Answer Happy

Mitch Monroe, general manager of Life
Core Fitness Club in Oakville Ontario, was in a bad mood
that morning as he asked his assistant to schedule a meeting for
him later that day with his senior staff. In the morning mail
Mitch received a letter from a club member, and the letter was not
complimentary, to say the least. Mitch had been the general
manager at Life Core Fitness Club seven years, and
he had never received comments such as this member had written.
Life Core Fitness Club had opened for business
9 years ago and was successful from the beginning. It was the
brainchild of a former professional athlete and Olympic gold
medalist Donovan Bailey and for many years this athlete had
operated the club himself. However, over time and as the club
grew in membership, he realized that it would benefit from
professional management. He decided to maintain sole
ownership [corporation], hire Mitch Monroe, and move on to other
opportunities. Of course, he kept an eye on the business, but
Mitch proved to be as good at his work as his job interview had
suggested, and within a couple of years Donovan had left the
operation largely in Mitch’s hands.
Under Mitch’s leadership the club had been agile in taking
advantage of changing trends in the marketplace such as population
growth given the GTA’s urban sprawl and trends within the fitness
community. Life Core was now quite a different place to what
it had been when the owner had been running the day-to-day
operations. Its target market, young professionals of both genders
in the Oakville/Burlington area, had never changed. These
consumers continued to demonstrate their attractiveness as a target
market: they consistently showed an interest in fitness and
wellbeing, they had the money, and importantly, they were willing
to spend it on a club membership. However, what this segment
wanted and needed from a club had not remained a constant, and
Mitch had been very good at grasping this fact and responding to
it, thus leading the market in that regard.
In the past, members were primarily interested in working out
with good equipment either in a class or by themselves and relaxing
informally afterward in a casual lounge area – and very little
more. Now, however, they showed a stronger interest in
one-on-one (personal) training, dietary counselling, while
developing a more holistic sense of wellbeing, and in using the
club for socializing as well as working out. These trends had
become more pronounced over the past year and, thus, had been the
impetus for the most recent set of club changes. The members
were willing to pay more for receiving these additional services,
and Mitch and his team provided them. The club was
thriving.
The meeting with his senior staff was scheduled for 3:00 P.M.
that afternoon to accommodate those employees who were on duty
later in the day and into the evening for members’
convenience. Mitch started the meeting by distributing the
letter.
He proceeded to read it aloud. He skimmed over the first
part where the complainant wrote, “I have been a member
for many years…” and went straight to the heart of
the problem. “I was strongly in favour of the
most recent set of planned changes and was one of the most
enthusiastic supporters of a more personalized, member-friendly
approach to club operations. I was looking forward to booking
with a personal trainer.
I was also pleased with the club’s decision to hire
a registered dietician part-time to provide health counselling and
with the decision to add more spa-type services, such as massage
therapy. The redecorating contributed to a more welcoming,
warmer atmosphere for example, the covered chairs are a marked
improvement to those ghastly straight-backed chairs we used to have
– and helped create a more social environment. I, for one,
wanted to stay and have a drink in the licensed lounge whereas
before the lounge was a bit of a turn off. In short, Mr.
Monroe, I was delighted with these recent changes! BUT the
changes have not turned out as I had expected, and I am deeply
disappointed, so disappointed, in fact, that I am seriously
considering terminating my membership – and it would take a lot for
me to quit. After all, I have been a member almost from the
beginning.” Mitch took a deep breath and looked
around. No one looked happy.
The remainder of the letter went into every unpleasant detail of
the inadequate and unsatisfactory implementation of the most recent
set of changes Mitch had initiated. When the woman tried to
book an appointment with the personal trainer, the staff person
seemed confused and uncertain about the trainer’s
availability. When the club member arrived, sure enough, the
trainer was not there due to some misunderstanding about
scheduling. When the woman finally did have her personal
training session, she was alarmed to see many other members milling
around in the gym area, using the same equipment she and her
trainer were trying to use, and even interrupting the training
session once or twice. Although it was supposed to be
“personal” training, the woman said, it felt as though she was part
of a large group. The part about this incident that
distressed her the most was that it appeared that the trainer was
herself unsure how to handle the awkwardness of the
situation. Once, apparently, the trainer said, “Sorry, I am
new here, and I’ll have to check on the rule about equipment use by
other members.” Another time a member interrupted simply to
say, “You know, there used to be signs around with all the rules
listed. That made it easy. Now I am unsure what to
do.”
The complainant also raised a concern about the dietician.
She said that the dietician seemed very knowledgeable but was
unable to communicate effectively; she used a lot of technical
jargon, according to the letter of complaint. As well, she
seemed subject to mood swings, so that in one appointment the
dietician was very helpful and supportive and in the next somewhat
sullen and indifferent to the member.
At this point in the meeting, one of the staff suggested that
perhaps it was the complainant who had emotional problems, not the
dietician. Everyone laughed – except Mitch who pointed out
that whatever the truth was, the complainant’s perception was truth
enough for her.
The complainant also mentioned that although the new lounge was
beautiful, staffing was sporadic. Other members commented that they
did know when the lounge was open, what products were offered at
which time and how to order when patronizing the facility.
The letter concluded with, “I pay good money and I expect the
new club services to be better than this. Please let me know
how you plan to improve them.”

Mitch went on to say that, although the letter by itself was
extremely concerning, the main reason this letter bothered him so
much was because several other, small things had happened at the
club recently. Taken separately, these incidents did not seem
significant, but together, they led him to suspect that there were
indeed some problems that he and his staff needed to address as a
result of the changes that he had initiated.
The meeting continued for another hour during which time Mitch
solicited ideas for more effective implementation of the
changes. He had an excellent track record in club management,
but somehow, he had really taken his “eye off the ball” on this
one. He knew that the club members wanted the service
improvements he had introduced. That much he had verified, so
he knew that was not the issue. It was the implementation of
the improvements that he had to remedy.
Step 3
Define Life Core’s Marketing Mix – Inclusive of your proposed
changes and information provided in the case
When describing the Marketing mix, please provide rationale
for all of your ideas recommendations relating to the promotion,
please.