Your Dead Leads Aren’t Dead. They’re Waiting for the Right Moment

60–85% of the leads in your CRM are marked ‘not interested’ - but that doesn’t mean they’re lost forever. Jeff Pressly, Director of Sales – Americas at Keepme, shares why timing (not intent) is the real reason most leads go cold, and how Re-Engage can automatically bring them back to life, book tours, and grow sales without adding work for your team.
Jeff Pressly
Jeff Pressly
September 16th, 2025
Your Dead Leads Aren’t Dead. They’re Waiting for the Right Moment

Look in your CRM right now.

How many leads are tagged as “not interested”? How many got one or two follow-ups, then went quiet and were written off? For most operators, it’s 60–85% of their entire database.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: those leads aren’t dead. They’re dormant.

I’ve spent the last number of months talking with fitness operators across North America, and there’s a pattern I can’t ignore: nearly every gym I speak with is sitting on a goldmine of “dead” leads - and almost no one is doing anything about it.

Timing Is Everything - And Most Gyms Get It Wrong

The difference between a hot lead and a cold one isn’t intent - it’s timing. A prospect who doesn’t convert today might convert in a month, six months, or a year.

But most gyms never give them the chance.

Sales teams are stretched thin, focused on today’s pipeline, chasing the leads that look ready right now. It’s not that they don’t care - it’s that they don’t have the bandwidth to keep nurturing the ones who didn’t pick up the phone, missed their tour, or said “not right now.”

So they sit there. Hundreds, sometimes thousands of them. Leads you paid to acquire, leads who showed interest at some point - now left untouched until a competitor reactivates them first.

I call this the lead graveyard.

And if that’s the case, then here’s my challenge:

What would happen if you could breathe life back into those leads - without adding more work for your team?

Re-Engage: Automating the Second Chance

This is why we built Re-Engage into Antares.

Re-Engage doesn’t just store your cold leads - it actively works them. You tell it which leads to target (e.g. >90 days old, marked “not interested”) and when to reach out. From there, the AI agent takes over:

  • Sending personalised, context-aware messages across SMS, WhatsApp, DMs, or email.

  • Referencing their past interaction with your club - not starting from scratch.

  • Inviting them back into the funnel at exactly the right moment.

No manual lists. No bulk email blasts. No staff hours required.

And here’s the kicker: when a lead re-engages, they come back warm. Your sales team doesn’t have to chase them down - they just focus on closing.

This Isn’t a Nice-to-Have, It’s a Sure-Fire Path to Revenue

We’re watching this work for existing Antares customers right now. Operators who reactivate their dormant leads are finding a free, fast, and dependable growth channel.

Because think about it: you’ve already done the expensive part - capturing the lead in the first place. Re-Engage simply gives them a second chance to buy.

And it doesn’t just work for leads. It works for lapsed members too. Fence-sitters. People who dropped off the radar months ago but still have the right profile to return.

Every other club is leaving them to rot. You don’t have to.

The Bottom Line

We’re at a point where fitness operators can no longer afford to let potential members sit idle in their CRMs. The cost of acquisition is too high. The competition is too fast.

If you’re ready to stop writing off “not interested” as the end of the story - and start turning your lead graveyard into your most reliable source of sales - Re-Engage is the system that does it.

Your database is full of second chances. The question is whether you’re going to let them go to waste - or put them back into play.

👉 Ready to see how AI can fill your calendar and free your team? Book your Keepme Antares demo now