The Interactive Instructor: The definitive guide to excellent customer care on the gym floor

By Kris Tynan

It’s been quoted as the ‘holy grail’ of the fitness industry and for good reason. Service excellence on the gym floor remains elusive and this has a knock on affect on customer satisfaction and retention.
If your team struggle to make contact with your members consistently on the gym floor ‘The Interactive Instructor’ is just be what you are looking for.
Long overdue, the book is chock-full of practical advice that will enable gym floor instructors – new and experienced – to communicate with customers more confidently.
The author, Kris Tynan, has had many years of experience in this area and her straight forward hands-on approach makes the tools and tips she presents easy to understand and apply.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jan 6, 2010
• ISBN: 9781483546858

Book preview

it?

CHAPTER 1

INTERACTIVE INSTRUCTION:

Why doesn’t it happen?

The first step towards improvement is to engage in critical self-analysis. This is not always comfortable as you may not like the answers – and the solutions even less – but without this level of honesty you will be thrashing about in the dark without a clear direction to take.

On a macro level, I suggest that there are several reasons we are falling down as an industry in terms of interacting with our customers:

Floor instructors are generally young and inexperienced and lack the confidence to approach someone and open conversation.

The training courses they undertake cover few, if any, of the sort of skills that are included in this book.

Clubs put this issue into the ‘too-hard basket’, and justify that decision by saying that floor instructors don’t stay in their role long anyway so it’s not worth committing the resources required to develop these essential skills.

There is not always collective alignment within organisations, especially the larger ones, about the solutions to take in order to tackle this issue.

Unlike sales or group fitness, there is little accountability in place and, to reverse an old adage, what doesn’t get measured probably won’t get done.

On a Personal Level

When I ask instructors to be brutally honest about why they don’t make better contact with their customers these are the main reasons they give:

1. They might be offhand or even rude to me.

2. I don’t know what to say or do.

3. People don’t want to be bothered when they are training.

4. They might ask me something I don’t know.

5. I’ve got other things to do, like admin and cleaning.

6. My job is one-to-one consultations and writing programmes.

7. It’s just easier to talk to people I know.

8. I can’t be bothered.

Let’s look at each one . . .

1. They might be offhand or even rude to me.

This is a natural concern when you are new to the role, as fear of rejection is a very human trait. In reality, however, it is unlikely to happen. Assume the 1-in-100 rule; that is, one in a hundred interactions will be less than satisfactory, but the majority will be positive, ranging from good to really great exchanges.

2. I don’t know what to say or do.

This is a confidence and experience issue but by the end of this book you will have many more ideas and options of what to say and do with customers. If you then commit to these interactions, you will find your job far more satisfying and fulfilling.

3. People don’t want to be bothered when they are training.

This attitude is understandable as most instructors like to stay focused when they themselves are training. However, as you will find out in chapter 4, most of your customers are not like you. They would welcome the opportunity for interaction during their training time, especially if that interaction provides benefit and value for them in some way.

4. They might ask me something I don’t know.

You don’t have to be the fountain of all knowledge. It is perfectly acceptable to say, I’m not sure, but I will find out. In fact you should welcome this situation, as it helps you learn. Your customers are educating you by telling you what they want to know. Now you can develop your knowledge in areas that are relevant to them.

5. I’ve got other things to do, like admin and cleaning.

Yes, you do, but with a little smart scheduling and by employing the ‘break it up’ principle (chapter 11), it is possible to combine all these jobs and make proactive contact with customers.

6. My job is one-to-one consultations and writing programmes.

In the quest for better retention, operators want their trainers to look after ALL members, not just the small percentage who have appointments or who come back for re-programmes. Your job description is discussed in more detail on page 23.

7. It’s just easier to talk to people I know

This, of course, is a catch-22 situation. If you speak only to the people you know, you won’t give yourself an opportunity to meet others. If you happen to be a personal trainer, then this approach certainly won’t help you to build up a large client base.

8. I can’t be bothered

This is an honest answer. There is no question that you will have downtime when you are grinding it out and you need to motivate yourself. But if you feel like this a lot of the time, you have to ask yourself some serious questions. Maybe it’s time to find something you ARE enthusiastic about? Maybe this isn’t the right profession for you.

