The Fitness Life Marketing Sales Process: From Leads to Members

THERE ARE three basic stages when selling memberships.

This three-stage process incorporates planning, teamwork and determination.

Stage 1:
Identifying leads “Leads” are individuals whose demographics (personal characteristics and behaviors) align with the demographics of your members,
and have given an indication that they might be interested in a membership. Examples of leads include individuals who complete a lead card, responded
to an advertisement or called because of a direct-mail piece they received. Leads are individuals who, when exposed to the features and benefits of
your facility, may become more interested and eventually decide to join. The process of generating leads should be the top priority of your
membership sales team and marketing department. The lead-generation process involves two distinct phases. The first is marketing, which is designed
to generate consumer interest and awareness of your fitness center. The second is lead tracking, or database mining, which enables you to place a
name with a lead. You should make every attempt to get the mailing address, phone number and email address for each person who calls your facility,
responds to a lead card or marketing piece, attends a health fair or visits using a guest pass. Generating leads is a full-scale effort that ties
marketing to information collection.

Stage 2:
Qualifying prospects A prospect is a lead who has expressed a need for or an interest in your fitness
center. Accordingly, a prospect is more likely to become a member than someone who is a lead. Turning leads into prospects occurs in many ways. The
most critical factor is talking with the lead and identifying his or her desires and needs, and then having the salesperson offer solutions through a
facility membership. Core marketing strategies that are likely to be successful at generating prospects include member referrals, guest visits from
distributed guest passes and referrals from corporate accounts. Leads turn into prospects when they indicate, verbally or non-verbally, that your
fitness center offers them an opportunity to fulfill a specific need, when they have previously been members of another fitness facility, have a
history of exercising and want to resume the activity, are looking for a way to achieve a fitness or weight-loss goal, have contacted the facility
based on the recommendation of a current member, have taken a tour of the fitness center or have used a guest pass. When your sales members determine
that a lead has become a prospect, it is their responsibility to move forward with the final process of closing the sale.

Stage 3: Closing the sale
The process of moving a prospect to membership usually takes place in one of two ways. The first is referred to as “relationship selling,” where
prospects choose to become members because the facility has demonstrated that it can fulfill an expressed need. The second method is often referred
to as “high-pressure sales,” wherein the salesperson applies pressure for the prospect to join using certain “closing” techniques. The relationship
approach is likely to generate the highest closing percentage (i.e., the percentage of prospects who become members) and the highest quality member,
while “high-pressure” closing techniques usually produce high closing percentages, but low-quality members. Relationship selling usually brings in
members who will remain members. This method involves an indepth process of uncovering a prospect’s needs and then connecting your services to those
needs.

This process does not intimidate the prospect, and it does not employ discounting or other rehearsed processes to move the prospect to
membership. As easy as 1–2–3 Membership sales — like most things of value — do not occur by accident. Rather, they are a byproduct of a wellthought-
out plan. Each stage involves a number of key steps that are an essential part of selling memberships.

The three stages of membership sales take
individuals from leads to prospects to members.Generating leads should be the top priority of your membership sales team and marketing department.

The Fitness Life Marketing Sales Process: From Leads to Members

THERE ARE three basic stages when selling memberships.

This three-stage process incorporates planning, teamwork and determination.

Stage 1:
Identifying leads “Leads” are individuals whose demographics (personal characteristics and behaviors) align with the demographics of your members,
and have given an indication that they might be interested in a membership. Examples of leads include individuals who complete a lead card, responded
to an advertisement or called because of a direct-mail piece they received. Leads are individuals who, when exposed to the features and benefits of
your facility, may become more interested and eventually decide to join. The process of generating leads should be the top priority of your
membership sales team and marketing department. The lead-generation process involves two distinct phases. The first is marketing, which is designed
to generate consumer interest and awareness of your fitness center. The second is lead tracking, or database mining, which enables you to place a
name with a lead. You should make every attempt to get the mailing address, phone number and email address for each person who calls your facility,
responds to a lead card or marketing piece, attends a health fair or visits using a guest pass. Generating leads is a full-scale effort that ties
marketing to information collection.

