Noted philosopher Bishop Berkeley once introduced a thought experiment by asking one of the most famous questions in history: "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”
As even learned chin-scratchers know, there’s no right answer to that question. But one thing’s for sure: Bishop Berkeley wasn’t running a sales seminar. In sales, the forest is vast, and you have to record and organize all of the data. If nobody is around to “hear” a solid sales lead, it won’t be converted.
You don’t want your best prospects to fall unnoticed in the proverbial forest of digital noise. Unfortunately, too many club owners are seeing their sales software missing promising leads due to poor integration and lack of digital literacy. Culling leads from social media is great, but if your sales staff doesn’t act on them, they’re just bytes floating in the cloud.
Keeping track of leads and prospects was a lot easier for health clubs when they used old media for marketing and promotions. Magazine ads, direct mail, or coupons in brick-and-mortar retail locations were more easily tracked. A customer would fill out a short card, put in a box or mail it in, and a gym salesperson would follow up a week later.
Now leads come from everywhere. Facebook, Google AdWords, website ads—and when customers respond to promotions, they expect an almost immediate response. If your CRM software doesn’t efficiently track and organize these leads, you’ll lose your best opportunities for sales conversions.
Are you confident that you’re gaining maximum advantage of your digital tools? You should, because digital is the lifeblood of your sales efforts. You want to hear every falling tree.
