How to Skyrocket Membership Sales in your Health Club

By: Jim Thomas
Fitness Management & Consulting

Do you have a quality health club, but you’re having a hard time getting more people to join? I’ve found that the solution to getting more people to join is usually very basic. There are minor things that you can do to make the membership sales process more effective. Today I‘ll share with you 3 basics steps to increase your membership sales right off the bat.

These methods will work regardless of what your membership dues are or what system you are using to sell. That’s the beauty of it! These simple strategies can make a huge difference in your health club sales production.

1. Build Impulse with Health Club Guests

Impulse is basically your prospects willingness to buy.  Your health club guest’s impulse is at ZERO when they first hear about your club. It is your job as a professional health club marketer and professional health club salesperson to raise the impulse with your guest by using a series of strategic steps until your guest joins.

Your membership presentation has to be well thought out in order to raise impulse effectively. You must anticipate those points in the presentation where the guest’s impulse level will drop. Use the health club hot spots and benefits your guest would like to receive to raise the impulse back up, and always close at the very peak of their impulse level for best results. Treat it like its “Love at First Sight”.

2. Leverage the Law of Averages

The number one way to double your membership sales is to double the amount of people you expose to your health club. Sounds simple enough, right? Every health club and each club salesperson will have an inherent law of average. This law represents the relationship between the health club guests that refused to join the club and those that actually did join. For example, 1:10 laws of average means that you must get 9 noes from a health club guest before you get one sale.

Remember this is an average. It’s not to be taken literally. You may sell the first 2 guests that come in today and then get 18 “noes” in a row. At the end of the day you average out your yeses and noes to get your law of average. Now, let’s say you wanted to make 10 membership sales today. If you spoke to 50 people today and made 5 membership sales, then how can you make 10 membership sales tomorrow? That’s right! Talk to 100 people.

3. Up-Selling

I think this is one of the most common areas where health promoters and health club sales people really drop the ball. They invest all this time and money into finding prospects, getting them in the door, finally getting them enrolled in the club, and they simply stop selling. Never forget this. You have a buyer at your club. Buyers buy! So keep selling. Suggest other health club services or products that might benefit your new member. Personal Training, Nutritional Supplements, Gift Cards, Locker Rental, etc. Whatever the case may be, you have to sell more to your new member or at least generate another lead from this new membership sale. Ask them, “What friend or family member could benefit from losing weight or getting back into shape?”

All you have to do is ask? What’s the worst that can happen? They might say no. Big deal!

Now, go sell a membership!