Don’t lose out on selling a new customer by messing up the gym tour! When a prospect first walks into your health club, they’ve thought about joining for six months. They’re scared and skittish, ready to leap at any chance to say “let me sleep on it,” or even just turn around and leave, while congratulating themselves on their bravery and effort.
Don’t let that happen. Here are five secrets to a great gym tour that are sure to increase sales and create clients excited to join your club.
1. Introduce yourself and ask their name.
Use it throughout the gym tour. Memorize it.
2. Slow the gym tour down.
Get to know your guest and keep notes.Ideally, find a quiet place to sit and ask a few questions, but if not, it’s still easy to gather the basics up front. Identify why they are there so you can use it later to overcome objections and build value. If (or when!) they ask, early on, “How much is a membership?,” have a ready answer: “We’ve got plans for everyone’s budget, but first I’d like to make sure our gym is the right choice for you. Can I ask you…”
What are your goals for joining the gym? Have you ever hired a personal trainer? What other gyms have you belonged to? What did you like about them? What did you dislike? What is your motivation for joining a studio now? Does your “other half” care about you getting in shape?
3. Put them on equipment.
By engaging the customer, you already know their interests. Bring them to that section of the gym first, and encourage them to try the equipment. Fire off a couple of tips or facts based on their needs. A kind, informed approach moves your relationship from salesperson/client to teacher/student.
Here are two excellent, tried and true, sales techniques to use throughout the tour:
Assumptive questioning –
These are known as “assume the close” questions. Act and speak as if your guest hasjoined the gym. For example, you might ask, “What time are you more likely to use the gym — morningsor evenings?”
Porcupine Questions —
These bounce questions back to the customer. Rephrasing a question allows you to evaluate their thought process and answer it correctly. For example, if a customer asks you, “Is it always dead in here?” you can ask, “Is a quiet gym what you’re looking for?” The bounce-back broadens the conversation and builds value in the client’s mind.
4. Introduce your guest to another member.
It’s such a simple but incredibly effective move. Your client wants to see him- or herself exercising – succeeding – at your studio. This regular (who you know loves to talk) will give them the inside scoop, stimulating a sense of belonging and firing up motivation.
5. Keep sign-up simple.
From the moment they walked in the door, you’ve been selling value, not price. The conversation has focused on their aspirations and how your studio can help them reach those goals. Value-based selling revolves around the proposition that what your product provides is worth the price you’re asking. So don’t mess up a great gym tour by getting all complicated at the end.
Streamline membership options to three, maybe four, choices. Suggest one or two that make sense for them, not for your pocketbook. Provide a simple tool displaying easy-to-understand choices. Briefly describe the memberships, and ask “Which is best for you?” Then be quiet. In closing a sale, the first one to speak loses.
Closing the sale after a gym tour.
There are as many ways to close a deal as there are fireflies in the sky, but here are a couple of tactics to put ink on the page.
▪ Ask for the sale. A crazy number of salespeople never actually ask the customer to buy. It’s that awkward moment we’ve all been avoiding. If you’ve come across as sincere, and built a case for why your fitness center meets their needs, this should be a natural. Take some time to study this easy step.
▪ Bring in a manager if the customer says “no.” A pre-designed evaluation asking three or four questions can clear up any concerns and open the door to a second opportunity to sell a membership. Common questions focus on three areas of interest: employee professionalism, equipment quality, gym cleanliness. A great follow-up is, “Can you see yourself working out here?” This final question opens the door to pinning down the true objection, and many times, you’ve got a solution to that issue.
The gym tour closing — KISS
Sales Guru makes signing up clients easy and quick. The intuitive software by Gym Insight works on a tablet or a web-enabled desktop PC and integrates fully with the backend system.
The process is easy on the eyes, as each page includes just a single data point. Clients swipe through pages, adding one significant item at a time. Throughout, signatures and pictures are captured, legal and liability release documents are signed, payment is secured and, boom, it’s done. Within five swipes, all the information is completed and uploaded ready for immediate use. The tablet can even sit in its own stand, turning it into a self-serve sign-up kiosk ready for use.
It’s easy on employees, too. Users can design their own live documents, upload forms, and add or remove memberships in minutes. If a customer has a question, pull up a PDF and review it together. With Sales Guru, signing up a new customer will be the most stress-free part of your day!
https://www.briantracy.com/blog/sales-success/how-to-sell-value-rather-than-price
https://sellmemberships.wordpress.com/about/
https://www.nasp.com/blog/basic-closing-techniques/
Gym Insight
Our gym management software company is built by a team of former gym owners who understand how important good software is to your success. Our current gym owners appreciate how easy Gym Insight is to use and the practicality of our tools, such as Sales Guru, a tablet-based sales system, and digital keytags, which eliminates the problem of members sharing access, and frees up gym owners’ time. For more information, call 855-FOR-GYMS (855-367-4967) and ask for Anthony or Natalia. They’d love to provide a free demo of our software.
