Situations in which prospects say “yes” to every offer happen only in a perfect world. Unfortunately, many gyms struggle to convince customers to accept their offers and boost gym sales. Regardless of the industry, you face numerous gym sales objections and obstacles when selling services. While avoiding them isn’t possible, you can learn creative ways to overcome them.
If you’re a gym owner and can relate to this, keep reading to find ways to overcome gym sales objections.
What is a sales objection?
The latest stats show that it may take more than 18 phone calls to connect with buyers. Over 50% of the prospects you talk to are not the right fit for your services or offer you’re selling.
When you know that half of the clientele you attempt to convert into leads won’t become buyers, you can figure out why “sales objections” are usually not connected with the service.
Put simply, when you and your lead’s objectives align, you’re more likely to close the sale, as you have a valuable and relevant offer. Typically, sales objection refers to a barrier between a business and its potential customers. When converting leads, businesses like fitness centers need to overcome many obstacles, such as defining services or products and increasing brand and customer awareness.
We have created a list of the top four gym sales objections and proven ways to overcome them.
1. Become a seller
Most professional salespeople in the U.S. recognize the importance of understanding the service you’re promoting and being confident in what you say. Your sales typically rely on your attitude and enthusiasm. Think about this phenomenon and try to see things from your customers' perspective, especially those joining your fitness studio for the first time. Moreover, doing so will help you overcome any gym sales objections.
Will you be more attracted or persuaded to buy from a gym owner, coach, instructor, or trainer who is confident in their abilities, knows the product they are selling, and has a proven success rate? Or will you pay the gym instructor who makes you feel unsure about your fitness plan?
Of course, you will want to make an investment that offers the most certainty. Your customers need to believe in your abilities to help them shed pounds or gain muscle. Becoming too sales-y or promoting a service that customers aren’t interested in will result in a loss of sales.
When people develop trust, they will start to pay for your services and may even promote your business to friends and family. All you need is to win their trust and lead by example.
2. Understand and validate concerns
Customers may not always be forthcoming about their real motives behind joining your gym. Most people join a fitness center to get rid of stubborn body fat and need someone who can understand their complexes and fear.
That means you must make customers feel at ease and judgment-free when discussing their goals and fears with you. If they are not comfortable or hesitate to share their thoughts, it is your responsibility to ask them the right questions.
Validating your customers' concerns is of paramount importance for your gym or fitness studio. Keep in mind that your customer wants to feel heard. If your customer feels that their concern isn’t genuine or valid, you might lose them.
3. Perfect your marketing skills
You might be a great trainer or instructor. You may think of yourself as one of the best fitness trainers in town. You think your customers love you. You have many certifications, accreditations, awards, and titles, and confidence in your training abilities. Is that enough to avoid gym sales objections?
No matter how competent and educated a trainer you are, your skills may be useless if you don’t understand how to overcome gym sales objections.
Yes, you read that correctly.
You’re not only a trainer; you’re also an entrepreneur. You’re running a business that needs everything from proper branding to marketing to excel and grow. When you’re in the fitness industry, everything matters, including your looks, how you carry yourself, the way you write emails, and how you interact with customers.
These traits are an essential part of your brand, and you must develop good marketing, sales, and emotional intelligence skills to successfully run a gym. You must have sound knowledge and understanding of what works for your personal brand. Spend some time reading about marketing techniques, or hire a professional marketing firm to promote your brand in the main fitness industry.
4. Address problems and offer solutions
When you start marketing your services correctly, your leads will automatically determine whether your business is the right fit for them. This is one of the stages in the sales cycle where you must focus on addressing relevant problems.
Make sure you’ve done your research on the customers’ complaints before addressing the problem. For that, you may need to follow up with gym members.
Once you understand their objections, you’ll be able to provide relevant solutions. You need to handle all objections immediately and answer any concerns raised by your prospective customers.
This is where you also need to ensure your prospective customer is satisfied with your solution. Trust plays an important role here and is another major issue in sales.
If your prospect or customer doesn’t trust you or your services, you might face an insurmountable obstacle. The proposed solution must not hint at uncertainty if you want to avoid hurdles in the future.
For instance, if your customer tells you that your reading feels scripted, it may seem like your response is insincere. It can create distrust. You must make sure your customer feels heard and taken care of if you want to build trust.
It doesn’t end here, as they should also feel like they are speaking with an expert who knows about the field. Before addressing problems, make sure you’ve come up with a thorough solution that satisfies every complaint and overcomes any gym sales objections.
Summing up gym sales objections
No matter what unique obstacles your fitness center faces, the four aforementioned methods are tried and tested ways to overcome gym sales objections.