There are many things you need to do well during the membership sales process. You need to be upbeat, enthusiastic, positive, a good listener and goal oriented, to name a few. But there are also a few things that you do NOT want to do.
- Don’t give a museum tour. Touring someone around the gym is not show and tell time. Yes, you want to make sure they see everything. But the purpose of a club tour is really about building value. Discuss your club’s features, by focusing on the benefits of those features. And when not doing that, ask your prospect open-ended questions.
- Don’t go too fast. Fitness membership salespeople have a tendency to walk fast, talk fast and hurry the whole process. Take a deep breath, slow down and you will make more sales. In a typical mainstream gym, a tour should take a minimum of 20 to 30 minutes. Sure, sometimes you get the prospect who walks in, and says, “Sign me up,” but most of your tours are with people who are shopping around. Take your time, even when the club is crazy busy.
- Don’t chew gum. This should be a no-brainer, but I see it quite a bit. Your breath does need to be fresh, but that is what mouthwash is for. Spit the gum out. In fact, get in the habit of leaving it in your backpack, purse or car.
- Don’t negotiate. Now this one is directed at the owners or decision makers in the gym business. Price integrity is important as you build a brand and a reputation in the community. Monthly dues should be set and so should the enrollment fee. I never recommend discounting the enrollment fee, but if you do it for a certain month of the year that is one thing. But never ever “wheel and deal” at the sales table. The price is the price. Once you start allowing membership salespeople to negotiate the enrollment fee, you just compromised your brand and opened up a can of worms. If given the ability to discount the enrollment fee to make a sale, they will stop focusing on their sales skills and go to the drop sale every time. And that will come back to haunt you.
- Don’t be late. Another no-brainer you may be thinking, and if so, good for you. I don’t have to worry about a good chunk of people out there — the ones who are time conscience and never late. But there are a good amount of people who are the opposite. They struggle with being on time. Guess what? You don’t realize it, but you are disrespecting someone else by being late. You don’t see it that way because you wouldn’t feel disrespected if someone were late for you. But that is because you are also late, and empathize with the person who is late. Many people aren’t like you. Learn to show up on time, or you will never be as successful as you want to be. Owners — work with your chronically late staff by constantly emphasizing the importance of being on time and how it is disrespectful to be late. Write people up who are late, and fire them after three incidents of tardiness.
These are pretty simple things to make sure you DON’T do. Give a tour that involves asking the prospect questions, take your time, mouth empty (no gum), have solid price integrity and be where you need to be at the time you need to be there.
Keep changing lives.
Jason Linse is president and founder of The Business of Fitness, a consulting company. He graduated from Minnesota State University with a degree in public health and corporate wellness. He started working in the fitness industry in 1995. In 2005, Linse started with Snap Fitness at its headquarters, helping them grow from 14 locations to 1,100 locations by October 2010, when he left to start the Business of Fitness. Linse also owned a gym for two and a half years before becoming a consultant. He also owns a personality assessment company called People Plus+ Fitness. He can be reached at jason@jasonlinse.com or at 612-310-1319. Visit www.jasonlinse.com.
