Wednesday, February 22, 2017

"F" is for FAILURE

I must admit, I am a little taken back when I see a business operating in today's "all access" world with a sub-par Better Business Bureau (BBB) rating. Reputation Management matters, and it all starts with the BBB.  I recently conducted an online review to see how we ranked in comparison to our competitors, and I was absolutely amazed at what I uncovered. 

We operate primarily in the Health & Fitness Market where the overall MEMBER EXPERIENCE is the single most important aspect of doing business, and for a collection agency to simply ignore what we feel is so important is totally unacceptable...at least it should be.

Unfortunately, I found that some of our most active competitors actually have an "F" Rating with the BBB. This should be interpreted by a gym owner as an agency who does not really care about gym members or the overall success of the gym business.  Not only does this show a lack of good Member Service, but this behavior (in the collection industry) is also a legal and compliance issue since the agency is failing to resolve the simplest consumer requests and complaints. If these agencies can't keep up with a simple BBB Rating, then what do you think you will find if you take the time to look even deeper under the hood.

Think about it, if the agency is failing to deliver on their duties, then the members will get increasingly frustrated with the agency's lack of communication, and the member will ultimately complain to the gym staff and voice their concerns to other members (can your staff truly handle these complaints properly?). These unaddressed issues will likely get escalated to a higher authority, which will ultimately hurt YOUR reputation and business. Honestly, this is the agency's responsibility to handle, and these complaints should never be thrown back at the gym operator to handle...It's time for these agencies to step up and do the job correctly!

A gyms' reputation is fully dependent on how their partners represent the brand.

To review First Credit Services BBB Rating - please CLICK HERE... We will continue to lead the fitness industry down a path which delivers a positive Member Experience!








No comments:

Post a Comment