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7 Ways to Drastically Increase Sales For Gyms and Fitness Studios

7 ways to drastically increase sales

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Table of Contents

This blog article breaks down aspects of our CEO Mike Arce’s highly-rated sales training. You can always hit the video image above to access his full training (free)… it’s worth it!

#1: Increase Sales With These Commandments
#2: To Increase Sales You Need To “Know Your Numbers”
#3: The Fitness Studio Referral Game: Turn One Into Many
#4: Advertising: This Is Non-Negotiable For Fitness Studios
#5: The Fortune Of Sales Is In The Follow-Up
#6: Increase Sales By Squeezing All Of The Juice Out
#7: Know The Real Fitness Sales Objections… And How To Overcome Them

Let’s dive right into it… 

3 Main Categories To Increase Sales

When it comes to increasing sales, everything you learn here will fall into 3 main buckets:

  1. Get More Members
  2. Sell More To Your Members
  3. Increase Prices

“There’s multiple ways to do all three of these things successfully,” Mike says, and I’ll help break it all down in this blog. But first: Why?

That’s the #1 question for anything, right?

Why would a fitness studio owner want to increase sales? What would “success” mean?

“I’ve learned a lot from working with 2,000+ fitness studios and 50+ franchises and I realized that everyone wants the same 3 things,” Mike says, “They want:

  1. A very profitable business
  2. That runs without them
  3. Delivers a really good product.

…you invest so much and put so much risk on the table, so you don’t want an average business.”

Typically, these three things define success for fitness studio owners. The good news is: Increasing sales helps with all 3 of these. 

Now, here’s how we start earning it…. 

#1: Increase Sales With These Commandments

Step #1 might be the most important and involves the mentality of a sales professional. “And those who adopt these commandments tend to dominate,” Mike says.

The reason this is so important is because “your members know how to get in shape without you,” Mike says. It might sound harsh, but here’s what he means: 

“Your members might not know how to get in their best shape without you, but most people generally know what they should be eating, what they should be doing for exercise, that they should hydrate and stop drinking alcohol…

They generally have a good sense of what they should be doing, but they don’t have the right mentality for it. Their brain’s not wired for it and they spend their time practicing the wrong habits. That’s why they want your help.”

How does this apply to increasing sales at your fitness studio?

Well, most studios don’t think they have a sales problem. Similar to members, they generally know what they should be doing but have developed some unsuccessful habits along the way that’s led to lost sales.

So, it’s important to get in the right mindset and take these sales commandments to heart in order to increase sales:

What Is Your Definition Of Fitness Sales?

Take some time to think about it… 

You might come up with things like “to solve a problem” or “to help people find a solution.” Those are good answers, but here’s how Mike defines fitness sales:

7 Ways To Drastically Increase Sales - Blog Images - what is sales

“An interaction where a Salesperson learns the wants and needs of a prospect, and matches the solution with their product or service, and presents it in a way where both parties are excited to move forward.”

Sales should always be—always—a win-win transaction.

Fact or Fiction About Sales

Quick game of “Fact or Fiction” about sales (and don’t feel bad if you’ve said these things before… this training is meant to help you level-up to “sales professional” status):

Fiction: “But, I don’t like Salespeople.”
Fact: No, you don’t like bad Salespeople

Fiction: “But I’m not a Salesperson.”
Fact: Yes, you are. (Mike proves it with an example of his former Executive Assistant turned Loud Rumor Sales Manager after originally believing she wasn’t a Salesperson.)

7 Ways To Drastically Increase Sales - Blog Images - not good at

Reminder For Fitness Studios

“Everyone wants what you sell.” Mike says, boldly. “No one’s excited to go to the Dentist, that’s a tough sell, but they’re excited to get in better shape.”

On top of that, everyone wants to get in better shape. If you asked an extremely fit person if there’s anything they’d want to improve with their fitness, they’d have something they want to improve.

Everyone wants to be better when it comes to fitness. This section is about your sales mentality, and that’s an important thing to remember.

When someone opts in to your offer, books an appointment, shows up for a workout, they’re caving what you offer!

The Exact Sales Script That Signed 45 Members In 30 Days at a 100% Close Rate

SOLDIERFIT’s Brandon Christ was struggling to get his leads to commit. They either didn’t show up for their appointments or asked him about price before his pitched and backed out.

He needed help.

Brandon increase sales script

Mike ran through a script with Brandon. It’s free when you click the image above. After implementing it and the strategies Mike lays out in this 7 Ways to Drastically Increase Sales training, Brandon went from 0 sales to 45 new members in 30 days at a 100% close rate.

That’s a phenomenal sales streak!

There are a lot more commandments and sales objections on #1 in Mike’s video training. I highly recommend watching it: FREE SALES TRAINING

Let’s jump into #2… 

#2: To Increase Sales You Need To “Know Your Numbers”

As Warren Buffet says, “If you don’t know your numbers, you don’t know your business.”

