Click to Cancel Vs. Caring to Connect

Fitness irony:

The CDC states that 40.3 percent U.S. adults over 20 are obese, yet the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is suing LA Fitness’ parent company because the gym makes it too hard for people to cancel gym memberships.

I’m joking: Ridiculous, overly complex cancellation procedures are clearly designed to bleed money out of consumers. They should be eliminated.

But I’ve always found it comical that governments seem very interested in helping people break commitments to gyms.

In late August, the FTC took aim at Fitness International LLC, which operates gym chains including LA Fitness.

You can read the full complaint here, if you have high tolerance for legalese.

Here’s a key line: “Defendants Fitness International LLC and Fitness & Sports Clubs LLC … operate nationwide gym chains that use difficult cancellation procedures to prevent consumers from cancelling their memberships and other recurring charges. As a result, defendants have illegally charged hundreds of millions of dollars in unwanted recurring fees.”

The complaint alleges that getting out of an LA Fitness membership is like trying to exit some diabolical escape room: “Each of these cancellation methods is opaque, complicated and demanding—far from simple.”

The suit will play out in the courts, and I’d have to suggest Fitness International will be forced to change its procedures.

For you, microgym owner, this is a reminder that you should stay onside of all click-to-cancel legislation.

Resource: “The FTC Click-to-Cancel Rule: What Gym Owners Need to Know”

Yes, you should make it easy for members to cancel.

But you should make it exceptionally difficult for them to get to that point.

Your client journey should be so carefully planned, detailed and sticky that almost no one ever wants to hit the big, obvious eject button and launch themselves out of your coaching practice.

“I Never Want to Leave This Place!”

When a client wants out, it’s usually too late to do anything about it.

Sure, you can—now illegally—set up exit interviews and complicated cancellation procedures to give you opportunities to hold onto the person, but in almost every case, you’re really only delaying the inevitable and wasting your time.

It would be much more productive to invest your time in keeping your remaining clients happy so they don’t want to leave.

For example, at a Goal Review Session, you might discover that a client’s new work schedule makes it very hard for him to get to classes. His attendance has been poor of late, and he’s getting frustrated.

If left alone, he’ll probably cancel. And the FTC says you must give him an easy exit.

But what if you say this as part of your coaching service before he tries to cancel:

“Dude, I hear you on the work schedule! I have two fixes: Join a semi-private group I’m setting up at 9:45 on Wednesdays and Fridays or book PT sessions with me anytime that works for you.”

That’s coaching, and it will probably save the client.

LA Fitness, of course, isn’t in the business of coaching, relationships and client results. It’s essentially an equipment rental program that succeeds when long contracts produce regular payments by people who rarely show up to train.

You, however, sell coaching. To keep your clients, you must get the right people in the building and coach them to train consistently so they get the results they want. Along the way, you must celebrate them and show them that they are making progress.

If you do all that, your cancellation procedure won’t come up very often because only one member in 100 will need it, and that client will only hit the button because his company transferred him to another state.

The rest of your members will stay for years and change their lives with fitness. They win and you win.

Remember, clients should be able to cancel memberships with ease.

But you should make it very, very difficult for them to want to do that.

To learn exactly how to retain clients and increase length of engagement dramatically, book a call here.

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