By MARK RIFFEY for the Flathead Beacon Newspaper
This past weekend, the Mrs and I went out looking for a gym. It turned into a lesson in sales and sales prevention.
We had three options: A family-oriented place near our grandkids’ house, a place within walking distance and a place within a few minutes drive, even during our very brief rush hour (which is more like rush-a-few-minutes).
Family friendly
We were greeted at the door, offered a tour to show us the facility and explain how things work, particularly for members who want to involve young kids. When the tour was done, our guide returned us to the front desk crew who greeted us. They answered a few more questions, gave us paperwork and told us what to do next to join.
While it wasn’t clear that the staff had any sales training, it was obvious they had a process in place to help prospective members learn about the facility and the programs they offer. They responded to our unscheduled arrival without difficulty and accepted this work as part of their job.
Drivable
We were greeted nicely as at the family place. The front desk staffer offered to give us a guided tour or said we could look around on our own. We chose to fly solo. When we returned to the front desk, the staffer made sure we understood what made them different from the other clubs in the area, and let us know that there was no signup fee through the end of the month, and did so without making a sales pitch. After getting a few more answers, we moved on.
At this facility, it was unclear if the staffer had been trained sales-wise, but it was obvious they had a process in place to help prospective members learn about the facility and the programs they offer. Likewise, it was clear the front desk staffer accepted this as part of their job. Like the family place, he responded to our unscheduled arrival without difficulty, as if there was a process and some prior training to deal with the needs of prospective members and their questions. It was clear that he accepted this as part of his job. Of all the places we visited, this one left us with the best end-to-end impression.
Walkable
We then stopped at the place that’s a few minutes walk from our home. Proximity is a big deal to us these days. We often walk to dinner, local craft breweries and other activities because these things are fairly close and easily walkable.
We walked into the club and told the young man at the front desk that it was our first time there, mentioned that we were considering joining and asked if we could look around. His response was that there was no membership staff available (midday on Saturday) and said “I’m just the front desk guy.” He seemed a bit uncomfortable with being asked to show us around and/or answer questions. He made it clear that he wasn’t allowed to leave the front desk, so we asked if we could look around on our own and see how well their club fit our needs.
He said “Would you like to buy a day pass?“, so I reiterated that we just wanted to look around for a few minutes and check the place out. He replied that we couldn’t do that. He wasn’t rude, yet he seemed fearful of doing something wrong and appeared to threaten his comfort zone. It made me wonder about his managers and how they treat him.
Nights and weekends matter
The people who work off shifts and weekends are an important part of your sales team. Everyone can sell if they are trained to be helpful. Don’t scare them, prepare them.
The cost of not preparing them
Do the math: Lost sales / year x monthly fee x average-months-of-membership (which each facility should know), then compound that week-in, week-out.
If you lose one $70/month family membership sale per weekend and you retain members for two years, that’s a loss of $87,360. One lost sale per week for 52 weeks, times the lost revenue of $70 for 24 months.
If you retain members for five years, losing one sale per weekend balloons the revenue loss to $218,400. That’s one lost sale / week for 52 weeks, x the lost revenue of $70 / month for 60 months.
Sales training matters – for everyone.
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