Stage 2:
Qualifying prospects A prospect is a lead who has expressed a need for or an interest in your fitness
center. Accordingly, a prospect is more likely to become a member than someone who is a lead. Turning leads into prospects occurs in many ways. The
most critical factor is talking with the lead and identifying his or her desires and needs, and then having the salesperson offer solutions through a
facility membership. Core marketing strategies that are likely to be successful at generating prospects include member referrals, guest visits from
distributed guest passes and referrals from corporate accounts. Leads turn into prospects when they indicate, verbally or non-verbally, that your
fitness center offers them an opportunity to fulfill a specific need, when they have previously been members of another fitness facility, have a
history of exercising and want to resume the activity, are looking for a way to achieve a fitness or weight-loss goal, have contacted the facility
based on the recommendation of a current member, have taken a tour of the fitness center or have used a guest pass. When your sales members determine
that a lead has become a prospect, it is their responsibility to move forward with the final process of closing the sale.

Stage 3: Closing the sale
The process of moving a prospect to membership usually takes place in one of two ways. The first is referred to as “relationship selling,” where
prospects choose to become members because the facility has demonstrated that it can fulfill an expressed need. The second method is often referred
to as “high-pressure sales,” wherein the salesperson applies pressure for the prospect to join using certain “closing” techniques. The relationship
approach is likely to generate the highest closing percentage (i.e., the percentage of prospects who become members) and the highest quality member,
while “high-pressure” closing techniques usually produce high closing percentages, but low-quality members. Relationship selling usually brings in
members who will remain members. This method involves an indepth process of uncovering a prospect’s needs and then connecting your services to those
needs.

This process does not intimidate the prospect, and it does not employ discounting or other rehearsed processes to move the prospect to
membership. As easy as 1–2–3 Membership sales — like most things of value — do not occur by accident. Rather, they are a byproduct of a wellthought-
out plan. Each stage involves a number of key steps that are an essential part of selling memberships.

The three stages of membership sales take
individuals from leads to prospects to members.Generating leads should be the top priority of your membership sales team and marketing department.

Launch of Gold’s Gym Express

Gold’s Gym International (GGI) announced the launch of Gold’s Gym Express ™. Drawing inspiration from the company’s storied history of delivering the ultimate fitness experience, the Gold’s Gym Express is designed to help people of all fitness levels achieve their goals at a great price.

More than 20 corporate-owned and franchised Express locations around the country are already in the planning stages. With excitement for the new concept generating demand in the investment community and with GGI’s current franchise base, the company expects to have more than 100 new Gold’s Gym Express locations in the pipeline by the end of 2011. That number is expected to grow significantly in 2012 and beyond.

“The new Gold’s Gym Express will allow us to expand the Gold’s Gym brand in ways not possible before,” said Jim Snow, the president of Gold’s Gym International. “It will provide Gold’s Gym International and our new and existing franchisees with another option to grow. From city centers to small towns, this concept is nimble enough to thrive in any setting, and the incredible value combined with Gold’s Gym expertise will help us attract more members than ever.”

Launch of Gold’s Gym Express

Gold’s Gym International (GGI) announced the launch of Gold’s Gym Express ™. Drawing inspiration from the company’s storied history of delivering the ultimate fitness experience, the Gold’s Gym Express is designed to help people of all fitness levels achieve their goals at a great price.

More than 20 corporate-owned and franchised Express locations around the country are already in the planning stages. With excitement for the new concept generating demand in the investment community and with GGI’s current franchise base, the company expects to have more than 100 new Gold’s Gym Express locations in the pipeline by the end of 2011. That number is expected to grow significantly in 2012 and beyond.

“The new Gold’s Gym Express will allow us to expand the Gold’s Gym brand in ways not possible before,” said Jim Snow, the president of Gold’s Gym International. “It will provide Gold’s Gym International and our new and existing franchisees with another option to grow. From city centers to small towns, this concept is nimble enough to thrive in any setting, and the incredible value combined with Gold’s Gym expertise will help us attract more members than ever.”

