Jarrod Saracco, the president and CEO of the Health Club Doctor, shares how to not leave your membership sales to a game of revenue roulette.
In the last issue of Club Solutions, we began to explore the eight building blocks of profitability and why these are essential to master if you want to have success in the fitness business. In this month’s issue, we will discuss the sales block.
It has long been said that “sales is the lifeblood of your fitness business.” If that’s the case, then why have so many operators chosen to leave their membership sales to a game of chance?
What do we mean by a ‘game of chance?’ If sales is truly the single most important part of your fitness business, then why are you leaving it up to a 17 year old high school kid at the front desk? Or an AI bot on a website? Or hoping your social media manager can answer sales questions and book appointments? Without a true professional who’s trained on sales systems and processes, you’re truly leaving your business success up to a game of chance.
Are there times when your desk staff should sell? Yes. Can AI bots and automation help you increase sales? Definitely. Can social media assist in your sales efforts? Of course. But at the end of the day, who is directly responsible for sales at your facility?
If your business is struggling to meet its sales objectives, it’s most likely not due to your marketing or even lack thereof. It most likely has a fundamental problem at the sales level: is there a dedicated person or professional whose sole responsibility or main focus is sales? Do you have systems and processes in place to nurture leads, manufacture other leads, get referrals, close business and to grow your revenue? Or are you playing “revenue roulette,” hoping that your front desk team will step up to the task and deliver big time sales results?
