Many scholars have explored the subject of needs and motivations and there are numerous theories in psychology on their identification and classification.
We can certainly divide needs into two categories:
- Primary, those needs that are necessary for the survival and life of people and which can be grouped into: physical, social, power and individuation;
- Secondary, those needs which develop in the course of each individual's life, based on their experiences.
The pyramid of Maslow's needs
The first to appear are physiological needs, linked to natural and primary physiological needs (hunger, thirst, etc.). Then we have the security needs, which motivate us to look for protection and contact. Then we find the need for belonging, which leads to behaviour aimed at giving and receiving love. To follow the need for recognition, in this case come into play behaviors and attitudes aimed at obtaining recognition from others for our actions and finally the need for self-fulfilment that lead to behaviors aimed at expressing our potential, creativity, also in order to better understand ourselves and the world around us.
Actually, there is a sixth level of need: the need for transcendence. They motivate us to go beyond our own limits to recognize ourselves as part of a higher universe of a divine order, and would partly explain some aspects related to religious and spiritual practices.
How to understand the needs of a fitness centre member

The importance of communicating with the member
- a competent active person, often driven by a need to see the structure and the equipment, is a person who knows how much, if not more, than us and in this case our interest will have to be projected on "because they decided to change activities or structure";
- the ex active person, a person who probably several times has approached the fitness but with difficulty has managed to keep high motivation, is afraid to fail again by making yet another annual subscription of which he will barely use the first two months, in this case you will have to understand the reasons that led him previously to abandon;
- finally, the non-active person, who does not know the sector, who does not know the names of the lessons but needs to start, is uncomfortable, worried and the only thing they need is to be taken by the hand, reassured and made to feel at home.

If, however, the receptionist, through active listening, is able to discover those needs of which the potential client is not aware, while feeding them, allowing him to rationalize and finally satisfy them will arrive at such an awareness that from that moment the latent needs are transformed into explicit needs, are the specific needs of each customer, customizations that the more the company will be able to meet the most will differ from the competition.
There are also implicit needs in this classification, which are normally not required by our customer because they are taken for granted, surely not satisfying this type of needs would create a great disservice and deep dissatisfaction.
Gain trust from the member through listening
Since the two forces that make a person behave are those of pleasure and pain, often when pain prevails over pleasure the person is more motivated to change but certainly needs a guide that will lead him to act to find the right motivation, that is, the set of drives, aspirations, desires or needs.
Until yesterday the product was sold, but what is really useful is to understand the "why you intend to start a training program", understand "how important it is to start it", understand "when to want to start it", obviously at each response of the prospect the receptionist will listen actively, wait for the answers without anticipating them and even project positive images of his desired future that will lead to the desire to want to take immediately the road that will lead to change, a healthy lifestyle and the achievement of a state of well-being.
Taking care of the customer's needs, remembering them and renegotiating them is part of a subsequent step in the written relationship. The receptionist, in addition to being sincere, must be long-lasting.