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Before & After Gym Membership Sales Case Study: 3 Tips, 11 Sales in 7 Days

Gym Membership Sales

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Have you ever sat back and thought I wonder how many gym membership sales I’d get this week if I just smiled more

Probably not. 

But Brandon Christ, General Manager of SOLDIERFIT Sterling, proved in one week why smiling might be your fitness studio’s secret sales weapon.

“I’m not a smiler,” Brandon told Loud Rumor CEO Mike Arce in their sales coaching call, “that’s just not me.”

Brandon enlisted in the Army when he was younger, but was disqualified. “I was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder when I was 13-years-old and was on medication and treatment for years,” he told me. 

“But that didn’t stop me. I enlisted in every branch of the U.S. Military to see if I could get in. I just wanted to serve.”

That desire to serve in the military, that calling never left Brandon. 

Luckily, he’d end up helping people at SOLDIERFIT. “SOLDIERFIT filled that gap for me,” Brandon told me, “I absolutely LOVE what I do.”

After reopening, SOLDIERFIT Sterling was tearing it up with members coming back and leads in the pipeline—which is a GOOD thing. The issue was, it put a lot on Brandon’s plate.

“I was extremely stressed out with everything,” he said, “after we reopened, I was making sure our schedule was on point, budgeting, doing tours and appointments, hiring and training my staff, it all just became too much and making 40-45 gym membership sales calls a day felt like a chore.”

(Make sure you read until the end to get Mike Arce’s “Carl from Kia” story and the power of referrals)

Before: Plenty of Leads, Not Enough Gym Membership Sales

Leads are the lifeblood of fitness studio membership sales and SOLDIERFIT Sterling had no shortage of leads after they reopened.

Unfortunately, not enough of those leads were booking appointments or showing up, let alone becoming members.

Brandon couldn’t understand why, but his confusion was 100% warranted. 

He had a solid sales process and for some reason, “50% of the people who answered the phone would ask what the price is,” he said.

He knew something was off but couldn’t figure out what it was. So he jumped on a coaching call with Mike Arce.

Eye-Opening Sales Role-Play

In order to understand Brandon’s sales process, Mike asked him to role-play it (you can watch the whole thing in the video above). Mike wanted to know what it was like as a prospect to get a phone call from Brandon.

…he quickly figured out what was going on.

Brandon - SOLDIERFIT Sales - Before - Membership Sales Tips

After role-playing with Brandon, Mike asked a very important question that hit at the core of why sales were being lost:

“Did you smile once that whole time?” Mike knew the answer… 

“I don’t smile much anyway, so probably not,” Brandon responded.

The reason this is so important is that part of Brandon’s gym membership sales process is asking the prospect on a scale of 1 to 10, how excited they are to come in for their free workout. 

“If you’re not excited talking to me, how do you expect me to be excited about coming in?” Mike asked.

“That’s fair,” Brandon said.

Mike didn’t know everything Brandon was going through… but then again, neither will any of his prospects.

In fact, and this might sound harsh but Brandon knows this, his prospects won’t care what he’s going through either.

With Fitness Membership Sales, Energy Is Infectious

When you smile it naturally puts you in a more energetic state. And energy, both positive and negative, is infectious.

If the salesperson’s energy is low or negative, the prospect will respond accordingly. If the salesperson’s energy is up and positive, the prospect will respond accordingly.

You’re guiding the call… which means you’re also guiding the energy.

So, in addition to smiling, Mike had Brandon stand up and do 10 jumping jacks with him. “1… 2…” Mike counted out each one on their virtual call.

“You want to get your energy up for every call,” Mike told Brandon, “if you think your energy is dropping, do 10 jumping jacks to get the blood flowing again, then make the call.”

Show Authentic Interest In Your Studio’s Prospects

Showing interest in your prospects, showing them you care, and listening to them are hallmarks of a great fitness studio salesperson.

(Later, Brandon explains why this was a game-changer for him and his gym membership sales numbers)

Brandon realized after role-playing with Mike that he was going through his script without acknowledging the clues Mike was giving him about what he was looking for in a fitness studio.

“I was sticking to the script,” Brandon told Mike, “and I should’ve been learning more about you.”

When salespeople follow the script without listening, showing interest, or interacting with the prospect, the prospect will stick to their script too… which is a pretty simple one:

  1. Find out how much it costs
  2. Make a decision

“The best way to be interesting is to be interested.” Mike said. “Your ultimate goal is to help them, that’s why great salespeople are also incredible listeners.”

When you really think about it, people are interesting. They have a lot going on in their lives, especially right now, but they made that first decision to improve themselves AND…

They chose YOU to help them do it. Be interested in that. Be happy about that and get to the core of why they want to improve—why they filled out YOUR form or called YOUR studio.

Focus On Your Fitness Studio’s Offer

Marketing is designed to create interest. There are endless attention-grabbing taglines and promotions to draw people in.

“We were running with Our Lowest Rates Ever promo,” Brandon told Mike, “and it was working, we were getting a ton of leads off of that.”

