Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
Sometimes… floaters get out early. That’s just what they do. But how often should that be happening? And how early? Well… it certainly depends on the length of your floats. If it is happening a lot and you run hour long floats, maybe there’s a common issue that people aren’t telling you. This is where those soft skills come in really handy. It doesn’t hurt to ask, but it also might not be anything to worry about.
Graham and Ashkahn share their experiences with this and what they see as regular floater behavior and what might be a little suspicious, along with some tips to suss out exactly what’s going on if you think it’s happening too frequently.
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: Today’s question is, “It feels bad when I see thirty minutes left on the timer, and I hear the shower. Is this normal? I just opened, so it seems to happen maybe one out of ten floats.”
Ashkahn: Hmm mm. Well, I wonder how long their float are, I guess, is my first question.
Graham: Oh, that is a good question. Yeah. ‘Cause if they’re thirty minute floats, then, man … Well, I guess that’s just totally normal, right? Like, thirty minutes before the end, they need to shower off to get in, so…
Ashkahn: So let’s assume … I mean, sixty or ninety, something like that.
Graham: Mm-hmm.
Ashkahn: Right?
Graham: Yup. And let’s also … I mean, so, I assume they’re talking about people getting out early.
Ashkahn: Yeah. Getting out early in general.
Graham: Yup.
Ashkahn: That’s what their question is.
Graham: As opposed to just showering off because they got salt in their eye and they’re getting back in the tank or something like that, because that happens too with showers kicking on.
Ashkahn: So, yeah, should you feel bad about people getting out early? It definitely happens. People get out early. I mean, we were on ninety minutes floats and people will get out, sometimes, around the sixty minute mark. I’m not sure I’d say one out of ten.
Graham: Yeah, I think a little less frequently.
Ashkahn: A little less frequently than that, but it still happens with some amount of regularity. And I guess I don’t personally find that that always means they had a bad experience or anything. Sometimes, you just feel like you’re done, you know? Like you got a good float and you’re feeling good, and you kind of came to the point where you’re ready to get out, and that point maybe doesn’t line up with the music or the exact length of the float.
Graham: In fact, I’d say almost more often than not, if they’re … I mean, so let’s take a ninety minute float, for example, and just assume that that’s the question.
Ashkahn: Right.
Graham: If they’re floating ninety minutes and they get sixty minutes in, and then they kind of leave, I think that more often than not, it’s because they had a pretty good experience and they just sort of feel like they’re done in there or something like that, you know? Or they got cold and then there’s kind of all of those other common complaints and stuff like that.
Ashkahn: Right. Sometimes there’s a small inconvenience that just kind of … They’re just kind of like, “you know, I’m kind of done trying to sit here and be cold.”
Graham: But there’s a shocking number of times when we’ve checked in with people who get out early, which, I guess, to speak to that too, is those are great candidates for really finding out why they got out of the tank early and what happened. So, any time someone’s coming out when it’s not when you turned on the music, you definitely want to be catching them and politely asking, just sort of checking in to make sure everything’s okay. But again, when we’ve done that at Float On, I think, honestly, more often than not, a lot of people just say, “no, there was nothing wrong, I just felt like it was my time to get out of the tank.” Even Derek Wyatt was just telling me recently he goes through phases, and recently it’s almost every float, he gets out after sixty minutes because he just feels like he’s done.
Ashkahn: Yeah, I’ve had that. You hit that spot.
Graham: And we’ve had members who do that. And they don’t feel bad or anything. We’ll often ask if people want half off or if something went wrong or something. And a lot of our members are just like, “no, no, it just felt like it was a sixty minute float day.”
Ashkahn: And, you know, sometimes it is, ’cause people just, they weren’t quite getting there, and they were a little tired of sitting in there. And for those people, I often … I guess the most common thing I find is that they were just really having trouble letting go and relaxing into it. And I’ll often recommend trying to float at a different time to them.
If they’re real high-strung, or constantly in their own head and stuff like that, sometimes I find people floating in the middle of the afternoon, when they have trouble unwinding in the first place, is kind of a tough time for them to float. Because their brain’s still really active and they’re really gung-ho about everything. And I’ll recommend they try coming in at, like, 9 p.m. or something later in the night, when their body is more in the kind of wind down sort of mode. And that seems to make a difference. You know, when people come in all of a sudden, it’s a little bit easier for them to let go and get into it, and they will stay in that entire time. They’ll actually kind of get that float experience that they didn’t maybe quite hit during their previous float.
Graham: There’s something else that’s weird, too, which is: I feel like if people get out early, it’s really … It’s important to let them know that it’s not their fault. Or that they didn’t do something wrong.
Ashkahn: Yeah, it’s kind of like they are embarrassed, usually. Right?
Graham: It’s amazing how guilty people feel.
Ashkahn: Mm-hmm.
Graham: Or like they …
Ashkahn: Like they couldn’t handle it.
Graham: Yeah. Like, I’ve known people who get out early and sit in their room because they’re too embarrassed to come out of the room, and let the staff member know that they didn’t make it the entire time. Or they almost feel like they failed at floating.
