Life Time will hopefully allow me to accomplish all three of those things. Two weeks in, so far, so good. I joined the Edina Club, which is pretty damn nice. It’s one of their top-level “Diamond Clubs”–and it shows.
The service is A+. Employees are constantly telling me to have a great workout and thanking me for coming in as I exit the club. There’s one lady at the front desk I love and she almost always compliments something I am wearing.
The cleanliness of the club is second-to-none. I mean, it’s kinda like Disney World. You rarely see towels lying around–or overflowing the towel receptacle, as is usually the case at clubs like this. You see people cleaning the equipment and the locker rooms ALL THE TIME. The Edina club is absolutely spotless.
And, the club includes a host of amenities and experiences that are top-notch. The Life Cafe at Edina (where my son works!) is wonderful. It’s a perfect spot for me to work–and the food is exceptional (I’m a fan of the smoothies right now). I also LOVE the locker room experience at this club. Personal, private showers. In-locker steam room, sauna, hot tub AND cold tub. You essentially never have to leave the locker room! Finally, Life Time just offered me 4 free Timberwolves tickets this week to an upcoming game–a perk I instantly accepted! So now I’m going to the Utah/Wolves game on Dec. 8 with my wife and a couple other folks–for FREE!
All this to say–the experience of being a member at the Edina Club has been A+ so far. And, it has had almost nothing to do with Life Time’s marketing efforts.
Now, to be clear, I’m not saying this at all to slam Life Time. I just told you the experience has been A+ so far!
However, I am telling you this because it illustrates a key point many of us who work in this field would be wise to keep in the back of our minds: Our work in marketing and communications can only impact so much.
Take my experience. It’s been exceptional so far. And it’s had almost nothing to do with the marketing and comms efforts of Life Time. There have been only two marketing touch-points so far: my use of the Life Time Coaching app (I’m taking the 60-Day Challenge right now, so that’s super helpful) and an email I recently received for free Wolves tickets (thanks Life Time!).
But, all that other stuff I talked about up top–the service, the cleanliness, the perks and amenities. Those have nothing to do with marketing.
Yet, I am a super happy member.
As we re-evaluate our work lives and think about the work we do on a day-to-day basis, I think this is good perspective.
Yes, our work is fun. Yes, it can be fulfilling. An yes, it’s important. But, in many cases, it’s only one part of the puzzle.
There is so much outside our control as marketers and communicators–things that impact customer experience that we can’t and don’t touch at all. And, in some cases (like mine at Life Time), those factors have a MUCH bigger role in my customer experience than anything social could do.
So, as you plan for 2022, I think it’s just good perspective to have. Yes, we want to crush our goals. We want to exceed expectations. We want to do good work.
But there are so many areas that impact customer acquisition and retention. We’re just one part of a pretty big puzzle, in most cases.
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