There is only one successful way to follow up with missed guests…
There are several strategies when following up with missed guests. The best and only way to successfully contact your leads is to communicate with them on their terms the way they want to be communicated with.
If your sales team is building a good relationship with their guest and your club tours are entertaining and engaging, even though they didn’t enroll, the guest probably walked away with a positive experience. Chances are the customer is back to their old routine and your club is the last thing on their mind. You MUST follow up with your leads because they will NOT follow up with you.
How do you motivate your missed guest to come back and enroll?
We need to help them remember their experience and the way they felt during their last visit. Phone calls alone won’t cut it. With smart phones, social media and unlimited text messaging, you’ll be lucky to contact half of your leads with just a phone call. What are you using to communicate with your future members?
Traditional Phone Calls – Call at times when they can and want to answer the call.
Text Messaging – If they don’t return your call, try shooting them a text.
E-mail – E-mail blasts usually end up in your, and your leads’, junk mail. Each sales person should have their own e-mail address that they can use to send out individually.
Social Media – Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are the most powerful.
I know what you are thinking …
“I don’t want my sales team wasting time on social media all day long”
I know from experience that shifting paradigm on social media is very difficult. The way people respond to marketing has changed and operational versatility is a must to stay cutting edge. Don’t hear me wrong, we still need to make phone calls; just don’t take away effective sales tools to discourage bad behaviors….get rid of the bad behaviors!
How do you inspire your missed guest to feel the same emotion as when they initially toured your facility?
Create a Company YouTube account and upload videos that align with your marketing and brand messaging. The goal is to get them to remember the feelings they had while visiting your club, so keep this in mind when you’re selecting music and video. Now, your sales team just sends the link via text, e-mail, Facebook etc. You’ll be amazed with the amount of feedback and contacts you’ll gain.
Here are a few examples of what a missed guest follow up text or e-mails would look like.
“How’s your pass going? http://youtu.be/bn3n7OPnKrQ
“What do you think? http://youtu.be/NQRdCkFy54o
“Think the kids will like this? http://youtu.be/wAwHpPL1Ew4
Worst case scenario, the guest doesn’t know who it is and reply’s back with “Who is this? Great! That’s a contact and now your conversation continues via text or transitions to a phone call, which leads to an appointment to come back in. Best case scenario, their co-worker overheard heard the music and asked what they were watching and you may have doubled your enrollments!
At the end of the day, those team members who can communicate their brand, and describe what makes their club different to their customers, in the way their customers wants to be communicated with, will win the market share of their community.
Ryan Junk is the director of sales for UFC Gym. He can be reached at ryan@ufcgym.com.
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Rachel Zabonick-Chonko is the editor-in-chief of Club Solutions Magazine. She can be reached at rachel@peakemedia.com.
