Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
Every float center owner has to deal with customers who get, maybe, a little overenthusiastic about the float experience. What is the best way to deal with customers who say things that are just patently false about the benefits of floating? Do you just let it slide? Do you correct them and potentially offend your customer? It’s not their fault, they’re just excited. It doesn’t seem right to punish them.
This is definitely a tightrope walk type of conversation and it can have an impact on your customers and your reputation as a business, as well as the whole industry. As stewards of the tank, Graham and Ashkahn offer their advice on how best to have this difficult conversation and offer some resources to help with it as well.
Show Resources
FTS Blog – A Skeptic’s Guide to Floating
FTS Product – About Float Tanks Guide (Free)
FTS Product – Scientific Research List (Free)
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: Today’s question is, ”what do you do when your customers say blatantly wrong things about the benefits of floating?”
Ashkahn: Yeah, this happens. It’s not fun, it’s not a fun situation. I wouldn’t put this in the category of good times, you know.
Graham: Yeah, yep, yep. So there’s many situations this can arise actually. The one that I find the most uncomfortable is when someone is bringing in their friend to the float center, and they’re describing to their friend some kind of false benefit of floating and I’m overhearing.
Ashkahn: Uh-huh.
Graham: Have to figure out what to do, and we’ll get to that. Someone comes in and is like, “Yeah man, two hours in this tank will give you a full nights sleep. So if you’re doing a two hour float tonight, don’t even bother going back to bed” and you’re like “Ohhh! Kablooey”.
Ashkahn: Yeah, it’s just so embarrassing. Are you gonna go and embarrass your customer, or are you going to just sit idly by and let misinformation spread through the world?
Graham: It’s tough, it’s a tough life being a float center owner. So, for me, I find the need to correct it in the most inoffensive way possible. It’s pretty much the goal there.
Ashkahn: You have to correct, I can’t, you can’t just have people keep thinking things that are wrong. You feel like we’re stewards of-
Graham: “That has 80,000 pounds of salt in there!”
Ashkahn: Yeah, so what I do is I get a big buzzer, as soon as they say something.
Graham: I get like a shepherd’s crook that I can just like pull them off to the side with it and then fill in their part of the conversation.
Ashkahn: Yeah, use that telescoping rescue pole. The one hung up on our wall.
Graham: So I usually just try to figure out, for me the least offensive way to get people right is to agree with them, and then start just shifting what I was agreeing about.
Ashkahn: Usually in kind of a high pitched voice, it’s like, “Yeah, yeah, exactly but not exactly like that.”
Graham: Then you lower the voice as it gets toward real facts.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: It just seems more natural.
Ashkahn: It’s my tactic as well, yeah.
Graham: So if someone comes in and they say, “Ah he had two hours in here and it was eight hours of sleep.” You’re like, “Yeah float tanks are incredibly restful. They rejuvenate you, they rejuvenate you a lot. We don’t actually have data about exactly how much time in a float tank equals exactly how much sleep, but definitely a really common response that we get is that people feel like they’re way more rested than coming in. Or almost like they’re fresh in the morning or something like that.”
Ashkahn: Yeah, I feel good now.
Graham: So again, it’s like the agreeing and then sort of spreading out actual facts. The thing that you don’t want to do in my mind is be like, “Oh that’s wrong. Your friend’s an idiot. Both of you leave, you think you’re allowed to float.”
Okay, another scenario is someone just starts bragging to you about the benefits of floating, right?
Ashkahn: Well here is there any scenario where you wouldn’t correct it?
Graham: Me, personally?
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: I guess there’s like wishy washy stuff. People get out and they’re just like, “Oh man, I totally astral projected in there.”
Ashkahn: Okay, uh-huh. Sure.
Graham: I mean, they totally could have. I don’t know.
Ashkahn: I’m not going to correct stuff like that.
Graham: Right? And also, and I guess it’s not wrong, so they totally could have, I don’t know if you can astral project or whatever, who knows?
