EngageMore Blog

Last month we congratulated Jedd R. from the Nuuanu YMCA in Honolulu, HI, for being a Star Performer. From June through August, Jedd engaged with over 1500 members and documented over 1200 Wellness Goals! We asked him if he could answer some questions about his best practices! These are his responses! 

What are some of your Best Practices?

-"I keep things simple, very basic.  I treat everyone like they are an important part of one, big household, literally like family members.  We all have our own reasons for being at The Y, so I feel like everyone has their own story to tell, which offers something new to learn everyday.  I would like to hear what their stories are, if they are open and willing to share them with me.  I listen first, respond, then share."

Any special Strategy?

-"I do my best to get the gist of the members’ daily routines during my shift.  It may change now and then, but it basically stays the same.  I know when they have their rest times, their navigation patterns to their chosen equipment, etc.  I’ll find opportunities where I can speak with them in-between sets or during their cool-downs.  I have many strategies, processes and methodologies that I use, but then again, I keep it simple.  Essentially, I keep the core values of The Y in mind, each and every time I interact with members:  Caring, Honesty, Respect & Responsibility.  That’s my basis"

  Any specific conversation starters?

-"I just greet everyone accordingly, and ask how they’re doing, genuinely.  That alone will start a lot of conversations.  I may also start off by asking them a question about something we’ve talked about before, like what happened to them after a doctor’s appointment, or how they liked the new Japanese restaurant.  The topics are endless.  Sometimes, if I know them well enough, I’ll just throw out a random topic, just to make things interesting."

  How do you balance your other responsibilities?

-"I love multitasking; it’s my bread and butter.  I know when it is busy and slow during my shift(s), and I adjust my tasks accordingly, and improvise when needed.  It really is about control of time management, prioritization, and “balance”.  Ultimately, members come first."

I recently read that every habit has three components: a cue, a routine, and a reward and I couldn't agree more. I find at EngageMore our partners often struggle with getting all their teammates to use the EM system in their everyday work routines. This adoption process can take any where from 2 weeks to 6 months but the one common denominator is when the teammates are consistently rewarded their behavior transitions into a sustainable habit. That habit is what drives success at the location. 

You see when members are engaged and encouraged by wellness staff they in turn are more likely to push themselves to reach that wellness goal, come back the next day, join that group exercise class and finally become a long lasting member of the organization who gets involved, refers friends and possibly becomes a donor. The simple act of act of receiving encouragement turns their behavior into habit.

So I challenge you to create your own habit.

1) What is your cue? It could be adding an appointment to your calendar to use EM so you receive an alert when it's time to log in and start engaging. 

2) What is your routine? Scheduling the cue every day for the same time. Make sure EM is a part of your work day every shift. 

3) What is your reward? This is the best one.... Your reward could be so many things. It could be that Member who thanks you for encouraging them, it could be your manager thanking you for doing a great job, it could be the promotion you get for being a rock star at work, it could be the prize for being the EM champion. You see the  results are limitless. 

Create your habit today.

Wellness directors have a pretty daunting task of keeping members happy as well as managing a diverse staff that is often subject to high turnover.  With so many members visiting daily and varying staff schedules this task becomes even more difficult .

We recently launched our mobile app eDash for iOS and Android built specifically with directors in mind.  eDash allows the director to see the interactions their staff is having with members anywhere from the palm of their hand. Whether it's updating a member's goal or notating their workout, directors have complete visibility.  Directors also have an insight on what their members are saying and able to email and/or call them directly from within to app to address their needs.

Recently a Wellness Director asked us for a comprehensive list of a specific member's engagements. We supplied the list and were amazed by what we read....over 14 comments in the last year were about how the member dropped weights and ignored staff's wishes to not do so. 

Apparently this member has been displaying undesirable behavior (such as dropping weights) and ignoring wellness coaches when they speak to him about the policy. The Wellness Director asked his staff to track and document the members activity in EngageMore so they could present him with the necessary documentation to temporarily suspend his membership. If the member did not improve his behavior the membership could be permanently revoked. 

