Fitness and wellness, there is perhaps no industry where the your personal interactions with the customers are more important.

Front desk attendant, group X instructor, or personal trainer, a good portion of what you're selling is yourself and your team. Here are 12 things to keep in mind everyday when you walk through the doors of your club, studio, box, or office.

  1. Be friendly first. Service starts with a friendly person with a friendly smile, who offers friendly words first.
  2. Attitude precedes service. Your positive mental attitude is the basis for the way you act and react to people. “You become what you think.”
  3. Your first words set the tone. All encounters with customers are yours to control. The first words you deliver set the tone for the customer.
  4. Know how to serve in terms of the customer. They don’t care what your situations is: they only care about their situation.
  5. Understand, the customer has lots of issues with which to deal besides you, and may just be using you as a frustration vent. Don’t take it too personally if a customer flies off the handle.
  6. No one wants to hear why you can’t. Don’t tell them when or why you can’t, tell them when and why you can- enthusiastically.
  7. Recognize customers for what they are-your paycheck. The boss doesn’t pay you-the customer does.
  8. Don’t confuse company policy with customer service. Don’t quote policy or hide behind it.
  9. When you make them mad, it’s twelve-to-one they’ll leave or be leery. It takes 12 positive impressions to overcome a single negative one.
  10. You are responsible or it wouldn’t get done. There’s a fine line between taking it personally, and handling it personally. Individual responsibility leads to a happy customer.
  11. Take your job seriously, but don’t take their complaints personally. If you take it personally, you’ll get upset and lose your edge. If you take it too personally, you’ll lose your edge and your job. If you take it seriously, it’s you with them. If you take it personally, it’s you against them.
  12. Your team will get stronger when you begin to build yourself.Teams are made up of individuals who work together and get their own jobs done

Bonus! Here are 12 Guide Words to Drive a Great Customer Experience

    1. Maintaining a POSITIVE ATTITUDE.
    2. Establishing/achieving GOALS.
    3. UNDERSTANDING yourself.
    4. PRIDE in yourself, your team, and your brand.
    5. RESPONSIBILITY for your actions.
    6. LISTENING with the intent to understand.
    7. COMMUNICATING to be understood.
    8. Embracing CHANGE.
    9. Maintaining RELATIONSHIPS.
    10. Making effective DECISIONS.
    11. Learning to SERVE others.
    12. WORKING AS A TEAM.

 

The foundation to great service starts with well thought out practices implemented at the club level and supported by your back-office team. The two should work seamlessly together in a constant feedback loop which always strives to understand the issues, works to find improvements, and implements changes to better service the customer.

 

Need help? We've got you covered. We have a team of seasoned customer serviced professionals ready to become YOUR call center, reporting available to show you where improvements are needed, and fitness operations leaders who are eager to assist in developing new customer driven improvement initiatives.