Back in the Game

You may have noticed, if of course you are a local resident, The BAR has been in the media almost every week for the past couple of months. We won the best of Ahwatukee customer service award, best mom and pop shop, the Joe Mather article relating to his training at our local establishment, our annual shoe drive article, channel 15 news shoe drive piece and pretty soon an article about one of our oldest clients, Lee, who is turning 75 and still to this day comes in three times a week and hits the heavy bag to stay in shape.
Yes, we are back in the game of getting our name out there again. People ask me all the time why we don't advertise? To be quite honest, an add in the paper will run you anywhere from $400-700 for a one time shot quarter page, black and white, plus you have to sign a year contract and never has anyone ever come in because of an add that we placed in either the newspaper or magazines for that matter.

Most of you know us really well and also know that we don't cut deals for any one, so to place a deal in an add would go against what we are trying to provide. We treat everyone the same everyday regardless of if you are a long time client or a new person walking through the door. So, to put something in the paper for $700 and a one time shot, what would be our call to action? We know we are the best at what we do, but how do you place an add and convince people to come in and see it for themselves. Yes, we do the first time workout thing free but that's it (what's really funny is that because of the economy stuff, we've had new people who have actually tried to play the "give me more card" or you don't get my business kind of thing... you know what? We don't want your business.... go wheel and deal with someone who doesn't value what they do. Which ever trainer that makes a deal with you will more than likely be out of business in the next 4 months so your deal will be lost anyway.)

If you don't think the BAR is the best workout place on Earth after your first time coming in, then we probably didn't our jobs real well and we don't deserve your business... don't think we are going to give you another test run at it though.. that's not how it works. I can count probably 8 different times where someone came in and tried us out for 2-4 (no pay) sessions before finally pulling the plug and we never hear from them again. Of course we all look at each other as a staff and say what the heck happened? My guys gave their time and expertise, thank you cards went out, emails occurred daily and nothing? You know what happened? The person was looking for free anything and decided to try us! Not going to happen again though. One time shot and then we go back to what we always preach: "We treat everyone the same everyday," and if we haven't earned your business after the first day then we probably don't deserve your business anyway.

That's it... we don't advertise in the papers (very often) and we don't do deals (ever)! People that come into the BAR are treated with respect and we are always very appreciated when we get a referral from them. You know what? They treat us the exact same way. It's back to referring to the BAR as a family place, but I'll save that one for another blog!