Although we did not foresee tracking negative member behavior we have realized that our tool as yet another value add for our partners.  What will we learn next? 

At EngageMore we obsess over providing the best features to our users. Our goal is to build a platform that is easy to use while being highly effective. That being said, the engineers at Etsy have been a big source of inspiration for us when it comes to experimenting with new features.

In order to test out new features for our own products we have built an exciting new architecture on top of Node.js that allows us to push out new features to specific associations, locations, or just specific users. Our backend still makes use of the same staple technologies but the introduction of a thin UI swapping layer allows us to test out new features and record the results.

EngageMore is known for the innovative communications platform created to help wellness staff members and gym members interact.  Therefore, it’s only natural that we have adopted another platform in this communications era to help grow and educate people on our product.  The virtual meeting room has changed the way businesses operate all over the world, and it is no different here in Richmond, Virginia at the EngageMore headquarters. 

We held our first 30 minute webcast to showcase the cutting edge technology that is the EngageMore solution to an audience of 17 people in 14 different states and 3 different time zones.  The webcast was an overall success as we had over 70% of the registered guests attend.

The EngageMore webcasts are intended to educate YMCA’s of all sizes on who we are as a team and what the platform has helped other YMCA’s accomplish.  We spend 5 minutes introducing the background of why EngageMore was created, follow the introduction up with a 15 minute product overview demonstration and save 5-10 for questions that have been asked by the audience.  Our webcasts are recorded to be aired at later dates for individuals that couldn’t make the live session.  Also, the recorded sessions are great 10-15 “tips and tricks” videos for our YMCA partner’s already using the system and need refreshers or examples on how other YMCA’s are benefiting from our product. 

We intend to have future webcasts segmenting the EngageMore platform into specific areas of operational problem solving.  If you or any of your colleagues are interested in previous or future webcasts, please contact Brett Combs (Account Manager) [email protected].

Creative Leadership

With a new year comes new responsibility and one partner is taking creative steps to lead her team. Chrissy Elliott, Senior Director of Healthy Living at Central Florida's Downtown Orlando YMCA is the first EngageMore partner who has recorded a video message for the application. This video is seen once her team logs into the application before engaging with members. Chrissy's message is positive and upbeat as she reminds her team to make every member engagement count this new year.

This got me thinking, what will I do to lead my team this new year? Not only with EngageMore but with my family? I definitely think it takes creativity and thinking outside of the box to make your mark so I ask you, what will you do to lead your team?

Valentine's Day is just around the corner! While some of you are buying chocolates and flowers and others are making dinner (or reservations), we realize that Valentine's Day is not just about who we love, its about who we appreciate. And we have the perfect excuse (as if we needed one!) to tell all of our partners how much we appreciate you. 

From all of us here at EngageMore, Thank You for all of your hard work! Your dedication to the success of your staff and your members is unmatched! From Virginia to Canada and everyone in-between, all of you encourage us daily, and we hope to be every bit as encouraging to you and your staff!

Don't forget to share your gratitude to those you appreciate this week!

The  book – “The One Thing” –  is written by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan and is a best seller.  The concept of the book is that our world is filled with distractions – texts, Facebook status updates, e-mails, and all of the other "noise" that keeps our attention focused on thousands of different things.  The pace of these distractions are overwhelming – scientist have discovered that this multi-tasking world is re-wiring the brain waves of teenagers.  The distractions are causing evolutionary changes in our bodies – crazy right! 

The book goes on to say that as a result of these distractions – many of them seem to be very important – we have lost our ability to focus on the “one thing”.   Think about your own work day – how often do you find  yourself answering e-mails all day.  By having to answer these e-mails we feel productive and that we are “getting stuff done”.  Keller and Papasan make the case that just the opposite is actually happening. 

The book argues that if we are to produce great results – we need to focus.  The book has two main messages:

To determine what to actually focus on, you are to ask yourself “THE QUESTION”.  The question is “What is the one thing that I can do, that if done well will make all other things unnecessary or irrelevant.

