Original article by Steve Jensen and updated October 2024.
In a competitive marketplace we’re always looking for that golden bullet – the one thing that will increase sales. Is it more marketing? Improved advertising? Getting better positioning in the marketplace? Or is it achieved by diving into technology and creating a better website, sales funnels and auto responders?
What are the basics of sales every business owner needs to know?
The basics of business include knowing your unique selling point, having a marketing plan, and maybe even having some great ideas.
Business operators should also have a general idea of the marketing process, including a strong call to action (e.g. a price offer). These are the fundamentals for operators.
What I will share with you is one proven strategy that WILL increase your sales when implemented correctly.
The Hawthorn Principle
I’ve tested this strategy all over the world, and with different types and sizes of health clubs and businesses, and I can assure you it works. Best of all, its simple and easy to implement.
The Hawthorn Principle stipulates that you know and understand your KPIs and benchmarks thoroughly, measure them on a daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly basis (depending on the KPIs themselves), share them amongst all team members, and have leadership strategies in place to coach people if KPIs are not being met. There’s a simple saying I often use: “inspect what you expect, or don’t’ expect it!”
Most business operators claim to know this information, but the truth is they don’t! And even when data is measured, unfortunately most often the sales team doesn’t actually understand what it means.
This is why, measuring KPIs and your numbers on a daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly basis must be combined with leadership.
In other words, know what the numbers are telling you, and then be able to coach your team well, so they understand them too, and can do a better job if they are falling short. By implementing this system, I assure you, your sales WILL increase.
What sales KPIs should you measure?
Here is a breakdown of the numbers and percentages you should measure: –
1. Number of leads
The total number of leads you receive via web, phone, SMS, Facebook etc. Break them up into categories such as offline (e.g. telephone queries or walk-ins) and online (e.g. messenger, Facebook, website, SMS).
2. Lead-to-sale percentage
Once you know the number of leads you can calculate your lead-to-sale percentage by looking at how many leads you received versus how many sales you made.
3. Dial-to-contact percentage
Also referred to as the “contact attempt percentage”. This measurement is important because it identifies exactly how much effort your team is putting in to generate actual sales. To calculate this percentage you need to know how many contact attempts (i.e. calls or dials) per day that have been made to try and contact each lead. I like to measure this in “number of dials per day”.
4. Contacts per day
This may be via SMS, messenger or phone calls. When measuring, I usually count talking to a human being (not voicemail) as one contact via telephone. In terms of offline contacts, if someone SMS or messengers you back in response to your message, then that is counted as a contact.
5. Contact-to-booked appoints percentage
A phone call contact is easy because we already have them on the line and you can book an appointment there and then.
When you’re looking at your electronic/online leads, its important you make enough attempts to contact them.
The minimum number of attempts to contact a web lead you have the phone number for, is three times a day over 5 to 6 days. This includes the voicemail message you leave introducing yourself.
In your message, let them know you’ll call a few times and that if they don’t want you to call to just let you know and leave your number.
6. Appointment shows percentage
How many booked appointments actually show up.
7. Show-to-sale percentage
From the show (e.g. their tour/experience/trial), do they actually buy?
This percentage indicates your true closing percentage and so is critical that you measure it.
It’s important to realise that you have an immediate product where the value is created instantly when the lead receives their experience.
They shouldn’t have to go away and think about joining; they should be buying straight away. When your team understand how to create value they will never have to spend time trying to overcome objections.
8. NSR-to-sale percentage
The last thing to measure is those who say they’ll come back later to join. I refer to these leads as “NSR”, which stands for “no sale but returning”. It is recommended that they be booked in for the return visit before they leave your facility.
Increasing sales success in your business
If you measure the percentages and numbers on a daily/weekly and monthly/quarterly basis it’s a proven fact that without any additional skill-set training at all, you WILL increase your sales.
