Surpass Their Expectation

One of the more common questions that we get in our UESCA Coaches Facebook group is how to get and retain athletes. While the answer to this is multifaceted and likely different for each coach, there is one element that stands above all the rest – surpassing the expectations of the athlete before, during and after your time coaching them.

The prompt for this blog was my recent experience this past weekend when I was having lunch with my son at Chick-Fil-A, his favorite restaurant. For those outside the US not familiar with Chick-fil-A, it’s a fast-food restaurant that puts as much focus on customer service as they do their food.

Polite Greeting

While normal by Chick-fil-A standards, when we approached the counter, we were greeted with, “Welcome to Chick-fil-A, how may I serve you?” The word ‘serve’ can mean many different things. However, in this context, I view it as a much deeper version of ‘help.’ In my mind, ‘helping’ is transactional in nature whereas being in service to others is more holistic and all encompassing. As such, while seemingly benign, swapping out the word ‘help’ with ‘serve’ changes the context of the ‘relationship’ between the customer and the employee.

As coaches, we should strive to NOT be transactional in nature. Rather, we should be of service to our athletes to ensure that they have our full resources and support available so that they can maximize their potential and have the best experience possible. Whether this is referring them to a specialist, pacing them through a run, or truly listening to them – being of service to an athlete is the most important aspect of being a great coach!

Quality/Experience Follow Up

As we were eating, one of the staff who was sweeping the floor stopped to ask us how our food was. This is a question that I typically only get at a ‘sit down’ type restaurant. However, in this case, it occurred at a fast-food restaurant and not by the manager, but rather by an employee who at the time, had the primary job of sweeping the floor.

This man’s question goes back to the heart of serving others. He wanted to ensure that our meals were to our satisfaction, and should they not have been, I’m quite sure that he would have rectified the situation.

He could have just swept the floors without saying a word, and he would have still been doing a great job at the task he was assigned to do. However, he went the extra mile to ensure that we, as well as other diners, were enjoying our meals.

Being a coach isn’t about just doing your job but going above and beyond for your athletes. What do I mean by this? An athlete should expect what is in the coach/athlete contract – for example, weekly training programs, a call once per week, etc. However, let’s say that you come across a great article about periodization that you think your athlete would want to read. Send it. This is an example of serving your athlete by always having their interests in mind.

Go Above Expectations

In yet another example of going above expectations and serving others, I noticed that while we were eating, it became less busy. Our cashier who took our order came out from the back of the counter and went around to some of the tables, including ours, asking if she could take away what we no longer needed.

Again, this type of service is typically the domain of sit-down restaurants, not fast-food restaurants. There were two things that stood out to me regarding this.

1. The cashier (like the employee sweeping the floor) didn’t stand idly behind the register waiting for someone to walk through the doors. She proactively took on another role in the meanwhile.
   
2. Her action (bussing the tables) enhanced the experience of the guests and provided a level of service not commonly associated with fast-food restaurants.

“That’s not my job,” is a common thought that a lot of workers have regarding their scope of work. However, as coaches, this never applies. It’s all your job. Even if you can’t fulfill the ‘job’ being requested, it is your job to investigate it to see if you can act as a referral source.

Be Proactive

My son seems to have a bit of a salt addiction currently (not great… I know!), so as a doting father who occasionally indulges my son’s rather unhealthy salt habit, I went to the condiment section to get an extra salt packet for his fries. There was a staff member arranging the condiments who upon seeing me asked if he could be of assistance. He didn’t wait for me to ask him for a salt packet. He was proactive in his interaction and got me the extra salt packet.

As coaches, we often wait for feedback from our athletes before proceeding with program design or other communication. However, what if we were more proactive? For example, let’s say that you know that your athlete Bob has a 12-mile run scheduled. But upon checking the weather in his area, it is supposed to be 97 degrees (Fahrenheit). Instead of waiting for him to ask if he should still do the run, or to see how the run in the heat went, give him a call and tell him to reduce the run to just five miles or run indoors at the gym on the treadmill.

Ensure You Check All of the Boxes – The Whole Experience

As you can see from the above examples, exceeding one’s expectations doesn’t take a Herculean effort. Rather, like my experience at Chick-fil-A, it is a culmination of several ‘small’ experiences that while small, do not have a small effect on the customer.

The experience of an athlete should be satisfaction all the way around. Meaning, not just a great training program, not just great Zoom call check-in’s, not just great post-race follow ups… but great everything!

I have the luxury of hearing from coaches daily, and I can tell you with 100% certainty, the coaches that go the extra mile and exceed the expectations of their athletes are the ones that have the most referral leads, the highest retention and the most job satisfaction.

So, if you’re wondering how to get and/or retain more athletes, don’t focus on meeting your athletes’ expectations – exceed them!