One thing is for sure; regardless of how beautiful your website is…it will not produce new memberships without six simple steps. Commit yourself to The 6-Step Internet Profit Formula below, and watch the Internet bring you more new membership sales and generate more hot prospects than a top salesperson ever could (at a fraction of the cost). Following is an overview of the formula that I’ve personally used to get 23 to 35 additional new members each week from the Internet (in a small- to mid-sized health club).
THE 6-STEP INTERNET PROFIT FORMULA:
1. Attract
You need to attract two types of visitors to your website: members and prospects. One of the many ways to attract prospects is to include your website address in all of your advertising with an incentive for visitors to go to your site. For example, “Go towww.ourclub.com and get an instant free pass (Value $100).” List your site and the benefit for visiting it on everything that you put out – brochures, ads, lead boxes, etc.
You also need to exhaustively promote your site to your members. This can be easily done by promoting your site around your facility and by giving your members a reason to go there. Don’t just tell them to visit your website; give them specific benefits for visiting. You could offer free gifts for referrals or offer a chance to sign-up for a free newsletter. “Go to www.ourclub.com and get free dues!” Then, at the site, explain how they can refer members via email and get free dues if they ever join. Write periodic special reports, news pieces and articles, and provide other valuable information to keep members returning. But don’t just offer these things without getting their information in return.
2. Capture
Once prospects visit your site seeking the special promotion or free gift, get their email addresses in return for the gift, promotion, etc., and start to generate new sales and leads. Again, the best way to capture emails is by giving visitors something in return. For example, give a free report, a discount, a special offer, free information or anything that will motivate your prospects to fill out a short form to request this information.
You should also acquire your members’ email addresses, either from your website or your facility. Offer your members a free newsletter, or use email to notify them of specials, etc. To collect their email addresses, have members go to your website and fill out a short form in exchange for an incentive, or have your front desk attendant list member emails on paper where they can receive the special offer in exchange for their email.
3. Follow-Up
Once you have the email addresses, follow-up. Send prospects and members regular emails that are relevant to their membership or to a previous contact with them. Each email should include an offer, or a call to action. Send your members offers, renewal specials, thank-you notes and appreciation messages, referral incentives and opportunities to upgrade memberships and to purchase products and services.
4. Be Relentless
It’s important to be persistent in your follow-up since customer contact and customer service are two essential ingredients for retaining your members. Your follow-up emails help keep members engaged with your club, loyal to you, paying their monthly dues and renewing their memberships. Prospects should be sent a minimum of 10 to 15 emails over a 90-day period. Members should be sent messages at least twice a month.
5. Go Automatic
The previous steps of capturing, following-up and being relentless should all happen automatically. There’s no time to manually capture visitors’ email addresses, follow-up 10 to 15 times monthly, write letters, keep track of contacts, etc. The time and money required to do this by yourself would not be worth it. You need a system that can automatically store and capture emails and follow-up without you lifting a finger.
6. Sell
The main goal of these six steps is to help you sell! And to sell, you need to get the person to your facility, whether they’re a member or a prospect. You will have a much better chance of selling and renewing memberships when you deal with people one-on-one. This means that every message you send your prospects must be designed to get them to your facility ASAP. Therefore, each message should get the recipient to act – trigger a phone call, email or visit you, so you can show off your facility and services, and then sell them a membership.
Pat Necerato is a Sales & Marketing Expert with over 15 years of experience in the Fitness Industry. He can be contacted at 866.468.2832, or go to www.GetMoreMembers.com and get his FREE Marketing Video & Report.
