Chapter 498 I Knew I chose the Wrong Person!
Pei Qian had one word to describe Deposit Fitness’ current situation:
Unacceptable!
He had already displayed all the requirements at the entrance, prohibited Deposit Fitness’ trainers from roping customers in, and set unreasonable prices by collaborating with Fish-Catching Take-Out to sell packages…
He had even transferred the gym’s original customers to another gym. Why were there still so many customers? Why?!
Pei Qian was extremely indignant. He wanted to look for Guo Licheng for an explanation. Guo Licheng had just finished teaching a student when he saw Boss Pei walk in. He quickly stepped forward to welcome him.
“Boss Pei!” Guo Licheng smiled brightly.
Could he help himself? The gym used to be so empty before, and no one had bothered about it. Apart from training himself, Guo Licheng could not do anything else but sit in the resting area. He had been very bored. Yet, what about now? There was work to do!
This was the first time Guo Licheng felt that it was worth celebrating the work he had to do.
While he had been working at other gyms, his schedule had always been packed. However, he had not felt accomplished. Instead, he felt exhausted.
The exhaustion was mainly due to three reasons:
First, as a personal trainer, his job was mainly to supervise and accompany his trainees. After customizing a training plan for his students, he had to watch his students do the prescribed number of reps or sets. Once the students got the hang of it, the personal trainer would only have to watch. It was pure manual labor, which did not require any skills. Of course, one would not feel a sense of accomplishment. Second, a personal trainer had to endure the pressure of making sales throughout the lesson.
Third, since Guo Licheng’s schedule had always been packed, he had had no time to work out during working hours.
Thus, he had always had to stay behind for an hour after the gym closed, so that he could train himself. Since he had not had set meal times either, he had become increasingly exhausted over time.
Now, however, Guo Licheng did not feel a hint of that exhaustion anymore!
Deposit Fitness’ business model did not result in customers being completely neglected. Instead, it was more flexible.
When newbies entered the gym, trainers could help to correct their form. However, once the newbies adjusted, the trainers would not be required to stand around, doing nothing.
That way, trainers would have additional time to guide others, train themselves, or rest. At the same time, trainers did not have to think about making sales. Thus, their relationships with the students were no longer transactional. Trainers stopped guiding the customers as a burden, and customers stopped feeling defensive towards trainers trying to make sales. Interactions between both parties became much more comfortable.
On top of that, Fish-Catching Take-Out was providing fitness meals, and Deposit Fitness did not allow trainers to work overtime. All trainers had adequate rest, and they were no longer suffering at work. Now, they could enjoy the joy that fitness brought to them during working hours.
Thus, Guo Licheng and the other trainers were feeling extremely energetic and motivated.
After working out—when they had nothing else to do, they would think about how to provide better service to the customers or passionately guide the newbies.
Of course, at that moment, Pei Qian could not tell that all of that had been happening. He could only sense that Guo Licheng was looking healthier, both physically and mentally
Now, Pei Qian was only concerned about the profits that the gym was generating.
“Why are there so many people in the gym? Didn’t I tell you not to rope customers in? Where did they come from? They couldn’t have walked into this place on their own, right?” Pei Qian looked very cautious.
Confused, Guo Licheng explained, “Boss Pei, we really didn’t do anything. They really walked in on their own.
“Didn’t you expect this?”
Now, Pei Qian looked confused.
Guo Licheng continued speaking. “It’s mainly because of the sign that you told us to set up!”
“What did the sign do?” An ominous feeling overwhelmed Pei Qian. Excitedly, Guo Licheng answered, “Your sign made us look very proper!
“Before this, we all thought that the sign would dissuade passers-by. However, the exact opposite happened. Not only did it fail to dissuade passers-by, but it also drew in a large group of customers!
“A few students from Handong University walked past our shop and were dissuaded by the prices. However, when they read the sign, they became intrigued. Thus, they took pictures and sent them to their friends.
“Our gym’s rules invoked interest in them. Thus, a huge group of young people started paying attention to us!
“Of course, most people were only interested in observing and not in spending money. However, a minority—who were not sensitive to price-came to experience our gym. Those are the customers you’re seeing right now!”
Pei Qian was stunned.
It was then that he realized he had committed an empirical mistake!
He had set up a sign in front of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe before, which had indeed worked to dissuade customers from entering. For a long time, many people walked away after seeing the prices, and no one bothered about Fish-Catching Internet Cafe.
Later, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe became popular mainly because of Chen Lei, and Chen Lei had only been hired as the resident singer because of Zhang Yuan. All of those had nothing to do with the sign.
Thus, Pei Qian had always been under the impression that putting a sign up at the entrance was a good way to dissuade customers from entering.
However, he now realized that Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and the gym’s signs had different contents!
Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s sign had its prices written on it, including the cost of drinks and surfing the net. After reading it, customers had only one thought: ‘expensive’. They did not become curious; neither did they have the desire to investigate more or spread the news.
However, Deposit Fitness’ sign had its sales model. It wasn’t just expensive, but it also included fitness meals, a strict and custom-made fitness plan, and the like.
Customers’ first thought after reading it would not be that it was expensive, but that it was interesting! That was because no other gym was doing the same.
Of course, unique regulations like Deposit Fitness’ would ignite discussions. Curious people would naturally come over to take a look.
In other words, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s sign was alright, but Deposit Fitness’ sign was problematic. In fact, it was very problematic! Pei Qian’s face drained of all color when he realized his mistake. After a moment of silence, he said, “Take down the sign.”
Guo Licheng pondered for a moment and then said, “Boss Pei, news of the sign has already spread, and we’ve already attracted the nearby customers. Do you want to take down the sign to attract more people?” Pei Qian: “…”
I can’t leave the sign up, and I can’t take the sign down. What the h*ll should I do then?!
