Mike Warkentin (00:02):
We know a free consultation is the very best way to get clients into your gym. Two-Brain data shows that gyms that use free consultations, sell more and retain clients longer. Today, I’m going to give you exact sales stats from a gym in Europe. We’re going to look at the entire funnel and break it down: What’s good and why, what could be improved, and how? This is “Run a Profitable Gym.” And I’m your host, Mike Warkentin. Please hit “Subscribe” so you don’t miss a single episode. I want to help you grow your gym every single week. Now to start real sales stats, these are from Calisthenics Amsterdam: 76 appointments were set, 37 people showed up and eight people bought. Those are set, show and close rates, and we have leaderboards for this every single month. We’re going to dig in now because the gym owner is here; Wesley Kalkhoven is here from Amsterdam. Welcome. Thank you so much for being here.
Wesley Kalkhoven (00:48):
Thanks. Thanks. Good to be here.
Mike Warkentin (00:50):
I am thrilled. I love talking about the marketing stuff and digging into the leaderboard because these are real stats, and I like hearing the stories behind them because they help other gym owners. So, I’m going to just dig in right off the top. 76 appointments: I never ever did that. I never even came close to this when I was running my gym. You did 76 appointments. Where did these people come from? How did you get so many?
Wesley Kalkhoven (01:10):
That’s a good question. So, I’m quite new at Two-Brain, and I switched to the software Kilo quite fast. For me already, that was kind of normal, or I was still a bit in the middle, like, “Is this, me? Or is this maybe—” I have a bit of a different gym, of course. I do calisthenics. I look at a lot of CrossFit gyms and how they do it. Maybe it’s the weather. For me, it wasn’t like a magic something; it was just following the formula, following the steps. The marketing campaign went really well. I have some engagement also, share some things on my own social, and of course from my own gym. So, I think somewhere just in the boring part is where the magic happens.
Mike Warkentin (01:52):
OK. So, you used software to start, so Kilo was the software that you used, and did you use paid ads at the very top of the funnel, or how did you get your name in front of people right away?
Wesley Kalkhoven (02:02):
So, I am kind of the only calisthenics gym in Amsterdam, so I have a kind of a monopoly, let’s say, there. So, if somebody looks up calisthenics in Holland itself, probably my gym will pop up first. So, that’s definitely—it’s different than a CrossFit as well. So, and to combine that with the paid marketing. Yeah, that worked really well, apparently. So, I think a lot of people come from the ad, but a lot of people also follow us on social because it’s kind of—calisthenics is quite popular on social media, and it looks cool for the unknown eye. Like they see people do certain stuff. It’s different than weightlifting. And weightlifting is like, “OK, other people can do it. They’re strong. I’m not strong,” but what I hear some people: “I see that, a handstand or whatever; I want to learn that.” And then they’re going to Google, and they come to me. So, I think a mixture of those both.
Mike Warkentin (02:56):
OK, so you did social media. So, you’ve got a great social media presence. You also have an organic advantage in that you are in a very special niche where people, when they look for you, they’re going to find you. You’re probably Google Page 1, am I right?
Wesley Kalkhoven (03:08):
Yeah.
Mike Warkentin (03:09):
Yep, so that’s a huge advantage. But you’ve earned that by dialing into your niche, and then you use paid ads. Do you have an idea roughly of what you spend on paid ads per month?
Wesley Kalkhoven (03:18):
600 euros.
Mike Warkentin (03:20):
600 euros. OK. And did you start at that, or did you ramp up to that spend?
Wesley Kalkhoven (03:23):
No, I started immediately with that. When everything was set, when the website was done, when the analytics was done, when everything was all together, then I started it, and I just kept on going.
Mike Warkentin (03:33):
OK, now when you did this, did you expect a great response from the ads? And did you get it?
Wesley Kalkhoven (03:41):
Oh, this is a good question. I think every now and then my brain says, “Well, there’s 600 euros. If I just skip that and just—” I did not know because—and still maybe depends on the weather or on whatever, that a few weeks it’s busy and a few weeks it’s not. And when it’s not, I’m like, “OK, stop the ads.” But I do see, like, I hear people during the No Sweat Intro, like, “Yeah, I saw your ad a while ago, and now I felt the moment was there.” So, I was like, “OK, just keep it going.” People know about it, they follow social, they see the ads and all these little nuggets they’re—it’s in their brain. They’re like, “OK, now I want to start.” Boom, plan a No Sweat Intro.
