Not Feeling the Love at the Personal Training Center

Yesterday, I got the “spring bug” to get fit and along with it, the urge to visit a new personal training center in our neighborhood.  My work associate and I had met one of the owners at a chamber of commerce networking event and I had watched the retail strip where they were opening as their sign went up and they held an open house.  I was definitely excited to go in and see what services they could offer to me and my husband.  I sweet-talked him into going and we headed over.  

When we got there, there were only two people in the expansive space that held the studio.  One was obviously the trainer and I’m assuming the woman on the floor doing push ups was the trainee.  While a very nice reception desk was at the entrance, there was no one there to greet us or give us any information.

“I’m with a client right now,” the trainer responded over her shoulder when we greeted her and mentioned we were interested in learning about their services.  Turning her attention back to her customer, she added, “you can leave your name and phone number at the front desk and we’ll have somebody call you.”   She went on with her session and proceeded to ignore us.

We scrounged around and found some paper on the counter and wrote down our information.  As we walked out, we were less than impressed by the experience.  ”If they can’t give you their attention when you first walk in,” my husband commented, “I wonder what kind of attention they’ll give you once you’re a regular.”

While I had appreciated that the trainer was giving her full concentration to her trainee, I thought she could have done better with her walk-in prospects.  Perhaps the customer could have done a few push-ups on her own while the trainer talked to us for just a few minutes.  If that wasn’t acceptable, she might have taken our cell phone number and called us when the session was done so that we could have come back later that day.  Whatever approach she took, it should have been more personable.

It’s not uncommon in customer care situations to have to manage more than one customer or task at a time.  As businesses have downsized and job descriptions have gotten bigger and bigger, we all feel busier and busier.  However, treating a customer as an interruption is never a good idea.  Typically, taking a breath to calm yourself, then politely expressing the need to get back to someone is all it takes.  Customers are people and they can usually understand busy as they’re more than likely very busy themselves.   What they can’t understand is being put off or ignored.

Unfortunately, the trainer at the studio lost two very hot prospects.  We walked out and haven’t heard from anyone since.  And at this point, unfortunately, we’re not as enthused as we had been on Saturday morning.

Reflections:  Do you have occasions when you’re so busy you feel overly stressed out?  Does it make it difficult to manage contact with your customers appropriately?  How can you plan for those occasions so that you handle them in a way that ensures your customers know that you appreciate them?

written by Lori Jo Vest on www.lovethemup.com