Foolproof and Friendly Sales Closing Techniques

In this episode, Rick and Matt discuss the top sales closing techniques we deploy here at Alloy Personal Training Fitness Franchise to make it a more friendly conversation. The most important aspect of our job in the personal training fitness business is closing personal training sales. Yet many people in the fitness space either don’t know how to do it or are afraid to ask for the sale for fear of being overly aggressive. This shouldn’t be the case at all.

These techniques will convert you from a nervous, sales-averse person to a confident salesperson capable of closing any sale in a friendly, nice way. You will feel good asking for the sale because you know you are ultimately helping your prospect lead a better life and achieve their goals.

Friendly Sales Closing Techniques

✅ Paint The Picture

Allows you to help your customers visualize the future where they achieve their goals.

When you’re sitting down with a potential customer in the fitness industry, one technique is to ask a question, if you do everthing we’ve talked about, what does your life look like one year from now? Then you just be quiet and let them describe it.

Most people have tried other things in the past or they have an injury that is interfering with their goals. For example, if someone had a knee injury, they may answer the future question with their knees don’t hurt anymore and they lost 20 pounds. Now they can feel more confident when they go to the beach, a class reunion, allow them to pick up their grandkids, or play golf with friends.

So you get them to paint this ideal picture of what happens when everything works out with the membership and their goals. It’s their visualization of where they’re going to be in a year. You can also help them visualize the consequence of doing nothing today and not moving forward with the fitness prescription. In one year, what will happen if they continue the same habits and don’t change their behaviour.

Peel the onion back by learning about their history, past successes, past failures, and help them paint this picture of their future with and without a lifestyle and behavior changes and the effect on their goals.

✅ Brace For Impact

In the fitness industry, there are subcategories of fitness models that can range from less expensive to more expensive. At one end of the spectrum, you have a $10 a month big-box gym. On the other end, you have boutique fitness with on-on-one personal training. We have a very specific customer archetype that we’re addressing and it is a more expensive service with more personal attention than a gym. Bracing for impact means you prepare them for the price to be more expensive than a cheaper alternative because it is more personalized training than a regular gym. Alloy is small group personal training, so it is still not the most expensive fitness option out there, like one-on-one personal training.With Alloy’s small group training, you still provide the personal coaching at a better price point. You can a directly compare the Alloy training unit price against one-on-one personal training in your market. One-on-one personal training in our market is around 80 to $100 an hour. Alloy small group personal training for each person is more like $30 an hour or less. So a monthly membership is more than a big box club. It’s still not an inexpensive service, but for those that need the coaching, injury adaptations, and group motivation, it is worth it for them to achieve their vison and not have to figure it out on their own in a big gym.

Sales is about building value and gamesmanship. It’s about the words you use, how you use those words, your body language, your conviction, and the message has to be condensed into a few simple statements.

✅ Would You Be Opposed To Holding Your Spot?

This technique is actually allowing someone to say no, to get a yes. Let’s say that we’re in pre- sales,which can be up to 10 weeks before the grand opening. They like what you say, but they want to wait to sign up and check back with you when you get closer to opening. A great way to get them to say yes now is to say, “We only have 100 spots available. I think we’re a perfect fit for you. I’d love to have you in the gym. Would you be opposed to signing up and getting your credit card today, so that we can hold your spot?” Another way of presenting it is to say, “Let me ask you this. Would it be crazy to ask you to sign up today so that I can hold your spot for later?” Most of the time they say – no they’re not opposed. Sounds good. I appreciate that. Makes sense.

✅ Is That Fair Enough?

Another pre-sales technique to use when you first meet a prospect is to get them to talk about their goals in the beginning before talking about price and programs. They’re less likely to repeat that exhausting emotional process with other gyms. So you get them to tell you everything about their history, injuries, and goals, etc. Then you have enough ammunition to know that Alloy is a Perfect Match. Start by saying, I’d love to have you in my gym. Listen, here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to send you the agreement. We only have 100 spots available. We will sign you up today, collect your credit card, sign the agreement, and pick out your workout schedule. Let’s pick two or three days a week. We talked about three is ideal. Then you end with, Is that fair enough? It’s the friendliest way to ask for a “Yes”.

We help move people in the right direction so that they can change their life. People fear sales because they don’t want to hear the famous sales scripts. Sales books describe how you have to get 50 “No’s” before you get a “Yes”. So these four techniques can give you four tools in your toolbox to close sales in a friendlier way. It will feel better for you to ask for the sale and you’re getting a yes without a binary answer, yes or no. For anyone that is sales adverse, and certainly many of our franchisees are new to sales, these techniques are just really great ways to get a yes and lessen the blow of a no.

Podcast with: Rick Mayo and Matt Helland