What ended up happening was, Brandon was including Our Lowest Rates Ever into his sales process.

It makes sense, he wanted to tie his Marketing message with why the prospect was on the phone. But…

Our Lowest Rates Ever wasn’t the OFFER… it was merely the PROMO. FREE CLASS was the offer and the true reason prospects signed up.

Instead of talking about your Marketing promos, focus on your Marketing OFFERS: “Hey, Sean. I saw that you signed up for a FREE CLASS, when can we get you in?”

The promotion hooks them, the offer is why they sign up. Deliver on the offer.

What was the result of this sales coaching call just 7 days later?

SOLDIERFIT Ad - Promo vs Offer - Membership Sales

After: 7 Days Later Brandon Increased Gym Membership Sales, Appointments, and Shows

“Since that coaching call with you a week ago,” Brandon told Mike, “I sold 11 memberships and had a 100% show rate for appointments… with more appointments coming in.”

It looked like a massive weight was lifted from Brandon’s shoulders… he could breathe again.

“How do you feel?” Mike asked him.

“A heck of a lot better… a lot prouder of myself… happy to be able to push through this… and a big thanks to you, I really needed that big kick in the butt you gave me, I appreciate it.”

3 Simple Tips That Increased SOLDIERFIT Sterling’s Membership Sales In 7 Days

After they role-played the first time, Mike had 12 notes for Brandon. Everything from posture and mindset to being expressive with his hands and eliminating phrases like “to be honest.”

(“To be honest” is a crutch for many people but it makes prospects think that you’re not always honest or that you weren’t honest until this particular moment.)

For Brandon, 3 simple tips stood out and helped him sign 11 members in just 7 days:

Simple Gym Membership Sales Tip #1: Smile

“Before, phone calls were an annoying task for me with everything I had going on,” Brandon said, “but remembering to smile helped change my mindset with each call.”

Mike could feel that sense of accomplishment in Brandon’s voice. After all, that was a huge step for him! Mike nodded, “There you go.”

In fact, Brandon said he even saved phone calls by keeping his energy up and positive. After he introduced himself, he could hear the prospect groan. He didn’t let it affect him.

He stayed positive, smiling, and the prospect would come around and even thank Brandon for calling. 

“I also realized…” Brandon said—and this might’ve been the biggest takeaway for him… in fact, this tip is what helped him start smiling in the first place… 

SOLDIERFIT - Brandon - Smile Sales Tip

Simple Gym Membership Sales Tip #2: Intent

Brandon took a deep breath in and released it before explaining the second tip that helped him sign more members. 

This was a big one for Brandon and it’s something every fitness studio salesperson should remember… 

“I realized the intent behind every phone call,” Brandon said, “It didn’t matter that I was stressed out, I was calling to help each of them achieve their goals and doing that is how we make money and how we help more people.”

Mike nodded knowing that Brandon hit the nail on the head, “I love it. I love it.” Mike said.

“None of the stressors have changed, none of the excuses are gone, but what has changed is my mindset and my attitude,” Brandon said.

The key here is that we can always change our state with gym membership sales. Whatever’s happening outside of each phone call has nothing to do with the phone call or the other person on the line.

As Mike told Brandon, “If you let the way you feel control the way you act, you’ll be average. But if you let the way you act control the way you feel, you’ll be successful.”

Simple Gym Membership Sales Tip #3: Offer

The final simple tip Brandon added to sign more members was focusing on his fitness studio’s offer: FREE CLASS.

Last time they spoke, Mike told Brandon the marketing is what hooked prospects in, but the free offer is why they signed up. So it’s important to focus on the offer instead of the marketing.

“This helped a ton and almost no one asked about price over the phone,” Brandon said, “and whenever someone did talk about price I remembered something Matt Kafora said in a Loud Rumor Virtual Training call about focusing on the price per workout.”

“Brandon, that’s awesome.” Mike responded.

BONUS: Simple Gym Membership Sales Tip #4

This isn’t something Brandon mentioned but it’s important.

None of this happens, there’s no “AFTER” Brandon’s “BEFORE” if Brandon doesn’t act on what he learned.

As Jim Kwik, author of Limitless says, “Knowledge is not power. It’s only potential power. If knowing is half the battle, action is the second half of the battle.”

Brandon acted immediately.

Every phone call after his first sales coaching call with Mike had the right intent and energy.

What Brandon learned + taking action on what he learned = how Brandon signed 11 members in just 7 days.

fitness selling secrets free book

BUT, Mike’s next lesson for Brandon is what took his sales to the next level… 

What Are Your Fitness Studio’s Sales Goals?

“What if you had 100 calls to make in 24 hours and you were guaranteed that 90 of them would close?” Mike asked Brandon.

There are several layers to this question as you can see in the video at the top, but the point is this:

  1. How would you plan out your day so you could make all 100 calls and reap the rewards of 90 new members? (The time you’d start calling to how long you’d spend on each call)
  2. What if you were guaranteed that only 60 would close if you made the same 100 calls? Would you work as hard to only get 60 new members instead of 90?

