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I feel a bit saddened for the principals of the Kosher Gym. I know Yehudah and Ori personally from my days as a member and from when my wife was the graphic designer for the gym's magazine, Frum & Fit. I have only known them to be men of integrity and mevakshei Da'as Torah. That said, I would like to use this whole episode as an example of the changing world and its effect on the state of Frum Business today.

I am not a Rav and I won't even pretend to know whether the internet is a wonderful Bracha or a Ma'aseh Satan. Certainly, Lashon Hara and Motzie Shem Ra are serious business, especially when it affects the livelihood of others.

But the point I am trying to make is not a question of right or wrong. It is the Metzius. The fact that a pedestrian has the right of way will not heal his injuries when he is hit by a car that runs the light. No, it's not fair that individuals and businesses can be maligned so easily on blogs that allow anonymous comments. It's all irrelevant really. This is the world we live in in 2008. Conversations are happening and you cannot control them. The best thing to do is to try to bring the conversation into your house. To be transparent. To engage your customers. This is the cost of doing business in the 21st century.

The backlash about the Lipa ban also proves this to be true. Lipa is now a bigger celebrity than ever. Instead, it was Da'as Torah that came out wounded. There was an effort by kannoim to control the conversation but in the internet age it cannot be controlled anymore. Instead, Da'as Torah was the victim. I believe the same holds true with the Slifkin issue from a few years back. I am not arguing right or wrong (I don't have the Pleitzus). I am just looking at the facts on the ground.

The takeaway is that frum businesses have to pay attention to what is happening. This has been going on already for several years in the secular world and is now starting to show up here as well. All it took was a blog post from an influential blogger named Jeff Jarvis called "Dell Hell" to get the blogosphere buzzing in a way that was quite damaging to Dell Computer. Their eventual response was to join the conversation with a blog of their own and invite - yes, invite people to come talk about Dell in a way that was very candid and not always pleasant. But you know what? It's a strategy of transparency that more and more companies are finding to be effective at really building customer loyalty.

J-Biz owners, WAKE UP! You cannot get away with angering your customers for all that long. You must start engaging them in a way that builds enthusiasm for your brand and company. Remarkable customer service, satisfaction, elation is necessary now more than ever. The value that you give your customers is necessary now more than ever. Your transparency is necessary now more than ever. Contract or no contract, you cannot get away with charging fees for fine print or nickel and dimeing your customers for items and services that should be free. If your customers complain about something - it is a blessing - you now have a new insight into satisfying them. How much money are you spending on marketing when the most effective thing to do is to keep the ones you have happy and feeling value from what you give them and the way that you treat them?

If it is expensive to put in a security system to catch "cheaters", then take away their reason to cheat. If it is too difficult to run a business where frum people are too demanding, then it is time to get out of the business. I am not talking to KG Fitness, I am talking to everyone who does business in the frum community. Wake up before it is too late and you find yourself on the next blog.

Michael Szpilzinger
http://ocnm.weebly.com