We just completed our facility marketing calendar for 2008. We develop our yearly marketing plans based on our success (or lack thereof) from the previous years' marketing efforts. Over our 16 years in business we have developed a simple yet effective tracking system for our marketing and business performance. We break our analysis into 4 simple categories:
1. Inquiries
2. Complimentary sessions (sales tool)
3. New clients
4. Retention
Each category reveals information about the performance of our company in different areas.
• Inquiries- We can look back on the year and easily determine which of our marketing efforts was successful by the number of inquiries we received during and immediately following a particular campaign. If you don’t track this aspect of your business, you are wasting your marketing money.
• Complimentary sessions- We use a complimentary session as a sales tool. We compare our total inquiries with the number of complimentary session that we performed in a given month. If the inquiries outnumber the comp sessions by more than 50%, we know that we need to work on our phone skills and our facility tours. Most people that contact us know what we do (hence the name North Point Personal Training). It is then up to us to convince our potential client that we are the right place for them.
• New clients- Once a potential client has contacted us and made the effort to come in and “test drive” our services, all we need to do is convince the client that we can service their needs. At this point they know our rates, services, hours and most aspects of our business. It is simply a matter of creating a positive experience. We strive for a conversion rate of over 80%. If we drop below this percentage, we review our communication skills.
• Retention- This one is a little tougher to track but it is the most important aspect of our business. Again, we strive for a retention rate of over 80%. If we drop below that number in any given month, we will revisit our training techniques, programming, communication skills and facilities in an effort to plug the leak. Normally, communication is the challenge (over promise and under deliver)and some simple coaching can correct this.
Again, these 4 steps are basic but invaluable for your training business.
Until next time,
Rick Mayo
2 comments:
Rick,
Your piece on marketing really extends to ANY business, not just a training business. We spend roughly 4% of our revenues on marketing and you can be sure I am looking for very sepcific and quantifiable ROI. We, too, look at what inquiries we get from each campaign as well as offer trial usage periods. New clients and retention rates are 2 of the most important key indicators in our business.
It seems like basic stuff to you because you run a great business.
Thanks Noel. That means a lot coming from you!
Post a Comment