EXTREME EVOLUTION THROUGH EFFECTIVE MEMBERSHIP SALES DEVELOPMENT

Our health, fitness, medical fitness, martial arts and wellness industry has evolved over the years through the replication of age-old systems and procedures that were originally designed for high volume sales in primarily smaller clubs. These clubs were focused exclusively on the sale of new memberships. That business model is known today as attrition driven. In other words, their primary goal is to make the sale in a never-ending frenzy of sales intensity. This type of operation can be profitable, but it in no way serves any purpose in helping the people joining to be successful in their quest for lifestyle change.

Additionally, this model expresses no concern as to whether or not the newly enrolled member even returns to the club once they have made their initial investment and signed on the dotted line. It's all show. It tends to create a staff team dynamic that is completely self-serving. As a result the team goals that can be applied are very limited in scope.

At the other end of the spectrum, yet utilizing the same basic business model is the type of club that purports to be service driven. This means that while the sale remains important so does keeping the member and having them use the club once they join.

The outcome for both of these business models are similar. In general, both are marked by controllable attrition rates that can certainly be improved upon. Through the service driven model there is a much better opportunity to develop a total staff team that can truly share a vision of effective inter-departmental values and cooperation. This dynamic also creates an environment whereby goal setting can become much more elaborate and the potential results much greater.

The reality is that both business models fail to effectively serve the large majority of members who tend to become inactive once they join the club. These inactive members continue to pay for their membership even though they aren't using the club. The attrition driven club views this as a good thing. The service driven operator thinks that it is a bad thing, but the clubs operational actions seem to disavow this thinking.

For the attrition driven operator, the high rates of attrition and failure to use the facility by paying members are simply viewed as part of doing business and there is no real effort to create change. For the service driven operator the higher than desired attrition levels and poor member participation have created a bottom-line awareness that has led toward an increasingly more stable business operational thought process.

This new and improved thought process moves outside the antiquated systems and procedures created so long ago. It creates an environment whereby new members will truly be assisted in getting started and continuing an exercise regimen designed to improve their quality of life. The real truth is that it is much healthier to work hard (and smart) to create an active membership that stays with the club and not get caught up in the frantic sales cycle every month.

Increasingly it seems that there is a big buzz out there promoting low priced memberships. This is the old model in its truest and most pathetic form. Stable long-term success will never come about through the sale of low priced memberships. It will never the optimal solution to making money and serving your clients at the same time. If a comparison is to be drawn to another industry, use the country club business. There are cheap country clubs and everyone who plays golf knows it. Please notice the term inexpensive was not used. The term cheap was applied and with good reason. There is a niche for cheap country clubs. If you know golf, you also know that the cheap country club does not cause the traditional private country club to change their way of doing business. If a cheap operator is hurting your business then you should consider it a wakeup call to improve your business model. Don't throw in the towel and think that cheapening your membership is the answer. The answer is to improve immediately.

How do you engage "EXTREME EVOLUTION"? First of all you need to realize how much each and every department can contribute to overall club success if they are educated and motivated to do so!

Make the call! (865) 304-9409 and resolve to evolve in 2017! This year's staff train
ing focus is on membership sales development. Schedule your staff training tody...

Being the best in whatever you do is what maximum performance is all about. But being the best rarely occurs as an unplanned spontaneous event. And simply wishing for it lacks any real potential for fulfillment. Being the best requires vision and desire, which are the primary ingredients for potential. And potential becomes reality when it is supported by consistent, motivated, goal-based performance, along with strong coaching.

Being the best in whatever you do is what maximum performance is all about. But being the best rarely occurs as an unplanned spontaneous event. And simply wishing for it lacks any real potential for fulfillment. Being the best requires vision and desire, which are the primary ingredients for potential. And potential becomes reality when it is supported by consistent, motivated, goal-based performance, along with strong coaching.

Prepare your brain

Being the best begins at the start of every day. It means rising early and getting your body and mind in gear. Early morning is when the brain is prepared to operate at its maximum efficiency. It has not yet been clouded by events that evolve during the course of the day and, unless the person has been consumed by worries during the night, the brain is ready to deliver to the best of its capabilities.

Three things that can help the brain to be its best are allowing for some type of "quiet time" devoted to reflection or creativity, followed by physical exercise and then proper nutrition. No matter how motivated an individual is, their maximal performance and ability to attain goals and exceed expectations will always be enhanced through exercise of the body and the brain, accompanied by proper nutrition.

Potential clients are always more likely to listen to someone who is motivated and fit. The positive impact of a healthy lifestyle are sold short in the business world. True emotional selling comes from an individual's self concept projected to the potential customer. The self concept is exemplified by appearance, motivation and demeanor.

Pursue integrity with vigor

An individual who wants to be the best needs to be an evangelist for integrity. Whenever a potential customer has a question and is answered with ambiguity, or even worse, half-truths or false information, it is an unacceptable disgrace. Maximal performance must never include deception.

Rely on goals

Another essential component to being the best is to review your goals daily and focus on strategies to enhance performance. All goals should be written down in order to make them visual. The adage, "Anything the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve," is true.

Setting and attaining goals is related to commitment. For someone to consistently attain and/or exceed their goals, they must be motivated from their heart as well as their brain. True success is more emotional than cerebral. The brain must believe that the individual can attain the goals, which is cerebral, but the actual attainment of the goals comes from an emotional commitment that will not allow for failure.

Too many lightly dismiss failure to attain their goals as no big deal. They say, "I'll do better next time!" which is the right cerebral commitment, but it also accepts the failure to attain the goals and sets the failure cycle in motion. The failure cycle is easy to recognize. The "I'll do better next time!" statement is repeated for a period of time until it becomes distinguishably distasteful, and the terminal disease of negativity begins to reveal itself to the individual and their coach.

Evaluate performance

The job of the business coach is to get the individual and the team on target at the beginning of the goal cycle and inspire them to stay on or ahead of target throughout the goal period. Failure to attain set goals is thus a mutually shared burden. Performance must be evaluated daily both by the individual through self-examination and by the coach to identify positive and negative trends and modify the methodology accordingly.

Maximum success can only occur when all of these ingredients are in place and the coach, the individual and the team work together effectively as a team with one goal in mind...to TRULY be the best.If you would like additional information on this issue, please feel free to contact me at: (865) 304-9409

Or e-mail: geoff@geoffhampton.org