MA Business Success 30: Cancelling & Quitting

Alex: Now today, we're talking about the topic of cancelling or quitting. So Graham, just explain a little bit more about quitting. Graham: It's a heartbreaking process for any business owner, losing a client. For us, it's a process that years ago used to be quite an awkward one and now we've realized what we want to do is we want to try and celebrate as much as we can this process with the students. There are going to be some factors where you leave on sketchy terms. And just a while ago, some people uproot. But how we try and do is, we try and make the process as joyful as we can, as much as internally it's the worst thing in the world. Alexa: It's joyful you're quitting. Graham: Yes, we've got to explain. Like any relationship, a good relationship where it comes to an end, it's a hard thing if you leave on bad terms, that then poisons that relationship and they then may just spread the word. If you leave with the door always open and that welcome feeling, it may simply be the fact that school got in the way. They were moving away. They became a bit tight with finances. And if you're a pain in the backside and make it really hard, when things change in their life, they may never want to come back. So, if you can really turn a positive spin, yes, we're disappointed and yes we'll do what we can to assist, but you're always welcome back or the door is always open, you may find that you actually get great repeat business from that, both, that particular person or they'll spread a good word saying, "Hey look, even though we left, we had a great experience". Like I said, we've had to reframe that thought process, because straightaway you think "Why are you going to leave? Why don't you like it?" Alex: Yes, you take it personally. Graham: You do, and you have to take it personally because you really do need to take a look at your system and process and you go, why did we let you down? Was it our fault or was it just life that got in the way? For us in particular, it is what's their process, first and foremost. How do we deal with this? So straightaway, when someone puts in a cancellation request, or they mention...I guess probably even to go a few steps further, Alex, we do a lot of DNA phone calls, did not attend phone calls. Because we have a system in our school that if you haven't attended twice in a week, we give you a phone call. "What's happening? Are you okay? Are you sick?" There could be some explanation behind it. But the less that people attend, or that pattern of non-attendance will eventually lead to them going, "Well, look I'm not really interested in training anymore." If we can sort of perceive that curve, we can put attention into them of finding out what's going on behind the scenes and potentially prevent that. But let's say that we couldn't stop the cancellation. The form came through. What we do is actually submit it through our reception staff and I don't just say "Look, sign here. Okay, it's done. Thanks for coming, see you later." It goes through, "Thank you, we just want your feedback. We have an exit survey." So, what they do is they fill out their experiences. And we really ask the hard questions. What could we have done better? What was your experience like? Is there areas that we can improve on? Because a major lesson learned that we may be able to reshift or reframe this particular person's opinion, they may have had an issue that arose that we can rectify and that may save them. But if we can't save that person, we can then prevent that from reoccurring in the future. So, first and foremost, as a really a quick one through, is fill out the forms and submit it to one of the managers or key players in that role. They'll review it. They'll make the phone call. They'll actually call them and ask them why and what and get a little bit more insight into what's happening. Where possible, if they think there's going to be a save, we'll book in an appointment time with the instructor to sit down and have a chat. And sometimes it's just little Billy may have lost motivation. He may have missed a grading or something like that that could be easily rectified and we can get them back on track. Alex: Is it easily rectified, Phil? Phil: I think that it is about 20%. I think it's about 15-20%, we could save because people make rash decisions. And especially if we're talking like a child is wanting to quit and the parent just throws it in because they're frustrated for other reasons. Alex: I can't be... Phil: That's right. Alex: ...to get him to go. Phil: And that's why the one-on-one meeting is very important for the instructor to talk to the parent and the child whether it's together or individually as well. It really helps to identify what are the areas...it could have been just that little Johnny missed his tip and his mate's now one tip ahead of him. And they didn't realize we did catch up classes. And that was the whole reason. "Well, hey buddy, we can help you out, man. Why don't we book in a catch up?" And all that sort of stuff. It could be that they went on holidays and fell behind. It could be that one of the other kids was a bit rough in class, or the parent just finding it hard to get to classes, but they didn't realize there were other class options. So, so many factors can fix and help, and that's why it's 15-20% that we can pretty much save. Alex: And the thing is that if you have taken it personally, and you don't do that, then they just walk away. And they're none the wiser, and they've signed the form and they're gone, and you can't rescue them. Phil: One of the things that we do is...I know all schools are a little bit different and everyone who is a member or joins up at our school knows this when joining, but we have a 90-day cancellation policy, which some people might go, "Whoa, that's a long time." Alex: I know I did when I signed my son up. I was, "Whoa." Phil: And there's various reasons why we do that and there's opportunities as well to explain that little bit there too. But martial arts is a commitment. We can't give you the goals and the skills and all the things that you want in just a few months. So, we're signing a commitment to you and you also to us. And in that 90-day cancellation policy, we still allow you to train. And what we found, again, adding to that 15-20% in that time of that 90-day cancellation, they'll change their mind and that decision that they made probably wasn't the right decision and they change their mind and they go over that hurdle and they're back on their journey. And then they stay with us for four years, you know? What did I do there? We're doing it for various reasons. And most of it is for the benefit of the client because we understand we do make tough and rash decision sometimes, and it can be those little things that get us across the line. Alex: And also, for kids, it is easy to quit stuff. Phil: Absolutely, things get in the way and all that sort of stuff. Graham: Look, I know from personal experience, and I've trained for very, very, very long time and I remember as a kid, my parents dragging me kicking and screaming to martial