Sales can drop off during the holidays. One sure way to keep a steady flow of prospective members coming into the club, is to contact former members and former guests. These two groups are your hottest prospects! Managers should set a daily phone contact goal for all of their sales people and themselves, if they actively sell also. I suggest that each sales person should make a minimum of 15 contacts a day. That is only two contacts per hour. A contact is talking directly to the prospective member. Leaving a message does not count as a contact. Provide your salespeople with lists of former members and former guests to call. Hopefully, you have former guests and former members in an accessible database. If not, shame on you start one immediately. Now, you can also give your salespeople an effective script that they can follow when contacting these individuals. Here are a couple of examples:
FORMER MEMBER SCRIPT
Club: Hi Bill, this Jim Martin, Membership Director at Cyprus Grove Athletic Club, how are you today?
Former Member: Great!
Club: That’s good Bill. I’m calling some of our former members to tell them about some exciting additions to our club, and to find out if you’d be interested in coming back to your club as my special guest for two weeks with no obligation. Would you be interested in hearing about the new facilities and equipment we’ve added? (Note: This gives your former member a chance to simply say they are not interested. If they are interested they tell you and you can proceed. You’re only trying to get the individuals that are interested. My motto for making these kinds of calls is: polish the cherries and not the pits.)
Former Members: Yes, tell me what you’ve been up to. (Note: At this point you need to tell the former members about anything new at the club. Equipment, classes, programs, and expansions (be brief). After explaining what is new, then try to close for an appointment.)
Club: Your two-week complimentary membership is good for you and your family, or you and a friend. We are also offering you and a friend a free hour of personal training to jumpstart your workout. In addition, if you decide to join at the conclusion of your two-week membership, you can reinstate your membership for only $20! (Or whatever is appropriate for your club). That will save you $180 off the initiation fee. That offer expires September 30. I am here Monday through Friday 9 to 6 p.m. How does Tuesday at 5 p.m. sound?
FORMER GUEST SCRIPT
Club: Hi Mary, this is Jim Martin, Membership Director at Cyprus Grove Athletic Club, how are you today?
Former Guest: Great
Club: That’s good. Mary, I’m calling because you were a former guest of our club and I have two questions for you. Do you have just a minute to answer them for me? (If the individual says that they don’t have time, that’s their way of saying they are not interested, so move on to the next call).
Former Guest: Sure, what are they?
Club: First question, did you enjoy your visit to our club?
Former Guest: Yes I did.
Club: OK, that’s good news!
Club: Last question is, I’d like to invite you and a friend, or you and your family to be my personal guests at the club for two weeks with no obligation. Are you interested?
DON’T GET DISCOURAGED
My statistics on these calls reveal that you will set a minimum of two appointments for every 10 calls. If you set a daily goal of 15 contacts per day, that means you’ll set approximately eight more appointments a week. That’s 32 appointments per month. You should be able to close 50% of those appointments. That means that you will increase your sales production by a minimum of 16 more sales per month! Be a proactive prospector, not a reactive sales person. Go get’em tiger!
If you’d like a free copy of my information phone call script, just email me and I’ll send it right out to you.
Jim Martin is the President of Powerful Promotions. He can be contacted at 877.822.5577, or by email at jmartin@powerfulpromotions.com, or visit www.powerfulpromotions.com.
