The pandemic has forced all of us operators to have to do more with less. Whether it’s staffing, sales, marketing, etc, cutbacks have forced us to realign our resources and get creative.
Here’s an example: you have to keep costs low, but you also truly need to have a salesperson available every hour you are open.
The more and more I talk to club operators and owners that have combined roles of Front Desk and Membership Sales, the more I believe that staffing realignment would go a long way toward Operation Excellence and growth.
Making this hybrid position successful requires several elements to ensure that you maintain high closing rates AND an exceptional front desk environment and member experience. It is ideal if you can simplify and shorten the sales process.
Simplifying your processes is a first step you can take. For example, consider simplifying the offerings and pricings for your members. You can also simplify the number of steps it takes to execute a sale with potential members. You may find (as we have in our own clubs) that a tablet on a reversible stand allows for some self-service by the member and speeds the process up.
Which brings up my next point – invest in the technology it takes to make this easy on the member AND the employee. One MXM customer has a QR code on their front door that the walk-in can scan. This allows them to take themselves through the sales process- no employee necessary. The more you can move a frictionless process to the hands of the member BEFORE they arrive, the more your newly combined Front Desk role can focus on creating relationships.
After implementing some of these strategies, you MUST measure from the member experience perspective whether your service and experience standards are being met! Otherwise, how do you know that it’s working? And that’s where we come in. By combining these roles you have tweaked your “operating system”. MXM is the lens that provides the quality assurance to ensure these changes are helping to BUILD loyalty- not detract from it.
Want to learn more about how YOU can make these changes with the help of MXM? Click HERE to set up a conversation with us!