arts. "I don't want to do this stuff!" And now I look back and I'm so glad I persisted. I was probably like the Tasmanian devil, just grappling and kicking and "I don't wanna do this because..." for whatever reason. There was a cartoon show on telly that I wanted to watch or I was tired one particular day. So, in this day and age, it's important for parents to really kind of go, "Look I've made this commitment" and we talk about commitment itself. It's a lesson that we're trying to teach our kids for long-term. And, you know, it's really been encouraging that. In saying, though, for listeners and what not, 90 days is something that we have as that benchmark. We're always flexible with people. Because let's just say someone came to us and were honest and upfront and said, "Hey guys, finances are tough. This is the reason why I'm stopping." There'll be plenty of times, and we have done it, we go, "All right, that's it, we'll have it. We'll completely wipe it off." Because it's just about being honest and upfront, having those checkpoints. Because, as you pointed out, too many days now, it's too easy to quit something or take the path of least resistance. Throwing my hands up. It seems like hard work. I'm going to quit. That's not what it's about. Phil's got a great analogy of a story, we talk about brushing our teeth. Young kids, every night before you go to bed, brush your teeth. I guarantee you, every single night you're going to have to fight, drag, and scream and kick you know whatever it may be, "I don't want to do it". As a parent, do you give in and let them do that and have all their teeth fall out at the age of 10? Or do you persist and actually go "No, this is for your benefit. This is for the greater good. We know that you'll benefit from this down the track." Alex: And we know that by the time you get to age 16, you won't even be thinking about it, you'll just be doing it. Graham: And that's why we have this process in place because we have seen such great success from kids who've, and I'll even say adults, who hit a flat point in their life, where life's just too hard. They're gonna throw their hands up, put their head in the sand, and we've gone, "No, you're not. You can't." And they've got through that hump, that hurdle or whatever it may be, come through the other side and said, "I'm so glad you persisted. I'm so glad you kept with it," and have become a lifelong, raving fan both as a kid or as an adult or whatever in may be. It's not from a monetary standpoint. It's more from we know what's on the other side. woman: Well, it goes hand in hand with your values of commitment. Phil: definitely. we're here to serve you and help you reach all your goals and beyond, but at the same time, there's going to be moments where you doubt yourself or doubt that fact that you can't see the end goal, the endgame or whatever it may be. So that's why we do that. I know there's different sliding scales on time, some will do two weeks, some will do a month, some do a little higher than that. But the whole idea is we systematise the process, personalize the exceptions. So that's why the system is fill out the forms. We call you and actually ask, "What's going on?" Find out because, goodness gracious, we've had families that have gone, "Look, my father-in-law in New Zealand passed away and we have to move over there." And we're like, "Perfect. Let's call it quits now" So it's definitely something to have in place, but people do know that we've got boundaries, and we don't just accept that quick submission and thanks for coming. Alex: Yeah, sure. And once they've gone and you have gone through with your process and you come to the understanding that either they do the 90 days and then they go or they quit straight away, do you then have a process of, in a couple of months, give them a ring, see how they're going, and that follow-up as well? Phil: Yeah, sure. Something that we like to do also, in the occasion that, maybe it was something bad that happened, and they don't train that three months or whatever that reason might be that they're not going to do any training for 90 days or 3 months, what we say is, "By all means, you can have any family member take that three months. Or, if you're not going to use it, by all means, when you come back and join us, we'll give you 3 months free." Again, it's leaving that good taste in their mouth. Even though they might have been in a bad situation, and hence, they're not even going to bother training for the three months, you know, "Screw you guys and ba, ba, ba, ba, ba..." So, I'll be, "Look, I understand you are hurting right now, whatever it might be, what we'd do like to do is offer the three months to any family member or give you three months free when you come back because we really value you and want you to become a member here when the time is right again." And they stay like, "Huh, it's not so bad after all." Alex: I might just come back. Graham: We also do have that process, as you said, it's usually within the month of them sort of stopping, we send them out a nice letter, say, "How're you guys?" Phone calls are good but sometimes you can't always get through, emails that could be sent, so we actually send a letter to them saying, "Thank you so much for being a member. We really appreciate what you did in the time with us. Always know the door is open for you guys and if, in the future, you decide to come back, we'd love to have you." So it is important to make sure that you do... Alex: End it on a... Graham: Yeah, emotions kick in and people can be frustrated or challenged but, over time, it's just letting them know that "How are you going? You're more than welcome back." Because we actually have had people come back and go, "You know, I might have left in this direction, but now my life changed, and I've come back. Thanks guys for open arms." Because we don't judge it's just things happen. Life happens. Alex: Yeah, thanks for leaving the door open for me. Graham: Always. Phil: Last but not least, then they go on that email list that we've talked about in past podcasts where we throw them on the email list, where these are guys who canceled for whatever reason and they just get email updates on a regular basis about offers, deals, seminars, whatever. So they're still getting information. So that, when they are ready, they come back. You never know. Graham: Those guys are also on our list and when we have free events and stuff, we invite them. "Hey guys, by the way, we've got this going on. You're more than welcome. You're still part of the family. And that's how we see it. You just choose to take up that offer." And it's been great. We've had some rekindled love from that so to speak. We've also had some people go, "Thanks very much, guys. Good day. I'm onto a different direction in my life." And that's okay, too. Alex: Excellent, okay, some great advice there really based on massive amounts of experience on that. So thank you very much indeed. Graham: Thank you. Phil: Cheers. Man: You've been listening to The Martial Arts Business Success podcast. For more information, please visit our website at tima.com.au.