Stay ConnectedWe’ve already helped 3,000 gym owners become more profitable, and we’re the #1 gym mentorship program in the world.
This channel (presented by Two-Brain Business) is packed with business tools for gym owners and CrossFit affiliates. We provide actionable, data-backed business advice for all gym owners, including those who own personal training studios, fitness franchises, and strength and conditioning gyms.
Fitness entrepreneurs need three skills if they’re going to be successful.
In this episode, Chris Cooper explains how focus, "gain thinking" and virtuosity combine to create strong businesses that improve the health of entire communities.
Rush from project to project without finishing anything and your gym’s growth will stall. Spend too much time thinking about where you should be and you won’t build any momentum. Ignore the basics and you’ll constantly find yourself correcting the same problems.
The best part? These skills will help you run a better gym, but they’ll also help you in other aspects of your life. And if you branch out from gym ownership, they’ll allow you to find success in your new entrepreneurial ventures faster.
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Gym Owners United
1:29 - Skill 1: Focus
4:46 - Skill 2: Gain thinking
10:34 - Skill 3: Virtuosity
If you think of selling as pushing people to buy things they don't want, you're going to struggle to make sales.
When you reframe the sales process as "helping people solve their problems," you'll be able to confidently present solid solutions to prospective clients who will be eager to accept your expert assistance.
The Help First concept is a game changer in the fitness business—especially if you struggle to close.
In this episode, Coop walks you through Help First—what it means, what it looks like in practice, how it benefits gym clients, and how it increases the number on your bottom line without making you feel slimy or dishonest.
You'll learn practical strategies you can employ today to build a strong business while helping people in your community accomplish their goals and improve their health. It's a win for everyone.
Links
Book: "Help First" by Chris Cooper
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Gym Owners United
1:57- Mindset and overcoming obstacles
4:23 - Strategy: help the kids
5:38 - Strategy: help the teams
8:39 - Strategy: thank the heroes
10:09 - Strategy: co-branding
12:50 - Content creation
14:44 - Summary
Want to know how Two-Brain's conversation marketing funnel works?
You're in it.
In this episode, Chris Cooper walks you through a four-step process for setting up a killer conversation marketing plan at your gym.
Remember: Conversations bridge the gap between advertising and sales. Advertising gets a prospective client's attention, and the sales process secures the money and the membership. But if you focus on the period between attention and sales, you'll earn trust through conversations, and you'll close more sales faster.
You can use Coop's strategies to grow your client base but also to keep current members longer because conversations preserve relationships. You can even use it to bring back departed clients: Conversations rekindle relationships.
In short, if you want to grow your gym business, start more conversations.
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Gym Owners United
1:59 - What is conversation marketing?
3:01 - Start a conversation and listen
6:19 - The invitation
7:00 - The sign-up
8:29 - Retention and reactivation
Two CrossFit gyms in Santiago, Chile, are home to 1,140 total clients—and Daniel Dobbs Brown owns both of them.
Accion CrossFit Providencia earned the No. 1 spot on our August 2023 headcount leaderboard with 723 clients, and the Las Condes location hit No. 4 with 417.
So how did Dobbs Brown do it? Host Mike Warkentin digs in to find out.
The short answer: Daniel is using a precise, high-volume, data-backed marketing plan and an increasing focus on retention to build his client list.
Daniel pulls back the curtain and shares all his metrics, as well as the strategies he's implementing with the help of a mentor to reduce churn, increase length of engagement and boost average revenue per member—all with a goal of dramatically improving the health of his community.
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Gym Owners United
2:22 - Acquiring and retaining clients
5:59 - Getting people in
11:48 - Content marketing
16:06 - Group training and PT
19:52 - Improving length of engagement
27:59 - 3-point plan for success
Client headcount isn't everything.
But it's still important—especially in a gym with great retention and average revenue per member.
When gyms with great metrics across the board acquire more members, the results are spectacular.
With just 150 clients who pay $205 a month, an owner can earn $100,000 a year. You can imagine what happens when a gym earns 200 or more clients who pay $300 a month and stay for years.
In this episode, Chris Cooper presents our Top 10 leaderboard for clients in August 2023, but before you listen, remember that the numbers are multipliers of other metrics.
To start, we want you to get 150 clients who pay $205 a month, and then we want you to increase those numbers slowly and steadily while retaining your clients for years, not months.
That's how you build a profitable gym that changes clients' lives and rewards its owner at the same time.
