Use this formula to increase gym sales and grow a full, profitable gym.
If you want to fill your gym, make more money, and help more people– you need to learn how to close more sales. We have created a simple sales formula that has ultimately led to over $500M in high ticket sales in gyms all over the world.
Today we will go through the C.L.O.S.E.R formula that was created to make sure you never forget a step in the perfect sales process, and shows you how to increase gym sales.
Each letter stands for a different part of the process: Clarify Why They are There, Label Them, Overview Their Past, Sell Them the Vacation, Explain Away Their Concerns, and Reinforce Their Decision.
Let’s break down each step so you know exactly how to successfully increase gym membership sales.
1. CLARIFY WHY THEY TOOK ACTION
Step one is to figure out what brought the prospect in. This allows you to establish the gap between where they are and where they want to be when they reach their goal. To truly get the most out of this step you have to dig deeper into their initial answer.
Let’s say the prospect comes in and says “I saw your promotion and I want to lose weight”. Great, now your job becomes figuring out how much weight they want to lose, and if you will be able to help them. It is also a good time to ask “why” until you get to the root of what brought them in.
For example, they may have been attracted to your facility because they saw your enticing ad about weight loss transformations and they want to lose 20 pounds. After asking deeper questions you may discover that they have struggled with their weight their whole life and would like to fit into a certain dress size for their sister’s upcoming wedding. Whatever it may be, it’s important to build a relationship and truly understand their needs in order to increase gym sales.
2. LABEL THE PROBLEM YOU PLAN TO SOLVE
The goal of this step is to get them to state their problem and confirm why they are there. Repeating back to them what you heard is a great way to build rapport and show that you are listening, and understand them more than any other fitness professional ever has.
This could sound like, for example, “So your goal is to lose weight before summer to feel better at the beach with your family, right?”
Now you have shown you are listening, and the client knows you are both on the same page with what they hope to achieve with you. Using human psychology is an essential tool to increase gym sales.
3. OVERVIEW THEIR PAST PAINS/EXPERIENCES
At this point in the conversation you have built some friendly rapport with the prospect and it’s time to really dig into their past. In order to solve their problem you need to understand what they have or haven’t tried, and why it wasn’t successful for them.
For example, this conversation could go something like:
Salesperson: “What have you tried so far?”
Prospect: “Well I tried Jenny Craig for a few months last year”
Salesperson: “How did that work for you?”
Prospect: “Well I lost 30 pounds, but then I gained it all back as soon as I didn’t have the structure anymore”.
Salesperson: “Ok, so you would like to lose weight permanently, then. Why do you think the weight loss didn’t stick?
Prospect: “It was just too restrictive of a plan, I couldn’t stick with it. I fell off the rails and then just couldn’t get back on track.”
Salesperson: “Got it, it wasn’t sustainable. Do you think it could have been because you didn’t have the accountability of someone reaching out to you daily and supplying you with personalized adjustments?”
Prospect: “Yes that would have helped a lot”
Now you have everything you need to sell them– You know what didn’t work for them in the past, and you have gotten them to admit that your program holds the missing piece– accountability and individualization. When it comes time to close a sale, you will have the information you need to show them you will get them results.
4. SELL THE VACATION, NOT THE FLIGHT
Now, when it comes to attracting clients to your program, it’s important that you highlight the results, not the work.
The analogy we like to use is to sell the vacation, not the flight. Think about if you were to sell a trip to Hawaii– would you tell the prospect about how pristine the beaches are and how nice the weather is, or would you sell them the cramped flight they have to sit on for hours before they get there.
The same thing applies in the fitness industry. People know that following a nutrition plan is hard. People know that sweating it out in a workout is hard. They don’t need to be told that. What they do need to be reassured of is that you will be there to hold them accountable and the results will be worth it. If you want to know how to increase your gym sales, the answer lies in the entire conversation leading up to the ask.
5. EXPLAIN AWAY THEIR CONCERNS
You can close more sales in your gym by anticipating the common objections you will face. Count on every potential customer having one of these three main objections: They need more time, they need to talk to their spouse/other decision maker, or they don’t have the money.
We’ll quickly address a few of these concerns and how to overcome them:
1. “I have to think about it”: This is a time delay objection. Your job is to show them that putting the decision off is a decision in itself with negative effects. For example you could respond, “You’ve been thinking about doing this for years, what is an extra day going to do?” OR “How likely are you to take this step for your health if you don’t say yes today?” OR “What’s your main concern?”
2. “I have to ask my spouse first”: The strategy with overcoming this objection is to get the prospect to realize the decision maker knows they are there, they want the prospect to be happy, and they know they are not happy with where they are at now. You can ask the prospect questions like “Does your spouse approve of your current situation?”, “Would your spouse like to see you happier and with more energy?” “What do you think your spouse’s main objection is?” Oftentimes what they think their partner is worried about, is actually their own worry.
3. “I can’t afford it right now”: This objection typically comes up when we haven’t shown enough value around the service. A good response in this situation would be “What if this was the last program you ever had to invest in?” Get the prospect to see that they can either pay for a quality program now, OR keep burning money forever on programs that don’t work”
6. REINFORCE THEIR DECISION
This is the final step of the sales process and it’s SUPER important that you do it immediately after the sale in order to set yourself up for long term members and to increase gym sales in the future.
As soon as you close the sale, reassure your new client that they made a great decision that is going to improve their life.
This is your time to wow the client and give them a t-shirt, a call from the owner, a handwritten card– anything that reinforces that they made the right decision.
Ultimately, this will help with retention in the long run, and lead to more referrals.
FINAL THOUGHTS…
This framework allows you to not need a sales script. Just follow this simple formula during your sales process and you will increase gym membership sales, change more lives, and stack more cash.
We hope you now feel confident with how to attract more clients to your facility and how to close more sales.
Data is everything – make sure you are tracking the prospects that show and close so you know where you can improve your process. For an all in one Gym Management Software check out GymDash and Grow your gym with data today!
We’ll catch you on the next one. Thanks for reading. You rule.
