Box Owners, please monitor your “contact us” mailboxes and forms

[ilovejesus33]

I traveled a lot in 2023, and I always look for a local CF affiliate to drop into. It’s an easy way to support a local business (plus I always buy a t-shirt) and meet like-minded people. If there is a “Drop-in” policy in the website, I’ll contact a few days in advance with specific dates/times I want to visit. Using either the email on the website, or a “contact us” form on the website for this outreach.

Over the past year, out of 8 gyms, only 2 responded, and those responses came after I left town.

I know some gyms can’t handle/are reluctant to accommodate visitors, so I don’t always send chaser emails. But I gotta say, y’all are losing a lot of business. Not just from me, but from other potential drop-ins, or, new members that are getting ignored. Let the community support your business!!!

 

[juanbel]

@ilovejesus33 Agreed!

I was traveling for Christmas. Ended up reaching out to 4 boxes. One only wanted to sell punch cards for a lot more times than I was going to make it, or a 1 month membership. Another didn't respond at all. The third only responded after a family member who goes there told them to reach out to me. The 4th was prompt and helpful in their replies (and had the best times to match my schedule), so they got my money.

 

[akoto]

@ilovejesus33 Reaching out via their social media has worked better in my experience. Usually just a "hey I'm thinking of dropping in on whatever day, anything I need to do?" Dropping in is fun, definitely recommend people do it when they get the chance.

 

[sharzid]

@akoto As an Affiliate Owner, the trend towards social media is disappointing. Our social media accounts are monitored by a contractor while our primary inbox has a team with a set-rotation making sure emails are answered within 1 business day.

Why: It's easier to recover a G-Suite email if someone on my staff goes completely rogue then it is to recover an Instagram account.

 

[thomasmoore]

@sharzid How many emails are you receiving in a day? Taking up to 24 hrs to respond seems very slow to me as a consumer.

 

[sharzid]

@thomasmoore In a 24 hour period, there are 15-30 emails sent to our general inbox that require actioning. Some are quick; others require a more thought out out response.

We check email twice per-day. However, if there is an inquiry that requires my attention outside of our normal SOPS, it will likely be 24 hours as I purposefully have time set up to check email in order to work effectively.

To answer your response below:

Email on the phone is inefficient as most inquiries are accompanied with a SOP designed to systematize our client-facing interactions and ensure an equitable experience for all future and current members:

• A submission for a trial class requires a nuanced response based on staffing, currently booked trial classes, and the potential clients experience with CrossFit - not everyone is presented with every trial class.
• Once someone has booked a trial, they need to be put into our CMS, added to our Trello Board, and coaches need to be informed.
• If someone is responding to a Late Cancel fee, there is a check-list that needs to be followed in order to fairly follow up.

Outside of following SOPs, I do not want staff to feel like they are on call. They have set work hours and email should take up a small percentage of the time they dedicate towards work. And I would prefer they spend downtime focusing on either developing themselves as coaches or, ideally, doing something not related to work.

 

[dannyboy1958]

@sharzid This is the best way to handle it with one caveat: you should set up an auto responder informing the form filler to expect a response within 12-15 hours. This sets an expectation that they wont be contacted immediately, but given the black hole that contact us forms can often be, will also impress the lead with your professionalism.

(This is the advice I give to all of my clients who are also in consumer facing businesses.)

 

[sharzid]

@dannyboy1958 You mean something like...

Thanks for your interest in Breaker Strength.

If you do not hear from us within 24 hours, please check your spam folder and send us an email at...

 

[dannyboy1958]

@sharzid Exactly (more putting that out there for others. Kind of figured based on what I’ve seen from you in this thread and elsewhere on the sub that you were already doing that).

 

[rovella]

@thomasmoore Not an owner, but my guess is they are not looking at the email constantly as their business doesn't rely heavily on email communication. Its probably a "hey, i'm at the desk for a few minutes between classes and have no one to fill out forms for. I'll see whats in the ol' inbox."

 

[thomasmoore]

@rovella In an age when the owner or GM can set that email account up on their phone and be notified anytime an email comes in this makes no sense to me.

 

[rovella]

@thomasmoore While I agree that answering emails promptly is a sign of a good business, I personally don't expect it from a company that is not some sort of corporate entity.

 

[thomasmoore]

@rovella I expect promptness from anyone who wants to grow their business. OP is communicating that failing to respond promptly or at all communicates that your box is full and you don’t want or need additional revenue. I would suspect when that box was new and only had twenty members, someone was responding quickly to every inquiry bc they felt a stronger need to gain business.

 

[ceecee111613]

@thomasmoore That's a very American view of the world. In much of Europe, when you are off work, you are expected to be off work. Not answering emails at 9pm because someone in a different time zone is inquiring about dropping in when they visit your area next week.

 

[thomasmoore]

@ceecee111613 Guilty as charged. Yes it is a very American pov. I will certainly accept that other countries/cultures wouldn’t have the same expectation.

 

[sharzid]

@thomasmoore With have twenty members and one staff member (owner only), and a limited number of classes, communication is easy.

• Someone needs to cancel? Easy, let's take care of it after class and we can chat about why.
• Hold? I can remember your vacation dates no problem. See when you you get back, let's keep up the progress while you're away - here is my number if you need help modifying the workouts in the hotel.
• Want to try the gym out? Sure, come to any class they all only have 7 participants and managing a trial will be easy!

200+ members, 8+ classes - some back to back, multiple full-time staff members, and an owner who wants to avoid burning through staff:

• Systems to track the cancel, why it occurred, and if the client should be categorized into a winback category, 6 month check-in, or no-contact category
• Systems to make sure the member is taken care of (vacation workout check-in, bereavement support (how you doing message), and back in the gym as soon as their hold is up.
• Systems to make sure leads are funneled to the correct class, followed up with, and then integrated into the community.

The belief that people are owned a 'prompt response' is unhinged. When filling out our contact form, you are told to expect a reply in 24 hours. If this is unacceptable for a potential member, they most likely would not be a good fit for our community.

 

[thomasmoore]

@sharzid OP didn’t reference any messaging on the contact page (24 hr response time). If it tells me on the form that it could be 24 hrs then I have no issue at all waiting the communicated timeline. That is a fair expectation creation. The sense I got from OP is that he was simply disregarded or never even read and he was encouraging others to avoid that pitfall.

 

[aspiringeducator]

@akoto The problem here is some of us have all but done away with it. Reddit is literally my last bastion of social media. FB, Insta, etc…all are gone.

Why have a “contact us” if not contactable? Or, if a business wants to use an online presence their advantage then they could be very explicit saying “contact us through social media.”

 

[tomahawk777]

@akoto I agree. I always reach out on social, never via the contact form. Much better response that way, and I feel like it's a more personal interaction and easier than email.

 

[onedayworthy]

@ilovejesus33 Agree with this-but also-most box owners are poor business owners. I honestly skip the boxes that don’t respond. They’re not interested in my $ and I’m not interested in being ignored while in that class.