Why You Need a Sales Champion
TA6 have worked with organisations that have professional sales team that follow a slick and precise sales systems with excellent success. We also work with operators that don’t have full time salespeople in place, yet deliver growth year-on-year. There is no right or wrong answer to how a leisure operator structures their sales team but what is clear is that most of your customers need support to take them through the buying process at some stage of their journey.
The constant development of technology has reduced some of the demand for this personal contact. Digital advertising, virtual tours, automated communications, and online joining means a member may not even speak to your staff until after they have joined. However, a number of new members joining your facility will want to speak to somebody to make sure the facility is right for them, so the importance of people is not to be underestimated.
If you don’t have a sales team, you’re going to need sales champions…
What is a Sales Champion?
Any member of the team can become a sales champion but it’s the team members that have a real flair for engagement that will flourish in the role.
Operational experience combined with an energy and personality to help potential new members make a decision about their health are essential. It’s important that sales champions understand the commercial need to drive sales themselves whilst supporting other team members to actively play their part in the sales process.
Why do you need one?
With the right training the sales champion can structure conversations and align processes to help potential customers make the right decisions. If these skills are trained, practiced, and measured the end result will of course be improved. An understanding of what you are selling is only a small element to delivering an effective sale. Undoubtedly there will be missed sales opportunities from not having processes and resources in place to manage sales enquiries. Increasing your team’s skillset will minimise these lost opportunities and help make the most of your marketing spend.
As the industry makes plans to re-open from the current restrictions it is clear that all operators will need a plan to rebuild their business back to a pre-COVID state. Having a strong marketing plan will be required but having the skillset within your teams will be vital. This will ensure that when prospective customers walk through your door, pick up the phone or send an email you are ready to deal with these effectively.