How Do We Communicate During a Catastrophe?
How do we communicate to the humans supporting our business communities during a catastrophe?
This is the question I've asked myself over and over since last week when areas within Los Angeles, one of 'my hometowns' filled with multi-generational family memories, caught fire in multiple neighborhoods, simultaneously.
My answer this time was to pause my own long-overdue timeline to fully launch & communicate 2 new ways to work together across the miles (a Happy-Hour Audit walk-through of your studio space & a Customizable Handbook Template).
We intermittently lost electricity & when it was on, I tried my best to wrestle the television remote away from my mother, who is in significant cognitive decline…moving away from the news & interviewing 90-year-olds in her childhood neighborhood who devastatingly lost everything…& over to the Hallmark Channel, still airing fluffy Christmas movies.
I heard from more than a few international friends unfamiliar with the LA “sprawl” that their news was covering only the lists of celebrities who lost homes. Regular folks' homes & generational family businesses have been lost by the thousands. Should you be interested in hearing more about one of the non-front-page communities, this Reel is a good start.
As always, take what you would like for your own planning & leave the rest:
24 Hour Fitness is welcoming all residents and first responders to its Los Angeles area clubs during the month of January, regardless of membership status. You may read more about this on Club Solutions, here.
A membership advisor at Equinox took an, ahem, very different approach to their sales follow-up strategy
I received this DM from a well-tenured manager / digital fitness leader / group fitness instructor, (both high-profile boutique studio space & mainstream industry) regarding the leaked Equinox sales email: “When Hurricane Sandy happened, I was 8 months pregnant and Harvey (CEO) emailed everyone to sleep on couches if we had to because clubs were staying open no matter what”
As well, I received this DM from a studio owner in the American Midwest: “Experiencing the opposite right now – we got 12” of snow overnight and I told my staff to stay safe & stay home if they couldn't make it in"
While we may not have a choice in the disaster, we can choose our plan for our response. And our responses are rooted in who we are as a brand & who/what we care about the most.
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Lastly for today – a few studio owners across formats have written that they'd like to book 1:1 sessions to discuss their SOP refinements, amongst other assorted ideas for a focused sounding-board. My calendar for 30 & 60 minute “Pick My Brain” sessions is open only until February 13, for now…as I'll be headed back to Southeast Asia for awhile for a studio expansion. Schedule here.
Always available to read what you've found works the best for you, your brand, employees & communities in a catastrophe; click reply if you're compelled.
Noël
P.S. Remote ways to work together are here.