Loyalty Forming Environment in Fitness Organization

Abstract

Research background. It has been estimated that today's fitness organizations urgently need to have and maintain loyal customers. An approach to have a loyal/faithful customer is very important for every organization. The organization should strive not only to attract, but also to retain the client. For client attraction and retention such personal human characteristics as emotional stability, extraversion, openness to experience, and awareness are mentioned as factors most affecting human loyalty. Of course, there are more important factors that shape a loyal customer: the interior, which consists of psychological, demographic and social factors as well as external stakeholders including fitness organization environment which comprises the people, the social media and institutional influence. Taking into account loyal customers forming factors a fitness organization should develop interpersonal relationships with their customers by creating "friendships" because that improves a fitness club environment where customers can directly interact with each other and with the staff, and ensure the quality of the relationship as well as build trust. Organizational aim is to develop loyal employees in their environment who are able to promote exceptional friendliness and sincerity, comfort and pleasant environment, commitment to organization and work relationships. In addition, the fitness organization must ensure the cleanness and quality of the inventory, the supply of fitness programs in accordance with customers' needs, age and education, not just for "everyone", as the most important customer satisfaction components of service which generate value, and in this way forming an inner image of the organization, and through the media and customer reviews – loyal environment that allows achieving positive results, growth and profit by increasing revenue and developing competitiveness. Research aim was to establish conditions for a loyal customer forming environment in fitness organization. Objectives: 1) Describe the concept of loyalty and expression; 2) Reveal loyal customers and influencing factors on the environment of fitness organizations. Conclusions. Loyalty is a fragile phenomenon rather than erratic. However, this phenomenon often provides real benefits to the organization: fixed income, reduced marketing expenses, recommendations to potential and existing sports customers, attracting new customers, more competitive and less sensitive to price fluctuations. Formatting loyal sports customer a sports organization has a strong focus on friendly relations and fostering the creation of a pleasant environment, focusing its efforts to provide quality services and achieve customer satisfaction through wellness programs, selection and creation of client-personnel “friendship”. Factors determining formation of loyal customers affects fitness organizations managerial decisions of the environment in the development of trust, created through customer listening and interpersonal relationships, in the development of an effective movement of the internal process, the creation of internal factors according to demographic criteria and individualization of services providing for sports customers through customer satisfaction on the “friendship” meaning basis. Fitness organization environment must be focused on the individual client's regular studies and development of proposals on the basis of the internal psychological factors, such as personal traits, which are distinguished as follows: emotional stability, extraversion, openness to experience, consciousness. Internal factors in connection with the interpretation of the social externalities: people, social media, and the influence of institutional identity generates relatively comfortable environment to create satisfaction, transforming to the formation of a loyal customer.

Keywords: loyal customer, satisfaction, services, fitness organization.