The yesteryear’s adage,” Customer is always right” continues to be relevant even today. In an industry that is cutthroat competitive one of the things that will surely set your business apart from others would be the customer experience. A few bad reviews and you’ll find yourself losing all that you’ve created over the years. As a result, it is important to consistently deliver excellent customer service at all touch points and is undoubtedly an important element of business. Studies by multiple consulting agencies have indicated that post the pandemic customer experience will overtake the price and product as the key differentiator between businesses. So, let us talk about those small acts that will assist you in improving customer experience at your fitness studio.
Personal Engagement
The last thing you want is a poor customer service. Aside from creating a hard to douse fire it will put at an inherently disadvantageous place culminating with your customers leaving in hoards. One way to combat poor service is by improving how you communicate and engage with your clients. While it is immaterial as to whether a client is coming to the fitness studio to make serious gains or just have fun, it is important that you and your team engage with each client. Take time as a fitness instructor to assess the client’s fitness goals and provide them with right training mix. Consider hiring a nutritionist, who can help them create meal plans that will complement their fitness regime. To further enhance their experience leverage technology i.e., a gym and fitness studio management software wherein your customers can not only track their fitness journey but also have their diet plans handy. Also, remember your client’s names. It is a small but highly personalized gesture.
Listen & Work on Feedback
When a client comes up with feedback or a request, pay attention. We repeat, “Pay 100% attention and for the love of your business DO NOT go silent. Whether it is a request or a complaint, record each and every requirement. A good way of allowing customers to provide feedback is to deploy a fitness studio management software. The software will help keep record of all such complaints, feedbacks, and assist you in tracking the progress on resolution of a query or a complaint. Besides recording the request, it is important to try and provide a solution. If the request is beyond the policy, it is important to see what best amicable solution can be found. On the other hand, when it comes to complaints actively resolve it as soon as possible. Moreover, do not make the customer remind or ask you about the outcome of the complaint resolution. Be active and prompt in providing feedback and stating the progress of complaint resolution.
Every Client is Important
As much as there will be a constant requirement to handhold new clients, it is important to not neglect the existing ones. The existing clients are the ones whom you need to renew your Contracts. Therefore, take time to analyze and recognize loyal clients who have been associated with your business for years. Consider rewarding their loyalty based on the tenure of their association with the gym. These gestures could be as simple as post on your social media page (with their consent) or a few weeks of membership extension at no additional costs. These gestures will have minimal impact on revenue but will yield much higher results in terms of customer satisfaction and word of mouth publicity.
By deploying these little techniques and turning them into a second habit, you and your team will get well versed with the nuances of delivering a superior customer experience at your fitness studio.
Make It Fun
Fitness journey is often a lonely and exhausting. It is hardly surprising that many clients drop out because they’re just tired or loose the motivation. As a manager it is your responsibility to make your fitness studio an inclusive space where people from all walks of life are welcome. Whether your clients are people, who seek pure gains and wish to have no interaction with others or people who are there to just have fun and be social, everyone should feel welcome. Engage with clients to understand their preferences and where necessary assist people by finding them work out partners.
Exception to the Rule
When it comes to customer service, an important aspect is how well are you equipped to handle out of SOP request and how does your business acumen allow you to meritoriously judge a situation. While it is important for you to be strict, for administrative purposes, in following your own SOP, it is also important to take pragmatic calls based on merit of the case. It is possible that your Contract with clients doesn’t allow to suspend membership for few months, but occasionally you are likely to come across such requests. There will be instances where some clients must go to other cities for long work deputation and request you to suspend their Contract for a few months. In such a situation an outright refusal will be a sure shot way of ensuring that the client won’t return. Therefore, a pragmatic solution must be found where neither the customer feels cheated, nor you lose a returning client. It is great to have rules, but the rules shouldn’t exist the cost of being reasonable.
