Second Chance Sales - Non-Member Contact pt2

This is part 2 of a series of 3 articles looking at contacting members outside your club.

Your prospect list is a ready-made database of people who were interested in your club, and almost joined.  They showed an interest, but gave you an orange light.  You need to try to turn that into a green or a red light.

OK, so there was a reason why they didn’t join, which you hopefully recorded when you took their contact details.  If you have now solved the reason that they didn’t join (perhaps you built a pool, or put on a zumba class at a time convenient to them), then get in touch with them and let them know about it.

The fact is, you won’t know all of their reasons for not joining, but the innovations you are making in your club now could cause them to reconsider.  The reason they didn’t join could be outside your control, but you never know when that might change.  Perhaps they need a new job, or just got one?  Maybe they have a new partner, or need one?  Contact them today, be at the top of their list when that moment happens, and you’ll win their business.

Regular non-member mailshots and surveys are a good way of keeping in touch with your non-member database, collecting opinion and feedback.  Throw an offer in if you must, but the overall offer is one of health and fitness.  Direct contact by phone or setting-up a face to face meeting will have more chance of success.

There should be 3 clear outcomes from each contact.  Some prospects will now be convinced and become members; green for go!  Others will remain unconvinced, but will be happy to be contacted again in the future; orange light.  Finally, you’ll hopefully get a few prospects who don’t want further contact; red light.

Unless you get some greens and reds, then your prospect database is just going to grow and grow, as more prospects come in each month.  You could remove people who have been on there for a long time, but who are you to say when they might change their mind and join.  Aim for them to join or unsubscribe, and you’ll be left with real prospects after each contact cycle.

You can either sit there waiting for new prospects to come in the door, and try really hard to convert every single one, or you can make good use of your prospect database, and be happy in the knowledge that you are giving everyone a second chance.

Don't miss next week's third and final article in this series - come back to what you know.  Click here to show the whole series