If you want to improve your product, you must evaluate it first so you have a starting point.
Are your coaches performing at a 3-out-of-10 level or are they 8s?
What about your programming?
I know, I know: “My coaching and programming are amazing.”
I always think the exact same thing.
But when I’m honest with myself and take a deep dive into client results, I always see areas where I can get closer to a 10 out of 10.
Here’s exactly how to evaluate and improve your product.
Coaching
You can’t just think about your coaches and say “they’re pretty good.”
You must evaluate them two or three times a year and use a clear system.
Call these evaluations Career Roadmap Meetings because you’re using them to develop professional, happy coaches who can create careers as they help clients get results.
Schedule these evaluations well in advance. It’s a huge mistake to avoid them until you’re furious. If you do that, your anger will create a hostile situation in which it’s very hard to make improvements. If coaches know evaluations are coming every four to six months, they won’t walk into your office on the defensive.
For your evaluation, write down the top 10 skills a coach needs and ignore peripheral stuff like “cleans up equipment after class.” That’s operations. Operating standards are important, but we’re focusing on your product, and clients can still get great results if the coach forgets to put a dumbbell away.
Here’s an example that shows a few essentials for a great coach:
Next, rank each coach out of 10 in each area. I recommend you actually watch the coach work rather than sit in your office and do the evaluation from memory.
At your scheduled meetings, talk about the coach’s goals, then walk through the evaluation: “Here’s where we’re starting from.”
No matter what, give each coach one point of focus for improvement before the next meeting. Every single coach can improve something. Let them know you will always do this.
If you just say “you rock” and move on, that coach will be caught off guard when a problem arises. But if you highlight an area for improvement in every meeting, coaches won’t feel attacked, even if they’re sorely lacking in a certain area.
Before subsequent meetings, re-do the evaluation. Have things improved? By how much? What’s the next area of focus for the coach?
If you follow this process regularly—measure, mentor, measure—your coaches will continually improve the quality of your product.
If you rarely evaluate your coaches and assume they’re always doing a great job, your product will suffer.
Programming
Way back in the very first episode of the “Run a Profitable Gym” podcast, CrossFit’s “original firebreather,” Greg Amundson, told a story that’s always stuck with me.
At the first CrossFit box in Santa Cruz, California, Greg Glassman used a scientific approach to evaluate programming. It’s simple, but no one uses it because we all think our programming is great.
Here’s the system: test, analyze and adjust.
In practice, it looks like this: Glassman would program the workouts for the month. At the end of the month, he’d look at the workout scores for all clients, and he’d identify weak spots.
Example: “As a gym, we’re struggling with rope climbs.” So Glassman would program more rope climbs the next month, then measure output to see if the group was improving.
Same deal if everyone set Fran PRs in a month. That would indicate the gym’s clients were getting better at short, high-power workouts, so Glassman would shift the programming emphasis to longer workouts.
When was the last time you did something like this?
There’s no shame in saying, “I’ve never done it.” I’d bet more than 99 percent of gym owners don’t do this.
We’re all guilty of creating the month’s workouts and then regarding the document as the pinnacle of fitness programming.
But is your programming moving clients toward their goals? Do you have any weak spots? Could you make adjustments to help clients get results faster?
If you don’t test, analyze and adjust, your product won’t be as good as it could be.
If you really want to provide A+ programming, you’ll evaluate it scientifically and take clear steps to improve it.
Product Improvement Doesn’t Just Happen
As CEO, you have a lot on your plate. It’s easy to focus on other aspects of your business and assume your product is “fine.”
But fine isn’t excellent.
Excellence requires regular evaluation and a clear commitment to improvement. If you’re always testing, analyzing and adjusting, your product will improve and your clients will get better results.
When that happens, you’re well on your way to being regarded as “the best steakhouse in town”—and that’s a title you definitely want.
