4 min
A while ago we gave you tips to improve your marketing . The next step is sales: how do you turn interested leads into paying customers?
Sales is more important than ever. It**’s estimated that about 8% of members canceled their subscriptions during the lockdown**. And since the beginning of July, the check-ins are picking up, but there is still a struggle in getting people back to the physical locations.
Outflow is not uncommon - more about retention in a later article - as long as it’s compensated by inflow. And that’s what was missing during the lockdown. Therefore, in the upcoming period, entrepreneurs must do everything in their power to not only reach the level before the crisis but also to achieve business growth.
1. Well Begun Is Half Done
Good sales results start (boringly) with thorough financial planning. Without planning you have no insight into how your company is doing and what you need to do to grow your business.
As a fitness entrepreneur, you have many fixed costs. On average, about 80% of all expenses go towards fixed costs such as employee expenses, rent and accommodation, licenses, and so on. Therefore, your planning starts with this basic data. This way you’ll at least know what income you need to bring in to keep your business running.
You could leave it at that and set up sales targets based on this basic planning. But you don’t simply want to “exist”. You want to be profitable. In order to achieve growth, you have to deepen your planning. What is your desired revenue growth? What is your inflow versus outflow? What are my competitors doing and how can I distinguish myself from them? What services do I provide and how profitable are they? The more data you include in your planning, the more you are able to grow as efficiently as possible.
In short: with solid financial planning, you know which buttons you can turn to achieve positive financial results.
2. Make Your Margin a Mission
Your planning is done. Beautiful. What are we going to sell? Easy: memberships! But what is your margin on your memberships? And can you continue to grow when your income consists of 95% memberships?
If you sell 100 more memberships, your return will not automatically increase. Your fixed costs will also go up, so it may just be that you are less profitable with more members. That’s why as an entrepreneur you must have a sharp eye on your margins. Your biggest margins are usually not in memberships but are more in additional activities such as PT sessions, weight loss programs, or whatever else your club offers. Whether it’s a coffee subscription or a digital coaching solution , you have to think about where your strengths lie and how you can convert them into revenue as effectively as possible. Just look at other business examples. The butcher asks if it can be an extra ounce. You quickly buy a snack or a drink at the gas station. And how many people can walk out of an IKEA without eating their meatballs? Upselling and cross-selling are your best friends in the fitness industry too. By selling related or more expensive products and services, you are better able to make your square meters profitable.
3. Discover Your Sales Go-Getters
Not everyone is good at commerce. Not everyone likes it. After all, sales also mean dealing with rejection. Accept that. Not everyone has to be good at it. But it’s nice if you at least have a few sales tigers in your team.
So, identify the people who enjoy commerce and make them responsible for sales. They need guidelines:
- Share your passion. Your service is good, sexy, valuable. If you can’t convey that passion to your staff, they won’t be able to sell with conviction. The bigger your company, the more difficult this will be. As a smaller entrepreneur, you are closer to your services and your team!
- Ensure they are focused. Whatever channel you use to sell, online or in-gym, your sales team must be consistent. Follow up on contact requests at lightning speed, keep the frequency of your communication high, and make sure your team doesn’t get lost in the issues of the day. Your sales targets, that dot on the horizon, are leading at all times.
**One more thing about bonuse**s: be careful with them. Don’t set up a standard bonus structure for all sales, but give a bonus on less well-sold services, for example. That’s what sellers should focus on. And always **maintain the balance between executors and salespeople**, so that you don’t get grumbling on the work floor because your salespeople sell golden promises that your other employees can’t keep.
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