Don’t judge a book by its cover…
Yeah right!
Why do people paint values on the walls of their gyms?
They want to make it obvious exactly what their business stands for.
They want to make sure everyone who walks through the door of their facility understands their mission and how that mission will improve the lives of the people who choose to spend their hard-earned money and limited training there.
Here’s the deal, your values, no matter how noble or eloquently worded, won’t be the standard by which any of your clients or prospects judge your business.
To be frank, most people will have judged your businesses and made an entire album’s worth of decisions before they read the first word of the value painted on the wall.
We’re not wired to judge based on philosophical values plastered on a banner or the back of a T-shirt.
We’re wired to judge books by their covers; in this case, the “cover” of the facility is its cleanliness.
Sure, we’re encouraged not to judge PEOPLE by how they look, but that’s not the way it works for judging businesses.
We do the exact opposite.
We lean into judging businesses by their cover because we have to.
There’s too much information and too many people clamoring for our attention for us to look beyond the surface.
So we make snap judgments based on mental shortcuts to make the decision-making process low energy and low friction.
When it comes to fitness facilities, cleanliness is a straightforward AND accurate filter for most people to apply.
They can look at the cleanliness of the floors and bathrooms and instantly extrapolate the level of care that goes into servicing clients.
When they glance up at the values, they’ll aggressively discount how much they believe the facility embodies those values.
Cleanliness is an easy example, and it’s not the only one.
Show up on time
Say please, and thank you
Make promises and keep them
Dress professionally
Smile
Intentionally build trust
There are no small things.
