I discovered on a call with our VIP members yesterday, that some folks haven’t gotten the word about this yet.

And it’s mucho importante.

So I’m putting the word out to everyone as of 7am this morning with writing this blog post.

This is a small tweak, but it can and will make a VERY big difference in your results closing more sales and bigger packages right now.

The difference is in how you present PRICE.

I’m also going to build on an article I wrote several weeks ago about packaging and price here.

So if you’ve haven’t read that one yet, be sure you do.

Ok, here’s the big tweak:

Back in 2007 when we first released our best-selling fitness sales system AUTO-CLOSER™ we taught folks how to close very large packages of personal training.

And the control back then was to present ‘packs’ of sessions. Generally 100, 75, and 50 session ‘packs’.

The closing slide looked like this:

Then over the last year, as the economy really took a dump and credit markets dried up, this control stopped being as effective as it used to be.

Why?

Well for a couple reasons, but the main one being STICKER SHOCK.

Most consumers are just more ‘uneasy’ about spending now than they were 2-3 years ago.

They are uneasy for lots of reasons- some may legitimately have less income coming in the door than they did previously.

But for many of them that is not the issue.

The issue is FEAR that something COULD happen to their income. With all of the constant doom and gloom in the media, FEAR is heightened… and even if a consumer does have the same amount of disposable income… many feel GUILTY just spending it without giving purchases more careful thought and review.

All of this translates into SLOWER buying decisions and RESISTANCE in closing big package sales.

Ok, so that’s the problem.

The question is :

“How do you overcome this… and get back to closing big packages sales that you want and NEED for your business?”

Well after many tests and tweaks let me introduce to you the NEW “control” closing slide being used by our top clients.

They are actually still selling packages worth the same transaction size (several thousand dollars) but we’ve now changed how they PRESENT it.

The big difference is the same transaction size is now presented in terms of TIME (3,6, or 12 months) and FREQUENCY of workouts required for a prospect to solve their problems or achieve their goals (making for an even tighter market-to-message match).

And PRICE is presented in terms of a monthly investment (getting visible numbers down in the hundreds in most cases) as opposed to the total invoice amount (which is still in the thousands).

Sticker shock be gone!

Now this means in most cases you’ll be taking monthly payments against your big package sale and want a good EFT or ACH system for managing auto-payments.

But that’s an easy fix and not a big deal.

However, you can also overcome this issue to… if it’s an issue for you.

Here’s how:

When writing up the invoice X months @ $XXX/month…. offer the new client a bonus or premium for full payment upfront if you want to shorten your cash conversion cycle.

Not everyone will take it… but around 20% will if it’s presented just right.

And ‘just right’ means it’s a very matter-of-fact demeanor and script.

Like “Mrs. Jones how would you like to pay for that?” and after Mrs. Jones says “My Visa card”, you say “Ok great, I’d also like to extend to you an offer we make to all our best clients. It’s not required, but if you’d like to pay your invoice in full upfront we’d love to offer _______________ as our way of saying thank you for your business.”

And _______________ is what you can test.

It can be a book-keeping discount of 5 or 10% on the total invoice, it can be a premium gift of a company gym bag and t-shirt, it can be added value of a ‘trial’ pack of sessions for another service you cross-sell or recommend like massage therapy, etc..

There are LOTS of options here.

Test it.

You’ll see great results.

In fact, I’m going to wager that someone reading this blog right now (maybe you) will swap our their closing slides today… use the new control.. and instantly get a bump in sales of several thousand dollars of revenue.

Applying this to multiple consults over the next few weeks… a bump of 10′s of thousands worth of revenue.

And that’s the value of staying ‘tuned’ into professional education to continue growing your business.

You just don’t know what you don’t know.

And the day you start thinking you “know-it-all-already” and stop learning, is the day you slowly begin to die.

We’ve got MANY new tweaks and updates to all our best-in-class programs like AUTO-CLOSER™, DUPLICATOR™, DEEP CORE™, COMMANDER™, CONTROLLER™, and more all laid out in a fitness business MBA certification curriculum in our EVOLUTION ACCELERATOR™ program here.

We launched this about 9 weeks ago and the results the students are getting are simply incredible. The class forums blow up every day with so many folks participating, sharing ideas, and masterminding about what’s working now. It’s truly incredible.

Next week we’re holding a special webinar to share more information about the program with everyone who’s interested and will re-open another 50 spots to join.

I encourage you to register for the webinar and get all the info here.

As Eric said yesterday:

We can rebuild you. We have the technology. We can make you bigger, stronger, faster.

To your success,
Sean

P.S. EVOLUTION ACCELERATOR™ webinar takes place next Tuesday at 3pm EST and registration will re-open directly following the webinar. Register to attend the webinar here.