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Episode 101: The Level Method

December 27, 2017 Gym Operations Podcast
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The Trade Deadline

December 23, 2017 Selling Gym Memberships
What if you could trade your five worst clients for five more of your BEST clients?   If you’ve been listening in 2017, you’ve heard me talk about your “SEED” clients: how to identify and serve the best clients best.   Mike Michalowicz’ book on the topic, The Pumpkin Plan, formed the strategy we teach in the Incubator. We tailor it for gyms, of course. But when Michalowicz was on our podcast,  he also talked about what do with your WORST clients.   If you’re like me, that phrase (“worst clients”) sent a shiver up your spine.   The client is always right–aren’t they? Don’t we need to latch onto every client we can possibly get?   What if you could trade your worst clients for better ones? Who would you swap?   There’s value in knowing who your best clients are–and who they’re not. Because when we identify where best clients come from, what they want, and why they stay, we attract more like them. And when we identify the same characteristics of our worst clients, we avoid painful mistakes in the future.   Let’s start our top secret list with this exercise (the inverse of the “Seed Client” exercise, so let’s call these “Weed clients”.   Make two lists: List #1 – the people who pay the least for your coaching. Calculate this by dividing their monthly rate by their average visits. No judgment here; we just want to know who pays the least per visit. List #2 – who complains most? Who makes your energy drop when they walk through the door?   Now compare the two lists. Which names appear on both?   Michalowicz would have you fire those people immediately. (Here’s how to do it.) But if that’s uncomfortable for you, no problem; when you start improving your gym, they’ll probably leave anyway.   Ask yourself what these “weed” clients have in common. Where did ...
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How To Kill Your King

December 21, 2017 Member Retention
(The wrong way to open a gym) When I’m in Manhattan, I go to Union Square for a chess lesson.   This is roughneck chess: you sit on a folding chair or overturned bucket. You take the first seat available, no matter who the opponent (don’t worry, they’re all better than you are.) And you don’t put money on the game–but you’ll pay. Oh, yes.   My last lesson, in June, was against a street player named Mike. His wool cap was pulled down almost to his flat nose, and his heavy leather jacket would have made me sweat. I was wearing a t-shirt, but sweating plenty as we started anyway.   Mike leaned over to the guy beside him and said, “Gimme a coupla your pawns.” Our board was missing a few pieces. His neighbor handed over some mismatched pieces, and we began. Mike let me go first.   I was finished in under three minutes.   “Ever played before?” he asked.   I had. In fact, I’m not a bad chess player. I’m scrappy. I like changing my game plan on the fly. But Mike hammered me from the beginning. And so the lesson began.   “You have no opening,” he said. “You gotta have an opening.”   In chess, your first five moves largely determine your ultimate success. You can set up a defensive position and do battle, or just make random attacks that expose your King. I hustled hard in the first few minutes. But you don’t out-hustle a hustler.   When you open a gym, you can set yourself up for long-term success by doing a few things right: Running a Founders’ Club focusing on value Choosing the best location for your clients’ convenience Setting your rates using a formula to determine what you need Identifying your ideal clientele and focusing on what they want Planning your revenue streams to be diverse Inviting your neighborhood ...
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Staff Gone Bad

December 20, 2017 Hiring Staff
One of my favorite stories from Dale Carnegie is about Dale Hoover, a famous test pilot and frequent performer at air shows.   After an air show in San Diego, Hoover was flying home to Los Angeles when both engines quit in the plane he was flying. His extreme skill allowed him to perform an emergency landing and survive with his two passengers, but the plane was badly damaged.   Hoover’s first act on the ground was to check the fuel tanks. His suspicion was confirmed: the WWII propellor plane had been filled with jet fuel, not gasoline, by the mechanic. Hoover went straight back to the airport and demanded to see the mechanic who had fueled the plane.   The mechanic came out of the bay, sick with the thought of losing an expensive plane, and almost causing three deaths by his careless mistake. Getting fired, he figured, would be the least of his worries. Hoover stared at the man for long moments, and then asked him to oversee the fueling of his plane the next day.   Everyone was shocked–Hoover wasn’t really known for temperance. One of his passengers asked, “Why would you want THIS guy, who almost killed us, to have another chance tomorrow?”   And Hoover responded: “Because there’s no one else in the world who will be more careful with my plane tomorrow.”   People screw up. I do it. So do you.   We know that our own mistakes are valuable. But we’re quick to condemn the mistakes of others, instead of realizing that THEIR mistakes are also valuable.   The first time a staff member breaks a rule, forgets to lock the door, or wears their hat backward when coaching, assume it’s YOUR fault. Ask: Have I told them NOT to do that? Was I clear enough? Have I written the rule down in our Staff Playbook? Have I evaluated this staff person ...
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Episode 100: State of the Industry, and the Future

December 18, 2017 Gym Marketing Podcast
 
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The Idea Machine

December 13, 2017 Vision
I’ve never met a gym owner who didn’t have a great idea. Before January 1, I’ll have done over 1500 free calls with gym owners. And almost every time, I hear this: “I really want to get my X started, but I’m too busy.” or “I listen to your podcast and I’m intrigued by your Z, but I don’t have the staff to help me run it.” or “I can’t afford to pay my coaches to start a Y program. I can barely get them to clean the floor at night after their classes!”   Next Monday on the 100th episode of our podcast, I’m afraid I’m going to make it worse. I’ll share my vision for what the next three years holds for the microgym owner: the threats, opportunities and tactics for reaching the next level of success.   If you’re still coaching most of the classes at your gym, that episode will make you angry. Good. More ideas isn’t the problem. Lack of action is the problem. And it’s a solvable one.   Here’s how to get yourself the time to build your “big idea”, add new programs to your gym–or just go home to see your kids in the Christmas pageant.   First, break down the roles and tasks in your business. We cover this in the second week of the Incubator, and it’s also spelled out in Two-Brain Business 2.0 if you’re running at DIY speed.   Second, assign a value to each role. This is the cost to replace you in that role (for example, I can hire a cleaner for around $13 per hour in my city.)   Third, do a time valuation: wear a watch for a week, and record every role in which you spend more than five minutes. This is tedious, and there are apps that can help. But if you spend more than five minutes on email, write that down. ...
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