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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.
Can you be a successful entrepreneur and a good parent?
Absolutely.
In this episode, Two-Brain Business mentor, gym owner and mother of three Joleen Bingham offers her top tips for balancing parenting with gym ownership. Parents have a lot on their plates, and Joleen will show you how to handle it all without losing your mind.
She wasn't always so organized. In fact, Joleen once answered business emails and took a phone call from a prospective gym client in the hospital just after giving birth.
Now, she uses a precise schedule and clear boundaries to ensure she can focus on her family. And she also finds creative ways to include her kids in her business.
You gym business should give you the freedom of time so you can give your family your best. Listen to Joleen, then take action.
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Gym Owners United
5:01 - Scheduling
7:54 - Setting and keeping boundaries
12:51 - Involving your kids
17:25 - Dealing with parent guilt
21:57 - Hiring a mentor
Derek Batman knocked out 34 free consultations in December, which put him near the top of our marketing and sales leaderboard for gym owners.
In this video, Derek spills the secrets of his success when it comes to set, show and close rates. His keys? Targeting the right clients, creating an airtight system for follow-up, and tracking data.
Derek's worked really hard to ensure the right people see his Facebook ads, and he uses retargeting strategies to warm his leads with repeated exposure. When a lead enters the sales funnel, staff at Hardbat Athletics contact the person within five minutes to book a free consultation.
Derek reports that his set rate improved measurably when he took control of the booking process instead of letting leads select—or not select—a time slot themselves through a booking system. In free consultations, the Hardbat crew uses an iPad sales binder to make sure everything is presented clearly and professionally.
If you only take one thing from this show, take this: Prioritize responding to leads as quickly as possible.
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Gym Owners United
2:43 - Lead nurture and speed of follow-ups
6:13 - Social media targeting
12:22 - Creating systems
14:23 - Tracking metrics
20:52 - Improving sales numbers
Chris Cooper checks in with exact client-acquisition stats from the top gyms in the world. He'll tell you how many consultations the best gyms book each month, how many people show up for the appointments, and how many sales are made.
Set, show and close rate leaderboards are just a few of the many Two-Brain creates each month to determine which gyms are posting the best stats. We use these leaderboards to track progress and celebrate wins but also to identify new best practices used by the leaders. If their tactics stand up to rigorous testing, we'll tell you about them so you can grow your gym.
You'll get info on three client acquisition leaderboards from December 2022 in this episode, as well as Chris's insight into how these top gym owners posted such impressive numbers.
Check out what the best are doing and then take action to make your gym's sales funnel sing.
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Gym Owners United
1:40 - Set, show and close rates in gyms
2:34 - Set rate leaderboard
5:32 - Show rate leaderboard
8:14 - Close rate leaderboard
11:48 - How to use set, show and close rate stats to improve your gym
Gym owner Corey Lapell has more than doubled his revenue, almost doubled his membership, reduced his work hours dramatically and quadrupled his salary since August 2020.
When COVID hit, the longtime CrossFit affiliate owner knew he needed help. Corey turned to Two-Brain, and his mentor got him to take action: writing SOPs, creating contracts, installing a hiring process, rebranding and more.
The result of the hard work? Corey and his partner transformed their Vancouver gym from a labor of love into a thriving fitness business. Corey is now enjoying more time with his family, and he's able to focus on building a better business for his clients. In fact, he's now taking bold steps to purchase a building to ensure Empower is able to serve its members for decades.
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Gym Owners United
0:45 - Empower's structure, business model and 2020 COVID plan
3:19 - The fear of signing up for mentorship while losing money
5:40 - Taking action when a mentor "kicks your ass" and pushes you
9:40 - Dividing roles between owners, and Corey's focus on SOPs
13:28 - Rebranding to market personal training and specialty groups
18:05 - From making $1,000 a month in 60 hours to $4,000 in 35
21:50 - Corey's advice to other affiliate owners
You might be tempted to offer a free trial to get some new clients at your gym, studio or affiliate—that's a mistake.
Years ago, prospective clients might have wanted to "taste the intensity" before signing up. But we're not in 2015 anymore.
Now, fitness consumers know what functional fitness is. They aren't looking to sample a one-size-fits-all workout. They have specific fitness and nutrition problems, and they want to know how your gym can solve them. The only professional way to present your solution is with a free consultation.
The data from thousands of gyms is clear: On average, doing a free consultation instead of a free trial will increase length of engagement from 8 to 13 months.
It will also allow you to present the best, most complete solutions to prospective members, and some of them will want your premium packages. That increases average revenue per member. Best of all, a consultation ensures you give clients exactly what they need to get the results they want and improve their lives.
Free trials are a thing of the past. To build a stronger business, start using free consultations.
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Gym Owners United
0:45 - The consultative process
1:44 - Length of engagement stats
3:16 - Client value
With the help of a Two-Brain mentor, Evan Armstrong increased his gym's revenue by 500 percent in just one year. Here's how he did it.
