In this topic, we focus on customer service standards and how to develop these for your own business and team. You will learn:
- Service standards, including:
- Accuracy of service and service provider
- Transparency of information and service provided
- Friendliness standards
- Developing customer service standards
- REPs Code of Ethical Practice
- Pre-screening and goal setting tools.
Terminology and vocabulary reference guide
As an allied health professional, you need to be familiar with terms associated with basic exercise principles and use the terms correctly (and confidently) with clients, your colleagues, and other allied health professionals. You will be introduced to many terms and definitions. Add any unfamiliar terms to your own vocabulary reference guide.
Activities
There is an automated quiz at the end of the topic. This is not part of your assessment but will provide practical experience that will help you in your work and help you prepare for your formal assessment.
Consider your last experience when you paid for a service. Perhaps it was a tradesman whom you needed to conduct repairs, perhaps it was a mechanic, visiting a doctor, ordering food at a restaurant? In each of these instances, you chose to undertake the service with an understanding of what you expect and how it shall be delivered to you by those providing the service, this is the service standard.
When delivering a service to a client through your business, it is important that you define your service standards, for both you and your clientele. This is typically in terms of accuracy, suitability, and timeliness, i.e., what, when and how you deliver your service to your customers.
There are many different types of individual standards that you can consider. These can be referred to as customer service standards.
Let us look into each of these.
This pertains to the accuracy of what your business is perceived to provide versus what it actually delivers. In customer facing services, it also relates to the information you are providing your clients, are you providing accurate information?
In the health and fitness world this encompasses areas such as:
- Is the service you appear to provide the service you actually provide?
- Is there any room for your clients to become mislead or easily misinterpret the advertised message?
- Is the information you are verbally providing to your clients factually accurate?
In short are you doing want you say you will, how you say you plan to and when you said you would?
Transparency refers to the client having full understanding over why, how, and when you are providing your service. Arguably a little tricky to measure, however this does not mean it is any less important.
Consider a tradesman was repairing an item in your household, they had indicated the cost which you had agreed to, however, at the end of the service the cost had escalated as they had to order a new part which you were unaware of, consider how that would make you feel. This would impact the customer experience and very likely the reputation you have of that service provider individually or, even possibly, the profession as a whole.
Humans are intuitive beings and appreciate context to happenings in their life. In the health and fitness industry, you have a responsibility for the wellbeing of an individual’s physical and mental wellbeing. Explain why you are doing or saying what you are and importantly, if you do not know the answer to something, say so! Do not make up an answer to fill the gap, it will be very quickly identified that this was simply a quick response and typically does not sit well with those on the receiving end. Honesty is always the best policy! If you do not know, say so, tell the client you will however go and research and come back to them with an answer.
A large aspect of business relations and customer service is how you present yourself and how you conduct yourself. First impressions are important, along with maintaining this initial impression. In every dealing you have with clients, it is important to remember they have a minimum expectation in relation to conduct, as you would when you are dealing with others. This will have a huge impact on how clients feel in your space and how they perceive you, this links very closely to customer service. In order to ensure you uphold a strong level of customer service it is important to keep the following in mind:
- Smile: smiles cost nothing however they give a lot. They create the feeling of openness and being approachable: this is how you would want to be perceived!
- Body language: avoid stances such as arms folded, frowning, finger pointing, and rapid body movements which can be considered as defensive body language. These will provide feelings of negativity and often translate to the client.
- Choice of wording: clean, clear, concise wording
- Empathy and understanding: being able to see things from the client’s point of view, avoiding forcing your opinion on others.
- Positive language: empathising with the client, bringing positivity in times of frustration and despair, without undermining their feelings
- Patience: there will be times where clients feel frustrated, with their life outside of training, their program, or perhaps you. It is important to keep your cool and avoid taking things personally, adopt a thick skin and maintain your level of customer service while working appropriately to resolve the situation.
- Effective listening: listening skills are more than just giving someone the space to talk, it is also important to hear what they are saying. At times it is of value to repeat or paraphrase what you have just been told in order to ensure you have understood their message correctly. Effectively listening skills can often diffuse a situation very quickly and will also give the individual peace of mind that they are being heard and supported.
- Time management: it can be tricky to juggle all the aspects of a personal training role, getting equipment ready, getting to the venue on time, juggling traffic, being on top of administrative work, making calls to clients when you said you would etc, however, this is incredibly important when working towards marinating a professional relationship with your fee-paying clients. They appreciate good time management skills, along with honestly and clear communication. Letting time management slip can very quickly and easy begin to foster a poor impression and have a negative impact on your business and indeed your reputation. Consider allocating more time that required for certain activities in order to have a buffer, should things happen out with your control. Automate what you can, allocate time to make your clients calls, update their programs, eat your dinner and sleep, set times for yourself and make time management a priority.
Efficiency can cross over with time management skills, or indeed can be impacted by poor time management. Efficiency relates to situations such as, if you tell your client you will get back to them at a particular time, meet them at a particular time or have information to them by a certain time, do so. Failure to do so will likely impact their impression of both you and your word, trust is important in all walks of like but particularly when you are working with members of the public and in matters of health.
The following are examples of some possible customer service standards you may wish to adopt or adapt for your own business in the areas of marketing, business set up, client care, personal care and more. These are not just for your information or for your team, these can also be shared with your clients or displayed on your website (where appropriate) to communicate who you are and what you stand for.
- I will conduct a follow up call with each new client within 24 hours of their first training session to gain feedback on their experience and if I can do anything differently
- I will follow up with clients by text or call when they miss a session to check in with them
- I will maintain an active Facebook page with at least 2 posts a week
- Where a client has a personal challenge e.g., 10 km run, I will wish them luck and check in with how they did
- I will organise four social outings a year with my clients to foster engagement and group cohesion
- I will showcase the experiences and achievements of my clients by running a client profile on them, with their permission. I plan for feature one client every 2 weeks
- I will share with my clients what I have learned from attending educational sessions or workshops
- I will ensure I arrive at a training venue ten minutes early and be set up in in time for the client to arrive so the session can begin
- I will offer ten minutes post session to my clients to discuss their experience and seek feedback on my session delivery.
REPs NZ has developed a Code of Ethical Practice which should be at the forefront of your daily working practices. You should keep this in mind along with your own minimum standards when developing the business standards you set for yourself, any your team.
In this topic, we focused on customer service standards and how to develop these for your own business and team. You explored:
- Service standards, including:
- Accuracy of service and service provider
- Transparency of information and service provided
- Friendliness standards
- Developing customer service standards
- REPs Code of Ethical Practice
- Pre-screening and goal setting tools.
