I like to walk into the store with a Membership/Scan/Key Card and membership agreement ready to go. This way, I can fill out the membership and give the Membership Card immediately to the owner or manager on the spot. The membership is transferable to anyone the owner/manager wants to give it to, but provided the box stays in the store and produces leads. By providing the Free Membership and giving something tangible validates and places more value on the Free Membership to the store owner. This way your box stays on the counter (does not get lost or thrown away) and employees will direct customers to fill it out entries to ensure the box produces weekly leads.
Here is the write up from Jason Linse with some adaptations inserted to combine with LeadBox.com's program protocol.
How to get the most out of lead boxes
When I owned a gym, we prided ourselves on marketing in a wide variety of ways. We used Direct Mail, door hangers, newspaper inserts, cross marketed with other businesses, guerilla marketed, went onsite to companies bringing food. And we had several lead boxes.
Lead boxes, from an ROI perspective, can be very successful. But you have to follow certain rules as well as have the right mindset. The following are some tips to get the most out of lead boxes.
-Start with 25 boxes.
This is an easy amount to get placed and manage. This is dependent, to some degree, on the
size of your town or city, but most markets should be able to find 10-15 businesses
close by to place boxes. If you can place all 25, then do so, but by having 10 boxes is reserve, you will be able to maintain and grow your program in the coming months.
-Keep them close. Start next door, and work your way out. The people who will join your gym live close and frequent the businesses around you. After you find 20 or so close businesses, go ahead and place one or two a mile or two away, or the other part of town. But never place one more than a 20 minute drive time during rush hour away from your gym.
-Coffee shop, hair salon, nail salon, restaurant, convenience store, cell phone store. Those are 6 solid places, and all gyms have these businesses nearby.
-Walk in with the box, ask for the manager. Better yet, order a coffee, get a manicure,
a haircut, order a meal, and fill up your gas tank first. Meet the manger, shake his or her hand, and
say something close to the following-
My
name is Jason and I own (owners will have better success getting them
placed, but any employee can pull this off) the gym (insert name of your
gym) down the street. I would love to place this box in your business
so your customers have an opportunity to win free memberships. And in
exchange, I would be happy to do anything to expose our members to your
business.
Don't forget to try the method listed above that I introduced this article with.
-If you get a NO answer, no worries. Try again at a later time. Sometimes, you get an owner having a bad day. Go back again, keep buying coffee, haircuts, etc, and ask in a few weeks. Also, often times you are not dealing with owner guy or gal. You are dealing with manager person and they may quit or get fired.
-Check lead boxes every 7 to 10 days. This is BIG deal. You can not go back once a month. Joe bag of donuts fills out a slip to receive a free membership, which tells you he is interested that day. He may forget in a few days or find another gym. If you check on slips each week, you should have no more than 4-7 days from slip drop to phone call.
-Call, call, call. If
you go with the Enter to win a FREE membership, which is what I recommend,
call folks and let everybody know they won a 30 day membership. This is not a bait and switch and nobody is
going to care if they ever do find out that everybody wins. You can also use a simple Enter to Receive a 1-Week All Access Membership with Personal Training Session. We have been seeing a lot of success with a smaller prize. It also takes away the aspect of the bait and switch method, thus being more credible to the prospect.
-Your goal is to schedule a tour. So, when you get a live voice, say something close to this: Hey, Mary, how are you?
I am good thanks.
Awesome, Mary, I am calling to congratulate you. The other day, you filled out a slip of paper at (insert name of business) and you won a 30 day membership to (insert name of gym)!
Oh,wow, that is great
Yes, Mary, all we need to do in order to get your 30 day free membership started, is to set up an appointment to tour our gym and fill out a simple form. What works best for you, afternoons, or evenings?
Um, evenings are best for me.
Okay, awesome. Tomorrow, we have a 6:15pm or 7:00pm? Which one can I pencil you in for?
Expectations
The number one reason gym owners do not like Lead Boxes is because it is a low percentage conversion.
5% to 10% of all slips turning into paying members is what you should expect. Anything more is above and beyond, and awesome.
In my gym, the goal was 100 slips of paper per month. Actual slips with legible names and telephone numbers.
We would get a hold of 60 of them, schedule a tour with 30, twenty would show, 10 would take the FREE 30 days, and 5 would stay and sign long term contracts.
5 new members per month from 10 boxes, and a little bit of effort getting them placed, managing them, and checking them on a regular basis.
Plus, you should be out there
guerilla marketing 2 to 3 days per week, so this helps force you and/or staff
to get outside the gym and be a walking billboard. Use this time in the field to market your business to the other businesses. Provide a special service benefit or a discount to the employees of other businesses. Have this presented as a hand out or flyer so you can leave something with each business. At least if the business rejects the lead box, you have left them with the awareness off your business and a flyer for the employees.
Oh, for the folks who take the 30 day FREE membership, there is an awesome 8 step follow up system I can get you. Simply email me [email protected] with …8 steps in the subject line and I will email it back to you.
Keep changing lives.
