Q. We currently don’t have a person dedicated to sales at our facility. Do you feel it is important? – Eric Olson, the owner of Experience Fitness, Seattle, Wash.
A. The short answer … yes. Now, I suppose there are a few exceptions in certain business models where a salesperson wouldn’t be necessary. However, in most fitness businesses I feel there should be someone dedicated entirely to sales.
As a club owner, you might be thinking you can’t take on the cost of a salesperson. In that case I would encourage you to think of a salesperson as an investment rather than an expense. Any salesperson worth their weight should always be making you money, not costing you money. If you find it’s the latter, it’s time to find another salesperson.
A quality salesperson or sales team should pay for themselves. The amount of money your salesperson generates must be greater than the amount you pay them. Otherwise, I would be of the opinion that you should not have a dedicated salesperson.
There are endless ways that you can compensate a salesperson, so we won’t get into that topic too deeply. The most common method of payment that I’ve seen and used is a combination of hourly and commission. To safeguard against relying on future receivables to cover commissions, you can also limit their total pay to not exceed the total down payments they generated that week.
Some gym owners handle their own sales, or have the manager selling memberships. I would encourage you not to do this. For one, you as the owner should not be on the front line making sales. If you want to be involved in your business, focus your efforts on retaining members longer and training your staff. A manager is better suited to manage the processes at the club as well as manage others. If they do a good job of this, they will help to ensure the success of your new salesperson.
You might be in a very small club, or even a studio with very little walk-in traffic. That means you might not think you’ll have enough traffic to compensate a dedicated salesperson accordingly. This is classic case of “what comes first … the chicken or the egg?” Do you get a salesperson and hope they can increase club traffic, or do you increase the traffic enough to justify a salesperson?
A quality salesperson in our industry typically drives the majority of their own traffic. So, when you hire your salesperson, you’ll want to make sure they understand that they’re in charge of both lead generation and closing sales. Of course, you can always help them out by providing the tools they need to drive traffic, but the bulk of the responsibility for bringing in prospects will be their responsibility.
Regardless of a salesperson’s background, you’ll want to make sure they receive adequate training from the beginning. In addition, you’ll want to work with them daily or weekly to increase their sales skills, help them with ideas and systems to drive more traffic, and implement systems that encourage effective follow-up of missed guests. No one enjoys role-playing, not the person teaching or the person learning, but it is essential to maintain your salesperson’s skills, and to make sure you are doing your part to ensure their success.
To find the right salesperson, you can always place a help wanted ad on craigslist or in the local newspaper, but I’ve found that many times you can find a high quality salesperson by visiting the stores in your local mall. Many times a gem of a salesperson is being paid little more than minimum wage at Gap or Old Navy, and they would be thrilled to have the opportunity to earn more for their sales ability.
Regardless of the size of your facility, I feel nearly every fitness business could use at least one dedicated salesperson. You might not think there is enough traffic to justify it, but when you look at your community and all of the untouched prospects and opportunities that exist, you’ll find ample opportunity for your new salesperson to spread the word about your business, and make money for both you and for them. -CS
Curtis Mock is the host of www.fitnessbusinesstelevision.com, the TV show for fitness entrepreneurs and is the executive director of GymSuccess.com. Curtis can be reached via e-mail at Curtis@ClubSolutionsMagazine.com.
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