健身健康行业销售技巧

jacky

Sales for Health and Fitness Professionals By: Brian Sutton
If you’re like most health and fitness professionals, you love exercise, nutrition, and learning new innovative workouts. Perhaps, getting up early in the morning for a grueling workout sets the tone for the rest of the day. Or maybe you prefer working out at night when you have the most energy. Whatever the case, you’re working as a personal trainer because you love the health and fitness lifestyle. And personal trainers are needed now more than ever.  In fact, personal training is one of America’s fastest growing professions and gyms are in need of highly qualified trainers.
Due to this high demand, health club managers are looking for health and fitness professionals skilled not only in exercise, but sales as well. Although you probably dislike quotas and deadlines, personal training is much more than exercise and without sales, every health and fitness professional would be out of a job. But if the word "sales" elicits heart palpitations and sweaty palms, don't worry -you don’t have to fear sales.
Everyone from seasoned veterans to the novice trainer can master the art of sales by following a few simple guidelines.  
Focus on the Client not the Sale
Fitness professionals who learn about their clients' wants and needs are much more successful than trainers talking about discounts and group specials.A successful trainer must focus on the customer and the customer's needs as much or more than their own needs. Therefore, before asking for a sale or talking about monthly specials, it’s important to uncover the goals of the prospective client. This is an in-depth process and should be the heart and soul of the sales process.
Health and fitness professionals who learn about their clients' wants and needs are much more successful than trainers talking about discounts and group specials. And prospective clients are more willing to open up if they genuinely like you. The true path to being a successful salesperson, leader, and fitness professional is not to focus on your desired outcome, but to put 100 percent of your attention on the other person.
How to Build Rapport
Rapport building starts with “get to know you” type of questions and is the first step when interviewing a potential client. Building rapport will help the client feel comfortable and more likely to gain your trust.
Building rapport starts with effective communication and is delivered in many ways. Most often it is not what you say, but how and when you say it. “A mere 7 percent of messages we communicate to others are transmitted by the words we use verbally. In fact, 55 percent of communication is based on physiology: the way a person stands, whether or not he/she smiles, degree of eye contact (or lack thereof), etc. The remaining 38 percent of communication is in the tone of voice."(2)
Tips for effective communication:

• Make eye contact
• Maintain good posture (do not lean on equipment)
• Smile
• Portray confidence
• Be enthusiastic
• Maintain professionalism (remember -you’re the expert…be sure to act like one)
• Speak clearly with a cheerful tone of voice
• Empathize with your potential client
• Stay focused on your potential client (avoid distractions)
• Dress appropriately and maintain a good appearance
  

How to Gather Information
Keeping all the tips from above in mind, what exactly do we say to help our prospective clients open up? The health and fitness professional’s objective is to fully understand the clients' goals and desires for seeking a trainer. Some common reasons clients give for seeking a trainer are as follows:

• I want to lose weight
• I want to be healthier
• My doctor told me to
  

However, these reasons are merely scratching the surface. Further probing may result in the true reason why the client is seeking a trainer.
For example, a prospective client may say she wants to lose weight. But after further probing, the client reveals that she has a family reunion in 6 months and wants to impress her parents. This information will come in very handy when trying to close the sale and when designing a program.
Health and fitness professionals can gather information by asking open-ended questions. An open-ended question is any question that cannot be answered by a simple “yes” or “no.”(3) Open-ended questions are effective because they force the client to talk. In many cases the client will sell themselves because they’ve been talking throughout most of the sales process.
Some examples of open-ended questions:

• What are your goals?
• How do you plan on achieving your goals?
• How long has this been your goal?
• How important is it to you to reach your goals?
• What has prevented you from reaching your goals?
  

Creating Value
Hopefully the client has just explained to you their true motivations why they're seeking a health and fitness professional. From there, it is up to you to offer a solution. This will create value for your services. As confidently as possible reiterate the clients' goals back to them and how a systematic exercise program that you design can help them reach their goals. Stating the clients' goals demonstrates that you were listening, genuinely care, and empathize with them.(3)
Asking for the Sale
Many sales are lost because the fitness professional failed to ask. But if you have done a proper needs analysis, asking for the sale will be a minor yet necessary detail. The fear of being too pushy or too aggressive is commonly why health and fitness professionals have issues asking for the sale. What you don’t realize is that you may actually offend a potential client by not asking for the sale. Asking for the sale demonstrates that you are a true professional and respect your clients, and consider them serious buyers. Clients expect you to ask for the sale as a natural progression of the sales process. Most importantly, if you don’t ask, you’ll never get the sale.
Today’s clients are suffering from many disorders including diabetes, obesity, and hypertension. As a health and fitness professional, you are their solution. It is up to you to offer your services. With a little practice you can master the art of sales. Selling is much more than offering discounts and various package deals. Focusing on the client, building rapport, gathering information, creating value, and asking for the sale are all necessary steps when trying to gain a new client. With a little practice and a positive outlook, you can be on your way to a successful and rewarding career.

References
(1) Center for Disease Control http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5232a2.htm
(2) Richardson J. The magic of rapport: how you can gain personal power in any situation. Miami Beach, Fl: Meta Publishing; 1987. p 187.
(3) Clark MA, Corn RJ. Optimum Performance Training for the Health and Fitness Professional Second Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: National Academy of Sports Medicine; 2004.
Published: 2007-08-08


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jacky

edckd 发表于 2011-11-17 00:39
向楼主致敬

宫锁重楼

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jacky

宫锁重楼 发表于 2011-12-31 08:59
真是好人啊~~