There are few things that are as important as optimizing your membership sales in the first quarter, regardless of your business model. The first quarter is usually the best traffic quarter, and prospects are motivated to join (because of New Year’s resolutions, weight gain over the holidays, etc.) Adding members to your core in early 2008 will pay dividends with recurring EFT revenues all year long. There are several things to consider in determining whether you are ready for the challenge.
Price/Marketing
• Are you the lower-priced choice in your market? If so, does everyone know that? That selling point should appear in all marketing. It should be mentioned on all telephone inquiries and explained on every tour. If your facility also matches or exceeds your competition in terms of quality (equipment, service, etc.), be sure to explain that as well, so prospects do not assume low quality.
• Are you the higher-priced choice in your market? If so, does everyone know that? You shouldn’t hide the fact that you cost more than your competitors. The specific price should not be mentioned in marketing, on telephone inquiries, etc., but the reasons why your memberships cost more should be. Your goal is to get people into the center to show them why, for a slightly higher investment, the benefits they receive are worth it. Feature the reasons you are priced higher (equipment, facilities, service, cleanliness, trainers, etc.) and train your staff to get people to come to your facility to see for themselves.
• The first quarter is not the time to be stingy with your marketing dollars. This is the time to try radio, TV, direct-mail, in-club promotions and other marketing activities. Be aggressive with mailing and emailing to former members and new prospects. Use your club management software to create lists of focused groups, i.e. listing people who are interested in specific aspects of your center, and filtering out former members who moved away, etc. Send mail and email-merged communications to these prospects.
• Internal marketing is also important. Send mail or email to members to announce your club’s referral promotions. Some club management software has functionality built in to track referrals and discount monthly dues when a member refers someone – and then to automatically take the discount away if the new member cancels.
Sales Team Structure
The decision to have a dedicated sales team is often a difficult one. It basically comes down to this: Can you cross train your staff to sell your center effectively, or is it best to have a staff of highly trained sales professionals? If you are the low-priced center, chances are you can cross-train your front desk/fitness staff to sell effectively. Make sure they can close with the confidence and knowledge that their prospects can reach all of their fitness goals at your facility, and do it at a lower cost than at any competitor. If you are not the lowest-priced center, it may be a harder decision. It comes down to three business model choices:
1. Hire a sales team that will be trained and managed to have effective presentations, closing percentages and thorough follow up. Expect to spend a minimum of $125 per membership for payroll (for example: to sell 1,000 members, annual payroll will be in excess of $120,000). The key to this model is that the salespeople selfgenerate leads; close at a much higher percentage than cross-trained staff, and follow up with every lead (otherwise there is no point in having a full-time sales team).
2. Have your entire staff cross-trained. Common sense dictates they will not be quite as effective as a dedicated sales professional. However, with monetary or other incentives for cross-trained staff, this approach can work. By not hiring salespeople, you can put more money into marketing to increase traffic – offsetting the dip in the closing percentage.
3. The third option, and one that I am seeing work quite well, is a hybrid between the two. Hire one person who is in charge of sales. That sales manager must be highly trained and organized and work with the cross-trained staff. The sales manager will also make sure the staff has a good understanding of the sales process, and is financially motivated by both his/her own results, as well as team results. The sales manager would be in charge of all follow up. This model has advantages in efficiency with scheduling (no “downtime” as a full sales team would have), and ensuring there is follow up with prospects (a weakness of the second model).
All three options require a solid lead-management system in your club management software – ask your provider to make sure you have this capability and that it has all the functionality you need. The ability to create mail/email merge lists and produce call lists, as well as the ability to track closing percentages, marketing sources, and appointments are required, regardless of the model that you choose. If you cannot track it, you cannot manage it – how else are you going to be sure you get the best results that you can?
Make sure that you have the marketing and model in place before January. If past years have not produced the right results for you, doesn’t it make sense to try something else? Can you afford not to? Good luck!
Len Bell is a Sales Associate with Twin Oaks Software. He can be contacted at 866.278.6750, or by email at lbell@tosd.com, or visit www.tosd.com.