First, he quit his day job and shifted his attention to growing his gym/physical therapy business. He clearly mapped out his client journey, then he systemized and optimized as many tasks as he could before automating the systems.
He also overhauled his website to make it easier for potential clients to engage with him, and he dramatically improved his sales process with a video "sales binder" to ensure he wasn't winging it during consultations with prospective members.
Evan committed to improving his business one percent every day with clear, actionable tactics from a mentor, and now he's working for even greater success.
Listen, then take action so you can boost your revenue, too.
Links
CrossFit Gym Business Plan
Chris Cooper's "Gym Owners Handbook"
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Gym Owners United
3:35 - Growth of Evan's business
7:08 - The 1% improvement mindset
16:46 - Day-to-day mentorship
21:35 - What's next for Evan's gym?
27:46 - How to 5x your revenue: Evan's advice
An onboarding program is a guaranteed way to ensure real change in the lives of clients at your fitness business—and yet it's often overlooked by gym owners.
On today's episode of Run a Profitable Gym, Two-Brain Business founder Chris Cooper explains how an on-ramp or other onboarding program will decrease client churn, reduce the risk of injury or discomfort in your gym, and set up your clients for success over a period of years.
And let's not forget that clients who stay for years produce recurring revenue and referrals, and they reduce marketing costs.
Onboarding programs can be used at any fitness facility: access gyms, affiliates, personal training studios, strength and conditioning facilities, franchises and more. Remember: the first period of gym membership is critical to long-term retention, so the more work you put into an onboarding program, the stronger your business will be.
To hear more from Chris and the Two-Brain team, join Two-Brain's Gym Owners United group for daily tips and free business guides.
Links
Gym Owners United
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0:40 - Why you need an onboarding program
4:26 - Adjusting your onboarding program
6:09 - Data on onboarding programs in gyms
Colby Knepp's gym revenue more than doubled in fewer than 12 months. In this video, he explains exactly how he did it.
So how did he generate incredible growth at his PT studio in Colorado? According to Colby, Step 1 was hiring a mentor, and Step 2 was doing everything she told him to do.
Of particular note, Colby researched mentorship as part of his business plan to open a gym. Instead of flying solo and making mistakes, he used Two-Brain's data, resources and tactics to open with members and pay himself on Day 1. Then he used more business tools to hire staff, grow his gym, increase profit and reduce work hours.
Now, he's steadily attracting new high-value clients to Olde Town Athlete without advertising, and he's retaining members to build a strong, sustainable fitness business.
You can do the same thing.
Links
Two-Brain Business Prescriptive Model
How to Open a Gym With Dozens of Members on Day 1
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Gym Owners United
12:06 - Colby's strategies for increased revenue
20:38 - Why mentorship is necessary for real growth
28:34 - The trajectory of your business after revenue growth
The Intramural Open is a fun, annual, multi-week competition to run in your gym. Chris Cooper created it more than a decade ago as a way to boost morale, improve retention and generate revenue.
In this episode, Chris walks you through the updated 2023 Intramural Open guide. He'll tell you what the event is all about and how to run it. He's got a timeline, a scoring system, a host of coaching tips and a "survival guide" for organizers.
Most important of all, Chris will tell you exactly how to use this signature event to make money for your business, whether you run the Intramural Open on its own or in conjunction with the CrossFit Games Open.
The Intramural Open isn’t just about building up your members. It’s about building up your business.
Links
Click to get the 2023 Intramural Open guide
Gym Owners United
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1:24 - History of the Intramural Open, where it came from, how to get the guide
4:23 - The 2023 timeline
12:30 - Setup and pre-event activities
16:02 - Running the competition and coaching
19:09 - KEY MOMENT: How to generate revenue
22:00 - How to put clients on podiums, plus survival tips
Austin Ruesink runs Big Time Results—and he got exactly that through the Two-Brain RampUp program for gym owners.
With guidance from a mentor, Austin added $6,000 of revenue in eight weeks, reduced his work hours and moved his average revenue per member into the $300-$350 range.
In this episode, Austin talks about how he was nearing burnout before a mentor helped him take clear action to offload some tasks so he could focus on growing a newly purchased business.
With a staff playbook and roles and responsibilities in place, Austin was able to focus on optimizing his sales process by creating a sales binder. He also spent time doing goal reviews with clients, which improved retention and helped him connect clients to additional services that would help them.
If you're looking to build your fitness business fast, Two-Brain's RampUp program can help you do it.
Links
Gym Owners United
Book a Call
1:44 - Before and after RampUp
3:40 - The short summary of Big Time Results
7:00 - Why get a mentor?
13:48 - $6,000 gross revenue increase in eight weeks
21:00 - Reductions in work hours
24:19 - Retention of high-value clients
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