There are plenty of “gurus” out there who will sell you sales training “secrets”. Some of it is common sense (building rapport, pre-screening, overcoming objections, goal setting), some of it is, loosely, based on psychology (creating scarcity, social proof, authority, mirroring, positive reinforcement) and a lot of it is just plain weird.
The problem I have with almost all of the sales training out there is that it is a one-size-fits-all approach.
I point out in The Evolution of a Health Club Member: Survival of the Fittest Is NOT a Retention Strategy that not all members are created equal and beginner, intermediate, and advanced health club members have their own unique needs, expectations, and values.
And yet most “gurus” still push a one-size-fits-all approach.
If you read The Evolution of a Health Club Member: Survival of the Fittest Is NOT a Retention Strategy (it’s free to down load to your right) you’ll see that I characterize the beginners as being in the survival zone (focused first and foremost on surviving the health club experience), intermediates in the expansion zone (focused on increasing their health club experience with more exercises, more information, more improvement), and advanced members as in the consolidation zone (focused on getting the job done).
Here’s the point…
You need to sell “survival” to beginners… “these classes are perfect for just starting out, not to hard and not too much choreography”… “we start you out on these machines so that you don’t have to learn complicated techniques, you just concentrate on lifting the weight”… “we put all of the heavy weights down that end of the club so you won’t see to many of the muscle men up here”… “we always have an instructor on the floor if you get stuck”…
You need to sell “expansion” to intermediates… “we have a dedicated functional training area so you can do kettlebells, ropes, and tires as well as your typical workouts”… “we have an Olympic weightlifting platform so you can really improve your big lifts”… “we have Zumba, Yoga, and Pilates as well as all of the regular classes like spinning, step, and hi lo”… “our instructors compete in power lifting, bodybuilding, CrossFit, and MMA so if you need extra help book in an they’ll sort you out”…
You need to sell “consolidation” to advanced members… “we have plenty of weights so that you don’t have to go looking all over the club”… “we put all the heavy stuff in one place so you don’t get too many beginners getting in your way”… “we have competition quality weights, benches, racks, and lifting gear so you can train with the stuff you’ll be using in competition”…
Of course, selling isn’t just about sales scripts, psychology, or sleazy tactics… selling is about understanding what your customer wants and giving it to them.
Seth Godin makes the point in many of his books that you can buy a watch for as little as $5 to as much as $10,000 (or more) and they all tell the time equally well.
So if you are spending more than $5 on a watch you are buying more than just a way to tell the time… you are buying coolness, sophistication, style, feeling good, success, status…
You don’t sell a watch on the basis of its ability to tell the time… you need to know what the customer is actually buying and sell them that.
And you don’t sell a health club membership on the basis of treadmills, bikes, classes (they all have that)… you sell survival to beginners, expansion to intermediates, and consolidation to advanced health club members because that’s what they are actually buying.