You lost how much weight?

Sixty-eight pounds. That’s 13 five-pound bags of sugar! Approximately the weight of 4.3 bicycles specially designed for Lance Armstrong’s Tour de France ride! Or, something we may all be more familiar with… slightly more than the average weight of an 8 year old!

Imagine losing 68 pounds of fat from your body, and the wonderful, freeing feeling that must bring with it! Amerishape Weight Loss System at Golds Gym in AL talked with Margenie Naberstaure to find out just what it does feel like, so we could share her success with you!

Now picture Margenie Naberstaure, a beautiful, intelligent and successful sales representative from Birmingham, AL, hiding from pictures and mirrors, ashamed of the 215 pounds she carried on her 5’8 frame. An emotional eater, she often turned to food for comfort, reasoning that she didn’t have any other vices, so it was OK for her to eat whatever, whenever and as much as she wanted. But desperation eventually set in when she noticed her knees began to hurt, she had back pain and, worse, her doctor wanted her on cholesterol medication Margenie ‘s total cholesterol was nearly 300!

She decided it was time to get serious and get healthy, once and for all. She had checked out Amerishape Weight Loss System at Golds Gym in AL before, but gave it another look. She reasoned, “It costs about .72 cents a day? I can spend that much on one coke… It’s worth a shot.” What she found once she joined was everything she had been missing in her attempts at other diets. She found structure and direction in the meal plans, she found information and education at her fingertips — everything she needed to learn how to live a healthier lifestyle!

After just a week, Margenie shed an incredible 11 pounds! Talk about motivation! That’s when Margenie knew this was going to be the beginning of something different. She was following the meal plan to the “T.” She was so determined to make THIS time THE time. Margenie says, “I became a student of the industry of Margenie .” She was discovering how to make Margenie function best by eating right and exercising.

That once size-18 body and heavy spirit was feeling better every day. Margenie tells us each day she spends some time affirming her success; she says “You’re getting better and better each and every day. You’re a beautiful woman, and you’re getting smaller and smaller every day!” This helped her through the few rough spots she encountered, and helped get her back on track if she slipped up. Margenie is also a believer in the support that is part of Amerishape Weight Loss System at Golds Gym in AL. She said she’s found a new family, “I never feel alone, there’s always someone who’s walking the same walk I am.”

She was in the middle of a long plateau when she joined the Amerishape Weight Loss Plan at Golds Gym in AL Member Event in Birmingham, AL and met Donna Cale, Amerishape Weight Loss System at Golds Gym in AL Fitness Pro. She said he was absolutely wonderful and helped her understand what was happening with her body and how to move past the plateau. She overcame her struggles by learning more and educating herself with all the resources available to her on the Amerishape Weight Loss System Plan

Today Margenie is an amazing size 8/10 and only 7 pounds from her goal. Workouts consist of cardio five days a week for 30-40 minutes and strength training another 3-4 days a week. She still follows the plan and has several favorite meals that she can make without looking at the recipe! Pita pizza and stir-fry top that list! And what’s even better? Margenie ‘s cholesterol is down to 164, controlled entirely by the dietary changes and exercise she’s incorporated into her lifestyle.

Speaking with Margenie , one learns almost immediately how this weight loss has changed her life. Margenie exclaims, “I feel beautiful, energetic and happy! My confidence has increased exponentially. I feel like I want to live forever! There’s a completeness now that I needed for me. I gained the confidence and knowledge I needed to do this for the rest of my life! I can go out to eat at restaurants or visit with friends; I’ve learned how to eat away from home without fear.”

Margenie has this advice for those just starting out, “Anybody can have success — you just have to make the decision, the decision that ‘I want to be healthy, I want to be beautiful!’ Once you make that decision and make that commitment, you’ve made it, and nothing can stop you!”

You lost how much weight?

Sixty-eight pounds. That’s 13 five-pound bags of sugar! Approximately the weight of 4.3 bicycles specially designed for Lance Armstrong’s Tour de France ride! Or, something we may all be more familiar with… slightly more than the average weight of an 8 year old!

