Sales Funnel Revew: Big Box Gym

Today’s post is my observations made while moving through a consciously designed sales funnel.

In this case, it was joining a new branch of a national big box gym. In exchange for franchise fees paid to the corporate head office, the franchisee would receive aid establishing the branch, ongoing training/support, and would receive the benefit of national advertising of the brand.

The corporate head office engaged in a print campaign to promote this new location about four months before doors opened. They relied on direct mailers as well as billboard signage in the surrounding neighborhoods. Typically the average person will only join a gym that’s within fifteen minutes of their regular daily route between home and work.

The goal of the marketing effort at that stage would be to raise awareness and direct people to a temporary sales office set up to sign clients to an early bird discounted membership. The franchise wants to build buzz and build momentum for a grand opening. After that, the aim of the marketing is to get prospective clients to walk into the facility where they are greeted by an in-house sales team.

I walked into the facility about two weeks after the grand opening. The staff greeted me and set up a guided tour of the facility for me.

The rep introduced himself and developed a rapport with me. He asked me questions, and tailored my tour around my interests and training style. We discussed the shortcoming of my previous fitness club, and as we moved on the rep pointed out the amenities this facility had that improved on my previous experience.

The tour ended with us seated at a table. The rep walked me through the membership options. The standard initial offer had two contingency offers at a lower price that the rep could offer if I was “on the fence”. After the membership was selected, the rep presented me with several up-sells: personal training, towel service, access to tanning beds, etc.

Contract is signed, finances set up, and membership sale complete.

Here’s the highlights of what they did right:

1) Prequalified Leads: The marketing was set up to attract people looking for a gym in a particular geographical area. The mailers attracted people living in the surrounding neighborhoods, the billboards attracted regular commuters through the area.

The average person is unwilling to travel very far out of their way to exercise. The ads direct the prospect to a website or directly to the facility for more information.

2) Develop a Rapport: Everyone in the facility has been coached to make eye contact with people walking through the door, and greet them with a smile. Likely the prospect would watch other members being greeted by name.

This impact of this is often undervalued. A core principle of sales is that clients think they purchase exclusively because of rational reasons, but the reality is that the emotional impact of having someone develop a connection with you goes miles towards making the sale. People like to buy from people they like.

3) Tailoring the Pitch: The tour gives the prospect a chance to see the high caliber amenities, but also give the rep an opportunity to ask questions. As they understand what the prospect’s needs are, they can tailor the tour around the client rather than the other way around.

4) Down-Selling: They asked me if I was interested in their standard membership. If I had seemed ‘on the fence’, they had options available at a lower price to attempt to secure the sale.

5) Up-Selling: After I agreed to a membership, they offered promotional rates on other services. This moment when the client is mentally agreeing to the sale creates a window where they are more open to making more purchases. This is the ‘would you like fries with that?’ moment where all the sales rep really needs to do is ask a simple yes or no question.

6) The Thank You: Once the contract is signed off, the rep thanks me for my business and gives me a branded gym bag as a gift to get me started. From beginning to end they’ve created a pleasant, low pressure environment that gets me excited about my purchase and doesn’t leave me with one bit of buyer's remorse.

Focusing on their sales funnel obviously improves revenues, but it also improves the value to the customer. Working on the sales funnel isn’t rocket science, but it does require work. Behind the scenes, this company would have full time staff working on developing the capabilities of the franchises over time. The investment at this level has downstream effects - namely the ability to expand the mouth of the sales funnel itself.