Finally, Pei Qian decided not to be hung up over this matter. Sorrowfully, he said, “So… you’re not going to tell me that the gym’s losses have been turned into profits, are you?”
Guo Licheng was stunned. After he recovered from the shock, he shook his head. “Losses have been turned into profits? Boss Pei, you’re being too optimistic. Where are we at now?
“I mean Deposit Fitness is doing alright for now. After all, we’ve made some improvements. However, it’s still too early for our losses to turn into profits.
“It looks like there are many people here, but don’t forget that it’s Sunday.
“Sundays are the peak periods for gyms. If this were a workday, the gym would be much more deserted.”
At that point, Pei Qian heaved a sigh of relief. There was always a way out. All is good, all is good. That scared me a little!
I almost thought that we were making profits now. Really… that was a false alarm.
Pei Qian really wanted a drink, but the gym only had pure water, and not tea or coffee. Thus, Pei Qian had no choice but to drink a cup of tea to calm himself down.
On further thought, it seemed acceptable if there were only this many people on Sundays, or the gym was otherwise empty.
After all, the gym was filled with good equipment and responsible trainers. Even if the price seemed unreasonable, there were bound to be people who were not sensitive to prices who would become paying customers.
As long as those customers were few and far between and the revenue earned was not enough to cover the gym’s expenses, everything would be alright.
Pei Qian relaxed slightly.
However, he soon became cautious again.
Although they were still a long way from making profits now, it was still significant that there were so many people in the gym over the weekend. It could create the impression that the gym was very popular.
That wouldn’t do!
Pei Qian felt like the gym was not dissuading customers well enough. Thus, he needed to work harder and take more precautions before he could relax.
Yet, what should he do…? Pei Qian did not have any ideas for now.
He decided to ask Guo Licheng.
“Is there a way to reduce the number of people in the gym on weekends?”
Guo Licheng paused. “Boss Pei, do you mean you want to optimize the customer flow and carrying capacity of the gym to maximize usage of the resources and improve customer experience?”
Pei Qian remained silent for two seconds and then said, “I guess so.” Guo Licheng looked surprised. “I was just about to report this to you. I didn’t think you would ask me about it instead! It looks like you have a deep understanding of the gym’s operations as well.
“Actually, this is a common problem across all gyms.”
Pei Qian asked curiously, “Oh? How do they solve it, then?”
Guo Licheng answered, “They don’t. That’s why I’m hesitant about whether to report this problem to you or not. “Other gyms don’t care about customers after bluffing them into buying memberships. They don’t care about the carrying capacity of the gym at all. Sometimes, during peak periods like the weekends, the gym would be completely filled. There would be queues for the weights machines, treadmills, and even showers.
“That’s when the customers would make their own adjustments. They would either take the initiative to queue or choose an off-peak time to work out. Still, most customers have no choice but to come on the weekends.
“Some customers don’t come to the gym because of the crowd, but that’s ideal for the gyms. In any case, those customers would have already paid the membership fee. The gyms wouldn’t mind if they never saw them again.
“Thus, it’s a very difficult problem to resolve for all gyms alike.”
Pei Qian nodded. “How do you think this problem can be solved, then?”
Guo Licheng hesitated, and then said, “Honestly, I’ve thought of a solution. It just costs more, and customers might find it unacceptable…” Pei Qian’s eyes lit up. Why didn’t you tell me about such a good idea earlier?
“Tell me!” Pei Qian tried hard to keep his expression relaxed.
Guo Licheng paused. “Every gym has a limited carrying capacity. That can’t be changed. Thus, to ensure that customers have a good experience, we have to impose a cap on the number of people allowed to enter the gym.
“I think we can develop an application that allows customers to book a slot each day, based on their own schedules. Once a particular slot is filled, nobody would be allowed to book that slot anymore. “That wouldn’t work for other gyms because everyone has a membership. If those gyms forbid customers from coming, the customers might think that they are losing out. Of course, they would not agree to it. “However, our gym charges by the day, and we put together detailed fitness plans for our clients. Thus, while putting together those plans, we can roughly follow the clients’ schedules and try to spread everyone out as much as possible.
“If the gym will be filled on weekends, then we can restrict ourselves to accepting clients who can work out on other days.
“However, it’ll cost us money to develop an application.
“Even if we outsource the work, it might not be reliable. We might end up with a bunch of bugs, and the application might be extremely difficult to use. What’s more, the customers might not understand our strategy and might even start dissing us.
“On top of that, we need someone to be in charge of consolidating and planning the clients’ workout schedules. The arrangement must make sense, or the clients might get upset…”
Pei Qian raised his hand. “Alright, that’s enough.”
Guo Licheng thought that Boss Pei was going to reject his proposal since it was so impracticable. Thus, he shut up.
However, Boss Pei’s eyes were bright. “Do it! Do it at once!
“It’s just one application, right? I’ll arrange for it!”
Guo Licheng’s solution made Pei Qian very happy.
Creating an application would cost money; forcing customers to use the application to reserve slots and come to the gym would dissuade a big group of people. Hiring someone to consolidate and plan the various slots and put together clients’ fitness plans would allow Pei Qian to pay one more portion of salary.
After doing so much work, the crowd at peak time would only be dispersed. The customers who normally come to the gym during peak hours would save a bit more time and have a better experience.
The price-quality ratio of such a project would be extremely low!
Pei Qian looked into Guo Licheng’s eyes and could not help but feel appreciative. He was a talent worth nurturing indeed!
I knew that I was right to choose you as the branch manager for this gym!