Referrals, business-to-business and outreach. We have all heard the basics of how to drive additional leads. But what about underutilized lead tactics?
When evaluating your business, the first thing you should always assess is your sales process. If you’re getting five or 500 leads every month, with a weak sales process, you’re missing out on opportunity. For those who feel pretty good about your sales process, you have likely used the term “no stone unturned.” The problem with that statement is there are always stones that can be overturned.
If you think you’re doing everything you can to gather leads, I guarantee you there are ways you haven’t evaluated yet. Let’s take a look at four underutilized lead tactics almost no fitness business I have been involved in are currently using.
1. Cancellation Requests
When a member decides to give up a fitness membership there are typically two factors. They no longer have use for the membership. These are reasons such as moving, their job offers a similar option, the commute doesn’t make sense, and things of this sort. In these cases, it is usually not a bad experience that is moving them to cancel. This is why a lead ask can be natural and have a very high success rate.
For options on how to use this conversation, a simple ask looks like “Would you be willing to refer someone to us to replace your spot in our community?” Other suggestions include offering to match the clients rate for their referral. Or offering an incentive for giving a lead such as a gift card for one of your affiliate partnerships.
Learn More: Foundational Referral Campaign Tactics
The second factor causing a cancellation is the member no longer sees the value in the membership. These are reasons such as lack of results, boredom in the workout routine, lack of use, or thinking of trying a different program. In these cases, treading lightly is key.
The best way to view these conversations is to think of it as a “re-close” of the client. How have you failed to meet their expectations? What were they looking for they didn’t get? Once you are able to find the answers to these questions, you can then move to prescription of having an accountability partner to help with consistency, fun and results.
In the case the member considers giving you another chance, your best bet is to reevaluate if the client feels better about the program in one month. Set clear expectations about what you will do for the client in that timeframe to get them back on track. Then at the end of the month, waiving any cancellation notice or fees, is often a goodwill notion if the client is still unhappy with the service.
2. Member Spotlights
Most fitness centers know the value of testimonials. It’s a chance to organically show your following that real people just like them are getting real results. It’s a chance to love on your members, and a chance to provide social proof even to prospects that come in the door.
The disconnect here is most members will share these posts on their pages and will even tag the facility as they have been asked. But how many of you have seen amazing results from exposure only? The best recommendation for a member testimonial is to have a personal conversation with the member and ask them a simple question:
“You seem so proud of the results you have gotten in the video we just recorded! We will be sharing this on our social pages, but I’d like it to be a little more personal for you. If you had three friends we were able to tell this story to personally, and you think it would help them make a decision to live better, who would those three friends be?”
Learn More: The Five Best Referral Marketing Strategies
This simple ask allows the member to really feel the impact of what telling their story can do for others, and more often than not is met with fantastic feedback and sometimes even more referrals than the initial ask.
3. Drop-ins
Most operators see drop-ins, or visitors from out of town as either a nuisance and bad for business. They can make closing percentage look bad or simply as additional revenue. The problem with these mindsets are visitors from out of town are always in town for a specific reason. Typically for work or to visit friends or family. In these cases, the best way to handle these guests is to have a shortened discovery process for them which includes the reason for visit.
A simple ask would be “After your workout, if you enjoy our facility, would you mind leaving a pass for the family member you’re visiting? I would be happy to cover the cost for them since you paid your way today!”
With great customer experience, many times your out-of-town guest will oblige since great experiences for “non-qualified” prospects at most other facilities is next to nothing.
4. Ambassadorship
The most common tool I have used in my career that has turned into countless opportunities is one that is the most obvious but rarely. Ambassadorship is the mindset of always seeing conversations as opportunities no matter where you go or what you’re doing. If you truly believe that fitness can change anyone’s life, why wouldn’t you talk about it with those around you?
Each and every fitness business has an ideal client. This is something to take into consideration as to why it wouldn’t be fruitful to simply toss a trial membership at anyone who smiles at you. But once in conversation, a few basic needs analysis questions can often lead to a recommendation to your center. Or even another fitness center that may be a better fit for the prospect if they do not meet your ideal client profile.
The beauty of this interaction is most people appreciate you partnering them with the right fit more than trying to get them in your doors. It will lead to a fantastic word of mouth reputation and more unexpected leads coming in your doors.
