Should MOD's sell?

Karen asked the following question.

Currently we allow our Manager’s on Duty to work with prospects. This accounts for 17% of our total club tours. I want to change this completely to where only our Sales Team does tours because they are the experts and can create a great first step. My question is what do we do when membership is not available or not here for a Sunday walk-in?

First let me commend you on your decision. I personally think it is a wise one. Let’s face it; it is difficult enough to get fulltime salespeople to have good closing percentages—and these are the people who are in the profession of selling. Asking MOD’s to sell typically puts them in a position of discomfort. Being knowledgeable about the club and passionate about fitness does not make them good salespeople! This is NOT to say that some MOD’s won’t be good salespeople—they may be—but only the numbers can give you the real answer. That means measuring the closing percentage of everyone who works with prospects—including the MOD’s.

In today’s hyper-competitive environment it is imperative that you maximize every single lead that walks through your club doors. Having a policy where only fully trained and qualified salespeople work with prospects will go a long way to achieving this goal.

Now that I have validated your choice, let’s move on to your specific questions. You have actually asked two, slightly different questions. First, what happens when a tour arrives at the club and the sales staff is unavailable because they are either out to lunch or working with another guest?

In these instances you must train your front desk to be able to make a quick decision—i.e. does it appear that the salesperson would be available in the next 5-10 minutes? If the answer is “yes,” then I suggest you have some sort of procedure in place where the MOD’s begin the Needs Analysis questions with the prospect, clearly communicating to them that they are only “getting things started for John who is finishing up with another guest.” Or, “John will be back from lunch in a few minutes, let me at least get you started.” Then, when the salesperson is available, they transition into taking over the tour.

Conversely, what if the salesperson just started a tour or just left for lunch and won’t be back for an extended period of time? In this instance you must train your staff to try and book the person to come back for an appointment. “I’m sorry, John won’t be available until 2:15, is it possible that you can come back then or would you prefer to set up an appointment for another time?” This alternate of choice (classic selling skills) helps to maximize the appointment setting.

If the guest does not want to book an appointment then you MUST train your staff to try and get the contact information. This is really the key strategy. Specifically, whether the sales unavailability is due to being busy, being on a break or being hours/days when there are no salespeople on site, front desk staff (or MOD’s) need to be trained to capture the guests’ information. This can be accomplished first by training them on how to book appointments (discussed earlier) or, as a last ditch effort, asking for the guests’ contact information so materials can be e-mailed to them. “I’m sorry, we don’t have anyone from the membership department in today but I can have them e-mail you some membership information tomorrow morning when they arrive; let me just get a piece of paper to get your information.”

It goes without saying that training staff to be confident in either asking for the appointment or asking for the contact information is critical. Without contact information no sale will ever be made.

Of course, the converse argument is “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” Why let a potentially “ready to buy” prospect walk out of the club; let the MOD tour them and perhaps a sale will be made. For some club operators this may work. For me, when my sales staff has a 74% closing ratio, it doesn’t. Almost no MOD (unless they came up the ranks as a successful salesperson) will have a closing rate much over 45%. Personally, I’d rather take the chance at losing the prospect by not coming back for a tour versus losing them because we did a poor job of selling.

Oh, sure, you can also argue that you’ll have your salesperson follow up after the MOD tour but in today’s day and age it’s hard enough to get people to answer their phone when they want something from you—never mind when they are avoiding you!

In closing, Karen I commend you for your decision. Now you need to put the training in place to maximize appointments booked or contact information obtained on prospects that walk through the doors during uncovered sales time.