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Gym Owners United
0:36 - Gyms 6-10
1:43- The Top 5
2:44 - Beyond headcount
4:32 - Leaders’ Tips
9:47 - Recap
Yes, you can use AI to bring clients to your gym. Gym owner Chris Cooper uses ChatGPT to do that even though he's written seven books and thousands of blogs by hand.
But how can you use artificial intelligence effectively without coming across like a misguided robot? And what should fitness entrepreneurs know before getting started with AI?
In this episode, Chris Cooper offers his tips for AI mastery, explains how you can misuse ChatGPT and other platforms, and tells you how AI can be a key part of your content marketing funnel.
He also provides a rundown of his new AI guide for gym owners—available in the Gym Owners United group. The free guide is packed with prompts and step-by-step instructions so you can create valuable content that's tailored to your gym. Crank out the right content and you'll acquire more high-value clients.
To get Cooper's new guide, join Gym Owners United and request "The Clickable Step-by-Step Guide to AI Mastery for Gym Owners."
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Gym Owners United
1:08 - Writing evolution
4:24 - Prompts for ChatGPT
8:14 - Avoiding pitfalls
12:51 - When AI is wrong
14:30 - How AI works in your funnel
You can use an email list to build an incredible fitness business.
Email might not be as sexy as the latest "social media hacks" presented by online sales gurus, but it's a direct line to clients and prospective clients—and that's worth a lot to any business.
In this episode, Chris Cooper explains how he used daily email conversations to build his personal-training business, his gym and his worldwide mentorship company.
He breaks down the content marketing funnel that should send warm leads to your gym and tells you exactly how to use email to carry on conversations that result in sales.
If you're struggling to find new clients or get people into your gym for free consultations, this episode will help you unclog your funnel and get the leads flowing.
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Gym Owners United
0:53 - Marketing funnels
2:48 - Email conversations
8:09 - Blogs, email, social media
11:47 - Funnel mapping (attention, conversations, consultations)
15:06 - Constant media production
Colm O'Reilly helped gym owners solve marketing problems at the 2022 Two-Brain Summit in Chicago.
The mentor and owner of CrossFit Ireland ran through four major funnels fitness entrepreneurs need to build to ensure a steady stream of quality clients: referrals, organic social media, content and paid marketing.
Each funnel leads to a free consultation called a No Sweat Intro: It's your very best chance to close a high-value sale and retain a client for years.
Colm also answered key setup questions and laid out tactics for better lead nurturing and sales.
His lecture—recorded live from the Crowne Plaza hotel—is presented here to help you connect with high-value clients and change their lives.
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Gym Owners United
2:15 - The four funnels
2:53 - The referral funnel
8:04 - The organic social media funnel
13:30 - The content funnel
17:02 - The paid marketing funnel
22:27 - Key marketing question
23:59 - Lead nurture and sales
Most gyms ride a roller coaster because they aren’t consistent in their marketing. They see something, try it, get a few clients and then drop it to try the next thing. There's a better way: four simple marketing funnels that run at all times.
Every funnel leads to a free consultation we call a No Sweat Intro (NSI). That's where you can help high-value clients become healthier by presenting the best solution to their problems.
The best part? Each funnel makes the others work better.
In this episode, Chris Cooper goes over the four essential funnels Two-Brain Business helps clients build: referrals, content, social media and paid ads.
If you build them, you can expect warmer leads, higher-value clients, more sales and better retention.
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Gym Owners United
1:01 - Referral funnel
4:15 - Content funnel
7:09 - Social media funnel
10:35 - Paid ads funnel
Gyms get into legal trouble from time to time, and if you read the news, you'll see some scary stuff.
To help you limit your risk as a gym owner, Matthew Becker of Gym Lawyers PLLC digs into the news, explains how some gyms found themselves there, and gives you simple steps to protect your business.
From leases to liability for broken equipment to injured clients—Matthew and host Mike Warkentin cover it all so you can sleep better at night.
Links
Sudden closure in Mississauga due to legal dispute
Man sues LA Fitness
Man awarded $46 million after jiu-jitsu injury
Your LLC Isn't Protecting You if You Do These 5 Things
Gym Lawyers website
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Gym Owners United
0:58 - Non-payment of rent
7:31 - Avoiding issues with leases
15:43 - Man sues LA Fitness
29:05 - Jiu-jitsu injury
41:31 - Waivers and other details
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