Grow Your Gym: A 5-Step Sales Process

The fitness industry is constantly evolving. In a post-pandemic world, the demand for health and wellness is increasing exponentially, which provides a unique opportunity for you to improve peoples’ lives, grow your gym and increase revenue by focusing on your sales process.

Here are five steps to optimize sales and grow your gym:

1. Generate Quality Leads.

You've got a lot going on. It’s important to make the best use of your time, both with current members and prospects. Have you ever shuffled your schedule to accommodate an intro session, only to have the lead cancel at the last minute or not show up at all? Not only is it frustrating, but it wastes time you could potentially be spending elsewhere.

Although it may take some trial and error, work to find marketing avenues that generate quality leads. You want people that are not only interested in what you offer, but are willing to invest the time and money it will take to have a successful experience at your gym.

2. Develop a Relationship.

When a new gym member walks through your doors, they’re not looking for a one-and-done sale. If all goes well, this is the beginning of a long-term relationship. You can use the science of human relationships to convert more leads and grow your gym by building a connection.

Set the tone by showing genuine interest in your prospective member. Something simple like, “Tell me about yourself” is an open-ended question that demonstrates that you care. If you find that you have things in common with them (i.e. you both have children or pets, you went to the same school, etc.), share that info. Remember, people are more likely to buy things from people they like.

3. Explore Their Goals.

In order to figure out how to best help your customers reach their goals, you must first outline what they’re looking to accomplish. It’s limiting to assume everyone wants to lose weight or build muscle. Encourage your prospective member to imagine what the future holds and let them dream a bit. If they want to shed 20 pounds, allow them to imagine what life would be like in six months or a year. This encourages them open and honest with you.

In addition to helping begin their member journey, pay attention to all specific goals. This allows you to increase gym member retention throughout the lifetime of their membership. It can be as simple as celebrating their milestones, or keeping them in the loop with new products or services at your gym.

When talking about their goals, set realistic expectations about what it will take to achieve success. Ultimately, they will be putting in the work. You want to be optimistic and assuring about your ability to help, while not making any promises that are dependent on their performance.

4. Discuss Their Potential Obstacles.

Talking about obstacles - whether real or perceived - accomplishes two goals: First, it establishes the gap between what your prospective member is currently doing and what needs to be done in order to reach their goals.

Second, this exposes any obstacles they may present when you attempt to close the sale. Whether it’s schedule, finances, intimidation or something else, discussing obstacles gives you hints to proactively prepare for buying objections.

5. Make Personalized Recommendations.

As we’ve eluded to before, people want to feel special, while at the same time reassured that you’ve helped other people just like them. To grow your gym, you have to close the sale, which will be simple if you’ve accomplished these things:

• If you truly listened to what they said during the intro session, you should be able to prescribe them a personalized game plan.
• If you presented yourself as trustworthy and authoritative, they’ll rely on your expertise.
• If you paid attention to the obstacles they present, you’ll be ready to overcome them.

In Summary...

There are five steps you can start implementing today to grow your gym: Start with getting quality leads through your door and diving into a genuine conversation with them. Remember: This is not a sales pitch; it’s a way to earn their trust and start a relationship. You’ll do this through a conversation about their goals and obstacles. This will allow you to make a personalized recommendation, close the sale and welcome another new member to your gym.