Ashkahn: Yeah. So you gotta let people know that they’re weak when they do that. And that they should feel ashamed, and they’re not real floaters.
Graham: Put a note on their account, they’re never allowed back in.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: But, no, so make ’em understand that … Just even saying that there’s a number of other clients who just find that after certain floats, that sixty minutes is enough time or that even half an hour is just all they needed that day, and put them at ease, is an important part of that customer service.
Ashkahn: Half an hour’s a little … Like, if you’re running sixty minute floats, and people are getting out at the thirty minute mark, I feel like that’s a little …
Graham: One out of every ten?
Ashkahn: It’s hard, in thirty minutes, to get to the spot where you’re like, great, good float! I feel like … You know what I mean? With that amount of frequency?
Graham: Yeah. I mean, I guess I’d agree with that.
Ashkahn: That actually does feel a little bit unusual to me. If you have one out of ten people getting out after thirty minutes, that’s not quite in line with what I’ve experienced or …
Graham: Sizing people up is just so important, right? Like, if they’re getting out and they’re yelling at you because they had a miserable float, and things were too noisy, and the temperature wasn’t right, then obviously something needs to change and they’re not having a good experience, right?
Ashkahn: Yeah. I bet temperature has a lot to do with it. It can be distracting and it can stop people from really getting into the zone, if they’re feeling really cold or something.
Graham: Noise can be a lot of it. Yeah, just, again, personal things that people had going on can be a lot of it too, so … Yeah, I mean, be prepared. I think letting people know that there’s nothing wrong with getting out early, making sure that everything was okay with the float, and being ready to give a half off or full free float or refund if something was wrong, to kind of appease the situation. And just winging it from there. But certainly checking in is probably the best protocol.
Ashkahn: Yeah. Let us know. Get back to us. Tell us what people say, when you ask them.
Graham: Yeah, tell us whether you’re talking about sixty minutes or ninety minutes. ‘Cause that definitely affects the answer here.
Ashkahn: Mm-hmm.
Graham: But thanks for the question. And, for you listeners who didn’t ask that question, which I think is a majority, you can go to floattanksolutions.com/podcast. Don’t be shy. Don’t be shy. You go on over there and you send us in a question.
Recent Podcast Episodes
Thoughts on franchises vs. mom and pop float centers – DSP 135
As franchises become more common in the float industry, it’s natural for people to start wondering what the benefits and drawbacks are to opening one of them as opposed to simply starting your own center.
Graham and Ashkahn delve into the nuanced differences between each approach, which both have very tangible benefits and drawbacks and whether or not it’s a good idea definitely depends on what kind of business a person wants to run.
Thinking about safety and security for offering overnight floats – DSP 133
Being open constantly does come with its challenges, even for float centers. What do you do when the rest of the world goes to sleep but you’re still operating? Doesn’t it get dangerous? What sort of precautions do you have to make to protect your business and your employees.
Graham and Ashkahn discuss security for Float On for the twilight hours when things can go wrong as well as some of the general challenges of running a 24 hour business.
Problems with using certain types of soap – DSP 132
When dealing with the carefully constructed micro-environment of a float tank, any tiny addition can really throw off the appearance or chemistry (just ask anyone who’s had to deal with their water turning orange or green!). The types of soaps you use in your float rooms, along with shampoos, conditioners, and lotions can and will enter your tanks, so it’s important to consider what impact they’re going to have.
Graham and Ashkahn walk through troubleshooting water chemistry problems for this question, to help solve a particular issue.
Methods for filling weekday float sessions – DSP 131
This is a challenging issue for any service based industry. The world still operates on a 9-to-5 schedule, often Mondays through Fridays, finding people with the availability to zen out in those hours can be a challenge, but Graham and Ashkahn have been there and have some insights to the experience. They share what they do at Float On to counter this and when to accept the margins where you’re just not getting people in to float.
Thoughts on floating with a pacemaker – DSP 130
Sometimes you have customers with very specific needs or concerns about their float. In the case of medical concerns in regards to floating, there’s a lot we don’t know. Always always always have your customers discuss any serious medical concerns with their doctor. If for no other reason, if something does go wrong, even if it’s completely unrelated to their float, you’re not on the hook and have to deal with it.
Latest Blog Posts
March’s Topic: ‘Start Small or Launch Big?’
This month we'll be talking about something that is especially relevant to everyone just getting started in the floatation industry. Should you start a float center decked out with a full armada of tanks, a 30 ft salt water aquarium, and filter changing robots? Or...
Your Float Center Should Feel Like Home
At True REST we are in our second float center build out and really put a lot of emphasis and thought on the post float interaction and environment.The flow of our Spa is very tranquil and psychologically brings you down each step further into the Spa you get. We...
Relating to the Float Experience
There is no doubt that the short period following the float is crucial for achieving a complete floatation experience. It is during this stage that the first-timer will be setting into place the thoughts that will become how they relate to their float. They have just...
Sales In a Float Tank Center
When we first started Float On, already being regular floaters ourselves and being very familiar with the warm embrace of the post-flow afterglow, we figured that selling things to our float customers after they got out would be the easiest thing in the world. We were...
