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I entered a friend’s apartment and walked into the kitchen head-on into a counter top completely
covered with ants. Not only was the counter covered but the trail of ants heading up the wall to a hole in the roof was
packed tighter than the Los Angeles freeway on a Friday afternoon. The problem started on an uncommonly sweltering
day in April with a simple little spoon, a simple little spoon with a cold, sweet, dollop of ice cream left on it. My friend had
left it there earlier and saw a couple of ants circling around it but figured it would be ok until we got back. He didn’t feel it
was necessary to deal with it immediately. He didn’t see the need and he definitely didn’t foresee the outcome. He felt
that it would be fine until he got home or that it would dry up on its own and take care of itself. It didn’t and he winded up
with an absolute mess.

Does the analogy ring a bell? This type of thing happens in health clubs all the time. Where an issue starts out small and
then escalates. Some think it might get better on its own and some think that they’ll get to it tomorrow. It doesn’t and they
don’t. Then, next time it happens you have to go through the hassle and inconvenience again. Sometimes if it gets too
bad, you might have to rip everything out and start completely over.

Many club owners experience many areas in their club like this and they simply haven’t realized it. The problem is so
small that they don’t see the ultimate end result. The analogy refers to the fact that there are problem areas(ice
cream-filled spoons) that seem to be universal in clubs all over the country. If they are not treated immediately they will,
at the very least, lead to lost revenue and sometimes to the untimely demise of the club itself.

I’ve noticed three apparent challenges in this area that seem to be commonplace in clubs all over the country. First and
foremost, in many clubs today, little or no staff training is done at all. Secondly, many club managers and owners who
have been in the business for years sometimes take the valuable knowledge and experience that they have gained
through trial and error and fail to relay this education onto their staff. When sales training is done, issues such as the
order of the tour and overcoming objections make up the basis of the training. Thirdly, A good sales program boasts a
step-by-step structure that outlines what happens from the first moment a prospect calls or comes into the club. Many
clubs are still operating without a structure such as this and the staff is completely winging too many important steps in
the process.

Staff Training
I recommend thirty minutes of staff training for every ten hours worked. In other words, a full-time staff member should
be involved in two hours of staff training per week. Most club owners that I speak to don’t even have weekly meetings
and I’ve spoken to many over the years who have never ever had a meeting. How does one expect to increase sales,
reduce staff turnover, and increase productivity if a continuing education program isn’t in place? It all comes down to the
training. I often get asked, “What do we do in these meetings?” In order to have weekly meetings, the staff must have
issues and projects to work on. In order to have issues and projects to work on, a sales structure must be in place with
material to study, practice, and be tested on. There must be a way to grade the staff and hold them accountable for their
actions. The whole sales process must start with the structure of the system. No structure, no way to educate and
test, no way to educate and test, no accountability, no accountability, no increase in skills. No increase in skills leads to
high turnover of staff and a loss of revenue.

Education
I think we all agree that staff training is significant now more than ever because of the difficulty in finding trained,
qualified staff in these times of low unemployment. The question is, though, what do we teach? Often times, we teach
the complex tools of the sales process and gloss over the most basic principles. This is possibly due to the fact that, to
us old sales dogs, the basics have become such habit that we assume that everyone has these same basic skills.
Growing up in little league, there was one command that was brain-washed into me from the time I could roll a ball and
that was, “practice the fundamentals, kid!” Unfortunately, many entry-level staff members don’t have the necessary
communication skills or passion for their job to keep the member interested and to keep the direction of the tour leading,
ultimately, to the close. Besides the obvious sales training, the weekly sales meetings should consist of basic
communication skills such as eye contact, voice tone and speed, manners, and body language. The staff should be
practicing and role playing with each other on a weekly basis in order to increase their skills. This is the only way to
develop an effective sales process.

The following are some examples that you can start to implement immediately to increase your results from your sales
staff.

Sales Structure
When I go into a club and set up a sales program, it doesn’t focus only on the tour, pricing, and closing procedures.
These are very significant subjects but they are also very obvious ones. A good sales program requires a number of
facets and layers.

1. A tracking system that tracks number of phone calls, number of walk-ins, number of tours done, appointment ratio,
show ratio, closing ratio and the source of the lead. I want to know these numbers on a daily basis. This way I know
exactly what the club’s strong and weak points are, who my best salesperson is, who my best front counter person is,
and what my best advertising is.

2. A telephone Inquiry script that is memorized by my front counter people. There is certain information that I want given
to the prospect during the call and a specific flow should exist in the conversation. TI calls should be handled the same
way every time by every employee. Role playing is mandatory here to insure that it sounds comfortable, inviting, and
definitely, not canned.

3. A script of the tour that outlines, key information about the programs and the club explained in a concise and eloquent
manner. This script should be very detailed and should include pre-closes, education for the member and strategies that
lead up to the close.

4. A step-by-step closing procedure. The biggest reason that novice sales people don’t close a higher percentage of
sales is because they don’t ask for the sale. We must make it clear, “this is the way we ask, every sale, every time

5. A weekly training meeting and testing structure to make sure that employees are utilizing the tools and following
procedures.

Set up a detailed structure like this is in your club and watch the numbers go up, the staff turnover go down, and may
your freeway of ants remain decongested forever. Drive little ant drive!