Most gym owners open their doors with the hopes of one day seeing their facility full of people.
In order to make this dream a reality you need to be on top of gym sales, and always be on the lookout for new ways to market your club and get new members in the door.
Taking on the role of a salesman will only get you so far. It’s important that you are also teaching your sales team new ways to find and close on leads so that you can get more members.
In this article, we are going to provide tips as well as actionable steps for you and your staff to test out in your fitness facility.
A willingness to find and implement new sales techniques in your gym will keep new members coming in the door. Helping you to once day achieve your dream of owning a lively, and most important, profitable gym.
Speed of contact
Regardless of how and why someone is contacting your gym, it’s important that you get back to them as quickly as possible.
It’s proven that you’re 80% less likely to close a deal if you take an hour to respond to your clients. And one study suggests that 12% of customers they surveyed[1] expected companies to respond within 15 minutes of their first contact.
What does this mean?
If you do not have systems in place to decrease your response time to customer inquiries, you could be missing out on gym sales.
Educate your sales staff on the importance of quick response time to new leads.
Whether you decide to call them directly, send them an SMS, or shoot them a quick email, this is the first opportunity for you to show your new members that you’re dedicated to making their user experience a good one.
Personalizing the Approach
Everyone has needs that are unique and specific to them.
As a gym owner, you can expect the needs of your clients to be things like losing weight, improving their diet, finding ways to stay consistent, or even meeting like-minded people.
Whatever their particular need is, finding ways to create a pitch that is less generic and more geared towards that specific person, will help you to stand out from the competition.
Do a little bit of background research by browsing their Instagram, Twitter, or other social media. This can help you figure out what their pain point or the problem that your service would help them solve is, and personalize your pitch to them.
To get a good idea of the goals of new members you can also try adding a small survey to your sign-up form. Apps like GymMaster help you to create personalized forms for your business, and can even track your member’s answers on their profile.
Reduce the Barrier to Entry
Generally, the hardest part of signing new gym members is just getting them in the door. The idea of testing out a new gym can give people anxiety, especially beginners.
Here are some ways to help you gain the trust of your potential customers so you can get them in the door, and keep them as long-time members.
Lead Follow-Up
Although creating a word-for-word script for your staff to follow probably won’t be necessary, there are certain elements that contribute to a successful sales script.
When following up with leads ensure that you are mostly asking questions.
Your prospects want to feel understood, not like they’re getting pitched to. Infusing a level of humanness into your cold calls will help you individualize your pitch, and make your customers feel like they are in good hands.
Offer Trials
Offering a free one-day or week-long pass is a good way to get people into your gym.
You could even try offering a 2 for 1 deal allowing new members to bring a friend for their first training session. This will double your traffic and give your less confident members more incentive to try something new.
New Member Protocol
Create a clear orientation procedure for your front desk staff to follow the first time a new member comes to your gym.
Make sure they are given a full tour of the gym so that they know where everything is. You could even go as far as to show them how to use the tricker machines. Let new members know that the staff—including trainers—are always available to answer their questions.
Incentivize New Members
Having limited-time offers to pitch to new clients is a great way for you to create urgency while simultaneously increasing the value of your offer.
Some people need a little extra push to actually sign up for a new membership. Make your new members feel confident in the value that you are offering by adding a bonus offer, but only if they sign up today.
Offering new members a free spot in an upcoming boot camp, or a heavily discounted session with a personal trainer is a way for you to increase the value of your offer without costing the gym.
Bottom Line
Managing a business can be time-consuming. Whether it’s following up with leads, gym marketing, finding new ways to personalize your sales approach, or creating new offers for new members, chances are you have your hands full.
As with any changes to your business, the best way to lighten the workload for you and your staff is to automate wherever possible.
Management software like GymMaster will help you create and track new offers, send out SMS and email messages to your clients, and streamline all other areas of your business.
Take advantage of the true potential of your business by freeing up your time for you to spend on gym marketing or training your sales staff.
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