30 Jul Common customer complaints and how to tackle them
Customer complaints are painful, but inevitable. You try your absolute hardest to keep every member happy and ensure they have an epic experience, but try as you might, complaints do still happen. Luckily, there are things you can do to tackle these grievances, with the help of your leisure centre software or swim school software. So what are some of the most common gripes that you may experience? And what can you do to handle them with grace to keep cranky customers satisfied?
Overcrowding
“This centre is over-crowded and it makes me so frustrated and uncomfortable – what are you going to do about it?”
A research study by Canstar Blue found that overcrowding was the leading complaint from gym goers. Out of 1000 respondents, 48% said that over-crowding was their number one concern. Making your facility larger with an extension or relocation is a costly procedure and no easy feat. There are other options to help with leisure centre overcrowding and managing the flow in your facility.
If you host group fitness classes, try capping the number of attendees to a level where they feel unrestricted. They should have enough space to freely move around without stepping on toes or feeling like their own personal space is being invaded.
Your classes aren’t the only areas where congestion can cause dramas. Overcrowding of your leisure centre equipment can frustrate your members, unnecessarily extend the length of their workout, and make them feel like they have to compete with other members. If this is the case, try freeing up one of your exercise rooms during peak times so your members have a quiet space to retreat to with their resistance bands or exercise balls.
Inattention
“I complained about this ages ago and someone still hasn’t gotten back to me!”
When you have an irate customer, the last thing they want is to think their problems aren’t being heard. Being ignored leads to negative reviews online, bad referrals and a poor reflection on your leisure centre. When a customer complains, make sure to take the time to listen to them and assure them that their problem will be dealt with.
If you need help keeping track of these conversations and ensuring they don’t go unresolved, Centaman have a powerful feature up their sleeve. Centaman’s leisure centre membership module includes a feature called Correspondence, which helps your staff keep track of phone, email or in-person conversations they’ve had with members. In this built-in module, they can take notes of their interaction with the customers, ensuring clear communication every step of the way.
Staff
“I’m not seeing any results and I hate the way my trainer barks orders at me. I’m really unimpressed with the service so far.”
With this kind of complaint, your member and trainer are most likely not the best fit for each other. In this scenario, listen closely to your member and understand exactly why they are unhappy with their trainer and overall experience. Chat to your trainer in person, express the customer’s concerns, and find out the trainer’s point of view.
Form here, you should be able to recommend a different trainer that can help your member reach their goals in a way that works for them.