The definition of a “missed sale” is: A non-member who walks into your club, requests information, and leaves without joining that day.
There are five preliminary things you must do before you can even think of re-capturing missed sales on autopilot. (Once I explain these, I’ll show you how to get a nice percentage of your missed sales back into your club, and joining within 24 to 72 hours.)
Before you can re-capture missed sales, you must:
1. Make sure every non-member who walks into your club receives a real sales presentation. Without this, you’ll never re-capture missed sales, nor will you get a real handle on your selling cycle. What’s a “real” sales presentation? Well, this a big subject, but basically, it’s when the prospect sits with a salesperson for five to 10 minutes and answers questions on why they want to join your club. A “real” sales presentation also: uncovers emotions; proves benefits; overcomes objections; gets uncomfortable; builds value; eliminates the competition…and most importantly, it attempts to close the sale, i.e., asks the prospect to join that day!
2. Believe that every prospect needs a sales presentation. All prospects need to be sold. They need their concerns, objections, goals and desires to be confirmed and addressed before they’ll spend money. The faster you do this, the faster they join. Without a sales presentation, you’re leaving it up to them to fulfill these issues. This postpones the sale and possibly loses the prospect to another club (a club that believes in a sales presentation).
3. Realize the prospect is prepared. I don’t have to tell you that most prospects know you’re going to “sell them” when they walk into your club. On the drive to your club they’re already thinking of how they can quickly walk into your club, get the information they want, take it with them, and think it over. In other words, they prepare their excuses before they even walk in. This means you must be ready for them to say things such as, “I only have a few minutes, so can you just give me prices and I’ll be back tonight to take a tour.” Or, “I already know I’m going to join, I just need to know how much it is…” Or, the best one, “I’m just shopping around. I’m definitely not joining here today. I’m just checking a few places out.” Don’t let these or any other smoke screens stop you from following the number one rule: Make sure every non-member who walks into your club gets a “real” sales presentation! Which leads to…
4. Have a touring policy that you believe in. What do you say when a prospect asks you “why” they have to take a tour or sit down with a salesperson? Some club operators mistakenly say, “That’s our policy.” Or, even worse, they cave-in and avoid the presentation all together, or they do a short, abbreviated presentation and end up missing the sale. There’s much to say about this subject, but for now, make sure you have a legitimate touring policy established. Make sure you and your people believe in it and stand by it – for the moment when a prospect asks, “Why do I have to take a tour?” Or, says, “I already know what the club has, just give me prices…” You must not cave-in and miss the opportunity. One simple, effective technique is to establish an “interviewing” attitude toward your prospects. Let them know that each prospective member must be interviewed before you accept them – to ensure they’re joining for the right reasons and not just to waste a membership. Members that join for the wrong reason often end up failing and then blaming it on the club. And, this is true! In any case, have a touring policy, a script, and a reason to give to each prospect.
5. Capture the prospect’s contact information. This should really be listed first. Never ever allow a prospect to walk through your club, pick an employee’s brain, take prices, and get any of the information they want until you first get their contact information. What should you get? Name, address, phone number, work phone number, and most important…EMAIL address! Which leads us to how to re-capture missed sales, without work…
Once you’ve followed the five preliminaries above, you’re ready to properly re-capture those missed sales on autopilot. First, create a template email that reviews: your sales presentation; your club features; their goals; their objections, and your offer. Sweeten the offer in the email by including something extra, such as a free week or something similar, if they call you right away and agree to join. Second, create followup emails that get sent on the second and third days – which also re-cap the previous emails and the tour. Third, either manually send these emails, or place them into an email auto-responder sequence. Finally, every month, email your entire “missed prospect” list with an article about procrastination and what happens when people put-off exercise. Do this consistently and watch as you re-capture 5% to 10% of all missed sales within the first month.
Pat Necerato is a Sales and Marketing Expert with over 15 years experience in the fitness industry. He can be contacted at 866.468.2832, or go to www.MoreNewMembers.com and get his FREE Marketing Video & Report.
