Many health clubs are feeling the economic pinch of the recession. During these tough times, its important to stay positive, and more importantly, revisit strategies on how to keep your sales staff positive and motivated too. A recent article I read reminded me of the importance of continually motivating the sales team and had some great ideas to keep the team motivated.
- Adjust Your Health Club’s Goals And Incentive Programs
Define and establish sales goals, give your team the tools to achieve these goals, and monitor progress to hold the team accountable.
- Don’t Just Throw Money at The Problem
Many owners think increasing commissions will increase membership sales. However, increasing commissions without support, training and motivation likely won’t help.
- Train, Train And Train Some More
Take the time to learn the health club sales systems inside and out and pass it along to your staff/ membership reps, to motivate them to be confident to get out there and talk intelligently to members and guests about the health club.
- Stay Connected At All Times
Conduct a weekly sales meetings to discuss the prior week’s results, the results of those calls, plans for the week ahead, sales pipeline status and what reps are doing to grow those pipelines.
- Encourage Your Staff To Sell More To Existing Members
It costs five times as much money to acquire a new member than to service an existing one, so why not take this time to inspire sales staff to sell more product and services to the members they already have?
- Keep ‘Em Informed
Keep your sales force informed not only about the health club industry, the competition and the selling environment, but also about how the club is doing, as well.
- Inspire Success
Health club members and guests want more, but they want to pay less for it. The challenges are out there, tell your staff that if they follow your sales scripts, and keep working hard with a winning attitude, they’ll be successful.
Kind Regards,
Kyle Z.
Source: http://www.fitcommerce.com/BLUEPRINT/How-to-Motivate-Your-Health-Club-Sales-Reps-in-Tough-Economic-Times_page.aspx?pageId=860&portalId=2&cid=1515
Why do members really quit? Is it because of standing on the same old treadmill watching the same old television? What can we do to avoid boring our members?
The study Why People Quit, published by IHRSA in 1998, cites reasons people quit their clubs that we’ve all heard before: can’t afford it, it’s overcrowded, new demands on one’s time, inconvenient location and lost interest or motivation. If someone wants out, these excuses are as good as any. One great way to help keep members longer is to develop a personal relationship with the member to help motivate them to make it their priority to find time to exercise at YOUR club!
Key is ‘creating constant opportunities for contact and interaction between the club and members on a daily basis.
Here are some tips:
- Member Appreciation Month – Each day during this month, put out large bowls of complimentary fruit, hand out free bottled water, and create fun events that grab members’ attention. Hold special activities at the sports/juice bar, such as a Happy Hour every Thursday from 6-7pm with free drinks and snacks. Barter with a local disc jockey for in-club music during this time. Consider offering free one-on-one or semi-private group training for every member who wants to try it (this results in more training business during the following month).
- Announce Adding or Replacing old Equipment – It’s all a matter of presentation. New pieces can be presented as a gift to members for their loyal support. But don’t just buy the equipment – announce it to your members through your iGo Figure Software Welcome Screen, a large sign, ribbon or anything else you can think of. Everyone will notice that you care for your members and share the appreciation.
- Group Exercise, Weigh Management Programs, Personal Training – Motivation can work wonders and it is a lot easier to create this in a group. Seeing others doing the same exercise and looking great shows your members that your club is right for them. Don’t forget to mix it up and offer different or even additional classes like a boot camp for the summer. It’s easy to track them with the iGo Figure Member Management Software as well as providing their results and achievements.
- Open 24/7 – Anyone can be available 24/7 with a Door Access System. Systems like the iGo Figure Door Access do not require any additional staffing, because members simply scan their card and your doors open automatically. Your members will appreciate the extra hours you are there for them and no longer use time as an excuse to quit.
Start creating an environment in which every member is touched every day. Do this, and a higher retention rate is practically guaranteed.
Cheers,
Kyle Z
Source: http://cms.ihrsa.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageId=18576
In times of recession “Service Means Survival”, but keep in mind the difference between customer satisfaction and loyalty is significant:
Member Satisfaction means meeting a member’s expectations and the member does not feel valued. There is no memorable “WOW” experience. As a result the member will be more price sensitive and consider competitors’ offerings. Member Loyalty means exceeding member expectations and he/ she does feel valued. Delivering a memorable experience that WOW’s the member. As a result the member will be a long-term customer, less concerned with price.
How do you drive a Member Loyalty-Centric Corporate Culture?
- It must start with an unwavering commitment by club ownership and senior management.
- Hire people who have an ingrained passion for serving people exceptionally well.