Mike Warkentin (04:18):
OK. Do you track the return on investment on the ads? So, when you look at that 600 euros, can you say, “I made 8,000 euros from that 600?”
Wesley Kalkhoven (04:25):
No, I don’t.
Mike Warkentin (04:26):
OK. Are you going to start doing that?
Wesley Kalkhoven (04:28):
Probably, yeah.
Mike Warkentin (04:29):
OK, yeah, because that’s an interesting question because I didn’t do that either at first. And then when I started doing it, and there was a whole calculation, I started saying, “OK, I can track all this revenue to this, and it makes perfect sense to keep continuing.” And that’s what kept me honest when I wasn’t getting maybe the sales and leads I wanted, I still knew that it was a good investment. So that’s something that I tried, and it did work for me, but it was something that I didn’t start with because I just started with a very small campaign. It was like $5 a day or something like that, and I just didn’t worry about it. But if you track your metrics, you see what happens, it’ll be interesting.
Wesley Kalkhoven (05:00):
Yeah, yeah. What I feel I’m becoming a bit—because it goes well, I don’t—like, I focus on other things. So, I’m not nitpicking the statistics on that part because apparently it goes well. But there is, for me—I need to dive deeper in those specific things.
Mike Warkentin (05:15):
You can’t do everything at once. And that’s exactly it. And if you’re getting a good response and you’ve got this many people setting appointments, you definitely have something that’s working. So, that’s—the proof is there. And if you dig in, you’ll probably find more numbers. Do you happen to know how many people came to your gym from the ads versus from social media or their website? Do you have an idea of that?
Wesley Kalkhoven (05:33):
Oh no, I didn’t track—
Mike Warkentin (5:34):
That’s a tough question.
Wesley Kalkhoven (5:35):
Yeah, no, I don’t know that.
Mike Warkentin (05:36):
What’s your gut sense? Do you think it was more ads or social media? I’m asking just based on what you’ve talked—spoken to people.
Wesley Kalkhoven (05:42):
Yeah, I think it’s half, half a bit because I do see in Kilo that they come through the ads only. I don’t have the specific number for that, but if I look at all the people or the bookings and the No Sweat Intros, I think it’s kind of half, half. Yeah. Yeah.
Mike Warkentin (05:57):
And that’s probably about right, just in general. And they do bleed over into each other because someone might see your ad and then happen to bump into your social media. And sometimes there are connections between social media and ads and how they get funneled and so forth. So, you might see that, but I was just curious about that. Give me this one. Before we go any further, what do you sell at your gym? Like what’s the 60-second summary? We’ve talked about calisthenics. What are you actually offering, and why do people come to you?
Wesley Kalkhoven (06:20):
What I like to tell them is with calisthenics, we focus on skills, and what I already said, like, people love to see a handstand or a pull—a muscle up. And for most ladies, for example, they want to learn a pull up. They’re like the tough chicks that like, “I just want to do a pull up. I want to be functional with my body. I don’t have to deadlift like 300 kilograms. But I definitely do want to do some pull-ups.” Muscle ups. There are certain skills—front lever that you hang on the bar with your legs like this, it looks cool. And I say, “Imagine it’s a carrot hanging in front of you.” And that’s that muscle up you want to learn. Then looking better, losing weight, getting stronger, that’s all part of the journey, but it’s not the main focus.
Wesley Kalkhoven (07:02):
And that’s what I sell. The idea of like, “How good would it feel, would it be, if you can do that perfect pullup, or you can do five pull ups?” Or just to narrow it down in the journey. Yeah. In what calisthenics is. Calisthenics is training with your own body weight. Most of the time I’m not—it’s not the thing we do always because I think like training needs a bit more intensity, so we use weights for that. But the main focus is a lot of people, they don’t want to bulk up, or they don’t want to be too bulky. And they see calisthenics people, they’re really lean, and they’re like—I also call it urban gymnastics. And when they think of gymnasts, they’re like, “Oh, this looks nice. I want to be that. But not too extreme. I just want to—” So yeah. So, somewhere in that vision, that’s how I try to present the Calisthenic Amsterdam journey. For men and women, it’s a bit different, but yeah, to become lean, to become strong and functional.
