• EDUCATE. EMPOWER. SUCCEED.
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletter
  • Media Kit
  • Contact
  • Login
Club Solutions Magazine
  • Topics
    • Leadership
    • Marketing & Sales
    • News
    • Operations
    • Programming
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Past Issues
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletter
    • Media Kit
    • Contact Us
  • Continuing Education
    • Club Solutions Leadership Summit
    • Club Solutions Leadership Retreat
    • CS Connect Virtual Event
  • Supplier Insights
    • Brand Voice
    • Supplier Voice
    • Supplier News
  • Podcast
  • Webinars
    • Thought Leaders: A Virtual Roundtable Series
    • On-Demand Webinars
  • Buyer’s Guide
No Result
View All Result
  • Topics
    • Leadership
    • Marketing & Sales
    • News
    • Operations
    • Programming
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Past Issues
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletter
    • Media Kit
    • Contact Us
  • Continuing Education
    • Club Solutions Leadership Summit
    • Club Solutions Leadership Retreat
    • CS Connect Virtual Event
  • Supplier Insights
    • Brand Voice
    • Supplier Voice
    • Supplier News
  • Podcast
  • Webinars
    • Thought Leaders: A Virtual Roundtable Series
    • On-Demand Webinars
  • Buyer’s Guide
No Result
View All Result
Club Solutions Magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home Marketing & Sales

Give and You Shall Receive

Ali Cierchi by
March 31, 2011
in Marketing & Sales, News
0
Share on FacebookShare on LinkedIn

Referrals are the lifeblood of your gym, and you should do whatever it takes to maximize your referral efforts. Unfortunately, I still see many gym owners still refuse to give something away in order to get a referral. Oh sure, they give away a prize AFTER a referral joins, but never before. Why not try giving something to your member, regardless of whether or not their friend joins. “Give and you shall receive” is one of the greatest lessons in life; and as it turns out, it’s one of the greatest lessons in your fitness business as well.

Think of something that you can provide a member as an incentive to provide you the names and numbers of the people in their life they would most like to see join the gym. I know that it’s not always easy to ask them to offer this information, especially if they’ve been a member for a while. However, you’ll be surprised at what people will do for a guaranteed gift. Immediate satisfaction is a powerful weapon to use to get your members to give you referrals.

Instead of offering a free month IF one of their friends join offer a free month if they give you the contact information for five of their friends. You might have them go one extra step and have the member text those five people right there on the spot with a special offer you’re willing to give the member’s friend. In exchange for this, give them their free month right away.

OMG! What if everyone takes me up on this offer? I’m going to lose a lot of money next month! Relax, even if 100 people take advantage of this, you can space out the months when you’ll comp their dues. In addition, don’t forget that if 100 people do this, you now have five00 names, numbers, email addresses, mailing addresses, etc to market to!

Let’s assume your monthly dues on average are $40. Realistically, 40 percent of the leads given to you will be bogus or will never answer the phone right? So that leaves us with only 300 relevant leads. Let’s also realistically assume that you can get only 20 percent of these remaining leads in for a tour. That leaves you with only 60 people who come in for a tour. And since I’m sure you’re pretty decent at sales, you and your staff have an 80percent close rate. Which means, out of 500 leads, you end up with 48 new members from this promotion.

One month of dues at $40 x 100 referral participants equals a $4000 decrease to your bottom line for giving away the prize. But, 48 members x $40 per month, on a year term equals an increase of $23,040 to your bottom line, giving you a net increase of $19,040 in revenue. Not bad for giving something away up front rather than after their friend joins. And don’t forget, that’s 48 more people to collect five friends’ contact info at the point of sale.

The only explanation I have for why giving before receiving works in this scenario is the fact that people LOVE immediate gratification. “I will give you a free month RIGHT NOW, if you share with me five people you would like to see working out at the gym.” “I will give you this gym bag and t-shirt and coffee mug right now if you’ll help me identify some people you’d like to give a special membership offer to.”

People love free stuff, but more importantly, people love free stuff right now. They see it in your hand, and they want it in their hand. The value proposition is stronger if you give them something now rather than if their friend joins, and they are more likely to participate for the immediate gratification.

You don’t even have to give them any other incentive if their friends join since you already gave them a gift up front. They can be rewarded knowing that their friend is being provided a special offer because of their standing at the gym.

To really promote this referral program, don’t forget to promote it from a variety of angles. Put signs up all over the gym, send letters to current members with a form for them to put their friends’ contact info on, call your best members, call any member who has referred in the past, email every member, text every member, have your front desk tell everyone about the promotion. And when you send an email, simply tell them to put their friends’ contact information in the email and you’ll have a prize waiting for them the next time they come to the gym.

I would also call it a “Nomination” rather than a referral contest. They can “nominate five friends to receive this gift today.” If you give away a tangible gift rather than a free service (monthly dues, personal training session, boot camp, etc), make sure you put it on display so they can see what you will give them the moment they offer up their friends’ information.

Happy lead collecting!

Curtis Mock

Curtis Mock is the host of www.FitnessBusinessTelevision.com the TV show for fitness entrepreneurs. He is also the executive director of gymsuccess.com. Curtis can be reached at curtis@clubsolutionsmagazine.com.

Previous Post

Members Are Excited by Air Yoga

Next Post

Focusing on Small Group Training

Ali Cierchi

Ali Cierchi

Related Posts

AUSactive National Awards
News

Aquafit Takes Home Two AUSactive National Awards

September 20, 2023
New York Sports Club
News

New York Sports Club Celebrates 50 Years With Rebrand

September 14, 2023
Crow Canyon
News

The Bay Club Company Acquires Crow Canyon Country Club

September 5, 2023
YogaSix
News

YogaSix Surpasses 600 Signed Franchise Agreements  

August 25, 2023
Stretch Zone
News

Stretch Zone Named to Franchise Business Review’s 2023 Culture100 List

August 16, 2023
Equally Fit
News

Erasing Limitations at Equally Fit

August 10, 2023
Next Post

Focusing on Small Group Training

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Facebook Twitter Instagram LinkedIn
Club Solutions Magazine

Club Solutions Magazine is the #1 business resource for the health and fitness industry. Established in 2003, Club Solutions provides best practice, business resources that educate and empower health club professionals.

EDUCATE. EMPOWER. SUCCEED.



The Current Issue

September Issue 2023

September 2023



Browse

  • Home
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletter
  • Media Kit
  • The Magazine
  • Buyer’s Guide
  • Contact Us

© 2023 Club Solutions Magazine. Published by Peake Media.

No Result
View All Result
  • Topics
    • Leadership
    • Marketing & Sales
    • News
    • Operations
    • Programming
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Past Issues
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletter
    • Media Kit
    • Contact Us
  • Continuing Education
    • Club Solutions Leadership Summit
    • Club Solutions Leadership Retreat
    • CS Connect Virtual Event
  • Supplier Insights
    • Brand Voice
    • Supplier Voice
    • Supplier News
  • Podcast
  • Webinars
    • Thought Leaders: A Virtual Roundtable Series
    • On-Demand Webinars
  • Buyer’s Guide

© 2023 Club Solutions Magazine. Published by Peake Media.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In