There are many forms of health club marketing. Some produce a higher ROI (Return on Investment) than others. Phone sales or Telemarketing is an under valued method to effectively contact your potential health club members and close sales. Receiving a phone call from an energetic health club professional, with a purpose driven phone script, is very powerful. Be aware that effective phone skills will show your personality over the phone. Someone that has been thinking about joining a health club may just be waiting for a motivated health club owner to give them a call with an invitation to come in for a free 2 week pass to the “best health club in town.”
Benefits of using Telemarketing for Health Club Marketing:
1. It will affect your entire market. Having your prospects name, phone number, address, etc., reduces the sales cost greatly. A health clubs staff will no longer need to souly depend on lead boxes for names and numbers. It is also easier for sales staff to let current members, as well as hopeful members, know about new or upcoming products and services the club would like to showcase.
2. It is synergetic.In other words, telemarketing will cross promote the other marketing streams you already have in place like: direct mail, lead boxes, etc. The health club establishes the conversation with the prospect rather than just waiting for them to walk in. This is proactive marketing.
3. It is flexible. Different from other media in Direct Marketing, a Telemarketing campaign can change the communication of the marketing on the basis of the answers we receive. This skill set is invaluable in today’s struggling economy where every new member is worth their weight in gold. You can’t risk losing 1 prospect.
4. It is measurable.Telemarketing campaigns have many steps that can be modified to achieve the best possible results. After comparing the results from other campaigns on a week by week basis, a health club is able to develop, analyze the benefits, point out the mistakes and take corrective actions needed to maximize its’ effectiveness.
5. It is fast moving.Phone calls are short - appointments are made quickly. A professionally ran health club telemarketing campaign will generate on average 25-75 new appointments a week. If you have 50 appointments show up, and close an industry standard 75%, you will receive 38 new sales a week.
6. It’s cheap. A telemarketing campaign will cost around $200.00 a week. That covers call list, payroll, phone lines.
Now that you’re starting to understand the benefits that Telemarketing can provide to a health club’s marketing program lets look at some of the steps in starting up your own telemarketing campaign. Every health club will vary its’ approach based on several factors, but the following steps will give the blueprint to follow.
Steps to develop a Successful Telemarketing Campaign:
1. Set up Call Room Rules.The staff you hire will need to know exactly what you expect from them. Things like: daily appointment quota, follow up rules, call conflicts, shift hours, conformation rules, etc. Have the rules in place to insure your telemarketing campaign is ran in a professional and profitable manner.
2. Buy a Call List. There are serious laws governing telemarketing. The “Do Not Call Registry” (DNCR) is a federal department that watches out for consumers? If a person has listed their number on the DNCR, and you contact them, you may be fined up to $35,000.00. There are services that sell call list that have been scrubbed against the DNCR and are safe to call. This list is KING get a good list that has been updated in the past few months.
