Joseph Strada of Unleash’d Strength Gym made our Top 10 leaderboard with 37 sales appointments in October.
When we interviewed him to find out how he did it, he already had his November numbers: 60 sales appointments.
Yes, he almost doubled the bookings total that put him on our leaderboard.
Back in the day, Joseph “only” got 25-30 appointments per month—and I say “only” because a set rate of 30 is very good. That’s one sales appointment per day every month.
To put that in perspective, our 2025 “State of the Industry” report revealed that the median gym gets just seven sales appointments every month.
Joseph moved past his average to hit 37 in October, and then he posted 60.
I had to dig in to find out how he’s doing it so you can have the same success.
Read on: He told us everything.
Key Funnel Metrics and Details
Unleash’d Strength Gym business profile:
- Joseph’s business started as a 24-hour access facility for strength athletes, but it’s now used by people who are after general fitness, too. He’s got powerlifters and Olympic lifters, as well as young athletes and people in their 80s and 90s.
- Joseph has added PT and small-group training, with those services now bringing in 40-45% of total revenue.
The top of the funnel:
- Joseph gets about 200 leads every month—this total has been consistent for about six months.
Source 1: Facebook Lead Ads
- Joseph tracks his metrics constantly.
- He spends $30–$40 per day on Meta/Facebook (about $1,200 per month).
- He gets initial 1:1 return on ad spend (ROAS) with his front-end offer.
- In months where high-ticket packages sell, his initial ROAS can get as high as 2-2.5+.
- Downstream revenue from recurring monthly memberships boosts total ROAS into the “great investment” category.
- Unleash’d predominantly uses just two pieces of ad creative that have outperformed all others. Both have been running “for months.”
- Joseph tweaked his ads with the assistance of a Two-Brain marketing mentor.
- One Instagram ad has about 1,000 likes—very high engagement.
- Joseph’s VA (see below) messages everyone who has liked or commented on ads.
Source 2: Website/Google Business Profile
- Joseph has been working hard on SEO and digging into his metrics.
- He has over 200 five-star Google reviews, with an automated request system that asks clients for reviews two weeks into membership.
- He uses AI to remind him to respond to reviews and post to his Google Business Profile regularly.
- He uses an optimized Kilo website designed for conversions: “Book a free intro” is the obvious call to action on the site.
Source 3: Bring-a-Friend Events/Free Workouts/Organic Sources
- Joseph literally cooks pancakes on the first Saturday of every month to generate walk-ins and bring in friends of members.
- Unleash’d does offer free workouts, which we don’t recommend in coaching gyms because free consultations convert at a much higher rate. But Joseph’s hybrid model—access or small group/PT—gives him some flexibility. The key: His website drives people to book a free intro, and he follows up regularly with everyone who does a free workout if they’re interested in facility access only. “They get all my emails and my texts until they tell me to leave them alone,” he said.
- Unleash’d has been in business for six years and puts on regular community events—like a Thanksgiving hike—which contribute to strong organic lead flow.
Lead Nurture
Joseph is great at generating leads. So what happens next?
- He realized he had hundreds of leads in his system but did not have a system to follow up.
- He tried following up with leads personally. It worked, but he ran into the “CEO running out of time” problem. Marketing is important, but Joseph can’t invest three hours a day making hundreds of phone calls.
- He delegated once to staff but realized lead nurture would fall off if they got busy with other tasks.
- He tried to hire a VA but didn’t have systems set up for success, and he had to jump back in.
- Joseph rebuilt his system, hired again and delegated to a new VA, with customized Kilo automations as backup. Leads now get an instant response to start a conversation, and they are fed into automated long-term nurture sequences.
- Joseph on his new VA, James: “October was a little higher than normal because he came in halfway through October. … We hit the 37. And then November was his first full calendar month, and that’s when we hit the 60. … He follows up and texts and calls and appointment-sets, and that’s been just game breaking for us.”
- Joseph confirmed he is getting great ROI on the appointment setter.
Beyond Appointments
Unleash’d is getting a ton of appointments, and Joseph is now working with his mentor, David Allen, to increase show rate and, ultimately, sales.
“Once someone sets an appointment, they get a video from me at the gym that says, ‘Hey, thanks for booking your appointment. I’m a real person. This is a real gym.’ You know, it’s not just another spam call.”
Other tactics to boost show rate:
- Bookers are asked to confirm appointments.
- Unleash’d now has a three-day window for booking so leads can’t select a slot three weeks later, when they are very unlikely to show up.
- The VA works hard to get leads to book ASAP.
- Joseph or the VA will ask bookers a question to open dialogue, build rapport and encourage reciprocity: “Do you want water or Gatorade when you arrive?”
“I think it really comes down to just dedicating the time and effort and focus on that lead nurture,” Joseph said.
The Takeaway for You
This peek into Joseph’s funnel makes one thing obvious:
You need a system for marketing.
Leads don’t just appear, and they certainly don’t just book appointments.
After that, people don’t just show up.
If prospective clients do show up, they don’t just sign up.
You must coach a person off the couch and into the gym—every step of the way.
Gyms acquire leads, book appointments, conduct appointments and close sales because they build marketing systems, track their metrics and improve their systems.
I hope this quick funnel hack inspires you to build or optimize your marketing system.
Remember, you can’t coach anyone to fitness and health if you can’t first coach them to join your gym.
If you’re stuck or want to move fast, I can help: We help mentees build and operate marketing funnels, create compelling offers, and sell high-value services. To hear more about all that, book a call here.