Ashkahn: Yeah. I guess I’m not going to impose my belief of reality onto them at that moment.
Graham: Yep, yep. So here’s another common example too that I get. Is people saying that the salt water will just suck all of the toxins out of your body.
Ashkahn: Detoxifying effects.
Graham: Which have definitely not been proven. I don’t even know exactly what that means, or what toxins they’re talking about, that’s a whole ripe subject even not in the float world.
Ashkahn: But it’s a weird one because it’s a hard one to lightly refute. You know what I mean?
Graham: Yep.
Ashkahn: You can’t just be like, “Oh yeah, totally.” The thing is, “I don’t know what you’re talking about and those words don’t make sense.”
Graham: Yeah, and so again, I’ll say something like, “A lot of people come out of the float tank feeling really nice and they’ve almost released some stuff that was making them feel bad. We don’t really have any studies exactly on this idea of detoxification in the float tank, or whether magnesium is actually sucking things out of your body, but certainly the reports of users are right in line with feeling great afterwards like that.”
Ashkahn: The situations like that can be tricky I’ve noticed, because it seems like the customers really want you to agree with what they’re saying.
Graham: They’re like pausing after they say it.
Ashkahn: Yeah, they say something and they pause. They’re like, “You know what I’m talking about.” You’re like, “Oh.” Yeah, you do have to kind of like gently steer. I don’t know, I’ve never been in the situation where I’ve just outright said something that I didn’t believe. I’ve never felt a need to do that.
Graham: No, and honestly there’s so many people who like all kinds of different types of floats, that it’s really easy to point to your other customers as well when people come in with kind of crazy claims or things like that as well. Again, even saying things that are more in line with personal problems that they’re suffering with or something like that. Like, “This helped me through my childhood emotional trauma.” It’s like, “Great,” other people have also had that experience, or something. We don’t have to go into the fact that there’s no research done on that specifically. And similarly I guess I always go back to research, because claims can be made about anything that’s going on. And it’s a really easy thing to say, “Hey there’s not any published peer reviewed research on that, that I know of. But a lot of people report that the impact of that is similar to what you are saying.” It’s kind of my soft go-to I guess.
Ashkahn: So yeah, it’s kind of gentle like bringing people back into your opinion.
Graham: And keep in mind this is just our opinion as well.
Ashkahn: You see how we’re like soothing you into agreeing with us?
Graham: “I know we all thought in the past agreeing with Graham and Ashkahn was a bad idea, but now that we know the facts, I think we can get on to similar terms here.” That’s all I got. It’s an awkward conversation, it’s going to come up. And I just think it’s our duty as people who are actually running these things and are more well informed to spread a little bit of knowledge and truth out there and not just go along with what people say because it’ll make the conversation easier.
Ashkahn: Definitely.
Graham: And if you have anymore awkward questions that you want to ask us, go to floattanksolutions.com/podcast and send them on in.
Recent Podcast Episodes
Should I Wire my Float Tanks into the Wall? – DSP 265
Ashkahn is currently recovering from his talk and the after-party last night, but Jake and Graham have gracefully taken the time to answer a construction question again today.
On the docket today is a question about wiring a float tank directly into the wall. Graham and Jake provide an overview of why some people may prefer this (it’s much easier to keep waterproof, e.g.), and why at Float On they use the twist lock for their outlets and how to properly utilize them.
Can I Keep My Old Ceiling With My Buildout? – DSP 264
Hopefully everyone had a lovely time at the Friday Activities and the after-party.
Ashkahn is still busy running the conference, but Graham and Jake have stepped in to talk about construction!
Today the guys talk about keeping a drop ceiling or T-bar ceiling in an existing space that you’re converting to a float center. The short answer is don’t keep it, as it can cause problems, but the guys do have some workarounds if your landlord is opposed to changing the ceiling.
