Often when someone needs change there are certain time parameters that are accepted. Psychologists say it takes 21 days to accept change. Most health-related programs are based upon 12 weeks or three months to a new you. So how much time does it take to turn sales around? If your club is not hitting its numbers, how much time is needed to turn it around? I mean, if you had a terrible month, how soon can you get it back to respectability? 30 days of commitment can turn any club around.
Set a goal:
Sounds simple right? It’s not. The task of setting the goal is easy; the task of getting buy-in is not. You can make up any number, but a number without meaning is useless. You have to justify the number; you have to qualify what the number means to the club, what it means to the sales person and what it means for continued momentum. If each reason for the goal is met you have begun to get a focused team. If none of these things are met, you simply have a goal that is meaningless.
For excitement, commitment and work ethic to take place the goal must be attainable, believable and rewarding for everyone. Here’s a hypothetical example of the language I would express to my employees:
Last month we hit 150 sales, were 25 percent short of our target and therefore we missed the team bonus. We need to make that up, we need to get our numbers back on par, so we have to work extra hard.
This month our goal is normally 150, but we are going to aim at 180 sales. That means I need each of you to write 30 sales. Normally we give a bonus of $250.00 for hitting a goal, but if we hit goal this month we will double the bonus to $500.00 dollars. Do I have your attention?
Here is how we are going to do it:
I need each of you to turn in your work sheet daily, we need to each make four new appointments per day. Normally we require three new appointments but we will need to hit four to meet the additional sales. Remember, we are working on a double bonus as a team. We all have to be accountable, so we will meet daily to go over work sheets.
We each have a responsibility to each other financially, so please encourage each other daily and have some fun internal contest to keep it light. Let’s see who can make the most appointments, the most referrals, the most sales. Each day we will give out club bucks to the daily top producer. We will also have a day where if everyone hits a certain number, we will reward that effort as well.
We are going to make this fun, it won’t be easy, but we have to be ready to work, and do the extra things necessary to get back on track. Everyone will help each other; we will work as a team. I know we can do this, but you have to believe, you have to want it.
If we hit this number, it will put the club back on track, we will be back on target for our yearly budget and we will all be in line for year-end bonuses.
Does all this sound far-fetched, sound a little corny?
Well let’s look at the opposite. Try getting everyone excited with no goal, with no individual incentive, no team or personal accountability, no company incentives, no daily incentives, no accountability to each other, no club reason for success. No team buy-in.
People don’t respond just because you say do it. It’s no longer my way or the highway, we have to be smart, we have to have fun and we have to show them how
This is juts little taste, you can create your own scenario, but I suspect if you have fallen behind, you may need to dig deeper than this to create an outstanding outcome.
Just some thoughts for you.
Chuck Hall is the executive director at Big Vanilla Athletic Clubs. He can be reached at chall@bigvanilla.com.