Mike Warkentin (08:05):
Do you do parkour, or is it more gymnastics and bodyweight movements?
Wesley Kalkhoven (08:08):
No, no, no. Not parkour. No, it’s really gymnastics and body weight. Because the average age is about 30, 35.
Mike Warkentin (08:15):
OK. That’s very interesting. Tell me a little bit—how much space do you have in your gym, and how many staff members do you have?
Wesley Kalkhoven (08:22):
Yeah, so we’re a team of eight people. And our location is a bit different. Like, I’m at an old container platform, so where back in the days, people stored their stuff. It’s really old. So, they don’t really do that anymore. Probably in the future, they’re going to build there. But now I am there on—the owner probably thought I was starting a bootcamp class or something, and I borrowed a few containers. I made it a dressing room. I made it a storage room. I made it a studio. So, we have an indoor and outdoor section, and the outdoor has a big roof over it. And it’s really urban. It’s literally in containers with a lot of rust. And definitely not child friendly, but that’s what people want. It’s on the outside of Amsterdam. It’s—people sit behind their laptop and they’re in their, let’s say, cubicle.
Wesley Kalkhoven (09:07):
And then now they go and go outside. It’s rough. It’s tough. It’s cool. But yeah, and of course, the social aspect—everybody is there because they want to learn things. They want to learn from each other; they’re going to help each other. There’s not a super competitive element to it. And that invites certain people of like, “Oh, this is nice. I don’t feel the pressure that I already have for my work. I can just focus on good technique and having a good time.” But how big the gym is is about 150 square meters. I don’t know how it is in—
Mike Warkentin (09:37):
150. So, times about—it’s about three. So, that’s about 1,600 square feet, something like that. Does that sound about right?
Wesley Kalkhoven (09:43):
I think so. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Mike Warkentin (09:44):
OK. Something like that. So small space, but very cool space and very dedicated space to your clientele.
Wesley Kalkhoven (09:50):
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.
Mike Warkentin (09:51):
OK. Can people see pictures and, and videos of what you do on Instagram? And if so, where can they—what’s your account?
Wesley Kalkhoven (09:57):
Absolutely. Calisthenics Amsterdam or Calisthenics_Amsterdam. Yeah. Yeah. We post regularly what we do, stories, how it looks. And now the focus is more on personal training because the gym is almost full now, because thanks to Two-Brain, it’s amazing. But, yeah, social media is definitely an option.
Mike Warkentin (10:19):
OK. This is good. So, guys, check that out and take a peek at that. Make sure you follow along because you’ll see some cool stuff. And I’m going to check it out right after this because I want to see the shipping containers Now, so you have top of the funnel, you had 76 appointments; then when you go downstream, you’ve got 37 show up. So, tell me, first of all, how did you get those people to show up? Because that’s a pretty good number, and not everyone who books shows up. And then second, how will you improve that number in the future? What do you got going on?
Wesley Kalkhoven (10:42):
Well, again, with Kilo, I really see the messages that they get, that it’s almost rude not to come. If you get emails and text messages and it’s a lot when people are like, “Well, you’re stalking me almost,” to a certain extent, you know, and it’s in a good way. And then I call them and it’s like, well, it’s the system, but it also really works because people feel invited. And so that’s definitely a big difference with how I did it before. I just try to call them if I didn’t. If they didn’t pick up, it’s like, OK, I sent them an email, didn’t respond, and now you just see that it flows much easier, and people are much more engaged. So, when I call them, it’s like, “Oh, Wesley. Oh, wow.” And they feel like you call, you SMS, you email. So that’s already—the first few steps are already made.
Mike Warkentin (11:24):
So you’ve got the automations running through Kilo, and then, but you personally call them, correct?
Wesley Kalkhoven (11:30):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mike Warkentin (11:30):
OK. And how soon do you do that?
Wesley Kalkhoven (11:32):
So, going through the sales part in Two-Brain Business—I prefer, of course, within the first five minutes, but that’s not always reasonable. But I love the app. The app says, “Boom, you got a new lead.” And if I have the time, I’m like, “I’m just calling them from my phone just to have a talk, just to see,” because I see later on when they’re like, “I’m interested in calisthenics,” within—after five minutes, they’re doing something else, and just to get them back and like, “Oh, who was this? Who?” It’s so much easier when their thought process is like, “Oh, this looks cool,” and then they get a call at the same time. It’s like, “Yes, I want to do this. Or at least to sit with you.” So ideally in the first five minutes, but now actually I’m working on that part.