Imagine losing 68 pounds of fat from your body, and the wonderful, freeing feeling that must bring with it! Amerishape Weight Loss System at Golds Gym in AL talked with Margenie Naberstaure to find out just what it does feel like, so we could share her success with you!

Now picture Margenie Naberstaure, a beautiful, intelligent and successful sales representative from Birmingham, AL, hiding from pictures and mirrors, ashamed of the 215 pounds she carried on her 5’8 frame. An emotional eater, she often turned to food for comfort, reasoning that she didn’t have any other vices, so it was OK for her to eat whatever, whenever and as much as she wanted. But desperation eventually set in when she noticed her knees began to hurt, she had back pain and, worse, her doctor wanted her on cholesterol medication Margenie ‘s total cholesterol was nearly 300!

She decided it was time to get serious and get healthy, once and for all. She had checked out Amerishape Weight Loss System at Golds Gym in AL before, but gave it another look. She reasoned, “It costs about .72 cents a day? I can spend that much on one coke… It’s worth a shot.” What she found once she joined was everything she had been missing in her attempts at other diets. She found structure and direction in the meal plans, she found information and education at her fingertips — everything she needed to learn how to live a healthier lifestyle!

After just a week, Margenie shed an incredible 11 pounds! Talk about motivation! That’s when Margenie knew this was going to be the beginning of something different. She was following the meal plan to the “T.” She was so determined to make THIS time THE time. Margenie says, “I became a student of the industry of Margenie .” She was discovering how to make Margenie function best by eating right and exercising.

That once size-18 body and heavy spirit was feeling better every day. Margenie tells us each day she spends some time affirming her success; she says “You’re getting better and better each and every day. You’re a beautiful woman, and you’re getting smaller and smaller every day!” This helped her through the few rough spots she encountered, and helped get her back on track if she slipped up. Margenie is also a believer in the support that is part of Amerishape Weight Loss System at Golds Gym in AL. She said she’s found a new family, “I never feel alone, there’s always someone who’s walking the same walk I am.”

She was in the middle of a long plateau when she joined the Amerishape Weight Loss Plan at Golds Gym in AL Member Event in Birmingham, AL and met Donna Cale, Amerishape Weight Loss System at Golds Gym in AL Fitness Pro. She said he was absolutely wonderful and helped her understand what was happening with her body and how to move past the plateau. She overcame her struggles by learning more and educating herself with all the resources available to her on the Amerishape Weight Loss System Plan

Today Margenie is an amazing size 8/10 and only 7 pounds from her goal. Workouts consist of cardio five days a week for 30-40 minutes and strength training another 3-4 days a week. She still follows the plan and has several favorite meals that she can make without looking at the recipe! Pita pizza and stir-fry top that list! And what’s even better? Margenie ‘s cholesterol is down to 164, controlled entirely by the dietary changes and exercise she’s incorporated into her lifestyle.

Speaking with Margenie , one learns almost immediately how this weight loss has changed her life. Margenie exclaims, “I feel beautiful, energetic and happy! My confidence has increased exponentially. I feel like I want to live forever! There’s a completeness now that I needed for me. I gained the confidence and knowledge I needed to do this for the rest of my life! I can go out to eat at restaurants or visit with friends; I’ve learned how to eat away from home without fear.”

Margenie has this advice for those just starting out, “Anybody can have success — you just have to make the decision, the decision that ‘I want to be healthy, I want to be beautiful!’ Once you make that decision and make that commitment, you’ve made it, and nothing can stop you!”