Success lies in:
- Making the commitment to set your budget and target
- Setting your numbers and percentages as benchmarks
- Choosing what you will measure daily/weekly/month/quarterly
- Teaching your people how to use KPIs (don’t assume they know how)
- Ensuring your leaders are trained so they know what to do in the event of a poor KPI
Remember, if you are going to measure KPIs:
- Make sure your team have been trained properly to make sales successfully. In other words they’ve been trained for phone and belly-to-belly sales processes.
- Make sure your team can demonstrate they know how to perform the necessary skills to create value and make sales proficiently.
- You then need ongoing (monthly or weekly) training to ensure they are continuously refining and implementing the skills. You cannot expect to achieve great KPIs if they are not trained adequately and consistently.
- Revisit basic sales training once or twice a year. Your team will not remember the simple things without doing this, and the simple things are often barriers to optimal success.
- Always acknowledge good performance in your team. Motivate by positive reinforcement.
KPIs are a salespersons and a manager’s scorecard; it shows exactly how successful their performance is at any given point in time.
If you have people failing, you must have a process in place to deal with this. KPIs should be considered an opportunity to coach, train and reinforce skills and processes with your team.
Most clubs and businesses are looking for that one key thing that will give them the edge, but most of them don’t find it.
Rest assured, if you measure your KPIs on a regular basis and make sure it’s a fun process, and you have coaching strategies in place for if someone is failing, you WILL increase your sales.
Join Steve’s (Dr J’s) Facebook Group Free, for live weekly coaching. Inside the closed group you will have access to the excel KPI’s files which have been formulated so you can easily use your KPI’s and Plan For Income Days everyday.
The groups name is The Impact Sales Success Club.
About Steve Jensen
Steve Jensen is the founder and Managing Director of Impact Training Corporation, a company specialising in sales, sales management and communication. If you would like to like to speak to Steve, please book in your preferred time in his calendar. Alternatively, call Steve on 0411 21 22 00 or visit the website for more information: – www.impact-training.net
Article written for the What’s New in Fitness Magazine – Autumn 2018 Edition.
View this article in the digital publication
More articles you might enjoy:
Opening a Gym in Australia: Is the Market Saturated in 2026?
The Australian fitness landscape has transformed dramatically over the past decade. Between 2015 and 2024, the number of gyms and fitness centres across the country expanded at an unprecedented rate, driven by boutique studios, 24-hour franchises, and increasingly health-conscious consumers. Now, as we move through 2026, aspiring fitness entrepreneurs face a critical question: has the
Legal Steps to Prepare Your PT Business for the New Year
The end of the year brings more than just Christmas parties and beach holidays for Australian personal trainers. It’s the perfect opportunity to ensure your legal house is in order before the new year begins. While most PTs are brilliant at designing programs and motivating clients, the legal side of running a personal training business
6 Selling Tips To Make Your Fitness Business Boom in 2026
The Australian fitness industry is experiencing a profound transformation. After weathering pandemic closures, navigating the hybrid training revolution, and watching consumer behaviour shift dramatically, fitness professionals across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and beyond are entering 2026 with a critical question: how do we not just survive, but genuinely thrive? The businesses that will boom in 2026
Personal Training Clients on Weight Loss Medication
As more Australians embark on medical weight loss treatments, many trainers now find themselves training clients on weight loss medication without fully understanding what these drugs do, how they affect exercise performance, or what’s within their professional scope. Clients may casually mention, “I’ve just started Ozempic,” leaving trainers torn between curiosity, concern and confusion. In
A Guide to Understanding Music Licensing For Fitness Businesses
The soundtrack of a fitness business does more than fill silence. It sets pace in a HIIT block, softens the edges of a busy floor, and helps a new member feel like they belong. It is also, in Australia, a legal and operational choice. If you play commercially available music in a business, you are
The Plus Fitness Playbook To Successful Scaling
The opening of Plus Fitness Mambourin last month marked a milestone for the brand, which has seen its trajectory turbo-charge since its 2020 acquisition by ASX-listed company Viva Leisure. Mambourin marks 200 clubs opened with around 200,000 members and more sites in the pipeline across Victoria and New South Wales. For Australian gym owners, a