What to Expect When Expanding from 1 to 3 Tanks? – DSP 263
Ashkahn is busy preparing for everything that happens tonight and tomorrow for the Conference, but that doesn’t mean Daily Solutions will stop being daily.
Graham and Jake talk construction and what to expect when you’re expecting… a giant expansion for your float center. What’s it look like when you go from one tank to three? How do the demands change? What needs to be put in place to make sure that you’re not hitting snags?
Fortunately, these guys know the score and are happy to share.
All About Floor Drains – DSP 262
As Ashkahn gets everything ready for the Start a Center Workshop (happening today) and the Float Conference this weekend, Graham and Jake tackle answering construction questions on the podcast.
Today they’re talking about floor drains. What to consider for drains and how they might pair with different types of flooring. Given the hefty price tag for these more advanced drains, having as much research before making a decision on these is essential. Luckily, the guys have done the hard part already and identified a lot of things to consider.
How to Deal with Float Room Humidity – DSP 261
Graham and Jake are at the helm again while Ashkahn puts the finishing touches on the Float Conference.
Today, the guys are talking all about humidity and how to deal with it when constructing your float rooms. They talk about all the little nuances that you (or your contractor) might not think about when it comes to humidity and how soundproofing and regular airflow may not always go hand in hand.
Latest Blog Posts
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #24
Alberta is often called the Texas of Canada. Part large oil industry, part cattle country.
Don’t Mess With Alberta!
At the base of the Rocky Mountains, replete with an Olympic Stadium, Calgary is a world-class destination for winter sports. The float community developed here similarly to Edmonton – there wasn’t anything nearby except for one or two residential float tanks, and then, in a short period of time, several centers opened all at once. Instead of competing, they’ve decided to work together and have developed one of the tightest knit float communities we’ve seen. They even have monthly Float Dinners, much like we do with the float centers in Portland. They don’t keep meeting minutes, so it’s hard to determine what they talk about at these dinners; my guess would be salt, the effects of salt on various substances, and how salty salt damage can make someone salty.
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #23
After Montana, we blazed our way back into Canada. The drive was long, but the scenery was beautiful. We followed the Rockies north, driving up to Edmonton. It’s a bit of a detour but, there are so many float centers in Edmonton, it seemed crazy not to stop by.
The city itself is primarily made up of workers from the oil fields – high risk, high income jobs that fuel the economy. At least until recently. Our visit was right in the middle of the Fort McMurray wildfire which has displaced a lot of the workforce, forcing 100,000 people to leave their homes. Many came to Edmonton, being the nearest metropolitan area to Fort McMurray. Some already split their time between the two cities, living in Edmonton and traveling to Fort McMurray for weeks or months at a time for work.
It’s understood that, in economic hardship, luxury commodities are typically the first thing people cut back on. Surprisingly, this doesn’t seem to be the case for floating. In fact, more people seem to be trying it to help alleviate the stress, many centers even offering free or discounted services to those displaced in an effort to help in a small way.
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #22
We’ve got two more stops in Colorado Springs before heading west. It’s a town known for its military base and long history of weapons testing. With such a large military presence, it comes as no surprise that the float center owners here are veterans, themselves.
After that, we shoot across to Salt Lake City. Utah is filled with gorgeous sights, from breathtaking lakes to stunning painted hills. With an international landmark famous for its effects on buoyancy, Salt Lake City should be pretty familiar with the concept of floating. With five different float centers, and the manufacturer of the Zen Tent out there, there could be some cause and effect.
After that, we head up into Idaho and Montana to close out the Central United States portion of our Tour. We’ll follow the Rocky Mountains north, taking in the scenery along the way.
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #21
Denver has been home to a vibrant float community for a long time. Some of the earliest commercial centers that started up in the ‘70s and ‘80s were out here. 30 years is a long time, and most of the old centers aren’t around anymore, but there’s a conscious community that has been floating since the old days and they love how much the industry has evolved and grown.
