sales system

Being a successful and profitable fitness professional will take more than being educated and certified. Whether you like it or not you will need to be proficient at selling your services. If this makes you cringe it may be because you associate sales with the practices of the bad sales people you’ve been exposed to.

Selling your services is never about desperation; it’s never about manipulating someone or forcing them to buy. Your job is to simply facilitate the right questions and information for the prospect to decide that your services are the answer.

Like everything else in your business your sales processes need to form a system that you can follow and repeat each time allowing you to become more and more proficient. Here are some of the highlights of our sales system to give you examples of how you might create your own.

Greeting the prospect – Upon meeting and welcoming the prospect our first initiative is to tie their emotions to why they are there. Their emotions were involved when they first made the decision to seek out a fitness professional but as time has elapsed they may have become desensitized to the feels that sparked the idea of change. We would ask questions like, “when was the last time you were happy with your body?”

Touring the prospect – In our case we have a studio of a few thousand square feet, we tour the prospect stopping periodically at certain areas to talk about the features and benefits of the studio. Each point we stop at has a purpose in the information that is delivered. This information could range from the education and credibility of our team, to our various service models ensure we can meet any budget, to specific features that are unique to us and design to improve your overall health. Not only is the information at each point of the tour valuable to the prospect but the practice of moving and stopping allows the person to be more comfortable in our environment. Their level of comfort is paramount in their decision to purchase.

Defined presentation of services – Now everyone has a different opinion but I prefer to have a defined presentation of prepared materials to show my prospects. We have nice full color slides printed in a nice leather binder. These slides allow us to walk the prospect through exactly what it is we do. Some would argue that by writing this out on plain paper for each person you provide a deeper personal connection. I think that’s a valid argument and for someone new to selling fitness services you may want to try both and see which works best for you.

At the conclusion of our service presentation something very important happens, we don’t immediately offer any package or pricing information, but rather simply ask the prospect if they have any questions about what was presented. This may seem small and insignificant but I would argue it’s one of the most important steps in the system.

Remember as a consumer we always have our guard up, we are always sceptical of each new thing and particularly of anyone who’s asking us for the money we’ve worked so hard for. To really become effective at selling your services you must always keep this in mind. Be the facilitator asking the right questions and offering the right information to help your prospect decide that your services are right for them.

When you do present pricing and package options it’s also important that you only present a couple of options to them that are the most relevant to their situation. Having a whole list of available programs will only frustrate and discourage them from making a decision. You are the expert; don’t make them feel like they need to be in making this decision.

In a nutshell that’s the big take away. Don’t sell anyone, be the assistant buyer. Ask emotional questions and facilitate the information that helps them realize you are the answer. Most importantly try to systemize the process so it’s basically the same each time so you become more proficient.

If you’re looking for a good product to follow along and learn from (and also a little different but very complimentary to the above) I highly
recommend you grabs Close Clients from my good friend Bedros Keuilian.