Sport&Health has 23 premier athletic clubs on the East Coast, with clubs ranging in size from 25,000-170,000 square feet. The club recently implemented InTouch Follow-Up, a web-based contact management system built specifically for health clubs, across all its locations, to help its sales reps communicate more effectively with leads and drive sales.
Nancy Terry, the SVP of marketing for Sport&Health, explained to Club Solutions why InTouch Follow-Up was the best choice for Sport&Health.
CS: What were some challenges you faced before choosing InTouch Follow-Up?
NT: We were looking for a new company that would help us track and measure productivity of our sales team, provide automated communication for nurturing the lead through the sales process and aid in the follow-up communication with new members after the sale.
CS: Give a brief background on why your club chose InTouch Follow-Up. How did you come to conclusion that their service would solve your challenges?
NT: We liked InTouch Follow-Up the best because it was designed for the health club industry. Its system mirrored the way we do business, but automated and improved the process almost every step of the way.
CS: Describe how you have implemented InTouch Follow-Up in your club and what were you looking to accomplish?
NT: We tested InTouch Follow-Up in two clubs the first half of the year before rolling out company wide to all 23 locations. In July 2013, Caitlin Tupper, the senior customer service ambassador for InTouch Follow-Up, came to our area and held a staff training for over 100 general managers and membership staff. This was followed up by personal visits the next week to each club to answer questions first-hand after the membership team had a chance to start using the system. She is one of the best trainers we’ve experienced, as she has been in the club business for years and was able to relate the system to our needs and make the transition as seamless as possible. The team at InTouch Technology customized our system and the training to make it an easy learning curve for the staff.
CS: What are the greatest benefits from working with InTouch Follow-Up?
NT: From a daily standpoint, we are able to improve the productivity of the sales team in several ways:
1. Managing our calls, leads, appointments and sales through the club dashboards.
2. Sending automated text reminders for appointments to increase our show percentage.
3. Sending automated fitness tips via e-mail throughout the sales life cycle to build value and manage the trial experience based on the times the guest has visited the club or has not visited yet.
4. Providing reminder call alerts to the sales team so no lead/guest falls through the cracks.
5. Automating the lead collection process by using web landing pages for referrals, Facebook, direct mail, event and community marketing.
6. Using the “Text to Win” function for marketing at our community and corporate events so leads are automatically collected. No more paperwork or losing leads when you’re out of the club doing external marketing.
CS: What is the most important thing the InTouch Folllow-Up service has helped you and your club accomplish?
NT: The text feature is the quickest return we have seen, generating over 200 of our sales in the first month of using the system from communicating via text.
For more information about InTouch Follow-Up and how it can benefit your club, visit http://www.intouchfollowup.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.