“Here’s the point I’m making,” Mike said, “We should work just as hard and just as fast on things that are difficult as we do on things that are easy.”

“That’s when we grow,” Brandon responded.

“Exactly,” Mike nodded.

We’re inspired by people who overcame the odds.

SOLDIERFIT Sterling Gym Fitness Studio

The stories people talk about are the ones where things were difficult and someone rose above it to become successful. Those are the moments that matter.

As Mike says in the video, “There’s nothing inspiring about someone who can be in a good mood when things are going well.”

Which leads into creating challenges for yourself… 

How To Make The Money You Want To Make, Whatever That Number Is

Now that Brandon was practicing what he learned and improving his sales process, Mike wanted him to hit the next level.

“How many new members per month would you need to get for you to make the kind of money you want to be making at SOLDIERFIT?” Mike asked Brandon.

“Right now I’d say 35 would be good,” Brandon responded.

Mike with a pen in his hand started writing and said, “Great, now let’s work backwards…”

Mike asked Brandon: 

“What percentage of his shows or free trials closed to become members?”
“The percentage of his appointments become shows?”
“What percentage of his leads became appointments?”

At the end of this, they figured out that:

If Brandon gets 70 leads every month (totally doable with Loud Rumor Account Manager Alexa on Brandon’s side) and he books appointments for 70% of those leads, that’s 49 appointments.

If 80% of his appointments actually show, that’s 39 people who showed up, in-studio.

Finally, Brandon calculated that he closes 90% of the people that show, so that’s 35 new members.

“Ok, so you know you need at least 70 leads every month,” Mike said, “let’s say you hit these numbers for 2 or 3 consecutive months, what do you do?”

“Increase it to 45,” Brandon responded.

“That’s right,” but Mike added, “You can also set other goals… maybe you want to improve your appointment rate or show rate, those things will improve your sales too.”

Setting Sales Goals Is Like Lifting Weights

Just like lifting weights, to grow and improve you can add more weight, increase time under tension, or increase your number of reps. However…

The only way you’re going to know is by keeping track of it so you can create your next challenge.

“What gets measured, gets done.” Mike told Brandon. On top of that, Mike asked another question that go Brandon pumped to make more sales:

“Brandon, do you know when the best time to call a lead is?”

Brandon thought about it for a bit and asked, “When?”

“Immediately after your last sale,” Mike answered.

You’ve got momentum, you’re on a roll, you want to keep that going.

If a basketball player hits 2 shots in a row with confidence you don’t bench him—You throw gas on that fire!

Now here’s how you make that fire a flame that never goes out—this is the #1 key to dramatically increasing your fitness studio sales… 

Are Your Fitness Studio Sales Like A Weed Or A Mushroom?

Mike’s final tip for Brandon has the potential to dramatically increase every fitness studio’s sales faster and more efficiently:

Referrals.

Without a dialed-in referral process, your sales will be like a weed. Each individual weed is its own sale: Lead + Book + Show = Close.

But with referrals, the show and close can branch outward like a mushroom. One “Lead + Book + Show = Close” could turn into “8 Shows = 8 Closes” instantly.

BONUS: This lowers your overall cost per acquisition too.

Carl From Kia And The Power Of Fitness Studio Referrals

I personally took a portion of the video at the top of this article out and put it here for you. This is where Mike tells Brandon about “Carl from Kia” and the power of referrals.

Your mission and Brandon’s mission isn’t just to become great salespeople for your fitness studio… your mission is to become developers of business.

You want to be the person people talk about and are excited to do business with.

What would your life look like if you became a “developer of business” like Carl from Kia?

One thing that’ll help is our FREE 6-Step Referral Accelerator Cheat Sheet:

6-Step Referral Accelerator Cheat Sheet

Mark Your Calendar

BEFORE: Brandon was stressed with SOLDIERFIT Sterling’s reopening and saw making 45+ sales calls a day as an annoying chore. He ran through his scripts with low energy and a defeated posture.

AFTER: Brandon started smiling more with higher levels of energy, remembered the intent of every sales call he made showing interest in each prospect, and to focus on his FREE CLASS offer.

RESULT: 11 gym membership sales in just 7 days.

Take just 1 hour out of your day to watch Brandon’s Before & After video with Mike above—watch it at 1.5X speed if you want to save time—and ask yourself:

“How great would it be If I took action on a few simple tips like Brandon did and signed more members in just 7 days?”

Mark your calendar for 7 days from now. 

Set your goal based on your current numbers (use the example in How To Make The Money You Want To Make, Whatever That Number Is above or at the 48:50 spot in the video)

Check out this video with Brandon and Mike:

Update on Brandon’s Fitness Studio Sales Numbers

That first 7 days after Brandon’s phone call with Mike were incredible… but it got even better.

Just 2 months later, Brandon has already bumped his goal of signing 35 members a month to 45 members a month.

On top of that, he had one of the highest months in SOLDIERFIT Sterling history: 61 new memberships.

That’s what it means to GSD (Get Sh*t Done)!

Book a Free Demo to see how we can help you and your business.

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