Turning Unhappy Members Into Happy Ones

How to handle Escalations so that Members Thank You!

• Act quickly to escalation tasks set.  Your staff should be trained to set these in red for you and to include the next invoice date if it will run in the next 3-5 days.

• Review the account yourself; look at the text thread and Notes, starting all the way back to when there first was a problem;

  • Were there text messages where they had tried to take some action on their account?​

  • Is your staff noting phone calls, in studio interactions and copying and pasting voicemail transcriptions and emails into account Notes?

  • Did they ever use stretch sessions?  Is progress noted?  What was their pain/ goals that we were hoping to help them with?  You'll refer back to this later in the call.

  • Was there a breakdown on the studio side where we dropped the ball on our end?  Is there something we need to coach/remind our staff to handle differently?

  • Look at their Agreements, including clicking View Details; is the account in cancellation?  Is there an upgraded or downgraded account in it's place?  Are the Agreements signed by the member?

  • Look at invoices and notice a history; are there problems? Duplicates?

  • Get in the know of what's going on so you are prepared for the phone call and there can be fewer surprises.  Have in mind possible FAIR (to both sides) solutions to propose to help get their account back on track.

• Call, leave a message or text to somehow let them know they are being responded to if you aren't able to speak with them.  Ideally, leave them a time that you will be in studio next for them to call back.

• Once you get them on the phone...

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1. Be happy, upbeat and solution oriented even if SA notes say they were upset

2. State your name, position, and that you have heard there was some "confusion" on their account and you are calling to help take great care of everything and get things resolved for them.  This sets a tone of respecting their issue and letting them know we are on their side, not their opponent.  *Remember, the ultimate goal is to help get the problem taken care of, get them happy again, and recommitted to coming in and continuing their membership!

3. "Tell me what's going on so I can help straighten this out for you".  Once the stage is set, let THEM get out all their frustrations and everything that's on their mind.  It's like letting off the steam on the InstaPot - it will lesson tension for everything that will come later if you let them fully express what's on their mind.  Listen carefully - you will have already read through their notes and have employees' side of the story, but they may bring up new info to take into account.

4. Validate their frustrations... "I can see how it would be frustrating (...if they had called multiple times and didn't get a call back, if they had thought the account was cancelled, if they were not expecting monthly billing, etc). 

5. Reassure them that you are here to help them and not just dismiss their concerns.  "I appreciate you being willing to get on a call so we can go through this together and I'm going to take care of you to the very best I can!  Let's get your account all fixed up... so you can get back on track coming in here for those good stretches!"

6. Explain the status of their account.  "May I tell you what I see that is happening in your account right now?  Let's get on the same page and then we can talk about what to do about it".

   1. This will help them remain calm as you go through details of what is happening in their account so that they understand what we see and that we may have even done things correctly. 

   2. I try to stay friendly with a neutral tone in my voice, and just go through what I'm seeing, while also planting seeds about what their part in the situation is.  I use phrases like...

