Your gym must be different.
It must be the unicorn in a field full of horses.
If it’s not and you look like every other gym, you’re going to compete on price—and you can’t win. You don’t even want to win that race to the bottom of the market.
This issue increasingly affects CrossFit affiliates, which were once unicorns among all the globo gyms.
Intense exercise has now been commoditized by F45, Orangetheory and all the similar chains. The result: Consumers make decisions based on price. This is not good for independent coaching gyms who can’t compete on those terms.
You must look different to a consumer so you can create more value, and you must set your rates according to what you want earn, not by copying everyone else.
You must establish value in the marketplace, and then you must offer consistently great service to your clients so they are constantly reminded of that value.
It’s almost impossible to do this if you’re dead set on filling huge group classes with 25 members. That’s not coaching. It’s crowd management, and the spin studio down the street does it better.
Here’s a great plan:
- Publish a ton of media that shows how you’re different, and establish the value of coaching as the best way to get results fast.
- Set your rates according to value and target 150 clients.
- Use the Prescriptive Model and goal review sessions to improve retention and reaffirm and drive up value.
Protip: Head to Facebook and request my guide that lays out clear paths to $100,000 earnings with just 150 clients.
At that point, you will have a very solid business underneath you, and you’ll be earning six figures.
What next? Whatever you want.
You can earn more from your 150 clients (we can show you how) or target 200 or 250 with a clear plan that will ensure you don’t reduce value and start bleeding clients.
With a sound business running well, you have all the options, and you’re in control.
Whatever you do, do it with a plan. Don’t let someone else—such as a franchisor, an affiliation program or an internet guru—sell you on the big-class, if-you-build-it-they-will-come myth.
That myth doesn’t support gyms. It supports the people who perpetuate it, and the individual gym pays the price.
You Need a Plan
Just like your clients, you need a specific, data-backed plan if you’re going to help people as a gym owner.
You also need someone to hold you to the plan so you don’t run around chasing every idea or spend all your time trying to guess which guru or franchisor is gambling with your livelihood.
We can help.
Start by requesting my data-packed guide “5 Ways to Make $100,000 a Year From Your Gym.” It’s got executive summaries, pros and cons, spreadsheets and insight—hard data you won’t find anywhere else.
Review that guide, and when you’re ready for a plan tailored to your unique business, book a call to talk about that.
