One Simple Question: “How likely are you to recommend Fitness Incentive to someone you know?” An astonishing 96% of our members responded with answers ranging from “likely” to “extremely likely”!… The fitness industry average NPS hovers around 40%.
Paul Smith
TRP’s Member Experience Awards
What They Are, What They Mean, and Why They Matter…
Some readers may already know that Fitness Incentive has once again received several prestigious Member Experience Awards (“MEAs” — you may have noticed the signs announcing the wins in the lobby) for the 2019 survey period (November 1st, 2018 – October 31st, 2019). It’s the second consecutive year we have been so honored, and the award itself — a tastefully inscribed glass plaque — is on display at the Front Desk. We are especially proud of and grateful for these awards and want to thank our members for making them possible.
That’s right — members; It’s our members who are directly responsible for Fitness Incentive receiving these awards, as they depend on your responses to our regular Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys. We send them all the time – you’ve probably seen one or more and may have responded to one yourself. These surveys are indispensable; Often, they tell us what we’re doing right, which is nice to hear. But they also allow members to let us know about areas where we are less than great. This information is vital, and we use it to feed a process of continual reinvention and improvement.
The survey emails are generated by a company that serves the fitness industry called The Retention People, or TRP. TRP services nearly 1000 clubs across three continents in its network, and if you responded, you contributed to the establishment of Fitness Incentive’s Net Promoter Score, or NPS. NPS is a score or grade that measures customer satisfaction based on how respondents answer the following question: “How likely (on a scale of 0 through 10, with 0 being “not likely at all” and 10 being “extremely likely”) are you to recommend Fitness Incentive to someone you know?” An astonishing 96% of our members responded with answers ranging from “likely” to “extremely likely”! 96 is a gigantic number – rarified air in the world of NPS! The fitness industry average NPS hovers below 50. For more context, consider the NPS scores for some other popular companies: Netflix recently scored a 68; Starbucks a 77; and Amazon a 62.
Fitness Incentive has been consistently over 90 for the past three years – THE HIGHEST NPS OF ANY CLUB IN THE TRP UNIVERSE. Yep, this little ol’ gym in Babylon. And for two years straight. Think about that for a minute. It’s mind-blowing!
We thought it might be fun to allow some of our NPS respondents (that’s you!) to expand and elaborate on what makes Fitness Incentive a special place for them. We appreciate the time they took to respond. Here’s what they had to say.
“I started with Fitness Incentive when Cor was still on Grove Place,” says Meg McCandless. She turns to her son, Kyle. “You and Jourdan were in baby seats together in the back of the room. There was no nursery at the time, you were in the classroom with everyone else.”
“Ever since the conception of Fitness Incentive, you were here,” says Kyle in agreement.
I asked what first attracted her to F.I.“Oh, gosh, a multitude of things,” she says. “The friendly atmosphere, the cleanliness, the diversified classes offered, and the fact that it was the only thing of its kind in the area. I’d been living in The City before I moved out here and belonged to what was called the Vertical Club back then. I’d be in the gym with Fabio, Sylvester Stallone, people like that. I needed something comparable to that out here, and I did search. I went all the way to Huntington for Pilates. This was after Kyle was born. I’d had a C-Section, and there was a limit on what I could do then, like no heavy lifting, so I thought Pilates would be a good fit. Fitness Incentive was the most comparable to what I’d been doing in NYC, if not even better than that.
“For me, says Kyle, “I wasn’t really a gym person. When I graduated from college, I did try a few other low-cost gyms like Gold’s, but I never liked them. There’s something about the community aspect here. My mom, of course, but also everybody I’ve grown up with here, it’s just very welcoming for me. I’ve never felt intimidated at all.”
“My youngest came home for winter break this past year. He was home for 5 weeks.”
“He loves it here,” adds Kyle.
“I signed him up for the Holiday Break membership. Later, when I visited him at school, he said, ‘I miss the gym.’ He missed the classes. It was the three of us in the classes. As a family, we did sports together like skiing, and I feel like this is that same effect; all of us together as a family, doing the workouts, talking about the workouts, bonding. We have a big group – a big family here. Nieces, sister-in-law, my first cousin Andrea (Kay) who writes for the Newsletter.”
“As for identifying my favorite activity, there’s so much,” continues Meg. “I do yoga, I take classes, I use the Spa…it’s one-stop shopping. But I’d say my favorite would be the people and the classes.”
“For me, it’s the staff,” says Kyle. “Every time I walk in, there’s a friendly welcome, the familiarity of the people; They’re so happy to have you there. The convenience of it all under one roof: the spa, different workout rooms. Clean bathrooms and locker rooms. The café. Everything is here. A great location, everything is close by.”
