Sales are probably one of the toughest jobs to have in any industry just because there is so much pressure on the employees to hit numbers. It is no different with selling gym memberships. At some gyms (not all) there are those sales counselors who will do anything to hit that number so that they can keep their jobs. Then there are the ones that do things every now and then that don’t seem to be right and I have to correct what is wrong. I came into a situation today where I was forced to have a sit down with my sales team and break down the do’s and don’ts of their job. Before I got there, sales was stepping on the toes of the front desk staff by flipping some deals and ultimately taking away commission from the front desk and sometimes ripping off the customers. When I sat down with them, I pretty much told them that I wasn’t going stand for that type of behavior and that it ends now. As a manager, I always want my members to have the best deal possible for them. I am all about the people and I think that working for this company has really taught me what my calling is in life: I need to be in a career where I can help and service people!
I told you guys on a different post that I took it upon myself to make sure that the Grove City location is taken care of after my departure because they lack leadership at that location. Well it hasn’t been the easiest task to take on. The employees over there are angry because of the lack of leadership and it is hard for them to stay focused and do their jobs while they are there. On top of that, they don’t really want to come to work because of the lack of leadership. So this week, we have been struggling to get people on the schedule to work. Since we couldn’t find someone to cover the day shift, I volunteered myself to go over and cover the shift. I thought it would be kind of cool to go back over there since that’s where I started out at. I also think that there is a lot that I can fix over there as well before the new Operations Manager takes over.
You guys know the saying that the customer is always right, after this week, I am really starting to rethink if that is always true. Today has been the most stressful day for some of the smallest reasons. It seemed like I was dealing with a lot of complaints that I already knew about. The thing about the complaints is not the fact that they are complaining but the fact that there are so many complaints about the same thing. But when in customer service, you have to remember that the customer is always right. And in this particular setting, there is always going to be something going wrong because it is a gym and things tend to break down. Since there are so many complaints going on, I will do a club walk every two hours just to see if there is anything wrong with the club so that I can get it fixed before anyone says anything about it and the members really appreciate it. Some have even told me that they have never had anyone take the time out to do such a thing for the club which lets me know that I am doing something right. If you stay on the member’s good side, they truly will show their appreciation.
So, as you all know, I switched gyms to take on the project of bringing numbers back up as well as getting the employees refocused and take care of problems with the building. Well, I also have taken it upon myself to help continue to manage the Grove City LA Fitness location to the best of my ability. Most of what I was doing was making sure that the schedules were filled out for whoever needed to work that week, getting supplies ordered, and anything else Kaitlyn needed me to do. Needless to say, my schedule is booked solid all the time. I found myself getting a little stressed out taking on these projects at this point as well because I am trying to juggle so much and it sometimes shows in my performance at work. Some days I would be absolutely dragging into work because of how exhausted I was. But I think it will all be worth it in the end because I can look back later on in life and say that I did that. It will also help my resume to grow as well as I am getting some really good experience taking on all these tasks on top of what I am doing for my new gym.
So, the police eventually got involved in the matter of the whole sexual harassment case. He came in to speak to me and get my take on the situation and what I thought was the real problem at hand. See the problem with the member that was complaining is that she has been known to exaggerate stories with the gym for the 5 years that she has been a member and what she may have heard may have been a misunderstanding on her part. With that being said, we want to see and make sure that if that is the case, then we assess the situation the proper way. After talking to the officer, he felt that the whole thing was just a misunderstanding and that he didn’t have enough to actually take action on what she was claiming that happen. It was all “he say she say” and unfortunately if something did happen, he could not do anything until something actually happens. So what I did with both parties was I sat both of them down and told them not to make contact with each other so that I would not have to revoke anyone’s membership. I thought that was the fair thing to do in that situation.
So as you guys know, I’ve been dealing with a sexual harassment case for the past few days and it just took a turn for the worse. The person who was accusing these two people of sexual harassment took a yoga class the night before while I was off the clock, and the two people she was accusing happened to be taking the class as well at the same time she was taking it. Well, long story short, the accuser did not take to kindly of them being in the same class and decided to make some slanderous remarks toward the two making them feel uncomfortable enough to leave the class room in shame. The couple later called in and expressed to me how dissatisfied they were with how everything happened last night and that they had no idea what she was talking about. My next step on how to get to the bottom of the situation is to go and talk to the instructor of the yoga class because he was actually there when the outburst happened. Once I get his side of the story and get the member’s names, the I will be able to ultimately decide on what I want to do with the situation.
As you know, today was my first day on the job with my new project to take on which is to pretty much restore life into this gym. On my very first day however, I had to deal with a pretty big complaint/situation with a member. I had not been on the job for more than an hour before I had my first member complain about someone sexually harassing them in one of the yoga classes. This was the first time I have ever had to deal with a sexual harassment problem and the person who was complaining did not make the situation any easier. She made the complaint but, didn’t know the offender’s names, phone numbers or even what they looked like. She was really pressing the idea on me revoking their memberships immediately. Like any other situation that I have had to deal with though, I can’t do anything until I know more information and that is what I explained to her. So I calmly told her that until I have both party’s stories, I would not be able to do anything about the situation. She was very unsatisfied with that but there is really nothing that I can do because she didn’t even know who the people were that she was accusing.
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