7. ​"It looks like you first came in to see us for [refer back to account notes for their problem] and signed on to come in 3x per week to get some relief.  Were the stretches helping your [back/neck]? 
   1. This takes their mind off of the billing issue and helps them remember how good the stretching was and they remember/admit that they did benefit. Often at this spot they will give a short testimonial on how good the practitioners are and that it did start to help.  Remember this for later as reasons for them to continue with us!
   2. It also puts out in the open that they did sign an agreement with us for stretching. 
   3. If they say they didn't sign with us...
      1. you can gently talk about that we do have a signed agreement on file with their signatures and
      2. it gets automatically emailed through our system immediately as soon as they sign it. 
      3. You can (with a tone of service, NOT opposition) offer to email a new copy to them so it's at the top of their inbox for their convenience
      4. (always maintaining the tone of service and resolving things in their mind and helping them feel good about staying with us!)​
      5. If they insist they never signed it, we could offer to pull up the video feed from that day where our people are explaining the commitment and they are signing to it (again, tone matters a TONE when doing this.  The goal is to win them back!)
   4. If they say that no one explained they were signing a membership agreement...
      1. Explain (calmly, NOT defensively) that we are very careful to train and monitor by video (you can point to them if they are in studio) each employee that helps people get started with their memberships to make sure they talk about month to month committment and 30 day notice to cancel at least 3 times during each presentation and that you supervise the staff to make sure it is being done correctly.​
      2. You can say that even though we trust employees highlight things correctly, we are not legal advisors and really it's not our role to go through the memberships agreement completely with them, but we do try to touch on the high points to simplify things for them.
      3. It is a document of several pages and that's why 100% of the time our system emails out the copy of their signed agreement immediately to their inbox for review.
      4. We do recommend that they go through it at home (during the demo I say "it is a legal document and you are agreeing to it") and if they have any questions or concerns they have the 3 day right to rescind if anything is different than what they are agreeing to.
      5. In that copy of their agreement (we can easily wait while they pull it up or send it over again), in BOLD right at the top of the agreement it summarizes the month to month and 30 day cancellation policy.  If they see this and know they signed it, they usually soften and become very pleasant and focused on what is the best solution we can come up with together for their account.
8. At this point you have heard them out, you've explained what you're seeing on their account, and you may have admitted that we have room coach and train our staff to handle things a little bit differently (usually they soften when we talk about that it's tough to keep the entire staff doing things perfectly every time), OR you may have established that things are going along properly in our system (like if their freeze or cancel link was never filled out by them, our system wouldn't have made any change to their account, OR if they did INITIATE their cancellation through the link, it's totally normal in our system for that final invoice to run during their last 30 days).
   1. If they are surprised about their final invoice, you can point out what a benefit it is for them!  It helps them stay consistent and get the best value and results from their stretching​
   2. PLUS it is their last chance to get sessions at the heavily discounted rate of nearly half off!  
   3. Encourage them to take advantage of it and enjoy their good decision!
9. ​Come back to the point that we want to take care of everything on their account so that they stay with us and keep getting the healing that they came to us for.  THIS IS THE ENTIRE GOAL OF THE CALL!  We want to be part of their wellness routine for years to come, we want them bragging to all their friends that they found us first, etc (be playful!).  "My goal is to help you be happy". or "if we need to take a break for a moment and part as friends for a little bit, I want the door wide open for you to come back in when the time is right down the road.  We know that stretching was helping you, and it's just impossible to find anything like this anywhere else, so I want to keep being a resource for you to feel good!"
10. Suggest a remedy like those below (in this order)  
    1. If they want a refund... "oh we are a small, local business and unfortunately we just are not in a position that we are able to provide refunds, but WHAT I CAN DO IS...​
       1. to use up extra credits on file, we can book you back to back sessions for hour visits ("have you ever tried these?  they are heavenly!  Do both upper and lower body in one appointment!  You'll love this!")
       2. extend session expiration dates (1-3 months) so you can burn through the sessions you've built up on your account
       3. "Many people are not aware of this, but you can actually share or gift your session credits!" (saying it this way makes them feel educated and in the know, like they are an insider with a secret hack, and not dumb for not knowing.)
       4. We can suggest pushing off their invoice date 1 or 2 months.  This is not a Freeze, Freezing would not allow them to still book and use sessions.  Adjusting invoicing would allow them to use existing credits without new ones being added for a month or two to help them get back on track.  Then be very clear of what date their normal invoicing would begin again.  If your permissions allow you to do this, please set a task notifying your Regional Manager of the action taken so they can review the account and stay in the know of how often these things take place.
11. If their account issue was not about billing, or was more about sessions accumulating or not seeing progress...
    1. Go back to why they came to us in the first place - we want to help them and we can only do that if they come into the studio!  Talk about their consistency of visits (or lack of) and help them get scheduling again​
       1. Talk about how often they were coming in (in their profile click on the colorful graph where their sessions are logged and go to the Completed tab to see the dates they came in and who they worked with). 
       2. Does their portal work?​
       3. Do they know who is good for them to schedule with?
       4. Look at notes - were their sessions varied with a variety of stretch cells?
       5. Help them agree to giving consistency a chance and get on the calendar!  
       6. If they don't book right there, set a task in 4-7 days to follow up and make sure they get booked!
       7. Set an alert for them to get a new Range of Motion assessment on their next visit.
       8. Keep talking about their why, all the freedom they will feel in their body as they continue, how much energy they will have with all that bloodflow to muscles and joints! ...how long they will feel loose and healthy and extend mobility!
       9. Offer to email them an educational blog article that you choose that's especially relevant for them so they can learn more about how their body works and how assisted stretching is so beneficial for them!
12. Hopefully there has been successful resolution at this point, they are happy and. planning to use sessions and continue with us.  Set a task to follow up in 2-3 weeks.  If not resolved, you can share your Regional Manager's direct Google voice number [801-960-3198 for Jennifer] and set a task for escalation.  If not yet fully resolved, hopefully they feel heard and valued and the available options have been gone through once so they have an idea of what to expect on the RM call. 
13. Hang up, inhale, exhale, and be glad that you are so capable of handling these situations and helping people stay on track for their goals!

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