There is nothing so noble as investing time, energy, money, and sweat into opening a facility where people can change their lives for the better. I remember 15 years ago being a part of an executive management team, and the executive meetings focused first on sales, then minimally, almost as an inconvenient necessity, on service. The service conversations primarily revolved around keeping service payroll as low as possible.
I couldn’t grasp the distinction. Of course I knew that a sale was the generation of a new membership, but if the goal is to prosper by attracting greater and greater numbers of people desiring positive physical change, shouldn’t the sale be clearly linked to the delivery of the result?
By separating sales and service, clubs have evolved into businesses that generate 85 percent to, in some cases, 100 percent of their revenues from membership sales. With that standing as the recognized business model, the focus on sales industry-wide takes great precedence over an emphasis on service, thus, the industry fails miserably when judged upon its ability to thrill and retain members.
Now, in recognition of the shortcoming, innovative clubs have added a new focus. Retention. Rather than having two distinctions, there are now three! I see the third piece of the pie as a flawed attempt to excuse our industry for failing people. Retention departments contact the members who have stopped using their membership privileges. That’s analogous to throwing someone a life jacket after they’ve gone under.
Allow me to suggest a variation of the sell, service, retain scheme that can lead to far greater customer satisfaction, greater business longevity, and of course, greater long-term profitability. In my suggested variation, we focus equally on sales and service, clearly delineating the bridge from one to the other. We structure a relationship between the new member and staff professionals that ensures not a payroll handicap, but member spending justifying service-related paychecks. Teach your members to achieve results, teach them the value of connecting with a personal trainer, and establish a system whereby training revenue rivals membership revenue. Where does retention fit in? It’s inherent in the sales/ service connection. Instead of creating a new area of focus where we try to reel back in those that got away, let’s focus on attrition prevention. Let’s focus not on the sale, but rather on improving the appeal of membership by delivering extreme value after the sale. The sale should be not an end in itself, but rather a means to an end.
I’m suggesting every action we take is grounded in the knowledge that we are capable, not only of delivering value, but of delivering more value than people expect. Is that difficult? Nope. It’s simple. How do I know? Listen to a satisfied personal training client praise his or her trainer for delivering results. It’s inevitable the word “unbelievable” will show up as an element of the praise:
“I’m back in my old jeans. This is unbelievable.”
“I ate whatever I wanted through the holidays and didn’t gain a pound. This is unbelievable.”
“Everyone tells me how great I look. This is unbelievable.”
If we take a step back and explore the reason the results people actually paid for register as unbelievable, we’ll clearly see that people are so accustomed to failing; they’re shocked if and when they achieve a result. I defy you to identify any other industry where people fail to get what they pay for and blame themselves.
The independent clubs that stand the test of time will step away from the old practice of service existing only as a microcosm of a sales operation and will structure a clear path leading from prospect to member to thrilled member. Thrilled members spend, promote, participate, and refer. Continue to thrill people and growth becomes exponential. Every thrilled member becomes a potential salesperson…and you don’t have to pay a commission!
The steps to a balanced sales, service, retention program:
• Develop a recruiting and training program that creates experts. If you’re going to ask members to pay for exercise assistance, it’s vital that you have a core of recognized professionals capable of delivering results.
• Devote at least as much energy to internal promotion of for-fee programs, paid services, and referral opportunities as you do to advertising.
• Structure an arrangement where trainers are connected with new members, not for free, but for a fee justifiable by the fact that the trainers are the vehicle toward achieving results.
• Create a two-way street where sales people drive training and trainers recognize opportunities for sales referrals.
• Establish first level managers as leaders by providing management training and support.
It sounds simple. It isn’t. The health club field has had its share of black eyes and building an organization where leaders lead experts for a triple win is challenging, but it’s do-able…And it’s worth it!
Phil Kaplan is the Founder of Profits Camp, a 3-Day workshop in South Florida. He can be contacted at 800.552.1998, or by email at phil@philkaplan.com, or visit www.philkaplan.com.
