It's January and in just about every gym, new members are flooding in, armed with new year's resolutions, the latest copy of Men's Fitness, and the best of intentions. At Epicentre, we've had a lot of new people pass by to visit and try out our facility. When someone new asks what the cost is and I tell them, for example, 2 sessions per week for 3 months is $220 (taxes included) they usually say "But my old gym only costs me $50/month and I can go whenever I want!" My response to this is that we are talking about apples and oranges. We aren't a big commercial gym with 10,000 sq.ft of adductor/abductor machines and mirrors so, attempting to compare us to that is silly. However, because I get asked often (and in January, so very often) I will go ahead and compare apples and oranges for you.
So, Le-Super-Awesome-Cardio-Gym charges you $50/month right? Ok fine, now you have all the access to the treadmills, smith machines & ab-rollers your heart could ever desire. You pay by the month, they let you loose in the place from 6am till midnight....but what if you don't know what to do or finally get sick of the Gravitron machine? Say you want to meet with a trainer for a personalized program - your gym might offer a free first-time appointment to develop a program but what happens when you want another one? Well, you'll pay for it, anywhere from $25-50. So now you're up to $75/month minimum for your gym access and a monthly program at Le-Super-Awesome-Cardio-Gym. At Epicentre, we change our programs approximately every 3 weeks but, for the sake of keeping this apple/orange thing simple we'll say you get a new program every month from us. At $220/3 months for your Epicentre membership....let's see...that's $73.30/month. But wait, you say, I can go 7 days PER WEEK to Le-Super-Awesome-Cardio-Gym! Let's be honest though....do you really? Of course you don't. If you're like most people, you'll go 3x/week in January...then 2x week in Feb...maybe 1x/week in March...oh wait, then it's spring break and you'll be heading to Florida...then it's your aunt's birthday party and you've got finals coming up too so, you'll miss a few more sessions...hmm...sound familiar? At Epicentre, while your number of sessions per week are pre-determined and you are paying per session, what we've found over the last few years is this makes our members extremely consistent and consistency over time is what gets results. You're more likely to show up if you have the same nights blocked off in your calendar for training week after week. You're also seeing the same people (and trainers) and you'll get to know the gang and look forward to training with them. Likewise, if you don't show up for a week, guess what? I'm calling you because I'll notice when you're not there. When was the last time Jenny from the front desk at Le-Super-Awesome-Cardio-Gym called you to say "Hey Frank, we didn't see you this week - everything okay?" We're EXPECTING you. In fact, we're looking forward to seeing you. At Epicentre, our max capacity is about 14 members for 2 trainers so we know everyone in the room. We know who has a bad shoulder, who pulled their hamstring last week at rugby practice, and who is lazy and needs to be yelled at a bit. We're kind of like Cheers...the gym version...everybody knows your name...and that you shouldn't be taking such a long break between sets.
I'm still not done comparing - since what we offer is really closer to small group training. The cost of small group training at other places in Montreal (google it) with an 'expert-trainer' ranges from $18-65 plus tax PER SESSION. Or, if CrossFit is your thing, you can buy 20 classes for $340 at one of the local branches here in Montreal, which works out to $17/session. At $220 taxes in for 24 sessions (2x/week/3mos), Epicentre comes in at a whopping....$9.16 per session. See where I'm going with this?
Long story short, we are, at first glance, more expensive than a commercial gym (but not really) and we are less expensive than other so-called 'specialty' gyms in the area. I guess that makes us neither apples nor oranges. Maybe we're pineapples or something...no wait, a banana - bananas are full of potassium, high in fibre, contain tryptophan, b-vitamins, iron and a good dose of fructose - they are the perfect workout food...yes, we're bananas! Like Gwen Stefani once said, "B-A-N-A-N-A-S"!
Back to the point. The cost of an Epicentre membership is easily justified. If you're not convinced, come hang out with us for a bit. Our members are consistent - many of them have been coming for over 2 years and our overall member-retention is high. We know each and every member personally, we are committed to their goals and we get results. End of story.
Now, go eat a banana!!!!
