Compared to other industries, health clubs do a terrible job training people to sell effectively. Bottom line, no matter how wonderful your club is, your revenue is affected by whether or not you have this aspect of your business totally handled.
In a successful Fortune 500 company’s sales department, sales training occurs every day – without fail. Sales people arrive at work in the morning and meet with their manager or a senior salesperson to practice their presentations. They continue practicing until they (or their sales manager) feel they are at the top of their game. Then, they are allowed to begin their work day.
Why do they do this? Because the most successful companies in the world understand sales is an emotional game! Selling effectively requires training your staff to harness their emotions within a fixed, proven structure. Since our emotions are in a constant state of flux, consistent and extraordinary success can ONLY happen with daily practice and repetition.
When club owners tell me how their staff has been trained to sell, most of them give me a similarly dire description. A newly hired or current employee is given the responsibility to sell. After a few weeks (which usually means three or four hours) of “sales training” the club’s employees are left to their own devices to produce a result. At the end of the month, their results are tallied. If they compare favorably to what has been produced in the past, they are considered “good,” and reproducing this same result becomes “the bar” for the rest of their career (even if they are capable of producing twice as much). If trainees’ results are less than the status quo, they are given another few days of “training.” Once this fails to produce results, it is determined that they “can’t sell,” although they remain responsible for selling “in a pinch.” In either case, sales training is usually completed by this time, with little or no further instruction.
Occasionally, I meet a club owner who has invested in sending his staff to a sales seminar of some kind. This is a good move. There are quite a few seminars out there that have a lot to offer. Unfortunately, without constant practice and repetition afterward, they tell me their staff neglects to utilize their newfound knowledge within about 10 days. Sound familiar?
So, how can you implement a sales training system that increases revenue and provides consistent and measurable results?
Every Employee is a “Salesperson” for Your Club.
First of all, you must determine who should be involved in the sales process. The answer is probably almost EVERYONE in your club. Anyone who has contact with a potential buyer will affect that buyer’s decision, and should receive some form of instruction and positive motivation daily.
Sales people and managers are obvious candidates. However, if you are a small club selling out of your front desk, or a large club using the front desk to forward telephone inquiries and walk-ins to your sales manager, those people need to be included. Even if you have someone in front of your club to provide valet parking; guess what, they need to be trained to deflect questions to the staff inside (they are asked sales questions too).
Daily Training, Practice and Repetition are the Keys to Successful Sales.
Secondly, you must commit your staff to some kind of daily training. Even a small amount of effort in this area will have a positive impact on your revenue. Remember, consistent and extraordinary success can ONLY happen with daily practice and repetition. You can begin this process by breaking down your club’s sales presentation.
Most clubs use a sales presentation similar to this:
• First, a prospect completes a questionnaire. Next, the salesperson introduces himself or herself; tries to qualify the prospect and uncover their needs; tours the prospect and attempts a trial close; shows prices; asks a closing question; tries to overcome objections; loses or closes the sale, and follows up afterward.
Although this is a nearly obsolete sales process, it’s enough of a framework to create the background of a consistent sales training program.
Here are a few sales exercises you can implement immediately:
• Have your staff focus on improving one area of their presentation each day by bringing something new to that part of the conversation.
• With a partner, have them practice their full presentation at least three times before beginning their work day. Require they do something different every time.
• Use a “rapid fire” exercise in which the salesperson has five seconds or less to respond to objection after objection.
• Practice a “reverse psychology” approach wherein the salesperson’s partner gives every reason possible for buying while they try to talk their partner out of buying.
Always remember, preparation is the key to extraordinary sales results.
Chris Mikulka is the President of Sellfitness.com. He can be reached at 866.864.4572, or by email at chris@sellfitness.com, or visit www.sellfitness.com
