Retention Starts with Culture: The Power of Member Interactions

After a positive start to 2025 for many clubs, February is about maintaining membership sales momentum, but more importantly, focusing on retaining all your new members (and the existing ones) as long as possible.

Filling a leaky bucket doesn’t make sense—stop losing members by focusing on retention, not just sales.

Retention isn’t about complicated strategies—it’s about talking to people, consistently and meaningfully.

Talk to more people, more often, and not only will your day go better (and quicker), but you’ll also improve member retention.

An interaction can take many forms, from a simple ‘hello’, to an exercise technique correction in the gym. It could be an induction or programme review, a friendly greeting in the café or poolside, or a goodbye wave as you leave the club.

Talking to people is the simple version… the secret to great retention is talking to the right people at the right time in the right way. And the easy way to find the right people is to say hello and be approachable to all.

Hello and goodbye should be basics, but somehow, we still miss it.

What’s the excuse?

At a client site this week, I noticed a common problem: a member sat on a bench, scrolling on their phone for 10 minutes, and no one spoke to them. Staff were around, but no interaction happened. Why? Fear, hesitation, or just habit?

I struggle to get a hello from front desk staff sometime too… I’ll always try by saying “Morning!”, and sometimes elicit a response, but it’s surprising how often there’s no reply. OK, it’s early in the morning, but there’s not much else to do, especially as I’ve already checked in on the console, and perhaps scanned for a SwimTag!

The Three Metre Rule

We talk about how the three-metre rule builds a culture of interaction in the Membership Retention Essentials education course.

The premise is to acknowledge anyone that comes within 3 metres of your space. Say hello, and if possible, greet them by name. It’s a basic customer service practice used by Disney and Walmart. You can tell when this model is adopted as soon as you walk into a club, store, or even a school. These places feel good to visit because you are acknowledged and not left to self-serve.

By creating a culture of interaction, your customers and staff will expect a “hello”, maybe even a “how are you today” (or a “goodbye” or “when will you be back again”).

What Happens Next?

More than half of the time, you’ll get a positive response, they’ll have something nice to say to you. Occasionally, you’ll get a complaint. But it’s better to get the complaint than to not hear about the problem. And even better to have an escalation plan for the complaint.

Working with people – motivating staff to seek feedback, and getting members used to giving it – is part of the Advanced Retention Strategies education course.

Talk to the right people…

Who really needs to have an interaction? Rather than just saying hello to happy members, seek out those who are more likely to give feedback that will help you improve service or retention; absentees, those without programmes or who turned down inductions, or members who are asking to cancel. Do the difficult work, and you’ll reap the rewards and reduce attrition.

• Every "hello" builds a culture of retention.
• Start small: smile, greet, and engage.
• Your members, and your business, will thank you for it.