Q. We have difficulty tracking guest and new sale information at the front desk. Can you recommend a system? – Matt Slimming, the owner of STAR Fitness Center, Covington, La.
A. Unfortunately, many clubs don’t accurately track walk-ins, telephone inquiries and the number of guests who are “missed” versus those who become members. An effective front desk system is the answer to this problem. Most systems can be used as is, can be tweaked according to your specific needs or you can replace it entirely with a system of your own design. The most important thing is to have a system to continually follow.
In this system, your front desk staff (in addition to handling basic service issues) is responsible for maintaining a guest register, a trial pass register, a telephone inquiry log and a master appointment book.
Guest Register
One of the most important responsibilities of the front desk staff is to have everyone completely fill out the guest register. A guest register contains all of the information for tours that come into the club on a given day, including all of their contact information, what specific marketing brought them to the club and a win/loss column for your salespeople. If used 100 percent of the time, the guest register will provide you with an accurate closing percentage. The guest register should be reviewed every day to track the results of each and every person who visits your club.
Trial Pass Register
The front desk person is also responsible for maintaining a trial pass register. This is the form that trial members will sign prior to each workout during their trial period. I prefer to keep the complete list of all trial members nearby so their expiration dates can be tracked. Anytime a trial member checks in, a salesperson and other staff members should be notified so that they can find the trial member on the floor and visit with them. These trial members should also be called back on a regular basis during their trial period to keep them motivated and to incentivize them to enroll sooner than later.
Telephone Inquiry Book
When a prospect calls your club, your front desk or sales staff will need to record the time of the call, how the person heard of the club and the caller’s name and phone number. The inquiry book should have an area for the results of the phone call (appointment set, reason for no appointment, call back date, etc.). Once the caller visits the club, they can be highlighted off of the inquiry book since they are now tracked through the guest register. The front desk staff is responsible for keeping this organized.
Master Appointment Book
The Master Appointment Book (MAB) is one of the most important elements of a successful sales program at a health club. Anytime an appointment for a tour is made, it needs to be recorded in the MAB. This book should remain at the front desk so that the front desk staff can be aware of all appointments coming through the door. Your front desk staff will be able to take a quick look at the MAB and determine who is arriving for an appointment. This allows them to address the guest by name and to determine how many missed guest versus new members the sales team had for the day. Also, if your salespeople are too busy to call and confirm your appointments in a timely manner, this can become a responsibility of the front desk staff as well.
It is very important to track all of the guests, trial passes, telephone inquiries and appointments that come through the club. No potential member should ever fall through the cracks due to ineffective tracking or lack of follow up.
Being accountable in these essential areas is crucial to knowing exactly where you and your staff need improvement. Whether you implement this system or a system of your own, the fact remains that a system is indeed very important. Opportunities that are not tracked are opportunities lost.-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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