Mike calls it “knowing your scoreboard.” If you know what the score is, you’ll know what you have to do to win.

Beyond that, if you think like a coach, “How effective would your decision making be if on top of being able to see the scoreboard, you knew which players made which shots from where and at what time? You’d draw up some game-winning plays. Same thing with your numbers.”

When you know your numbers, you know where to make adjustments. You know where to spend less and where to spend more to make more.

Should You Focus On CPL or CPA With Fitness Sales?

“Amateurs focus on CPL while professionals focus on CPA,” Mike says, “have you ever noticed that the guys on Shark Tank never ask about CPL but always ask about CPA?”

CPL = Cost Per Lead
While CPL is important, it’s only one KPI (Key Performance Indicator) to pay attention to. It’s nice when your leads aren’t as expensive, however… 

CPA = Cost Per Acquisition
…it’s even better when it cost you less to get a new member, right? In other words, if it cost you $20 to acquire a lead, but by the time that lead became a member at $200 per month and the total CPA was only $75, you won.

On the other hand, if it cost you only $10 to acquire a lead, but a total of $205 for that lead to become a member at $200 per month, that’d be horrible… despite having a low CPL.

There Are So Many Levels To The Cost Of Acquiring A Member. CPL Is Just One.

In his training, Mike beaks down all of the levels of CPA and how to adjust to keep your CPA low… which leads to better profit margins.

7 Ways To Drastically Increase Sales - Blog Images - 2k ad budget

This first screenshot, as Mike puts it, “This is what average fitness studios are doing and, if you’re like me, you don’t want to do average. You want to know what the best-of-the-best are doing and replicate that.”

So, what are the best-of-the-best doing?

#3: The Fitness Studio Referral Game: Turn One Into Many

The best-of-the-best in the fitness industry lower their CPA through a powerful, detailed referral process. They turn one into many.

With referrals (done right), you can increase sales and dramatically lower your Cost Per Acquisition.

Remember, it begins with the right sales mindset. A belief that this is possible… because it is. We work with fitness studios every single day who are doing this.

The Exact Point-Of-Sale Referrals Script Top Fitness Studios Use

The top 5% of fitness studios we work with use a script at the point-of-sale to get an average of 5 referrals for each new member they sign. 

That script is only available to our high-level consulting members (Yes, it’s that powerful!) One of our members actually used that script and went from $22K to $71K in Just 90 Days! 

If you want access to that script (and much more) click the image below:

Let’s jump right into #4 on this list…

#4: Advertising: This Is Non-Negotiable For Fitness Studios

“If you’re not advertising,” Mike says, “you’re not putting yourself out there and no one will know who you are.”

7 Ways To Drastically Increase Sales - Blog Images - grant cardone

Another great quote for you is by Henry Ford: “Stopping Advertising to save money is like stopping your watch to save time.”

Successful fitness studio owners—as well as other business owners and prominent figures—save money during good times and invest during bad times.

“During the 2008 recession,” Mike recalls, “I had the wrong mentality and it was very very hard on me and on my family. I learned pretty quick and got prepared for this one.”

What else did Mike do during this most recent recession?

“We increased our Marketing budget by 5X even though our revenue dropped by 2/3rds,” he says.

Why?

Why is now the best time for fitness studios to invest in Marketing?

7 Ways To Drastically Increase Sales - Blog Images - advertising

“People in the pre-internet era would lose their minds if they found out that you had this kind of access to potential members, this kind of separation from your competition, and you weren’t spending the money to do it.” Mike says.

In fact, TODAY you could invest $100 into online advertising at breakfast and have leads in your inbox by lunch.

Companies would pay a lot more money for that kind of access to potential clients, but remember, as a fitness studio, you are selling something people really really want.

That gives you a competitive edge, but not if you don’t invest in Marketing to increase sales.

Fitness Studio Marketing 101: 3 Types Of Traffic

There are 3 types of traffic or, potential members your fitness studio has access to:

#1 Traffic That You Purchase
These prospects come through paid advertising. They’ll optin (or, give you their contact information) for a FREE WEEK PASS or FREE WORKOUT. You’ll then contact them to book it.

#2 Traffic That You Earn
This would be you getting interviewed on podcasts or local news stations. Writing blogs and producing YouTube videos to attract potential members, have them consume your content, optin to your offer, and contact them to book.

#3 Traffic That You Own
This kind of traffic is very important because of how much it costs to advertise to them: Nothing. When someone is on your “list,” you can (if done correctly and respectfully) email them, text them, call them, and let them know what you have going on at your studio, special offers, or more importantly, helpful tips they can use.

“eBay didn’t buy Skype because eBay couldn’t create their own version of Skype—they could have—no, they bought Skype because Skype owned an huge list of customers.” Mike says.

