It’s important that everyone in your club is on board with the sales mission of the club. Often sales are only being communicated with the sales team. I have found that the more information you share with every department about sales and numbers, the more cooperation you will get from the entire team. It’s really tough for someone to care if they have no knowledge of the goal.
Events
Some clubs have special events, and some even have an event staff. The purpose of all events is to bring exposure to the club. The ultimate goal is for prospects to become involved in the club either through programming or membership. Make sure your event coordinators work with the sales department to; have a plan that all guests being given a VIP tour of the club; a way of communicating after the event; and a follow up for results.
Department Heads
All department heads have their own agenda. Most are developing revenue for their own department, but sales is a cross-promotional opportunity. Every department head should be part of the sales goal because sale feeds each of their programs; meaning, if there are no sales, there is no programming. The sales department is the fuel for all other income sources. Make sure your departments are working together and sharing leads. Department heads need to communicate what the sales goals are for the month, and should ask — how are we doing? Are we on pace? Can we help reach the sales goals? When everyone is involved, you create unity. Unity creates trust, trust creates longevity. Unity, trust and longevity are all positive characteristics of a successful club.
All Employees
Often employees can be a great referral possibility. If you get employees involved, then you can incentivize an entire staff to be ambassadors for your club. Run a promotion that states that for every guest that tours the club, employees will earn a “club buck.” The end result is that you increase your prospect pool, you increase employee morale, and you will help the sales team reach their quotas.
If you have unity, everyone will work together to achieve the club’s goals. As a club leader there is nothing better than unity. All goals can be reached easily when everyone is on board. So start your planning, share the plan with everyone, create incentives for each group and most of all, have fun working together!
Chuck Hall is the executive director at Big Vanilla Athletic Clubs.
