.
There are few elements which are significant to the service industry. These aspects can be applied on different services in the form of a RATER model (Gummesson, 2014). Services are intangible and therefore it is important organizations focus on delivering effective services by differentiating themselves from their competitors.
This model is an effective way to measure customer expectations with regards to the service received by them. The service is measured or rated in terms of 5 different aspects. For fitness first, my experience on the rater model is elaborated below:
Reliability: Reliability is an important parameter for judging the service offered by a particular organization. It is the ability of the firm to deliver the service as promised. Reliability of a service offered by a brand also highlights upon the availability of the brand consistently deliver quality service (Oh & Kim, 2017).
Fitness first is a reliable gymnasium. The client reviews have been great which reflects upon the gym’s ability to deliver services as per customer expectations. Even upon interaction with various customers, I understood that fitness first team provides its customers with a complete solution to their health needs. The trainers are always available and ready to help. Over the gym is very reliable and will surely help customers in achieving their fitness goals.
Assurance: This aspect of the service helps in understanding if the employees of the organization are able to give assurance to customer and gain their trust. Also it is important that the knowledge shared by employees to the customers is helpful and reliable (Song & Lim, 2015).
Fitness first employees are all very well aware about various facets of the human body. They can provide perfect information regarding the right kind of exercise and diet that must be followed by people. Despite the large number of customers, the trainers are well aware about the specific needs of customers and train them accordingly on a daily basis.
Tangible: A service is rarely tangible in nature. However, every service has certain tangible aspects to it (Wilson et. al., 2012). This parameter helps customers understand the attractiveness of the physical aspects of the service. These physical attributes also help in establishing a right expectation in the minds of customers.
Fitness first is highly maintained gym. The ambience is fantastic. The machinery used in the gym is services on a regular basis. Basic hygiene is maintained in the gym. Machines were properly organized. Shoulder press, bench press, seated row and LAT pull overs are located close by. Similarly, leg curls, leg extension, leg press and squatting space is close by. This management helps customers in remembering the exercises they need to cover.
Besides this, various posters are placed on the gym which are highly motivating. There are mirrors everywhere for people to maintain the right posture during their exercise. Water coolers serve hot, cold and normal water depending upon customer needs. There is a mini-shop that sells proteins, supplements and green coffee. Overall, the tangible elements of Fitness first are highly attractive.
Empathy: This parameter helps in understanding if the employees are able to empathize with customers, give them individual attention and establish a positive working relationship with them (Choy et. al., 2012).
Fitness first has two kinds of trainers; general trainers as well as personal trainers. Customers can opt for getting personally trained by a particular trainer and pay an extra fees for that. However, there are various general trainers. These trainers assist all the customers. At Fitness first even the general trainers pay a lot of attention and guide customers properly regarding the exercise that they are supposed to be doing. There is a general dietician who caters to the needs of every customer and ensures that they follow a healthy diet.
Responsiveness: This particular parameter throws light upon the agility and willingness with which an organization responds to customer queries (Kim, 2011). It reflects how quickly and effectively would the organization offer its services and address customer grievances or issues.
Fitness first is extremely effective in this regard. When I called them first, they answered my call in the first go. Initially, I also had a lot of queries regarding various exercises and the trainers were quick enough to resolve them. When any customer complaints of body ache or muscle tear, the trainers do their best in resolving the issue by providing effective stretching, physiotherapy or medication. The gym is therefore highly responsive in its service.
Therefore, from the RATER model analysis, it is clear that Fitness first is delivering quality service to its customers. The gymnasium is reliable, caters to customer needs, and works upon establishing positive relationships with their customers and being responsive and empathetic.
Identifying marketing mix of a product or a service is very critical to the success of the business. The first four Ps of the service marketing are precisely the same as product marketing (Armstrong et. al., 2015). The 7 Ps for fitness first can be elaborated as below:
Product / Service: This element highlights the primary offering of the organization (Ahmed & Rafiq, 2013). Services offered by Fitness first include Yoga classes, Pilates, Zumba, cross fit and kick boxing. Besides this, the gym also provides health shakes, proteins and green coffee. Personal trainers and general trainers provide training to customers. Fitness first is also open 24 hours 7 days a week. These primary services offered by the gym help in gaining a competitive advantage.
Price: Pricing plays an important role in the success of any business (Kotler, 2015). Fitness first charges its customers different for different services. The gym offers three trial days of service free of cost for customers to experience the service firsthand before paying for it. They have platinum and passport memberships which are priced at $27 per week and $22 per week.