Wesley Kalkhoven (12:12):
Before that it was even one or two days—has a bit to do with my own thought process of like, I had something like—yeah, my ego it’s kind of a thing with sales and ego. It’s like, “Well, I built something cool; you can be happy to go to my place.” But of course, it doesn’t work like that. They really want to feel invited. Some people think it’s scary, and some people think it’s new. So, but preferably, within the same day to give them a call, that really works to make them feel welcome, make them feel seen, make them feel—they’re in the moment to catch them in that part.
Mike Warkentin (12:44):
OK. So, gym owners, if you’re listening right now, imagine that I picked up my phone and I went to your website and I booked a free consultation. Would you get a notification that that had happened? How soon would you get that notification? And what would happen? Would I get a message? Would I get a text? Would I get a video message? Would I get a DM? Would someone call me? And we’ve actually done this on the show before we actually did this and played with a couple of gyms, and we went and entered their lead funnel. And in some cases, we got phone calls right away. In other cases, we got nothing. So, the question is: What are you doing at your gym right now if a lead goes into your funnel? And if you’re not getting a notification, and if you’re not calling them right away repeatedly until you get an answer, you’re leaving leads on the table, and they’re not going to show up as much. So, Wesley, do you think that’s accurate, what I just said?
Wesley Kalkhoven (13:28):
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. It can be time consuming, but if you can between trainings or whatever, then if you find that sweet spot of just calling the people, just have a quick talk, book them immediately, that can really work. But again, that’s the ideal thing. I’m still working on it to mix it in. But it makes a big difference.
Mike Warkentin (13:51):
Yeah. So how do you find the time for this? Like, do you coach a lot at your gym, or are you the head salesperson? Or how does that break down? How do you find the time to do stuff like this?
Wesley Kalkhoven (13:58):
What I love about Two-Brain, the first question is: If you got hit by a bus, can your gym still run? And that was like, no, nope. That’s like—I’m fully, like, if it doesn’t go—so that means if I’m on holiday, I am always in my head like, I cannot relax because nothing is happening. And it gives me a lot of, now looking back, a lot of stress actually—or a lot of not being present, especially now having a daughter, I’m like, “Wow, I need—Daddy needs to stop working to be with her.” Sorry, can you repeat the question?
Mike Warkentin (14:22):
Yeah, just how do you find the time? Like, do you coach classes in your gym? So, if you get a notification, like are you coaching a class, or do you have other responsibilities, or who’s responsible for that? And how do you find the time to respond very quickly?
Wesley Kalkhoven (14:33):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So now, I’m in the part where a lot of things are going really well, and for the last month, I pulled myself quite back from teaching, so I only teach two hours a week just to get all the small things ready, and to what I said, also to call a lot of people because we’re almost full. And I’m somewhere in my head, I’m like, OK, when we’re full, that’s a big luxury for what I can do. And that’s, that’s, that’s 20 more spots-ish, and then I’m going to create more hours. But and then I want to come back to the gym because I love teaching, but I do feel I have a lot of time. I can be with my family, and now I’m integrating the part that I can just be doing the intakes, doing the goal review sessions, but also giving my trainers the attention that they deserve and get them—I see my trainers as my second family. I believe if I treat my team as my family, magic can be happening, and they share it with the clients again. So yeah, it’s—I got a lot of time because the trainers are doing super well, and that gives me space to go with—to do a lot of No Sweat Intros.
Mike Warkentin (15:40):
Did your mentor help you find that time and pull you out so that you could get the time to build a business like this?
Wesley Kalkhoven (15:46):
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It was really me against my ego the whole time of, like, I’ll keep it short, but in the beginning, it was like, “Oh, if I can’t do it, how can it happen?” Because I’ve been doing this for so many years. And I was like, especially again when I became a dad, I was like, “I need to step up, and I need to press my ego away of, like, there are more people, more successful than I am who have more knowledge than I do. So be humble and start learning from others.” And that was the best step I’ve ever made. I’m dead serious. It was so nice to step out of that bubble and to see there’s so much knowledge, and there’s so much good people with good intentions who can help me. Gary, my teacher, my mentor, I’m super grateful for him. And the whole way of how Two-Brain got me into contact with him and my mindset in the beginning was like, “Two-Brain, really? Is that a thing?” And now I’m sold big time.
