Your studio looks amazing.
You’ve developed a polished retention strategy that you feel is effective.
So, you’re ready to reap the rewards of your hard work. And you’re expecting hundreds of people to line up for your studio.
However…
Your enthusiasm becomes short-lived because a huge problem soon arises:
Potential members aren’t interested to pickup the phone!
You’ve generated a large number of leads, but there’s no way to convert them because you can’t even talk to them.
Now, you may decide to do nothing about this issue and wait for it to resolve itself.
But if you sit idle and fail to change your strategies… you’ll only waste time and money. Worse, you risk losing your clients to another studio and killing your chances of taking off.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a magic wand that will make your prospects pick up the phone. You need to make it happen, and this article will help you do so.
We’ll list six tips to help you get people on the phone and boost your pickup rate.
The 6 Tips to Increase Your Pickup Rate
Tip #1. Don’t Use Certain Words
The first step to improving your phone pickup rate is to adopt a different mindset. More specifically, you want to stop using certain words, such as “no one’s picking up.”
What do I mean?
The situation might not be great, but there’s no reason to discourage yourself further.
In fact, many studio owners think that no one’s picking up after dialling just one or two numbers. They set unrealistic expectations, hoping that each potential client will answer their call.
But unless you’re doing 10 to 12 follow-ups per lead, stop thinking all your clients are refusing to answer you.
The problem may lie in just one or two prospects.
Tip #2. Do More Follow-Ups
As previously discussed, doing more follow-ups is essential to converting your prospects. Lead generation keeps your sales funnel in motion, but your efforts will be in vain if you can’t convert them.
But you can’t expect to land prospects with just one follow-up. In many cases, you’ll need to do at least two to three follow-ups to get your prospect to join your studio.
Some prospects don’t require much convincing, allowing you to seal the deal after the initial contact. But keep in mind that these people already know their fitness goals and how your studio can help them achieve them.
Such prospects are extremely rare.
In fact, you’re much more likely to encounter prospects who require two to three follow-ups.
Of course, getting them on board requires patience. But you also need to overcome your fear of rejection.
You might think your prospects are indifferent to your studio, but that may not be the case at all. They could simply be waiting for you to make the first move and address certain pain points.
If so, being persistent with your follow-ups will let you sell your studio’s services and convince them that yours is the right studio for them.
Tip #3. Switching Phone Numbers
Another thing you can try to improve your lead conversion is to use a different phone number. By this, I mean if your primary number is receiving no attention, switch to your secondary number.
This tactic can work great with many potential members, especially those who are hesitant to join a studio. They don’t know who you are yet, which is why they’re timid and reluctant to answer your calls.
But as previously discussed, persistence pays off.
Using a different phone number ties perfectly into this point. Since they don’t know that it’s you calling using your secondary number, chances are they’re more likely to pick up.
Tip #4. Do the Double Tap
Don’t feel disheartened if your prospect doesn’t answer the first time. I know many studio owners call it quits at this point, but that’s not what you should do.
Instead, do the double tap – redial your potential client’s number immediately after your first attempt.
It’s because they might not have heard your first call or think you got the wrong number. But once they see you’re redialing, they’ll be more likely to pick up the phone.
Now, the double tap strategy doesn’t hold for phone pickup only. It also applies to other types of communication.
For example, if your prospect doesn’t respond to your initial email, follow it up with another message. This increases the chances of a response.
Tip #5. Don’t Call at Your Convenience
One of the biggest mistakes studio owners make is calling at their convenience. That is, they dial their prospect’s numbers at the same time every day because it’s convenient for them.
For example, you might call in-between doing some pickups or after lunch. You might have free time at this point, so you decide to ring your potential client up.
It’s convenient for you…
But is it convenient for your prospects?
The easiest solution to this problem is to call your prospects at a different time. This way, you’ll rule out the possibility that they’re too busy to answer you.
Tip #6. Identify and Use the Ideal Time Slots
Identifying the ideal time slots to call is directly connected to the previous point. These windows have to do with when your prospects are more likely to pick up the phone.
Here are the three best time slots for dialling your prospect’s number:
- Five minutes after the initial lead drop
- Between 9 and 11 AM
- Between 4:30 and 6:30 AM (after work hours)
The first option might be your best bet since this is when the lead is still fresh. At that point, the prospect expects you to reach out, so use this opportunity while it’s open.
Adopt the Winner’s Mindset
The best studio owners are resolute.
Their pickup rate might not have been great when they first launched their studio, but this didn’t discourage them. Instead, they identified and solved the issue to improve their lead conversion.
You can do the same with these tips.
The key thing to remember is to not be discouraged by a few unanswered phone calls. Redialing your prospects and doing several follow-ups usually do the trick.
If not, understand that your customers are busy and choose a better time slot. You’ll be surprised by the improvements to your pickup rate.