What’s the longest amount of time you’ve waited for a lead to become a member? Months? Years? As gym owners ourselves, we get it. And that’s why we’ve created some powerful workflows in PushPress Grow, to help you play the long game and win.
First, having a long-term mindset will help you to reframe your thinking about what the typical buying cycle should look like. It’s sometimes easy to become frustrated or discouraged if a lead doesn’t convert to a member immediately. We assume they’re not interested or even that what we’re offering isn’t good enough.
However, consider that it often takes quite a few marketing touch points for most people to take action in making a purchase. Think about it: Is there a product you’ve had sitting in an online shopping cart for a while? Sometimes timing, finances or other factors will simply hold up the buying process.
And when it comes to joining a gym, there’s another powerful component at play: Intimidation. For most prospects, you’ll have to help them achieve a certain level of comfort before they’re even willing to walk through your doors.
Automation Helps You Play “As Long as it Takes.”
Shifting your mindset from selling to providing solutions is how you “warm up” a cold lead. It’s important to establish yourself as an authority who’s able to help them. But it’s even more important to build trust.
Since trust takes time, automation can be a game-changer, and that’s where PushPress Grow comes in. Grow nurtures leads through automated workflows that provide info, build trust and ensure that, over time, no one slips through the cracks.
Think of it this way: Imagine you’re running paid ads for your gym. You start to generate some traffic, averaging 20 new leads per month. Knowing that, as we just discussed, the buying cycle isn’t immediate, you may find yourself nurturing 60 leads by the third month. Simply finding the time to send emails and texts while keeping track of notes and next steps for each one would become an overwhelming task.
Not only that, but lead nurture should be constant. Successful gym owners know that leads should be receiving communication almost daily at first. Remember, these prospective members reached out to you and provided their information. They’ve requested your help so never be afraid to give it!
Most gym owners have stories of people who reached out for information but didn’t become a member until much later. This is why long-term lead nurture is the play, and how PushPress Grow is here to help.
Four Ways PushPress Grow Helps You Play the Long Game.
1. Use Workflows to Nurture the Entire Journey.
Occasionally, a prospective member will book an appointment after checking out your website for the first time. However, the majority of people will simply request information without committing to showing up at your gym just yet.
This is where the PushPress Grow lead nurture workflows jump into action. Once a prospective member provides their contact information, they’ll receive an immediate response. (This is an important step to help those who are ready to join right away.)
For those who don’t take action right away, the workflow is designed to continue reaching out consistently. All communication is focused on providing relevant information, building trust and getting them to take action.
Workflows can be as short as 30 days and as long as one year, and can also be customized based on your specific needs.
2. Actively Build Trust.
For some leads, building trust could be as simple as answering a few questions and helping them book an intro session. For others, whether because of intimidation, skepticism or any number of reasons, building trust could take longer.
Therefore, experimenting with different forms of communication can help you maximize your conversion numbers.
For example, sharing images and testimonials on your gym social media might be enough for someone to make a decision to join. And yes, you can even use PushPress Grow to automate your social media posts!
Or offer a free Saturday-morning workout or nutrition seminar, promoted on social media and in-house to your current members. This paid off for former gym owner and PushPress Grow CRM Implementation Manager Dave Yandel. One of his long-term leads was hesitant to join, but started showing up to Saturday workouts. He eventually joined and is still a member, five years later.
For those long-term leads that need more time to build trust, consider something like an at-home workout plan. You can set up your Grow workflows so that if a lead has been in the funnel for six months without taking action, it can trigger a new workflow that provides access to at-home workouts. PushPress Grow even offers an at-home workout eBook, already created for you!
3. Curate Your Communication.
Not all leads are created equal. Some leads may be looking for information about group classes, while others might reach out for nutrition guidance. In order to provide the solutions they need, it’s best to categorize your leads and communicate accordingly.
For example, Tom fills out the form on your website and he’s ready to get started. He’s done CrossFit before so all he needs is a link to reserve a first free class.
On the other hand, Sally wants to get in shape but she’s too intimidated to ask about working out, so she asks about nutrition coaching instead. She’s likely going to be a longer-term lead, and will need a variety of curated content to build trust.
For someone like Sally, PushPress Grow has you covered! Check out the new nutrition eBooks and healthy recipes guide, already created and ready to go.
And even though Grow offers plenty of content ideas, consider mixing in your own content as well. Cissie Wetmiller, co-owner of Restoration Fitness & Nutrition in Lakeland, FL writes a great blog for her website. This type of content could be repurposed into workflows as valuable information for leads.
4. Add a Personal Touch.
As always, automation doesn’t mean removing the personal touch. PushPress Grow allows you to “jump in” to the conversation at any point in the lead’s journey. Not only can you customize workflows to match your brand voice, but at any point, join the conversation personally to answer questions or send a personalized message.
Pro Tip: Want to find out how PushPress Grow can save you time and nurture your leads effectively to help them become members? Book a demo with our team today!
In Summary: Results Come From Staying the Course.
Just like fitness, lead nurturing takes a long-term mindset. It requires being patient and consistent, rather than focusing on instant results.
Some leads will convert almost instantly. But the majority will require consistent communication and trust building over time. This can take weeks, months or occasionally even years. So use the power of automation in PushPress Grow to take the work off your plate and save you time.
You can use workflows to nurture the entire client journey. It will help you to build trust through curated content that can be personalized for each prospect’s journey. And ultimately, playing the long game this way will help your fitness business win.
