Selling is based on catering to each person’s unique individual needs. So in that case, wouldn’t it make sense to get rid of the old sales scripts and use on-the-fly scripts based on the needs of each prospect or member? Well, although it sounds good in theory, it doesn’t really work that way.
Because the choice to join a gym or studio is often driven by an emotional motivator, the need for communication is often much higher than if someone went to go buy something less personal, such as a washing machine. That need for communication, if met, can be a huge advantage for gyms and studios, and that is where scripting comes in.
Onboarding, consistency and relevancy are the three most important pieces to the communication puzzle.
Onboarding
Every gym or studio owner hopes to be able to grow their business, hire more people, and create more revenue. But the hard part is having everything in place to be able to scale successfully. Sales scripts allow you to onboard new employees with ease and ensure that they are representing your brand the way you want them to.
Being able to start a new employee and have them on the phones or emailing that same day is a huge advantage to your business, as it drastically cuts down on training time. Time is money in this industry, so the quicker your salespeople are representing your company the right way, the more money you’ll be making.
Consistency
Although setting up sales scripts doesn’t completely negate the occasional do-it-yourself employee, it lessens the number of interactions that are had off-script, leading to a more consistent brand message. If all of your employees (and yourself) are treating customers the same and using the same language, you slowly but surely start to build a brand. Think about it, when you say “thank you” to a Chick-Fil-A employee, what do they say back? “My pleasure.” The reason people know this is because they train their employees to be consistent in their message to customers, and it has now become a part of their brand.
Relevancy
Sales scripts can have the reputation of being too “corporate” or “not personal.” There are times where this is true, but if written correctly, they can be just as personal as a handwritten letter. The key to personalization is dynamic tags. A dynamic tag is a part of an email or text where the prospect or customer’s name or personal information would go. Most marketing or sales software allows you to do this and it pulls their information directly from the system.
“Hello {{prospect-first}}, My name is John, I am a personal trainer at Fitness Foundation.”
By simply adding a couple of well-placed dynamic tags, the entire tone of the email or text is changed. Being relevant and having personalization features increases your chance at a response or sale.
Overall, catering to the needs of prospects and members is the most important part of building your business, but to scale, having scripts and processes in place is a necessity.
This piece was written by Calley Belcher, marketing coordinator for Club OS. To contact Club OS email hello@club-os.com or call 888.812.2158. Visit http://info.club-os.com/free-sales-scripts-download to download free sales scripts for your studio or gym.