The Sales Process: From Leads to Members

THERE ARE three basic stages
when selling memberships.
This three-stage process incorporates
planning, teamwork
and determination.
Stage 1: Identifying leads
“Leads” are individuals whose
demographics (personal characteristics
and behaviors) align with
the demographics of your members,
and have given an indication
that they might be interested in a
membership. Examples of leads
include individuals who complete
a lead card, responded to an
advertisement or called because of
a direct-mail piece they received.
Leads are individuals who, when
exposed to the features and benefits
of your facility, may become
more interested and eventually
decide to join.
The process of generating
leads should be the top priority
of your membership sales
team and marketing department.
The lead-generation
process involves two distinct
phases. The first is marketing,
which is designed to generate
consumer interest and awareness
of your fitness center. The
second is lead tracking, or database
mining, which enables you
to place a name with a lead.
You should make every attempt
to get the mailing address,
phone number and email
address for each person who
calls your facility, responds to a
lead card or marketing piece,
attends a health fair or visits
using a guest pass. Generating
leads is a full-scale effort that
ties marketing to information
collection.
Stage 2: Qualifying prospects
A prospect is a lead who has
expressed a need for or an interest
in your fitness center.
Accordingly, a prospect is more
likely to become a member than
someone who is a lead. Turning
leads into prospects occurs
in many ways. The most critical
factor is talking with the lead
and identifying his or her
desires and needs, and then
having the salesperson offer
solutions through a facility
membership. Core marketing
strategies that are likely to be
successful at generating
prospects include member
referrals, guest visits from distributed
guest passes and referrals
from corporate accounts.
Leads turn into prospects
when they indicate, verbally or
non-verbally, that your fitness
center offers them an opportunity
to fulfill a specific need,
when they have previously been
members of another fitness facility,
have a history of exercising
and want to resume the activity,
are looking for a way to achieve
a fitness or weight-loss goal, have
contacted the facility based on
the recommendation of a current
member, have taken a tour
of the fitness center or have used
a guest pass. When your sales
members determine that a lead
has become a prospect, it is their
responsibility to move forward
with the final process of closing
the sale.
Stage 3: Closing the sale
The process of moving a
prospect to membership usually
takes place in one of two ways.
The first is referred to as “relationship
selling,” where
prospects choose to become
members because the facility has
demonstrated that it can fulfill
an expressed need. The second
method is often referred to as
“high-pressure sales,” wherein
the salesperson applies pressure
for the prospect to join using
certain “closing” techniques. The
relationship approach is likely to
generate the highest closing percentage
(i.e., the percentage of
prospects who become members)
and the highest quality
member, while “high-pressure”
closing techniques usually produce
high closing percentages,
but low-quality members.
Relationship selling usually
brings in members who will
remain members. This method
involves an indepth process of
uncovering a prospect’s needs
and then connecting your services
to those needs. This process
does not intimidate the
prospect, and it does not
employ discounting or other
rehearsed processes to move the
prospect to membership.
As easy as 1–2–3
Membership sales — like
most things of value — do not
occur by accident. Rather, they
are a byproduct of a wellthought-
out plan. Each stage
involves a number of key steps
that are an essential part of selling
memberships.

