In the ever-evolving landscape of the fitness industry, fitness customer service is one of the key differentiators that can help you create a stellar business model. In this interview, renowned fitness expert Fred Hoffman sat down with us to give his insights into navigating the complexities of modern customer service.
Fred Hoffman is an international fitness expert and consultant based in Paris, France. He is the owner of Fitness Resource Consulting Services.
He is also the author of Going Global: An Expert’s Guide to Working Abroad in the International Fitness Industry
When it comes to fitness customer service, members are demanding more than ever, and it’s up to you to create the customer experience that ensures that they enjoy every moment of engaging with your business.
Here’s how to adapt to the modern world of fitness business.
Get to the Core of Your Unique Selling Point
“Great customer service is when a company delivers the promise of the brand.”
It really is as simple as that.
You need to look at what you’re trying to sell to your customers and whether that promise is being fulfilled when they step through your front door.
Fred makes the excellent point that the key to this is consistency. From your website to the branding in your locker rooms, it all has to tie together.
Looking for a complete guide to finding your Unique Selling Point?
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Action Step: Take a deep dive into your online platform and your personal brand – do they match the services you provide? If not, you may need a more solid fitness management platform.
Embrace Cultural Differences
“A U.S.-based company that wants to come into Europe has to realize that they can’t just reproduce the model and just come and act like it’s all going to work”
Fitness businesses have made this mistake time and again. If you’re expanding into a new market, it doesn’t even have to be a different country, it could even just be a different state, you have to understand that your customers are going to behave differently.
As a fitness business owner, you need to embrace these cultural differences. It doesn’t matter if you’re an international corporation or a single-location studio: culture is at the core of what you’re selling.
Take a moment to understand exactly where your business fits in within that cultural buildup. Are you there to offer a community? A place of health and wellness? Or just a really good workout?
All of these have completely different meanings in different regions, and it’s important for you to know how you can be the missing piece of the puzzle for that area.
Action Step: Take a look at the surrounding culture and community of your location and then tailor your customer experience to it.
Digital Fitness is Not Going Anywhere
“People want to be able to connect with the business any time, any place, on any device.”
Even if you’re not offering online classes or services, your presence online needs to be consistent, constant, and comprehensive.
Having a clean and easy-to-use website and app can easily double your leads. We’ve all been there, wanting to book a class or sign up for a membership, only to find that we need to call someone or, even worse, go to the business to physically sign up.
If it just takes one click of the mouse or a few swipes on their phone, your leads are far, far more likely to convert.
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Action Step: Make sure that your online customer experience is seamless. Look at where your signups are coming from and how you can make it easier for your leads and members.
Craft a Customer-Centric Strategy
“You need to listen to your customers. You need to try out things on your own. You can even have mystery shoppers if you want.”
It’s an old saying but if you want to know what your friends really think about you, just pretend to leave the room for a minute and see what they say.
You could be getting stellar upfront feedback from your customers, but they may just not be comfortable enough to give you the honest truth. Set up online and in-person feedback systems to ensure you’re getting all the reviews you need to fine-tune your business to its highest possible potential.
You can even ask a friend (or a mystery shopper if you don’t have any brutally honest friends) to drop into your location to see what their impressions are and where you can improve.
Action Step: Don’t believe your own hype. Have clear and accessible online and in-person feedback systems to ensure you’re getting all the insight into your business you possibly can.
Give Your Staff the Power
“If employees are happy in a company and they really believe in the brand, they go out of their way to do things even if it’s just part of their job.”
If you go into a fitness studio or gym and the staff are helpful, engaging, and just happy to be there, you’re sure to have a better experience overall.
Having demotivated or frustrated staff is one of the easiest ways of tanking your member retention rates.
Need an in-depth staff retention guide?
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Action Step: Make sure your staff are happy to come into work everyday. Otherwise, they’ll find somewhere else to go.
Make It All About The Customer
No, the customer is not always right, but they are the ones that pay your bills.
Fitness customer service is not an easy nut to crack, but these key action points should help you:
- Make your brand truly represent your services
- Ensure your services fit the culture and community you’re in
- Have a stellar online fitness presence
- Get clear and unbiased customer feedback
- Keep your staff happy and motivated
If you’re missing any of these, taking the action points above or reading some of our guides will help you through the process.
Or, if you’re looking for a fitness business platform that can help you solve these problems, you can talk to us.