3 Lists Ever Fitness Studio Needs To Build To Increase Sales

You want to invest time and money in all 3 of the types of traffic I just mentioned. On top of that, you really want to zero in on building these 3 lists Mike mentions in his video training:

  • Retargeting List: People you got to engage once that you now are able to specifically target with Advertising
  • Email List: Prospective members you can email with helpful tips, videos, and promotions
  • Call/Text List: Prospects and members you can talk with to increase referrals or offer new promotions.

What makes an own list really valuable? You can download that list and upload it to Facebook to target an audience that is very similar to people who are on your list and have already engaged with your fitness studio.

7 Ways To Drastically Increase Sales - Blog Images - math

Advertising should always be a profit, not a cost.

“If you ask fitness studios we work with, they’ll tell you it doesn’t really pay to work with Loud Rumor, we pay you,” Mike says, “which means, yes there’s a price, but you have more money in your account if you pay to work with us than you would if you didn’t.”

In this training, Mike breaks down how Advertising helps your business scale and the science behind it so you know exactly what your prospective members are looking for.

You can actually get the science of fitness studio marketing for free by hitting the image below:

increase sales training lazy marketing science

Moving on to #5…

#5: The Fortune Of Sales Is In The Follow-Up

Also non-negotiable: You MUST follow-up with prospects who don’t commit… more than 4 times.

First, you should be calling leads within the first 5 minutes of them opting into your offer. Here’s why:

7 Ways To Drastically Increase Sales - Blog Images - 900%

Second, you should be following up way more than you think!

“92% of Salespeople give up after 4 ‘No’s,’” Mike says quoting a sales study by Marketing Donut, “but 80% of prospects say ‘No’ at least 4 times before they say ‘Yes.’”

So how many potential members are you leaving on the table because you didn’t follow-up more than 4 times?

Remember in this training when Mike talked about referrals? Imagine this: You stop calling a prospect (who’s just busy and not purposely ignoring your phone calls… but you don’t know that) after just 3 touches.

You get discouraged thinking to yourself, I don’t get it, they filled out the form for a FREE WEEK, why aren’t they calling me back?

So you move on to the next lead. 

However, had you made that 4th call and that prospect said “Yes,” and on top of that, you implement the referrals strategy, let’s say this prospect is a social butterfly and everyone loves her?

She then brings in 25 referral leads.

How much money are you making because you were willing to call that 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, however many times it took to get that “Yes” or a “Stop calling me!”??

If you want to increase sales, the fortune is 100% in the follow-up.

Think your Salespeople are the exception? You might think again after watching this… 

if I had a nickel game video and script to increase sales

Make sure you’re following up with everyone… that includes paying members.

#6: Increase Sales By Squeezing All Of The Juice Out

“There’s more in that orange,” Mike says, “that you’ve started to ignore.” What does this mean?

This means putting a plan in place within your sales process for up-selling and cross-selling.

The cool part about this is, the members who spend more money at your studio stay longer.

If you’re looking for ways to boost retention, introduce your members to your ancillary products and maintain that great relationship with them you had when you first sold them on signing up.

And finally, #7… you’ll immediately see why #7 is so important just by its title:

#7: Know The Real Fitness Sales Objections… And How To Overcome Them

Let’s start with the 5 most common (or “given”) objections before we get into the real objections (yes, they’re different):

  1. Money
  2. Spouse
  3. Time
  4. Think About It
  5. Test It Out

Now, to overcome these upfront, your intake form is hands down your best, #1 tool. If you want the intake form our 7-figure fitness studios are using, click the image below:

exact intake form to increase sales fitness studios

So, those were the common or “given” objections, but what are your prospects real objections and how can you overcome them to increase sales?

The Fitness Studio Prospect’s Real Objection

The real objection your prospects have, and you probably have this too before making a big purchase, is: A Lack Of Certainty.

Prospects lack certainty in… 

  • Type of fitness
  • Their Salesperson
  • The Company
  • Themselves

This is why your best Salespeople, you included, have to act as coaches to help people feel certain.

Most of your members aren’t certain they can do 10 push-ups until you motivate them, right?

7 Ways To Drastically Increase Sales - Blog Images - the truth

The slide above is the goal of Mike’s 7 Ways to Drastically Increase Sales video training. His hope is that increasing sales at your fitness studio just becomes a habit.

It’s a process you follow.

When objections come up, you and your team are excited because you’ve practiced your scripts for that objection and you’re able to get to the heart of the prospect’s real objection.

Hope you enjoyed this blog and again, this is only a snippet of Mike’s full sales training. Click the image below or, if you want to talk with someone at Loud Rumor about what it’s like working with us then simply CLICK HERE for a free strategy call.

Let’s GSD!

7 ways to increase sales - full training

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