The authors talk about “time blocking”, which isn’t a new concept – but there twist is that however you answer the question – that is what you spend your time doing. 

I think many of us understand and use “time blocking” – but I know for me personally I use that time to do administrative tasks – return calls, check e-mails, code bills, etc.  The authors would contend that this use of my time is wasteful and will not help me to accomplish great results. 

As the YMCA world starts the new year with thousands of new members my question to you is – what is the one thing that you can do to keep those members for the foreseeable future?  What do you have your staff doing to find out, understand, and assist these new members to meet their wellness goals.  How are you helping to turn these members from casual to committed? 

Before you answer – make sure you don’t simply respond with the typical YMCA noisy answers – e-mails, phone calls, and program enrollments.  Do these work – we have been doing these for years with no change in the results. 

I am reading a great book by Jonah Berger called "Contagious:  Why Things Catch On".  In this book Jonah explores why certain ideas turn into the next best thing and why some things don't.  He uses data to examine how certain aspects propel an idea/product/service to become contagious.  As an example - he looks at whether more interesting, novel, or surprising products get talked about more.  

He found that none of these aspects lead to a product becoming contagious, but he did find another aspect that does increase your chance for something to turn contagious - A TRIGGER.  A trigger is a small thing that can lead to your experience becoming contagious.  

He found that when French music is played in a wine store - more French wine is purchased.  He discovered that if you fill a store with the aroma of fresh cookies or freshly baked bread - more food is sold.  The most interesting finding was that when college students used trays with the slogan - "To be healthy your tray need 5 fruits and veggies a day" - 25% of the students increased their fruit and vegetable consumption dramatically. Now, they all thought the slogans were stupid and that they would never work - but subconsciously it had a impact, just like the music in the wine store and the aroma of bread in food store.  

By using EngageMore you can add those small, subconscious engagements that make the behaviors of your members change - primarily that they stay members longer.  By having a staff know their name and know that they haven't used your YMCA in a month - makes someone feel like they are a member of the family.  When a staff person checks on their wellness goal and gives them a tip on how to meet it - the member thinks, "man, they want me to be successful, this place cares."  A program offer turns from a simple conversation about a Youth Basketball League, to reminding a member that the YMCA is so much more than merely a place to work out.

Excited to be utilizing the world of social media, EngageMore has now expanded to Facebook! Please check us out to see our latest news and exciting updates!  

This week we are headed to Philadelphia for the YMCA's 2013 General Assembly to show off the tool that empowers YMCA staff and retains it's members! 

Come visit us at Booth 701, Let us show you that using EngageMore is the best way to develop meaningful relationships with your members! 

This summer has proven to be an exciting time for EngageMore. This week the team travels to Philly for the General Assembly and I wish them all the best for a successful conference.

I just read a great article about using math and analytics to help increase engagement.  CRAZY IDEA.  We have the technology - so why don't more people use proven methods.  A quote from the article sums it up pretty well.

"So the status quo prevails: 1) do nothing, 2) treat all customers as equally at risk, or 3) perform some random haphazard interventions with no real science behind who is targeted and who is not." 

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  Until people are willing to try something different - they will continue to lose 40 to 50 percent of their members each month.  

INSANITY!  You can stop the insanity - EngageMore!  

Read the entire article below.  

John Lilly is a partner at Greylock Partners - a Venture Capital firm in California.  Mr. Lilly was giving a talk to the Stanford Technology Venture Program and made the following statement.

"Changing the world is hard.  Mostly people don’t want change.  Mostly the status quo is the status quo because people are kind of comfortable with the way things are .  It is easier to keep things the same than to change it.  You have to make the world the way it is.  There are vested interests that want to keep the world the way it is, because it is always easier to keep it the same." 

At EngageMore we are trying to change how the average gym member is treated and engaged by the staff.  Over the course of our 4 year life we have heard everything from - this is great, to this is never going to work.  We will continue to try to "change the world".  

The Stanford Technology Lecture series is awesome - I suggest giving it a listen.