Mike Warkentin (16:43):
Did Gary help you get more time with your family? Is that safe to say?
Wesley Kalkhoven (16:47):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Mike Warkentin (16:48):
And more income?
Wesley Kalkhoven (16:50):
And yes. Double. Yeah.
Mike Warkentin (16:52):
Double? Really, you doubled revenue, your income? Wow, that’s incredible. I was going to ask you what changed when you got a mentor on board, but obviously those are some big ones, but people don’t know if they’re listening: You’ve only been with Two-Brain for about six months, is that correct?
Wesley Kalkhoven (17:05):
Yep. Yeah.
Mike Warkentin (17:06):
So, talk to me about what’s the biggest change between the pre-Two-Brain period and now? What’s different in your business?
Wesley Kalkhoven (17:13):
Chris Cooper said it beautifully somewhere in this video; it’s like, I’m just keeping it together. You know, I’m doing a little course on sales and then a little course on personal training or how to—and it’s not, it wasn’t structured. It was like me giving myself a feeling of like, “You know, if I do these things, maybe my revenue goes a bit up.” But I was just like—it’s really time and energy consuming just to find things that I think will work. But there’s not a—they’re all different things. Like people you see on social media, they sell you one thing, and they’re good, but it doesn’t fit together. And what I love about Two-Brain is they look at all the aspects and especially how to keep people longer, to give them more value, and therefore create a bigger, better community.
Wesley Kalkhoven (17:59):
And all these things that make so much sense now in like a year later. So yeah, the structure, what Two-Brain gave me, as you can hear, like I’m quite—I can be all over the place, but just the focus, that gives me a lot of peace, and therefore I can give that peace much easier to my clients and the value that I give from my different side, and not only like, “Oh, you want to stay here. Don’t leave. Oh, no. You need to—” And now, it works. Yeah. It’s much easier to share that part.
Mike Warkentin (18:27):
Did Gary tell you step by step, did he just say like—because you said you can be all over the place—did Gary say like, “Do this thing right now,” and then did he say, “Did you do it?”
Wesley Kalkhoven (18:35):
Kind of. Kind of. Because that was my fear. Like I’m my entrepreneur. I made a decision not to work for a boss because “Don’t tell me what to do.” But that really also works a lot against me because I’m like, “I’m the only one who could tell me what to do, dah, dah, dah.” But my mentor was just really like, “Well, this is the outcome, what can be there, but it’s up for you to do it.” And yeah, it’s not rocket science somewhere. And that makes a big difference. Like, I just need to do it. And I was really eager to do it as well because I was really excited, because I love data and I love all—I start understanding the whole picture. And that gave me a lot of energy to go through all these phases. So, it wasn’t really that he said, “Do this,” but he just gave me—what I do actually with my intakes. Like, I show them the end result, and he did it for me as well, and if I have that picture clear, then it’s much easier for me to work toward that because it makes sense.
Mike Warkentin (19:32):
So he laid out the path to your goal.
Wesley Kalkhoven (19:34):
Yes.
Mike Warkentin (19:35):
Yeah. So that makes sense. So, I haven’t spoken to someone who’s been with Two-Brain for six months in a little bit on this show, so I’m going to ask you this: We’ve tried to set up the Stage 1 and Stage 2—like the early stages of mentorship, those programs—to get quick wins for gym owners. So right away we want you making money, making more sales. Did you find that was the case when you started?
Wesley Kalkhoven (19:53):
Yep, yep. Absolutely. That was, yeah. It’s simple. Like, I don’t know if it was the timing or anything, but more the structure and then just follow the steps, and it’s depending on my own business strategy of course, but a lot of things worked much better, and clients felt seen, and the trainings were better, and the trainers know what they had to do. So yeah, the whole package clicked quite fast for me, and now I’m just doing the fine-tuning parts. Yeah.
Mike Warkentin (20:21):
That’s so good to hear. Let me ask you this now: So, we’re going downstream, get into the sales office: eight closed sales. Tell me: Are you happy with the number, and what are you going to do to improve it or change it? What’s up?