“Are you ready for this date?” asks Pam Vlasak; “It was March 1988.” Pam has been a member of Fitness Incentive since nearly the beginning — “the Grove Place days,” she says. “It was through my friend Betty. Her daughter and my daughter went to Montessori together. We became friends. She was a member, and we agreed that you get to a point in your life where your body is changing, and you’ve got to do something. She introduced me to Fitness Incentive. There have been periods in my life where I stopped for six months; you know when the kids were younger, and of course, they came first. But generally, I never went home after work; I went straight to the gym. It’s the only way I could do it. You have to be disciplined. Once you go home — forget it. You get involved with other things.
I like everything about the gym. The people, the classes. Ken and Cor…they make you feel welcome. It feels like a family here. When I took those 6-month leaves, from October to March, I’d return, and Cathy at the desk would say ‘Pam! Welcome back!’ You feel like it’s a second home, no matter how many months, or whatever.
As far as activities, I like 3D Fit on Saturdays; I love training with Marianela (editor’s note: sharp-eyed readers may recall that Pam was a member of Marianela’s winning Fantastic Four Challenge team in 2011). I like the staff, the trainers, the people. They make you feel at home.”
“My wife used to take aerobic classes when the gym was on Grove,” says John Auer, “and I’ve been a member since before the move to this location. In fact, I actually helped Ken and Cor move into this space. Cor is a personal friend of mine, and the Main Street location was convenient. I’m from Babylon, and at the time, I lived around the corner from the place. When they moved to Deer Park Avenue, F.I. became more of a full-service gym. It was and remains the best gym around. That remains true even though there now is so much competition. I don’t think any gym offers what Fitness Incentive does. People go one place for classes, one place for spin, one place for yoga, but here it’s a one-stop-shop.
I have a mild lower back issue, so a lot of what I do here is related to treating that. I do a lot of stretching and core exercises and learned how to address the issue of a bulging disc. If I miss a couple of days here, I can feel it. I also love the ellipticals and rowing machines. I feel like as long as I can elevate my heart rate to 90% of max for 30 or 40 minutes a day, I’m doing good.”
“If I recall,” says Cindy Messina Nocerino, “I joined in 2010. I have been a member for almost ten years. I started coming to Fitness Incentive when I starting dating my now-husband, Dominic Nocerino. He would go every morning to spin or use the treadmill with his friend Mike, and I would use the gym with him on the weekends. I belonged to a gym in Syosset that I loved and enjoyed, but as I began to spend more time out in Bayshore, I began to come to Fitness Incentive on a regular basis. I started spinning and using the treadmills with Dominic in the morning and eventually started training with Iris Greco.
I love the gym. The classes, trainers, owners all are wonderful. Among my favorite activities are my Personal Training sessions and Pilates.
Most of all, though, I love the friendships I have made along the way. Fitness Incentive has an energy that is contagious. It makes you want to get healthy, get physically fit, and to keep a positive outlook on life. Add in the Café, the Salon, and the shopping, and who needs anything else?”
“I have 33 years with the gym,” says Lorraine Villanueva, “and for all of those years, I have been inspired by Corinne and her love of fitness and health. I love feeling great and strong when I exercise, plus the clarity of my brain is better when I work out. Haha, true. The friends I have made along the way are precious to me. The atmosphere at the gym is so amazing; I love it. It’s my favorite part of the day.
All of my classes are my favorites because each one brings something different to the table. Whether it’s Cycle with Carmela, Yoga with Karen, Pilates, and Stretch with Dina, chatting with the trainers like Kelly…all the people who work at Fitness are helpful, considerate, kind, smart and caring. Everyone is always willing to help you with any and all questions. I just LOVE Fitness Incentive!”
“I honestly feel like I grew up at Fitness Incentive,” says Debbie W. “I remember going there as a kid, playing in the nursery, and watching my mom (who’s been a member since they opened) do the aerobics classes through the glass window. I think that’s what started my love for working out. I love that the gym is super clean and everyone that works there is so friendly. My favorite part about the gym is the classes!! There’s always such good energy, and I love how knowledgeable all of the instructors are. They know how to motivate you and make the classes fun! My favorite classes are Corinne’s Strength Challenge and Jump/Sprint. Taking her classes is like nothing else. She is always positive and literally knows everyone in the class. Corinne pushes you to do your best and educates you throughout the session. I always feel better and more energized when I leave, and that’s what keeps me coming back! I don’t know any other gym with as many classes as F.I., and no matter which one you take, you know it will be good! My mom still goes to the gym and continues to take the classes herself, so that definitely shows how special this place is. Fitness Incentive is like a big family—and that is exactly how they make you feel! I look forward to working out there for years to come!”
The love affair between Fitness Incentive and its members is a true phenomenom. In a world in which people seem to grow ever more physically distant from one another and divided by their differences, the FI community is a group that not only enjoy connecting with one another, they actually thrive on it. May it always be that way!
As for that remaining 4%, well… we’ll all have to keep working on them!
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About the Author
Paul Smith
Paul Smith is the manager of Marketing and Member Communications for Fitness Incentive. He is a regualr contributor to Fit to Print.