Different services by the gym are charged differently. The gym is also open for negotiation and offers group discounts. However, the pricing structure is still premium. Premium pricing refers to pricing a product or service higher than industry standards (Nagle et. al., 2016). This is done to set the right positioning in the minds of consumers.
Place: Fitness first is present in various locations across the globe. By the end of 2014, there were over 370 fitness first clubs. The gymnasiums are located at commercial locations which are easily accessible for customers.
Promotion: Promotion strategies are adopted by businesses to reach out to their customers (Huang & Sarigöllü, 2014). Fitness first used to advertise itself through television and print media ads. However, over a period of time, the brand has started adopting, social media strategies in order to promote the service. Social media is highly effective in targeting a large number of customer through interactive channels. Besides this, digital media marketing, relationship marketing and offering discounts are also used by Fitness first as promotional strategies
People: People related to the service play a critical role in establishing the quality of the service (Lovelock & Patterson, 2015). The trainers and other staff members at fitness first are highly cooperative and responsive to customer needs. All the customers are given due attention. The entire team fulfills their roles effectively and works hard towards customer satisfaction.
Process: This is simply a blueprint of the service to ensure quality of service at every point. Fitness first has a detailed process about targeting customers, registering them, training them and addressing their issues.
Physical evidence: Physical evidence of the service highlights upon the tangible elements of the service offering. Fitness first is well equipped with quality machines, posters, mirrors, and carpet and food supplements.
Creating a feedback system: An effective feedback system must be created which allows customers to provide feedback to the Fitness first team. They must be encouraged to provide anonymous feedbacks so that there is no bias.
Referral bonus: Clients must be given a bonus amount in the form of discount at the time of renewal if they bring their friends or acquaintances to the gym.
SERVQUAL framework. This must be used to identify methods to understand the service gap. Once the gap has been identified, Fitness First must focus upon fulfilling that gap.
Source 5: Slideshare
Increase the number of shower rooms. Fitness first outlets are equipped with 4 shower rooms. However, during peak hours, they do not suffice.
Swimming pool: The gym does not has a swimming pool. Therefore Fitness first can tie up with close by facilities which may have a swimming pool for their members.
Conclusion
Service industry is highly creative, intangible and perishable in nature. It is difficult to measure the extent to which a customer is happy with the service offered by a particular organization. This report highlights upon my experience with fitness first fitness center where I took health services. In order to measure the level of satisfaction, I have adopted a RATER model as well as thrown light upon the 7 Ps of service marketing.
To conclude, Fitness first offers highly effective services to its customers and is responsive to their needs. The center have a high brand value owing to their wide presence and effective use of digital marketing strategies. The service offered is of top quality and I would most definitely recommend it to my fellow companions.
References
Ahmed, P.K. and Rafiq, M., 2013. Internal marketing. Routledge. United Kingdom.
Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M. and Brennan, R., 2015. Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education. India.
Choy, J.Y., Lam, S.Y. and Lee, T.C., 2012. SERVICE QUALITY, CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS: REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND CONCEPTUAL MODEL DEVELOPMENT. International journal of academic research, 4(3).
Gummesson, E., 2014. Productivity, quality and relationship marketing in service operations: A revisit in a new service paradigm. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 26(5), pp.656-662.
Huang, R. and Sarigöllü, E., 2014. How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand equity, and the marketing mix. In Fashion Branding and Consumer Behaviors (pp. 113-132). Springer, New York, NY.
Kim, H.J., 2011. Service orientation, service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty: Testing a structural model. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 20(6), pp.619-637.
Kotler, P., 2015. Framework for marketing management. Pearson Education India.
Lovelock, C. and Patterson, P., 2015. Services marketing. Pearson Australia.
Nagle, T.T., Hogan, J. and Zale, J., 2016. The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: New International Edition. Routledge. United Kingdom.
Oh, H. and Kim, K., 2017. Customer satisfaction, service quality, and customer value: years 2000-2015. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 29(1), pp.2-29.
Song, H.G. and Lim, S.U., 2015. Assessing pet industry in Korea using service quality improvement gap model. International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management, 15(1), pp.2-20.
Wilson, A., Zeithaml, V.A., Bitner, M.J. and Gremler, D.D., 2012. Services marketing: Integrating customer focus across the firm (No. 2nd Eu). McGraw Hill.
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