The 3 Most Common Complaints We Get (And Why I Choose to Ignore Them)

Over the last 3 years in business, we have gathered a tremendous amount of feedback from our community. While we try and take all of this into account and make improvements and changes based on the needs of our customers, we sometimes get suggestions that we choose to not implement.

This isn’t to say that we don’t value these suggestions or the customers who make them. However, I firmly believe that if you try to please every person who comes across your business, you will end up diluting your mission and company values until you ultimately end up pleasing no one, including your current customers.

I am going to share the three most common complaints we receive that we choose to ignore. We do thank those who bring them to our attention, and simply explain why we do things the way we do. This will result in the complaining customer taking one of two actions. The first action would be that they listen to why we are choosing NOT to implement their requested change and understand the reasoning. Customers who choose this path will likely appreciate the time you took to address their concerns and remain a customer and fan.

The second action these customers can choose to take is to stand their ground and scoff at your reasoning. This group of customers will simply never “get” your mission or your values as a business owner and company. We MUST let these customers go, and forget about them. Every time a customer decides that your business is NOT for them, space is opened up for new, ideal clients, who will love and appreciate all you do.

Remember, a bakery could make the BEST, most delicious peach pie on the planet, and they will always come across a customer who simply hates peaches.

THE 3 COMPLAINTS WE GET FREQUENTLY THAT WE CHOOSE TO IGNORE:

1) “YOU SHOULD EXTEND YOUR WEEKEND HOURS!”

If you recall my blog about the 6 different areas of focus indoor playgrounds can choose from, you know that we choose to focus primarily on birthday parties. Birthday parties are both our main revenue source AND what we are most known for in our community, which we love.

However, because we choose to focus on birthday parties, this means that we must limit our weekend open-play hours, since most birthdays are hosted on weekends. The small size of our space paired with the fact that most of the parties we host are first or second birthdays with more than 50 adults (which require a large amount of space!) means that we must shut down for every party. We ensure that we charge enough for parties (almost double what our competitors charge!) to justify each party being private. Allowing private rentals is one of the aspects that makes us stand out against our competitors in the area.

Our only available open-play time on the weekend is Saturday from 8:30am-12:00 pm. This upsets some customers, especially working parents.

However, we have found that even when we extend our open-play hours on Saturdays, we still cannot put a dent into the amount of revenue we could potentially be making with private parties.

Therefore, we have stuck with Saturday morning open play and it is working well for us, despite some customers wanting us to change. We know that if we did NOT close for private parties we would NOT have enough cash flow or profit to operate, which we explain to these customers so they can better understand.

We also appease these customers (again, mainly working parents) by adding weeknight classes, events, and extended open-play hours whenever possible, so they have more they can participate in.

2. “I HATE TAKING MY SHOES OFF TO GO INSIDE THE PLAY AREA!”

This is a complaint we hear daily. However, we will continue requiring that socks be worn inside our play area. This is for a few different reasons.