Recognising Yourself – Instructor Stereotypes

These profiles are a light-hearted look at some of the roles instructors adopt. Do you recognise yourself or others in any of these?

The Clique Socialite

As the name suggests, this instructor is extremely sociable, but with only about 20% of members. He believes he is talking to people – which of course he is – it’s just the same clique of people every time. He also tends to talk about himself a lot.

How to spot this instructor: He is doing all the talking and arranging to meet members socially outside the gym.

The Personal Trainer

When assisting a member, this instructor gives undivided attention, sometimes spending up to thirty minutes with one person in a nonappointment situation. She is oblivious to what is going on around her, even when she is responsible for supervising the whole gym.

How to spot this instructor: If it weren’t for the uniform, you’d think she was in a personal training session.

Mr Busy

Mr Busy is in a little world of his own. He will be writing programmes, doing admin, repairing or cleaning – anything but making contact with gym users. He usually has a ‘don’t bother me, I’m busy’ look on his face. Whilst it is admirable (and necessary) to do these jobs, Mr Busy has not appreciated that interacting with customers is equally as important as other tasks.

How to spot this instructor: You will see only the top of his head.

The Counsellor

This instructor has really bitten off more than she can chew. Having built rapport with a customer, she often finds herself ‘trapped’ by this person, who discusses all sorts of issues in great depth. She finds it difficult to break away as she feels it would offend the customer if she does so. Her kind and sympathetic nature often gets taken advantage of.

How to spot this instructor: She is pinned to the wall by a member who is doing all the talking.

Miss O.T.T.

Passionately promoting the ‘fitness is fun’ motto, this gregarious instructor can come across as ‘over the top’ to less extroverted customers. She can do insincerity well – greeting members she’s never met like long lost friends – but then having only a superficial conversation with them and failing to acknowledge them the following week.

How to spot this instructor: She flits about a lot, is a bit loud and is good with one-liners.

The Dry Lifeguard

Almost diametrically opposite to Miss O.T.T., the dry lifeguard is very uncomfortable making contact with customers. Invariably this is due to the fact that he has not been trained, but sometimes it is because of his misguided belief that ‘people don’t want to be bothered.’ He just stands around (usually behind the desk) waiting for someone to approach him. This is very common with new instructors who feel much more comfortable in the Mr Busy or Personal Trainer roles.

How to spot this instructor: He is good at the ‘sentry stroll’ and walks a set route around the gym but rebounds to the desk regularly as if attached by a rubber band.

The Yo-yo

The Yo-yo will do anything to get out of the gym, and when she does have a legitimate reason to leave, she is usually gone for a lot longer than necessary. She pays lip service to working the gym floor and will often feel bored, which is not surprising as she is not actually doing anything much with her customers. She will often be found at reception and talking to other staff.

How to spot this instructor: The gym appears to be unsupervised, then an instructor appears twenty minutes later.

Proactive Pete

Proactive Pete really enjoys his job. The time he is on shift seems to pass in a flash. His mind-set is to go to his customers rather than wait for them to come to him. He is genuinely interested in them and what is important to them. He takes responsibility for ensuring he makes contact with as many as possible during their work-out time.

How to spot this instructor: He has an energy and enthusiasm about him and is interacting with a customer.

A Bit of Self-analysis

The answers you give to the following questions will depend on your circumstances. You may be relatively young and just starting out in your career, or you may have been around for a while but feel you are getting stale and not going anywhere. You may even have had a wake-up-and-smell the-roses moment and, at age 30, 40 or older, changed careers from one that you didn’t enjoy and didn’t suit your lifestyle to one you feel excited about.

"I don't think there's a relationship between what you do and how important you think the work is. I think there's a relationship between who you are and how important you think the work is." Seth Godin

Whatever your experience and expectations, these questions may help you understand your values and how they fit into the floor instructor role.

QUEST ION 1: Why did I become a trainer?

Most instructors respond to this question with something along the lines of feeling passionate about exercise and its benefits and wanting to help others feel the same way.

QUEST ION 2: What do I hope to get out of my job?

Like most people, you