Managing HIGH- MAINTENANCE
Members
» Customer Contact
» Health
BY JIM WILLETT
They complain
constantly. It’s next to impossible to please them. They’re disrespectful to your staff. Yet for some reason they keep coming back. They are high-mainte- nance members, and every fitness club has them.
A mentality that “the customer is
always right" coupled with high levels of competition has helped create mem- bers who demand a sometimes unrea- sonable level of service. These types of members can create unnecessary work and stress for every club employee they encounter. To handle demanding members suc-
cessfully, create a customer service game plan that directly addresses this issue. Here are three steps to help get you started.
1. Create customer service policies
If you give members a free month of
membership for a legitimate complaint, that’s great. If you do this just for your personal training clients, that’s great too. The key is to have policies in place that all staff members follow so they don’t set themselves up for even more conflict.
To determine your policies, ask your-
self these questions: • How much negativity, complaining
30 Fitness Business Canada July/August 2009
or abuse from members do we believe is acceptable?
• If a member’s complaint is justi-
fied, what specifically will we do to sat- isfy that member?
• Do we have members we would
like to leave the club? If so, who are they and what is our dismissal process?
2. Train your staff to follow the policies
Once you’ve created your policies,
inform your staff and provide training that shows them how to handle these members and situations. Be prepared to go through this numerous times to accommodate new employees and other factors. Plus, ongoing practice makes for better service. According to John Dantes, a long
time club owner and manager in Whitby, Ontario, one of the policies he stresses to his employees is to always
remain professional to prevent the sit- uation from escalating. “I constantly repeat to my staff the importance of staying calm and patient while dealing with a difficult member,” says Dantes. “Let them vent, as long as they’re not screaming, and when they’re finished ask how you can rectify the situation for them. It’s im- portant to stay focused on the problem at hand, rather than the individual. If they’re at reception com- plaining about a class be- ing cancelled or a machine being broken, discuss oth- er classes they can do or machines that are similar to the broken one.” Another club policy to
consider could be to pro- vide your staff with a “plan B.” For example, if a mem- ber is still proving to be a challenge despite your employee’s best efforts, the policy could be that the employee passes the mem- ber to another more-senior staff person. If you don’t have a plan B in place, there’s no way of telling how things might unravel.
3. Follow through with the policies
Your staff members aren’t going to
make the right choices every time a demanding member creates trouble. But if they’re aware you’re involved with what’s going on and will assist them when necessary, they are more likely to perform their best. Nicole Palacios, a personal trainer
and group fitness leader from North Vancouver, shares the story of an in- teraction with a demanding member that turned out favourably: “I came back from maternity leave to find that a member who’d joined the gym in my absence wasn’t very happy about having what she considered a ‘new’ instructor,” says Palacios. “She made comments about my appearance, cut- ting remarks during class and even voiced her thoughts on how I should be teaching the class.” Palacios’s solution was to confront
the member. “I took her aside after class and carefully explained how her
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