I belong to several fitness business groups on the web most via Linkedin and these groups often host discussions on a variety of topics. Usually a person posts a question or report on something and members start the thread on their thoughts. Often these are very informative and give you a perspective that your peers often share but from time to time they become something that it was not intended and even kind of nasty.

Today a question was posted; “What is the top membership sales tactic or strategy in the fitness industry?” a great question.

There were some good answers and some answers that weren't quite on topic. Most were all about current client retention and customer service others were community involvement and social media. Of course these things are good and indeed all fitness business owners should focus on them but they are not sales strategies nor are they sales tactics.

Check out the difference between goals, strategies and tactics and how you could use social media as a tactic to help you reach your goals!

Fitness Business Goals
Setting goals in your fitness business is as important as setting goals in your workouts! Without goals we don’t know where to start and we won't know what we are trying to achieve. This is critical with your marketing and sales as without goals you won’t be able to refine your strategies and tactics to bring success.

Fitness Business Sales Strategy
Your fitness business sales strategy should be a high level conceptualization of how you are going to achieve the goal you have set out.

Fitness Business Sales Tactics
Your sales tactics are actions that you take to accomplish your strategy!Generally there are more than 1 tactic to accomplish a strategy and sometime you will have more than 1 strategy to accomplish your goals.

Fitness Business Sample:

Goal

• Sign up 20 new clients in the next month

Strategy

• Free eBook

Tactic

• Create a Facebook page with an offer to download a free eBook and collect their name, email and phone number
• Send email newsletters with a link back to your Facebook page
• Post it on other online sites where people are looking for fitness
• Contact them to schedule free fitness assessment
• Have a several offers to present after the free fitness assessment,  high, low and medium price options
• Sign the client up for recurring payments
• Offer them free fitness assessment to give to their friends

What are your goals, strategies and tactics for 2012? Comment below for feedback from our team!