Wesley Kalkhoven (20:32):
I’m happy. I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing and be humble in the process, really. Like that’s my thing. Like, it goes really well now. OK, now I can lean back because—and so I really feel I need to stay sharp, listen to the feedback of certain clients. If it’s a bit different or whatever, modify, stay in contact with my mentor, and every time, of course, I get homework to boost up the revenue, to boost up the value. Yeah. So, just following the steps.
Mike Warkentin (21:03):
So you said you only need 20 more members to be full, so you don’t need—like, you’re not looking to close every sale necessarily; you’re looking to find the best clients. Is that accurate?
Wesley Kalkhoven (21:12):
Kind of. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. We’re—so for group classes, when we’re full, I want to—it’s a luxury now. I will start like a waiting list and next to that, when we go full on personal training—because for personal training, we have quite some space left, but for group classes, if that’s full, maybe we can do something with the membership prices. Yeah, I can cherry pick kind of indeed what type of people I want. Of course, everybody’s welcome. But yeah, it’s a different position than I was in like half a year ago. Absolutely. Yeah.
Mike Warkentin (21:43):
Do you practice sales?
Wesley Kalkhoven (21:45):
Yeah, it’s definitely a big part of me because sales, it’s me understanding the value that I can give from a rational perspective towards my kind of insecurity the whole time. Because when people started talking about money or it’s too much, I take it personally, and I’m like, “Why am I taking it personally?” I’ve done it so many times, but I need to keep this fresh or something in my brain that it’s not about me. And so, I feel that when I’m on a streak, it goes effortlessly, and I can just tune into the people. So, sales really gives me a perspective of how I’m standing in life, and it becomes—it was a bit of a negative part, sales. It was manipulative and those kinds of things. And now I’m like, “Wow, no. It’s literally showing people the way that can be possible through my voice or my eyes.” So, yeah, I am working on that, and I probably still, I will never stop in that because it’s on so many levels. I understand, like, this is big. Sales is enormous, and it’s a beautiful practice.
Mike Warkentin (22:48):
So one of your people shows up to an appointment and leaves without buying. What’s the most common reason? What are you finding?
Wesley Kalkhoven (22:55):
Prices still. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s still too much.
Mike Warkentin (22:59):
And what are you charging if you don’t mind telling us?
Wesley Kalkhoven (23:02):
Yeah, yeah. So, for two times a week, they pay 82 euros a month.
Mike Warkentin (23:07):
I think that’s about 100 U.S., I think, or something like that.
Wesley Kalkhoven (23:10):
I think so, yeah. Yeah. And then for 20 times a month, they pay 140 euros.
Mike Warkentin (23:15):
And is that a lot compared to the other things? You said you’re kind of a unique gym, so is that a lot to your closest competitor?
Wesley Kalkhoven (23:21):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, a normal, like a gym-gym where you just come in, you pay like 20 euros.
Mike Warkentin (23:26):
OK. That’s interesting.
Wesley Kalkhoven (23:28):
Yeah. But I think compared with regular CrossFit gyms, maybe I’m a bit above that because CrossFit of course is a different niche. I’m a bit above that, but it also depends what type of gym it is.
Mike Warkentin (23:39):
OK. So that’s interesting. So, you’ve got a pretty unique specialty service that’s unique in your area, and you’re charging a premium rate. So yeah, it makes your numbers make sense. When you get some leads, some people are going to come in and say, “Oh, that’s too much for my budget.” And that’s fine, because those aren’t the clients that you’re looking for. You’re looking for—you’re nearing capacity. So, you’re looking for a specific amount. Would you consider eventually adjusting your marketing to weed out certain people so that you only get those sorts of high-value clients? Or do you like this numbers where you have a large amount that you can kind of weed out organically down the funnel? What approach would you use in the future?
Wesley Kalkhoven (24:14):
I never thought about it, but more, I think, the group classes—so this is something I haven’t discussed. So, we have a few calisthenics parks throughout Amsterdam. There are public parks, and we have our main location, and we have trainers on now one, and we have three actually, who teach in those public parks. But we are located in the north, but in the west, we also teach, and there are two more. So, in the south, actually on every place we have four places. So, for me, it’s more like if I know that we are expanding, I’m using a new park to create new classes for new people. So, there is place to grow. And that feels really nice because it’s a public park. I only pay for the trainer, and that’s a thought process. But my real focus goes to personal training because that makes a big difference. And yes, then I need to change my marketing campaign to more high price tickets and the audience of that.
