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Who Sells?

December 6, 2017 Hiring Staff
The next time you’re in a staff meeting, look at the faces around you and ask, “Which of these people is in charge of sales?”   If you can’t name the person responsible for selling, bad news: it’s you.   There are between 12 and 15 roles in every gym. But there are three “META” roles that really make the business run: Finance Operations Sales.   Finance is your accountant and whoever sets your goals and targets. Operations is how you coach your clients and clean your bathrooms. Sales is how you keep your business alive.   Gino Wickman writes about these “three chairs” (which I call meta roles) in his books “Traction” and “Get a Grip“. Other authors have said the same.   Sales includes offering your services to past clients, current clients, and future clients. When you’re selling to strangers, that’s called marketing.   Most business owners don’t hire salespeople.   Gym owners hire coaches. Butchers hire assistant butchers. Chefs hire prep cooks. Instead of hiring to fill the holes in their business, they try to duplicate themselves. And that’s okay–IF they plan to take the sales role themselves. But most never do.   If selling is “everyone’s job”, it’s no one’s job.   Someone has to get good at this. Now, that doesn’t mean they have to be dishonest, or slimy, or greedy. It means they have to do their client the ultimate service: they must discover how they can help FIRST, then help MOST, and then help FOREVER.   I certainly want someone to tell ME what to do most of the time. I don’t want to figure out how to change the oil on my new truck. I don’t want to repair the roof on my cottage, or change the chain on my chainsaw. I want someone to say “I’ve got this. What’s your credit card number?”   If you own a gym, your clients ...
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Group or Individual Training: Do You REALLY Have To Choose?

December 5, 2017 Selling Gym Memberships
The two most-discussed podcast guests I hosted this year were Greg Glassman (of course) and James Fitzgerald, founder of OPEX.   James was my first CrossFit hero. Greg is my business hero.   What I didn’t anticipate was that gym owners would perceive such a wide rift between 1:1 training (or individual program design) and CrossFit, because I don’t.   I found CrossFit after spending 9 years as a personal trainer. That was 2007, the same year Fitzgerald won the Games. I owned a 1750sqft personal training studio, with beautiful natural light and a good location. We ran noon classes, but that was the only one. Everything else was 1:1. We sent clients to globogyms to do their homework.   I opened our CrossFit gym as our second location. Unfortunately, it suffered mightily (I was trying to sell a ton of group memberships, using free intros and discounts.) But I survived on the revenue from the PT gym. And soon realized that the best path for the client was NOT the group-only model. In early 2008, the idea of just selling group memberships was popular but not the default. Now it is.   We combined the two gyms, switched our OnRamp back to 1:1 from group, and sold fitness delivered two ways: individually, or in a group. The group classes followed CrossFit programming overtly; the individuals did constantly varied functional movement performed at high intensity. They came to our gym to do their homework. Some people did both groups and 1:1 training, depending on their preference and budget.   CrossFit has always been the “budget option”, because I believe that 1:1 training is still the fast-track for client success.   We have 220 clients. Around $240k of our annual revenue comes from 1:1 training.   At intake, we ask people, “would you be more comfortable exercising 1:1 or in a group?”   Sometimes, at goal reviews, we’ll ask people “Are ...
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Episode 98: Julie the Rhino

December 4, 2017 Gym Operations Podcast
 
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Who Are You Accidentally Excluding?

November 29, 2017 Member Retention
Our Varsity program at Catalyst used to have 11 teen girls and only one boy.   One time, I pulled him aside and said, “Hey man, it’s totally fine to invite some of your male friends to this group if you want.”   He replied: “Why in hell would I want to do that?”   I laughed. He was trying to exclude competition, and I didn’t realize it.   Most gym owners are excluding clients and don’t realize it.   Even worse, they’re probably blocking out the BEST POSSIBLE CLIENTS they could have.   I’m going to tell you exactly what the problem is. But first, here’s the path a client takes to find their way to you. Please note that at ANY point, they could take any action, or even NO action. “I’m too fat.” “I am going to lose weight.” “Should I go on a diet, or start exercising?” “If I exercise, should I just start jogging, or join a gym?” “Should I just join the cheapest gym in case I don’t like it?” “Should I get a personal trainer? Or a class?” “Will I lose weight faster with Pilates, Barre, CrossFit, or a bootcamp?” “Which one is the easiest?” “If I pick CrossFit, which gym should I attend?” —-and I’ll interrupt there. Because THIS is where a lot of gym owners blow it.   I’ve written extensively on your intake process, the first impression on your website has to make, and avoiding the appearance of selling a commodity. I won’t cover those again.   Instead, I’m going to mention the signals you’re sending to your target audience.   When I opened, I thought I was my target audience: the 25-year-old “grinder” who wanted intensity in their life, who didn’t care about clean bathrooms or diet, who wanted to wear old t-shirts with obscure slogans and black skulls. I was flying a black flag. I was counterculture on ...
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Episode 97: Retail Ready!

November 27, 2017 Gym Marketing Podcast
 
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How Sharing Joy Makes You Happy

November 24, 2017 Personal Development
Your mom told you, “‘Tis better to give than to receive.” I’m going to give you something better than anything you can buy. On the day North America goes nuts buying things, I’m giving you a promise: Things don’t make you happy (you knew that part already.) Actions DO. Service will make you happy. But happiness is gold, buried in the mine of your other emotions. You have to go looking for it and hold it up to the light. While we, in North America, wait in lines to consume things, I’m going to give you something that will definitely make you happy: a weekly practice of mining happiness in your brain. It’s not Black Friday. It’s Bright Spots Friday. Every week in the private Two-Brain Facebook group (you can’t join until you’ve finished RampUp), we practice happiness. Hundreds of gym owners will share their “bright spots” for the week: wins in their gym and their personal lives. The purpose is twofold: 1. We all get to read hundreds (literally hundreds) of great ideas from other gym owners every week. 2. In the act of thinking about “What worked well this week?” we take five minutes to reflect on the things that made us happy. And guess what? The act of looking for happiness makes us find it! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this: “I didn’t think I had any Bright Spots this week until I went looking for them.” We also practice Bright Spots in the private Catalyst Facebook Group, and it’s equally powerful. You can’t keep people in your gym until you let them into your heart. I’m very careful about protecting the borders of both groups, because that’s what you do when you love people: you keep their space safe. So I won’t share any of their Bright Spots with you. Instead, I’ll share mine: “BSF: This is coach Miranda. She injured her ankle on a run last week. Rather than ...
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