Moving Prospects to Clients
It's been a few days since my last post...I spent yesterday in Cincinnati visiting one of the best trainers in the business, Brian Calkins. If you're not familiar with Brain from Fitness Riches or his Ad Words program with Eric Ruth - you need to get familiar with him. We (Brian, Nick Berry and I) bounced ideas off one another, brainstormed and worked on strategies to grow our businesses. I feel like everybody needs to do that from time to time just so they get an objective perspective. I know I took alot away from the meeting.
I mention that because it is relevant to the "sales process" post I promised you. See, I and Nick (arguably the sharpest guy in the industry when it comes to financing and retail profit centers) are co-owners of several businesses...two of which are a health club and a personal training company with two locations. All of our PT sales are in a club setting. All of Brian's PT sales are in a private studio setting and he previously trained out of his home - both very different from providing services in a club setting.
There are a number of different approaches to selling personal training and related services and Brian employs a different approach than we do. He doesn't ever speak to a prospect in person. His entire sales process happens over the phone or via email. And he more than stays busy. Our staff, on the other hand, is contractually obligated to provide 2 complimentary sessions to new club members. (The stuff we do at our own club is kind of unique...I'll save it for another post.) So we obviously are at the polar opposite end of the spectrum.
Phil Kaplan will tell you to NEVER offer any of your services for free. Eric Ruth suggests that you give away a session or two keeping in mind the lifetime value of the client. My take - they're both right. Do whatever works. Brian closes over 75% of the people who go through his sales process. This month (August:)) we've closed over 75% of new club members who've gone through their introductory sessions. Both closing rates are pretty good. (FYI - the avg. health club converts 2-3% of their members into PT clients...not good.)
So lets look for what is similar rather than think of how they're different.
1. Both capture the leads contact information to keep marketing to them if they choose not to buy now. That's a must.
2. Both build value in their in their services. My definition of value is this: the difference between perceived price and actual price. Most every prospect perceives there to be some value in your services, otherwise they wouldn't raise their hand as a prospect. What's a personal training session worth to them? A dollar? Fifteen? Thirty? Your job is to make your prospect's perceived value of your services exceed the actual price. Brain has done that with positioning, "putting up the velvet rope," outstanding sales copy and great sales skills. Our staff does that with questioning, "finding pain," assessments, example personal training sessions and "takeaway selling." It depends on your positioning, your sales skills and your market when deciding how to approach what direction to go. We don't have a choice due to contractual obligations - but even if we did, in Elizabethtown, KY (a rural community of 23,000) most people have never belonged to a health club - let alone used a trainer. Their friends haven't used a trainer and a surprising number don't even have any idea what a trainer does. By offering a "try before you buy" we can build value.
Not to go off on a tangent but the theory that a free session devalues what you do is bullshit. Test driving a car doesn't cut the value in half. Touring a house doesn't make it cheaper. We offer a free fourteen day trial membership in our club too. It could be argued that a free trial session, membership or anything else simply displays confidence in what you offer and an unwillingness to provide that displays the lack there of. Honestly, I don't believe that...but you can argue that position as much as the alternative. Phil's contention that "doctors don't offer free consultations so why should we" is weak. Doctors have been a well established and recognized profession for centuries. The strength in the argument for doing nothing for free is this: If you've positioned yourself in a fashion to get paid for everything you do, you'd be a fool to do anything for free. If you haven't or can't...use the free session as a tool. DO WHAT WORKS!
3. You have to have a call to action. You have to be willing to tell the prospect what to do next. Brian sends the prospect payment options after telling them how to get involved with his services. My staff has a presentation and offers program options and asks the prospect to choose the right one for them. Too often trainers are good at giving solid workouts and bad at asking for money. This is all to common among young trainers. Asking a prospect for more than the value of their clunker in the parking lot can be a bit overwhelming. I would start with a "canned" sales presentation and go from there. To think a young trainer or someone not proficient in sales can wing it is stoooopid. Actors study their scripts. Create a presentation and study it. You can improvise after you get good. Really good.
I'll talk more about actually closing the sale next time.
I mention that because it is relevant to the "sales process" post I promised you. See, I and Nick (arguably the sharpest guy in the industry when it comes to financing and retail profit centers) are co-owners of several businesses...two of which are a health club and a personal training company with two locations. All of our PT sales are in a club setting. All of Brian's PT sales are in a private studio setting and he previously trained out of his home - both very different from providing services in a club setting.
There are a number of different approaches to selling personal training and related services and Brian employs a different approach than we do. He doesn't ever speak to a prospect in person. His entire sales process happens over the phone or via email. And he more than stays busy. Our staff, on the other hand, is contractually obligated to provide 2 complimentary sessions to new club members. (The stuff we do at our own club is kind of unique...I'll save it for another post.) So we obviously are at the polar opposite end of the spectrum.
Phil Kaplan will tell you to NEVER offer any of your services for free. Eric Ruth suggests that you give away a session or two keeping in mind the lifetime value of the client. My take - they're both right. Do whatever works. Brian closes over 75% of the people who go through his sales process. This month (August:)) we've closed over 75% of new club members who've gone through their introductory sessions. Both closing rates are pretty good. (FYI - the avg. health club converts 2-3% of their members into PT clients...not good.)
So lets look for what is similar rather than think of how they're different.
1. Both capture the leads contact information to keep marketing to them if they choose not to buy now. That's a must.
2. Both build value in their in their services. My definition of value is this: the difference between perceived price and actual price. Most every prospect perceives there to be some value in your services, otherwise they wouldn't raise their hand as a prospect. What's a personal training session worth to them? A dollar? Fifteen? Thirty? Your job is to make your prospect's perceived value of your services exceed the actual price. Brain has done that with positioning, "putting up the velvet rope," outstanding sales copy and great sales skills. Our staff does that with questioning, "finding pain," assessments, example personal training sessions and "takeaway selling." It depends on your positioning, your sales skills and your market when deciding how to approach what direction to go. We don't have a choice due to contractual obligations - but even if we did, in Elizabethtown, KY (a rural community of 23,000) most people have never belonged to a health club - let alone used a trainer. Their friends haven't used a trainer and a surprising number don't even have any idea what a trainer does. By offering a "try before you buy" we can build value.
Not to go off on a tangent but the theory that a free session devalues what you do is bullshit. Test driving a car doesn't cut the value in half. Touring a house doesn't make it cheaper. We offer a free fourteen day trial membership in our club too. It could be argued that a free trial session, membership or anything else simply displays confidence in what you offer and an unwillingness to provide that displays the lack there of. Honestly, I don't believe that...but you can argue that position as much as the alternative. Phil's contention that "doctors don't offer free consultations so why should we" is weak. Doctors have been a well established and recognized profession for centuries. The strength in the argument for doing nothing for free is this: If you've positioned yourself in a fashion to get paid for everything you do, you'd be a fool to do anything for free. If you haven't or can't...use the free session as a tool. DO WHAT WORKS!
3. You have to have a call to action. You have to be willing to tell the prospect what to do next. Brian sends the prospect payment options after telling them how to get involved with his services. My staff has a presentation and offers program options and asks the prospect to choose the right one for them. Too often trainers are good at giving solid workouts and bad at asking for money. This is all to common among young trainers. Asking a prospect for more than the value of their clunker in the parking lot can be a bit overwhelming. I would start with a "canned" sales presentation and go from there. To think a young trainer or someone not proficient in sales can wing it is stoooopid. Actors study their scripts. Create a presentation and study it. You can improvise after you get good. Really good.
I'll talk more about actually closing the sale next time.
posted by Pat Rigsby at 4:22 PM
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