Customer Service for Pilates Professionals: What the Certifications Don’t Teach

By Lawrence Biscontini

An often overlooked aspect in training of the many different Pilates schools today is customer service. To be sure, while the leading institutions provide proficient training for future instructors of Joseph’s work, very little time, if any at all, is dedicated to dealing with unhappy clients, expressing gratitude for business, and other general customer service issues. Given the intimate nature of the Pilates mat and reformer classes, the rapport established and developed between instructor and student becomes paramount towards ultimate business success. Today’s Pilates professional needs a toolbox of ideas, as providing excellence in service helps to ensure our continued success as people continue to book sessions and fill our private and group classes. If you or your staff still says “you’re welcome” when someone says “thank you,” or “have a nice day” as a client leaves class, this article definitely will offer you a fresh approach. Following are 5 tips to update our Pilates customer service skills from my new book, Running the Show: Excellence in Service.

TIP 1: “Remembering We Are Onstage”
As Spa Wellness Consultant at the Golden Door Spa in Puerto Rico directing its Pilates programming for many years, I passed under a sign every day that said, “Smile! YOU are onstage!” at the employee entrance. This reminded me that we are all very much like actors assuming roles upon walking onto the official company property, the “onstage” area, if you will. Whether in our personal lives we were having a positive or a negative day, on a professional level, walking through the door where we spend our fitness lives means that we are like actors assuming the roles of a perfect script: from attitudes to comportment. Before we ever train a client or “push play” for a group fitness class, remembering those words and assuming our role onstage will heighten the guest’s perspective, regardless what our personal life feels like at the moment.

Throughout my new book, I expand that theatrical metaphor to expose fitness professionals to excellent service ideas from other companies that have nothing to do with fitness but nevertheless put on a show every day, like Starbucks, Jet Blue Airlines, Ritz Carlton hotels, and Wachovia banks.

TIP 2: “Team Associates”
The “Stages” of Customer Service
When discussing customer service, it’s important to define two things. First, who are our customers? “External” customers are the traditional customers: the people who pay our salaries, fill our schedules and come to our classes on our mats and our reformers. “Internal” customers are our colleagues: those who work around us, both in our own departments and in other departments, including those who teach Joseph’s work with similar and different styles to ours. Instead of “colleagues,” I propose a more updated way to consider all employees under any given company roof is “team associates.”

As we have two customers, we also have two “stages” in our theatrical metaphor. “Onstage” refers to the area where the spectators come to observe everything and be entertained: our movement studios, gym floor, and entrance area, for example. “Backstage” refers to more private areas where team associates tend to gather. In my book, I detail customer service tips for the emerging four possible interaction scenarios: being onstage with external customers, backstage with internal customers, onstage with internal customers, and backstage with external customers.

TIP 3: Updating Language Skills
One area that unites onstage and backstage, external and internal guests, is the realm of language. The following table shows some new responses to old phrases to reflect a more updated customer service mentality for today’s times.

Old Update Methodology

“No” “What I can do is…”
Concentrate always on the positive.  Even on Friday if someone asks if it’s Saturday, the best response would be positive: “Sir, today is Saturday” to begin all sentences with a positive instead of a negative.

“Problem” “Challenge” “opportunity for growth”
Looking at individuals or occurrences as “problems” sets us up for something negative.

“You’re welcome.” “No problem.”  “It’s my pleasure to be of service.”
If we want to emphasize customer service, we need to consistently reply to “thank you” with “it’s my pleasure (to be of service).”

“Our policy states that…” “Let’s make an exception for you today.” “As a gesture of goodwill, I for this one time only can….”
Nobody needing something wants to have SOPs (standard operating procedures) or service rules recited. Excellent customer service means doing what it takes legally to keep the customer a repeat customer.

“I’m sorry” “I apologize that …” and “On behalf of ___, I apologize that…”
It’s more professional to apologize than to use the verb “to be” as part of a response. You may also apologize on behalf of the company as a whole. Using the verb “apologize” takes an action rather than identifying the self with challenges.

“Next!” “May I assist the next guest please…”
Instead of calling guests waiting in line by the common “next,” it’s better to make eye contact and invite the guest over with a welcoming hand gesture instead of shouting “next.”

“Have a nice day.” “I wish you a great day.”
Instead of telling people what to do with the words “sit here,” “enjoy this,” or “have a great flight,” it’s better to make a wish instead of using a formal verb command to those we do not know.

TIP 4:  The H.E.L.P. Steps
Besides using updated language skills, customer service also means being able to help resolve challenges in a satisfactory way. The “H.E.L.P. steps” offer assistance if we can remember them the next time an unhappy student is angry with us.
“H” stands for “hear the guest”. The first step is easy to remember: do nothing! Just let the guest explain his or her situation. As difficult as it is to be, listen to the guest and nod your head frequently to show understanding.
“E” stands for “empathize with the guest”. To decrease the walls between the guest and you, try to make it sound as though you understand the frustration. Instead of saying “I know how you feel,” it’s better to be honest and say something more possible like “I would feel frustrated in your shoes if this same thing occurred to me,” for example.
“L” stands for “lead” the guest towards a resolution, with choices if possible. Saying “I can offer you _____ or _____; which would you like?” lets the guest in on the solution-finding.
“P” stands for “provide” two things:
1. A reasonable course of action, and
2. Follow-up to actions chosen. Not following –up is unacceptable in our industry today.

TIP 5: Gratitude
Clubs usually want to increase the number of clients. However, a well-known saying in the customer service industry claims that “If you cannot please your current customers, you do not deserve new ones.” Sometimes, our time would be better spent examining questions like “Where are we currently saying ‘no’ to our clients when we should be saying ‘yes’,” and “How can we improve the overall service to our current guests?” Truly, the price of attracting new clients far exceeds the price of keeping one current client happy. Each time a student gets on a reformer, we should make at least one verbal acknowledgment of gratitude to that client for bringing us business. Many times, Pilates instructors overlook this suggestion, especially in light of the fact that instructors are not the ones responsible for accepting student’ payments and, therefore, it is easy for instructors to lose sight of the financial sight of things. Because these very instructors spend the most amount of times with students, they ultimately should be responsible for expressing gratitude on a daily basis.

The most significant aspect of service to current clients, therefore, is the expression of gratitude. An email to a client, a sincere ‘thank you’ to a mat Pilates class, and a ‘gratitude bulletin board’ (e.g., “People in Pilates”) can go a long way in underlining our appreciation to current clients. Letting them know that “we are aware of the choices you have today, and we want to take a moment to express our gratitude for your business” tells our customers how much we appreciate them.

Updating our customer service skills is an overlooked, but necessary, part of the Pilates fitness professional’s responsibility today. Staying on top of trends ranging from language to managing difficult situations can help us keep our current customers happy and ensure that we create the most memorable fitness experience for our guests on a daily basis. When it comes to giving excellent customer service in our fitness environment, none of us really plans to fail, but many of us fail to plan.

About the Author: Lawrence Biscontini, M.A., is a contributing writer for many fitness publications and magazines such as AFAA’s American Fitness and IDEA’s Fitness Journal. He has won multiple Instructor of the Year Awards from ECA (2009), IDEA (2004), Can Fit Pro (2004), and ACE (2002). Lawrence has developed, programmed, and managed Pilates programs for over a decade, and works as Mindful Movement Specialist and Creative Consultant. Find Lawrence’s new Customer Service book for fitness professionals entitled Running the Show, at www.findlawrence.com.

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