The Sales Process: From Leads to Members

THERE ARE three basic stages
when selling memberships.
This three-stage process incorporates
planning, teamwork
and determination.
Stage 1: Identifying leads
“Leads” are individuals whose
demographics (personal characteristics
and behaviors) align with
the demographics of your members,
and have given an indication
that they might be interested in a
membership. Examples of leads
include individuals who complete
a lead card, responded to an
advertisement or called because of
a direct-mail piece they received.
Leads are individuals who, when
exposed to the features and benefits
of your facility, may become
more interested and eventually
decide to join.
The process of generating
leads should be the top priority
of your membership sales
team and marketing department.
The lead-generation
process involves two distinct
phases. The first is marketing,
which is designed to generate
consumer interest and awareness
of your fitness center. The
second is lead tracking, or database
mining, which enables you
to place a name with a lead.
You should make every attempt
to get the mailing address,
phone number and email
address for each person who
calls your facility, responds to a
lead card or marketing piece,
attends a health fair or visits
using a guest pass. Generating
leads is a full-scale effort that
ties marketing to information
collection.
Stage 2: Qualifying prospects
A prospect is a lead who has
expressed a need for or an interest
in your fitness center.
Accordingly, a prospect is more
likely to become a member than
someone who is a lead. Turning
leads into prospects occurs
in many ways. The most critical
factor is talking with the lead
and identifying his or her
desires and needs, and then
having the salesperson offer
solutions through a facility
membership. Core marketing
strategies that are likely to be
successful at generating
prospects include member
referrals, guest visits from distributed
guest passes and referrals
from corporate accounts.
Leads turn into prospects
when they indicate, verbally or
non-verbally, that your fitness
center offers them an opportunity
to fulfill a specific need,
when they have previously been
members of another fitness facility,
have a history of exercising
and want to resume the activity,
are looking for a way to achieve
a fitness or weight-loss goal, have
contacted the facility based on
the recommendation of a current
member, have taken a tour
of the fitness center or have used
a guest pass. When your sales
members determine that a lead
has become a prospect, it is their
responsibility to move forward
with the final process of closing
the sale.
Stage 3: Closing the sale
The process of moving a
prospect to membership usually
takes place in one of two ways.
The first is referred to as “relationship
selling,” where
prospects choose to become
members because the facility has
demonstrated that it can fulfill
an expressed need. The second
method is often referred to as
“high-pressure sales,” wherein
the salesperson applies pressure
for the prospect to join using
certain “closing” techniques. The
relationship approach is likely to
generate the highest closing percentage
(i.e., the percentage of
prospects who become members)
and the highest quality
member, while “high-pressure”
closing techniques usually produce
high closing percentages,
but low-quality members.
Relationship selling usually
brings in members who will
remain members. This method
involves an indepth process of
uncovering a prospect’s needs
and then connecting your services
to those needs. This process
does not intimidate the
prospect, and it does not
employ discounting or other
rehearsed processes to move the
prospect to membership.
As easy as 1–2–3
Membership sales — like
most things of value — do not
occur by accident. Rather, they
are a byproduct of a wellthought-
out plan. Each stage
involves a number of key steps
that are an essential part of selling
memberships.

Memberships: It’s All About the Numbers

TO MANY individuals in the fitness
industry, the word “sales” elicits
negative perceptions. In reality,
however, sales essentially involves
nothing more than providing a
worthwhile product, for which a
market exists — a needed service
or an exceptional experience that
fulfills a prospect’s wishes. Here is
an overview of the sales process.
The mathematics of
memberships
A thriving membership is at the
heart of every successful fitness
center. The challenge of sales is to
make sure that the facility’s membership
level continues to grow, thus
ensuring the overall profitability and
vitality of the club. According to the
International Health, Racquet and
Sportsclub Association’s (IHRSA)
2004 Profiles of Success, member fitness
centers had a net membership
growth in 2004 ranging from 3 to
6 percent. This profile also indicates
that most mature club operations
had membership growth closer to
3 percent. Figures 1 and 2 show that
most fitness centers have to sell
between 800 and 1,300 memberships
on an annual basis to succeed,
with some of the larger club operators
having to sell as many as 5,000
memberships annually.
What is most evident from these
figures is that, on an annual basis,
most fitness centers generate new sales
at a rate ranging from 28 to 54 percent
of their base membership. Fitness
centers have a pattern that requires a
high rate of membership sales. If, for
example, the mean number of total
sales for fitness centers larger than
60,000 square feet, which is 1,557
memberships, is used as a basis for
identifying the extent of the need to
sell memberships, and that number is
converted to a weekly sales rate, a facility
ends up having to sell 20 memberships
a week. If
the annual sales
ranges indicated
in Figures 1 and 2
are examined, the
average sales
required on a
weekly basis for
the majority of
fitness centers
would range from
a low of 10 to a
high of 30 sales
per week. Facilities
in large chains
often have to sell
an average of 100
memberships per
week. A highperforming
sales person will,
on average, make
approximately 10
membership sales
a week. In other
words, most fitness
centers will need at least two full-time
membership sales people. In fact, highsales-
volume clubs will often need as
many as 10 membership sales people.
Obviously, sales are most definitely a
numbers game.
The membership sales
continuum
Membership sales involve three
distinct stages: identifying leads,
qualifying prospects and closing
the sale. Each of the stages is like a
filtering screen, with the number of
people at each stage being screened
until it becomes a smaller population
with better qualifications for
membership. As Figure 3 indicates,
the sales process can begin with
100 leads who develop into 30
prospects, which results in 15 sales.
For example, a fitness center that
requires 20 new memberships per
week would need to generate a total
of 130 leads and 40 prospects
weekly. When examined in this perspective,
the sales process requires a
large reservoir of leads in order to
produce the required level of membership
sales. While the percentages
tend to vary from market to market
and club to club, the average fitness
center can expect to convert 20 to
50 percent of its leads to prospects,
and 20 to 80 percent of its prospects
into actual members.
Numbers don’t lie
Membership sales are a byproduct
of a disciplined business practice
that requires a detailed system
of checks and balance. While a
variety of ways have been used
over the years to sell memberships
(some more successful than
others), the bottom line in every
situation is how many memberships
are actually sold.

