» Club Marketing This was true in the past and is still


true in today’s digital world. This is because customers need to see, hear about, read about or experience a product or service multiple times be- fore they respond. When a club employs diverse mar-


keting efforts, prospects are much more likely to meet the threshold number of exposures more quickly. Of course, an entire book could be dedicat- ed to this subject. Our goal in discuss- ing it here is to simply motivate you to begin formulating a comprehensive an- nual marketing plan for your club. If a club’s comprehensive market-


ing plan is the machinery, it is neces- sary to have the right operators to run the machinery. You must understand the difference between marketing and sales and how to operationally man- age these differences. Let’s begin with identifying the differences. Marketing is any activity that gen-


erates prospects now or in the future. Sales begin only once a prospect is identified, and it is any activity de- signed to earn a prospect’s business. Obviously, marketing must occur


before the sales process begins. All too often, club operators hire salespeople without clearly defining and establish- ing expectations for the role that per- son must take in marketing. This can easily result in a salesperson who waits for information calls and walk-ins and resents being asked to self-generate leads. Operationally, there are three key things that club operators can do to


ensure that their salespeople become part of the marketing machinery:


1. Hire natural marketers Natural marketers are people who


instinctively enjoy telling people about a product or service they love. Many employers are under the impression that all salespeople are natural market- ers, but this just isn’t true. Often, ag- gressive salespeople are so focused on closing deals that they get frustrated with the prospecting process. To determine if a job candidate is


a natural marketer, during the inter- view process say, “Let’s assume that I have no marketing budget but that we still need to generate new sales. How you would go about bringing new sales into the club?” A natural marketer will immediate-


ly say something like, “I’d call all my friends and family and try to get them down here. Next, I’d go to the mall and pass out cards or flyers or whatever we could.” I once had an interview where the


young woman said, “I used to work at Bob’s stores and we sold a ton of run- ning shoes. I could go back and talk to the manager and see if we could put a promotional piece in every box of run- ning shoes.” I hired her, and she was fabulous. Any responses where people quick-


ly think of ways to get out and talk to people is a good indicator that they are comfortable networking and market- ing themselves—even if their inter- view ideas are off the mark. But when


people respond with ideas such as, “We could work a trade with the local newspaper,” red flags should go up as to their ability and willingness to net- work and market.


2. Involve everyone The next key to creating a market-


ing machine is to involve your entire staff in generating and implementing guerrilla marketing ideas. Launch this idea at an all-staff meeting where you can mix employees into diverse groups to maximize creativity and tap into the existing networking relationships they have in your community. If a staff meeting isn’t possible, individual de- partment meetings are the second best approach. At the meeting, tell everyone that


you need their creative assistance in designing low- or no-cost network- ing and guerrilla marketing activities. Share the importance of this type of marketing in generating new pros- pects, and let them know that tradi- tional forms of marketing are both ex- pensive and decreasingly effective. You may want to ask your group,


“Guess what the average market- ing cost is for us to generate one new member?” Let the group call out their guesses. When they hear what the actual costs are, they will likely be keen to assist. Give the group five to 10 examples of successful network- ing and guerrilla marketing activities. Then have them brainstorm their own ideas in small groups. Club operators are always amazed to hear their staff


“When a club employs diverse marketing efforts, prospects are much more likely to meet the threshold number of exposures more quickly.”


30 Fitness Business Canada November/December 2015


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