Skip to main content
How To

How to Systemically Create Excellent Customer Service for Your Fitness Studio

Outstanding customer service can be the single biggest factor in determining whether a new potential customer chooses your fitness business or the one down the street. With the explosion of new boutique workout options, it’s more important than ever to ensure that your customers – new and returning – are treated to a consistent, positive, high-quality and high-touch experience every time they engage with your business.

March 1, 2022

Outstanding customer service can be the single biggest factor in determining whether a new potential customer chooses your fitness business or the one down the street. With the explosion of new boutique workout options, it’s more important than ever to ensure that your customers – new and returning – are treated to a consistent, positive, high-quality and high-touch experience every time they engage with your business. 

Whether you’re a solo entrepreneur or lead a team of staff and instructors, the way to achieve a golden reputation for stellar customer service is to systematize the key elements that will leave your customers feeling great and telling everyone they know all about it. 

We’ve got you covered with a detailed checklist that covers everything from check-in to locker room to classroom and the post-class experience. Train your team on it and make sure it’s used regularly and that staff members are held accountable for following procedures. 

Click to view the guide

The secret to buzz-worthy customer care is that it starts the moment your customer first engages with you – whether it’s online or when they walk in the door – and permeates every aspect of their experience. An exceptional experience goes beyond interpersonal interaction, although that is important too, to deliver trust, integrity and care to all the senses, conscious and unconscious. 

Lighting, smells, sounds, cleanliness, organization and ease of access to all the supporting elements of a satisfying workout and friendly, welcoming community are all part of creating the magic. You can give your students the warmest welcome, but if your space smells like sweat or you just ate a garlic-filled lunch, your towels are rough and rolled or folded sloppily and you or your staff only turned on half the lights in the locker room, your customer is not going to feel taken care of. 

All the seemingly small and subtle details add up, either in your favor or against it. Think of dining in a high-end restaurant. Your water and wine glass are always full, but yet, you never seem to catch anyone filling them. Before you even think to ask for extra bread and butter, there it is. The lighting makes you look beautiful and the music is just at the right volume to lend relaxation and romance, but not make you talk too loud to be heard. 

For fitness studios, this means making sure that every time you open to host customers, every single person on your team knows:

  • Where all the light switches are from the front desk area to the hallways and locker rooms to the classrooms and the exact lightness levels (mark the position of dimmer switches if you have to). It’s more common than you might think for rushed or stressed cleaning staff or instructors to partially flip lights on or off or forget altogether).
  • If you play music in your lobby or front desk area, create standardized playlists or stations and make sure your team adheres to both style and volume protocols. Choose upbeat and inspiring music with wide appeal. Resist the urge to get too pumped with your song selection outside of class. What might be appropriate for mid-way through a hot, sweaty and intense class can easily be too much when greeting and connecting with students before and after.
  • It may seem a little OCD, but having all props, towels, water bottles, retail display items, window coverings and any other visual elements of your space neat, tidy and consistent will put your customers at ease and subconsciously communicate a sense of trust and safety. This extra care shows without words that you and your team are on top of things, care and walk your talk.
  • If you make items like towels available to your students make sure that you or your laundry service use cleaning products that leave them bright, white, soft and fluffy. Discard any aging towels that are stained or frayed. No new customer wants to be handed a rough, lifeless towel.
  • Consider offering customers cool, scented hand towels post-class. Choose a signature scent like lavender or citrus. You can use water and essential oils to infuse the towels, roll them, put them in or plastic bags or containers and have them stacked in a mini-fridge.
  • Make sure you or your staff members’ personal belongings, including shoes, sweaters coats, hats, keys, bags, snacks and drinks are tucked away out of sight.
  • Ensure that the classroom is prepared for students’ arrival before the first customer shows up. That means the lights, temperature, and music, if used, are set and any unpleasant odors are eliminated. Any props or equipment are in their correct positions and are neat and tidy. The floors inside and outside the classroom are clean and free of debris.
  • Create a standard greeting for students. Provide special instructions on how to assist newcomers in finding where to go and how to get set up for their class or training session. Know and demonstrate how to quickly and easily sign in students, sell new passes and avoid long waits. The right fitness business software is critical.
  • Call each and every customer by first name at least once during their visit.
  • Ensure that every student is warmly thanked for attending and said good-bye to as they depart.
  • Make sure to have a policy for identifying and giving special attention to first-time visitors before, during and after class.
  • Consider creating a new student welcome program that includes sending each first-time visitor a special email or mailing them a postcard with a hand-written note. With Punchpass you can email students right from your fitness business software, or export mailing addresses. 

View a printable version of our guide here