Memberships: It’s All About the Numbers

TO MANY individuals in the fitness
industry, the word “sales” elicits
negative perceptions. In reality,
however, sales essentially involves
nothing more than providing a
worthwhile product, for which a
market exists — a needed service
or an exceptional experience that
fulfills a prospect’s wishes. Here is
an overview of the sales process.
The mathematics of
memberships
A thriving membership is at the
heart of every successful fitness
center. The challenge of sales is to
make sure that the facility’s membership
level continues to grow, thus
ensuring the overall profitability and
vitality of the club. According to the
International Health, Racquet and
Sportsclub Association’s (IHRSA)
2004 Profiles of Success, member fitness
centers had a net membership
growth in 2004 ranging from 3 to
6 percent. This profile also indicates
that most mature club operations
had membership growth closer to
3 percent. Figures 1 and 2 show that
most fitness centers have to sell
between 800 and 1,300 memberships
on an annual basis to succeed,
with some of the larger club operators
having to sell as many as 5,000
memberships annually.
What is most evident from these
figures is that, on an annual basis,
most fitness centers generate new sales
at a rate ranging from 28 to 54 percent
of their base membership. Fitness
centers have a pattern that requires a
high rate of membership sales. If, for
example, the mean number of total
sales for fitness centers larger than
60,000 square feet, which is 1,557
memberships, is used as a basis for
identifying the extent of the need to
sell memberships, and that number is
converted to a weekly sales rate, a facility
ends up having to sell 20 memberships
a week. If
the annual sales
ranges indicated
in Figures 1 and 2
are examined, the
average sales
required on a
weekly basis for
the majority of
fitness centers
would range from
a low of 10 to a
high of 30 sales
per week. Facilities
in large chains
often have to sell
an average of 100
memberships per
week. A highperforming
sales person will,
on average, make
approximately 10
membership sales
a week. In other
words, most fitness
centers will need at least two full-time
membership sales people. In fact, highsales-
volume clubs will often need as
many as 10 membership sales people.
Obviously, sales are most definitely a
numbers game.
The membership sales
continuum
Membership sales involve three
distinct stages: identifying leads,
qualifying prospects and closing
the sale. Each of the stages is like a
filtering screen, with the number of
people at each stage being screened
until it becomes a smaller population
with better qualifications for
membership. As Figure 3 indicates,
the sales process can begin with
100 leads who develop into 30
prospects, which results in 15 sales.
For example, a fitness center that
requires 20 new memberships per
week would need to generate a total
of 130 leads and 40 prospects
weekly. When examined in this perspective,
the sales process requires a
large reservoir of leads in order to
produce the required level of membership
sales. While the percentages
tend to vary from market to market
and club to club, the average fitness
center can expect to convert 20 to
50 percent of its leads to prospects,
and 20 to 80 percent of its prospects
into actual members.
Numbers don’t lie
Membership sales are a byproduct
of a disciplined business practice
that requires a detailed system
of checks and balance. While a
variety of ways have been used
over the years to sell memberships
(some more successful than
others), the bottom line in every
situation is how many memberships
are actually sold.

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