Can good coaching really produce a good business?
No.
Good coaching is part of a good business, but it’s far from the only part.
Think about it: The best coach in the world won’t keep a gym open if her pricing, marketing, retention and operations are bad.
Certifying bodies like CrossFit and the NSCA send a different message, of course, but they’re selling coaching credentials.
The “technician’s curse”—laid out in “The E-Myth” by Michael Gerber—is the belief that just being good at your job will make you good in business. After mentoring hundreds of gym owners around the world, I can confirm that your business will fail if you are an A+ trainer who has D- business skills.
With that said, bad coaching can hurt a business, too.
Personal example: My gym once lost a high-value client who was visiting town for a few months because she didn’t get the coaching she was used to getting elsewhere. She quit, and the $2,400 refund was painful as hell.
Here’s the reality: Most gym owners are excellent coaches who lack business skills. Two-Brain mentors work with them so their business skills match or exceed the level of their coaching. If we don’t do that, they’ll lose their platform for coaching. I’ve seen this happen far too often.
Once the business is stable and can support the owner and the training team, then we can improve the coaching. Service delivery is important. Here are three ways to improve it.
1. Pursue advanced credentials—Obtain additional training in a field where you currently hold a credential.
2. Expand beyond your credentials—Obtain a credential in a new field or learn new things so you have more tools.
3. Focus on client outcomes—Realize that you have enough knowledge to change lives and dedicate yourself to applying that knowledge better.
The first two are obvious, but remember that you do not need a doctorate in exercise physiology to change a client’s life. More credentials feed the ego and fill the business card, but at some point you really don’t need more.
Instead, I’ll focus on No. 3: producing better results for clients.
Improved Client Outcomes
The best trainers are those who get clients the best results fastest. They “help best”: They get clients to their goals quickly and increase lifespan and healthspan.
To dramatically improve service delivery, start measuring your coaches’ ability to produce the outcomes clients want as quickly as possible.
My upcoming book—written with the help of some great collaborators—is called “Help Best,” and in it I define success like this:
1. The client tells you, “You’ve changed my life.” Document every time you hear this statement because that’s the best way to measure success here.
2. The client stays at your gym for at least two years. If they can build a habit that lasts for two years, it’s probably going to last a lifetime.
3. They continue exercising after they leave the gym. They might quit one method but they don’t quit moving. That’s a win.
4. They had a life-changing moment. This could be anything from meeting a spouse at the gym to running their first 5-km race to having a doctor show them a dramatic heath improvement they earned in the gym.
5. They brought in a friend or they built relationships that reinforce their healthy lifestyle. This is critical because people are the average of the five others they spend the most time with. If they’re around people who care about fitness, they’re more likely to keep training.
6. They’ve got a very clear goal, they achieve that goal, and then they set a new goal.
It should be clear that these six successful client outcomes aren’t a result of adding more certifications, but they are clearly part of a great fitness business. That means we need to pursue knowledge that helps our clients reach their goals, not just add more letters after our names.
Pushing the Industry Forward
The fitness industry right now lacks true scientific leaders who are good at connecting science and research with application in the trenches to get people to their goals and help them build habits.
CrossFit founder Greg Glassman was great at bridging that gap, but there are very few leaders in the fitness industry like Greg today. We have science leaders such as Peter Attia and Andrew Huberman, and they’re putting out amazing work.
But we have a gap between science and training. For example, you can listen to Attia’s podcast all day long and still not know exactly how to help a client today. I earned a four-year degree and had no idea what to do when I got my very first client!
I want to bridge the gap between science theory and application in the trenches because we have a proven system for quickly getting fitness businesses to an eight or nine out of 10. When Two-Brain clients stick to the plan, their businesses become better than their coaches, so their biggest opportunity for growth is to improve their service delivery. Improving their coaching means improving client outcomes.
To help with that, we have a new project called “Strength Coach Collective.”
- Join the Facebook group.
- Subscribe to the YouTube channel.
- Listen on Apple or Spotify.
I and the other hosts will line up guests who can help you understand how to make science applicable so you can get clients to their goals. The guest list includes Dan John, Jason Khalipa, Mike Burgener, Jonathan Goodman, Bill Parisi, Michael Rutherford, Jason Leydon, Stan Efferding and many more.
I don’t have anything to sell you—no credential, no certification. We’re doing this to help gym owners improve outcomes for clients because that will improve their businesses. My single goal is to make gyms better.
When your business is running on solid systems and it’s stable and profitable, improving service delivery and client results is the next logical step for you.
But great coaching isn’t about credentials or making your clients better at CrossFit or Pilates or whatever. It’s about getting better client results faster.
Measure the results you’re delivering, then elevate your coaching and change more lives. After all, that’s why we got into the fitness industry in the first place.
