When you’re getting started with your studio, the first thing you’ll want to do is score some quick wins.
This translates to getting a lot of leads and, by extension, new members.
…And that’s where the frustrations begin.
You want to get plenty of new members quickly, but you also want them to be the right type of members, right? Yet, when you look at the stack of names, emails, and phone numbers you’ve got, you don’t know where to start your search.
The frustrating part is that you know there are some potential members on your list. The issue is knowing how to bring them in and, even more importantly, keep them.
Ideally, you want to use the assets already available to turn a lead trickle into a full-fledged flood.
This article will show you how to grab the opportunities in front of you and maximise leads for your studio.
Understanding How Leads Work
To make the most out of your leads, you first need to understand what happens when your studio starts engaging them.
First of all, it’s crucial to keep in mind that your lead campaign will never be 100% effective. In fact, 50% of the people who opted for an offer will never actually buy.
Another 35% will take between three months and two years to convert.
This leaves you with about 15% of people who will be ready to buy right now. Those are your quick wins.
Of course, leveraging the quick wins is a no-brainer. When you have people willing to buy immediately, that’s a slam-dunk case that won’t require too much attention on your part.
A similar thing applies to the 50% of people who won’t buy. The best you can do about them is keep warming them up and see if they change their minds at some point. However, that’s a task best suited for automation and something you don’t need to think about too much.
The critical part of your leads is those 35%. These are the potential members that might go either way – they either buy or they don’t. Furthermore, they are the leads that you’ve already paid for.
In other words, those leads represent the potential that your studio is sitting on, and that’s where you need to direct most of your attention.
Creating Your Lists of Leads
Building your lists is a matter of playing the long game. The principle at its core is to run specific campaigns to grow an evergreen list of leads ready to join.
Now, to create those specific campaigns, it would be best to segment your audience into particular lists. These should include:
- Ex-members
- People who’ve never been members, like the contacts you got from your website who gave their info but never bought anything
- Unconverted trialers, or people who never rolled over or did sessions
- Active members
- Open-ended suspensions, or the members who made a pause due to a variety of reasons
These will be the main sections of your complete lead pool.
Once you have them in separate lists, you can start reaching out. And the best way to do that will be in an articulated five-day effort.
The Five-Day Sprint
You might’ve noticed that there are five lists of leads and the corresponding number of days for your sprint. There’s a very good reason for that.
When you start to launch your follow-up sequences, you don’t want to do it at the same time for all of your leads. Otherwise, you might get into a situation where a lot of people will start responding and raising their hands at the same time. As a result, you could quickly lose track of who you’ve followed up with and miss out on some opportunities.
For that reason, you’ll want to dedicate one day to each group. And it’s worth noting that you might need to contact a person up to 15 times just to get them on the phone and eventually make the sale.
Doing the five-day sprint will make everything well-organised and allow you to keep track of the people you’ve contacted, as well as any feedback you’ve got from them.
As mentioned before, the way you follow up will depend on the type of lead.
Building Your Follow-Up Sequences
If you want to make your outreach as efficient as possible, you’ll need to build tailored sequences for each group.
When contacting ex-members, you’ll want to send out a “win-back” offer. This sequence is pretty self-explanatory.
The second group is the people who’ve never been members. For them, you’ll want to create a massive level of engagement because you’re offering a new experience. Consistency is the name of the game here. After all, people will buy when they want to, not when it’s convenient for you. And that brings everything down to timing.
When it comes to the unconverted trialers, they’ll need some sort of incentive. It might be an extension, an offer to try again, or a special offer that feels like it’s tailored for them specifically.
For active members, it would be best to focus on those who might bring in referrals. Besides that, you should remember to answer any of their emails or questions.
Finally, the goal with open-ended suspensions is to connect with those people. You should get them on the phone, have a conversation, build a plan, and book them for their first session back with your studio. If needed, you might even offer some additional incentives like a price reduction for the first month. In essence, following up with these leads should be uncomplicated.
Use Leads Wisely to Build Up Your Studio
Leads are everything when it comes to growing your studio. You have to be able to bring in as many ideal-fit leads as possible and convert them efficiently to keep your studio business moving forward.
Remember that creating particular groups of leads and designing specific sequences for each one according to their wants and needs will be the best way to grow your number of members.
Do it right, and your studio will start to thrive.