The Pretty Direct Sales System

The Pretty Direct Sales System is a program I designed to sell high-priced health club memberships and personal training packages. It’s broken down as follows: 

P: Procrastination. Procrastination stopped your prospect from starting a fitness program in the past — and it will stop them from buying today, if you don’t help them overcome procrastination.

R: Rapport. Rapport building skills are essential for successful selling. Become an expert at building rapport and as a result, selling is a thousand times easier. 

E: Empathy. Empathize with every single prospect. Understand what it’s like to go into a gym for the very first time. Know what it feels like to be 40 pounds overweight.

T: Trust. People buy from people they trust. Build trust by being genuinely interested in helping your prospect.

T: Time. Never rush a sale. Take time to build rapport, ask questions, discuss solutions, overcome objections and close. 

Y: You. Use the word “you” instead of “we.” Don’t say, “We offer free personal training.” Say, “You get free personal training.” Instead of, “We have 200 free classes” say, “You get 200 free classes.”

D: Differentiate. Design your sales presentation to instantly differentiate your product or service from your competitors.

I: Inquire. The No. 1 skill of any great sales person is the ability to ask the right questions, at the right time, in the right way. Learn to ask great questions.

R: Results. Sell results. Don’t sell cardio machines. Sell a slimmer body. Don’t sell resistance equipment. Sell a toned body.

E: Eliminate fear. The “intimidation” factor of gyms adds a lot of fear to the buying decision. A great sales system is designed to completely eliminate that fear. 

C: Create value. Your job is to build the value of your product to be double what you charge. Do this and your price will never be a problem. 

T: Two-visit agreement. Your prospect is far more worried about the time commitment than your price. So rather than ask them to train six days a week, suggest two days a week.

Alan Leach is the group general manager and director of sales and marketing at West Wood Clubs.