- Develop and train all staff who interact with members on “best practices” based on members’ wants, not the club’s convenience. Everything that impacts a member experience. Ask “What would WOW me?” When did you receive exceptional customer service – How did it make you feel? How did it affect your shopping habits at that store? How many people did you share it with?
- Don’t allow staff to use the word “policy,” as 99% of the time upon hearing that word, a member knows he/ she is about to be given an excuse as to why his/ her need will not be met. Train employees on how to innovatively problem-solve to say yes vs. giving excuses for saying no.
- Coach staff to view angry members as an opportunity to convert them to members for life: teach them how to use “mirroring” to diffuse anger, then go the extra mile to exceed their expectations.
- Ask for examples of “memorable experiences” and “exceeding member expectations” at every staff meeting. Hold employees accountable for achieving them, and give rewards to those who do.
- Don’t cut expenses that negatively impact quality service delivery for short-term financial gain. That will cost the company much more in lost revenues and profits over the long term.
Reasons to implement a Member Loyalty-Centric Corporate Culture?
- It’s far less expensive to keep a member than acquire a new one.
- Positive word of mouth by loyal members generate far more new members than cold calling and other lead generation efforts – and it’s free.
- A negative member experience will be told to at least 10 people (oftentimes many more), resulting in potential lost new members; and
- The lifetime $ sales value (“LSV”) of a loyal member can be as much as 20 years and in addition the cumulative LSV of all new members he/ she refers.
You can start by writing a short “Congrats” or “Great hair cut” message to individual members. Simply utilize the Member Welcome Screen in the iGo Figure Software.
It will put a smile on your member’s face, when they see that you remembered. Never forget, member retention is key!
It’s all about the way people feel when they walk into your club – happy, comfortable, special.
Get started today!
Cheers,
Matt Z.
Source: http://cms.ihrsa.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewPage&pageID=21029
Save time, money and run your business most efficiently with the iGo Figure Membership & Business Management Software.
- Save $199 on payment processing (no obligation)
- Enjoy 2 months no license fee.
- FREE Retention Management for 60 days
Lock in your discount at (866) 532-9588 or sales@igofigure.com.
Undecided? No worries use a full version of the iGo Figure Software FREE.
Simply click here to request the free trial.
Still not sure? Schedule a web demo today and let us show you how iGo Figure will save you even more money.
Click here to email us now.
Cheers,
Matt Z
Ronnie and I just returned from a terrific time at the Club Industry Fitness trade show in Chicago. Many many customers stopped by to check out the new features of Go Figure’s club management software. Sean Groves with Great Lakes Health and Fitness absolutely loved the touch screen functionality and how easy it was to navigate through the software with it. I think the feature most people were interested in was the $.10 EFT processing. It seems with the uncertainty of the economy, club owners just don’t want to give away their money to process payments any more. Glad we’re able to help!
A handful of club owners from Central and South America loved the Spanish language version too.
It was great seeing Rich, Jack and the rest of the Retention Management crowd.
Cheers,
Matt Z
By: Kyle Zagrodzky
A Simple Tool that Creates Visibility for Your Business
Throughout my years of owning fitness centers, I found one tool to be more helpful than any other in boosting memberships at my clubs: the lead bag.
To me, a lead bag has always been a beautiful thing, so simple and always giving back more to me than I have to give in both time and money. Club owners and managers often underestimate the power of this very simple concept. I’d like to help you see how you can use it to your advantage.
Try to think about the lead bag as an eye-catching billboard. If your bag is too busy or bland it will have less of an impact. Furthermore, some people aren’t comfortable putting their personal information in the bag. Don’t let that discourage you. Whether a person completes a lead form, the bag still works its magic. You are creating “top-of-mind awareness” about your business. People will think of you the next time they consider joining a fitness center.
Read the entire article for tips on:
- Creating your bags
- Planning distribution
- Distributing them
- Following up
You’ll be glad you did!
I just returned from training over 100 new users if the iGo Figure software in London last week. It was a lot of fun and the attendees were very appreciative for the event. It was also exciting to train on our newest version (3.6) which will be available in a few weeks. New and existing users alike were very happy to see features such as:
- Profile-based security
- Web-based scheduler
- Session based memberships
- Email Member Retention program
There are more new features than that coming in this version, but those were the only ones I had time to showcase. Check out our news and event tab for more on-site training events going on around the world. Also, remember to look for other training resources from the training section of our website.
Be well, Kyle Z.
Request Free Trial
I just got off the phone with Rich at Retention Management. The Retention Management member retention program is now available in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand! The offical announcement is coming soon. To check out the service and how it will help retain your members longer, click the iGoConnect tab at igofigure.com
Cheers,
Matt Z
® are registered trademarks of Go Figure, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. |