Effective Pilates

Customer care, going the extra mile.

“Customer Service is not a department, it is an attitude”. Anon.

As a Pilates teacher you are selling an intangible service. You get a chance to impress your clients each time they visit but you are only as good as your last performance. The client’s perception of the time he or she spends with you is unique to them, however you feel the session went, only by knowing that the customer is content have you been successful.

Whether you are an independent teacher or have a fully equipped studio with several members of staff, you are your own brand. How you present yourself, the approach and attention you pay to your clients is one of the main reasons they will return, bring friends and keep you in business.

When you think about customer care what comes to mind?

• Efficiency
• Speedy delivery of service
• Prompt reaction to needs
• Attention to detail
• Exceeding expectation

All the above will definitely give a high level of customer care in any industry.

Maintaining this level of care is the key to ongoing success. When business is new, energy is high and no mountain insurmountable. However as we become established, complacency may set in, especially if success is achieved relatively easily.

Starting a new business where monopoly of the market is easily achieved because we are the only people providing the service can lead to self satisfaction. Being the pioneer can be great, companies may reap the financial benefits of being first. However, the downside of being first is that this company will pave the way, creating market demand for new services being provided creating competition.

Often this competition has more resources, than the pioneer, offering larger facilities with more choice and equipment. This is a time when confidence may be shaken, but it is also a time for:

Reflection and Regeneration

We do not need to be in crisis before we take a good look at our business to ascertain whether of not we are meeting the standards of care we want to achieve.

Take action before you loose your customer to a shiny new competitor. Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do we have a clear understanding of our customer profile?
2. Are we meeting the customer’s needs?
3. Are we providing the care and attention our customers want?
4. Do our customers have confidence in us as a company?
5. Are customers happy about giving us their money?

A simple questionnaire to your clients will get the answers you need.

Customer care is a relentless, sometimes thankless task. In order for members of your staff and you to deliver from the heart, you need to have passion for the job in hand.

After you have asked some questions about your customer’s satisfaction – you need to consider some of the following:

1. Are my employees and coworkers feeling valued?
2. Do they work as a team?
3. Are they confident that management support them?
4. Do they feel empowered to make a decision

These are some of the questions that need to be addressed. Unless everyone representing your business can answer yes to these questions you will probably be in trouble at some point in the future.

Talk to your clients and colleagues, find out how they are feeling and remember perception will change from person to person.

Communication is key

Keep lines of communication open, ensure that you have processes in place that allow customers and coworkers to inform you of any problems associated with customer service.

Simply making the time to enquire from your clients how things are may give them the opportunity to give you their opinion.

Studies by the American Management Association show that satisfied customers will tell 3 people about their positive experience with you. However, the average dissatisfied customer will tell at least 11 people about how awful doing business with you was,

Dealing with Customer Complaints

The simplest way to deal with customer complaints is to have a standard process that you and your colleagues always follow. Certain problems may appear often, this is your opportunity to find out why and make the necessary changes to stop them reoccurring.

Five Golden Rules

1. Apologise and acknowledge the problem. Customers do not care who is at fault, they want an apology and they want someone on their side.
   
   
2. Do it quickly. Aim to reply to the customer the same day, if this is not possible within 72 hours. British Airways research showed that 40% to 50% of customers who made a complaint defected to another company if staff took longer than 5 days to respond. A quick response implies a sense or urgency and that you are taking their situation seriously.
   
   
3. Assure the client that the problem is being fixed. Instill confidence that you are dealing with the matter. When customers trust you they will give you the time necessary to make amends.
   
   
4. Where possible speak to the person complaining personally. A telephone call to keep the customer up to date with the situation is a positive experience. Personal contact always works better than an email or letter.
   
   
5. If necessary offer compensation. A token gift for their trouble is always appreciated, it can be as simple as a free class or some discount on their next purchase. Of course it needs to be appropriate to the size of the problem.

Keeping our customers happy is a major part of our marketing mix, it is accepted that it is much easier to sell your services or products to an existing customer than to convince a new one of the benefits.

Striving to set the highest standards of service and care to our customers will reap rewards.

Visit www.hugyourcustomers.com

It is a fact of life that sometimes customers are not right; see Article, Dealing with difficult customers.

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