The largest contributor to failed sales in any industry is lack of follow up. Coming up in a close second place is a failure to ask for the sale enough times. Just in case you are thinking of it, repeating yourself four times does not count as asking for the sale more then once.
The trick is to structure your offers and price points so that you have a mixture of offers. One of the most effective ways to overcome an objection is not by explaining to the prospect how badly they need to buy the thing they just objected to — it is by asking them to buy something different that helps them reach their goal in a different way.
If price is a common objection at your club, have a lower price down-sell, same thing for service or usage rate. You can apply this principal to memberships as well as to profit centers like personal training. Make sure your staff is presenting a sales offer no less than three times before a prospect is placed on to a trial pass or missed guest log. Start at a premium offer and work your way through your down-sells one at a time. Give the prospect each offer until they have settled on a purchase or you have run out of options. Progressive down-sells will help you convert 20 percent of the prospects that you would have otherwise lost and once someone buys they are 23 times more likely to upgrade to a higher rate than a non buyer.
Chris Batchelor
Health Club Marketing Contributor