Mike Warkentin (25:09):
Yeah, and that’s great feedback because I asked the question because you’ve just started doing this and you’re into this, the whole process for six months—just got the software in place and so forth. You are in the stage of like absolutely optimizing stuff. And there’s lots of ways–I’m not a marketing expert. John Franklin, who is the other host of the show, is an expert on that stuff and would start to dial in exactly on how you get the most, how you pre-qualify people, get the right people in the sales office, close a huge number of them, but you’re just starting out and getting a huge number of leads, getting a bunch of them to show up, that is a huge, huge win right off the bat. And because you’re nearing capacity, you’re not under that pressure to close every single person. I was just curious to see how you might adjust that down in the future.
Mike Warkentin (25:45):
So eventually we’ll have you back, and you’ll tell us like, “OK, I changed my offer a little bit, and I changed my marketing, and I got in 20 leads, they all showed up, and I closed like 19” or something like that. I would love to hear something like that just to see if eventually that’s what you do. But at the beginning, listeners, if you’re out there, just getting a funnel going and making sure it works, and that’s the main thing. You start tracking the metrics; then you can optimize. But right off the bat, getting a ton of leads and getting people to show up is huge. Wesley, the culture in Holland—do people tend to book appointments and not show up? Is that a common thing, or what is that like?
Wesley Kalkhoven (26:17):
So in Amsterdam, we have a lot of expats, and I think a lot of women, especially, they feel the need to, if they cannot come, they will let me know.
Mike Warkentin (26:28):
That’s good.
Wesley Kalkhoven (26:29):
Most of the time—yeah, absolutely—it’s most of the time the man, and especially when if you don’t live in Holland yet, and you’re not—there’s a bit of a social thing, you know, if there’s this guy who never shows up that—so I see women are also, most of them, really nice. They let me know at least in advance. And yeah, I think Dutch people, most of them, they’re like, “Oh, sorry, I have official appointment,” or “I’m busy,” or at least something. So, no shows are definitely there. But yeah, again, I don’t—I cannot really compare it. I do know that I’m like sometimes a bit pissed, like, “This is not nice,” but it doesn’t happen that often.
Mike Warkentin (27:07):
Yeah. And the reason I ask is every area is a little bit different, and I know that some countries have like a culture where it’s like, if you book an appointment, you will probably show up or a call. And the other cultures it’s very flippant where it’s like, “Ah, I booked it on, you know, 3 a.m. when I was drunk, and I don’t care,” you know, and they just don’t—they just walk. And that’s the end of that.
Wesley Kalkhoven (27:21):
Well, that is funny though because I can see when they booked it, and if it’s on a Saturday at 3 p.m.—at 3 a.m. that I know like, alright, these people are scrolling, and they were like, “I really need to start.” And they sign up, and I cannot call them; they don’t pick up. It’s like, OK, these people probably won’t show. So that is definitely something to measure.
Mike Warkentin (27:38):
It happens. So, I’m going to ask you this; this is a perfect lead into my next question: The people that didn’t show up, are they still getting nurturing campaigns? Are they still in that funnel with Kilo? Are they still getting info about your gyms so that they might rebook or show up again?
Wesley Kalkhoven (27:51):
Yeah, absolutely. This is something I’m not even thinking about anymore. And that’s the nice thing. I just swipe them to abandoned, and they just go through a funnel where sometime when the pain comes up again, they’re like, “Oh, I really need to start working out,” and they see this ad or a newsletter or whatever. So, these things, I know they work, but I’m already so used to it that it’s like, “Yeah, it is what it is.” But definitely people are like, “Oh yeah, I saw and sorry, … last time I couldn’t da da da, and I really want to come.” So that works like a charm. Absolutely.
Mike Warkentin (28:22):
Yeah. No—in the gym business, free consultation world, no does not mean no; it maybe means “No, not right now.” And if you keep nurturing these people and pre-automated, you know, automated campaigns that are pre-written and just go out in the background, you don’t even know about them. Those things can actually bring clients in. So, I’ve written these campaigns, and I’ve put them in systems, and the clients just say, “Hey, a message from Wesley: ‘Hey, how’s your fitness?’ Ah, it’s still not so good. Maybe I should consider his gym again.” Those little nurturing campaigns do pay downstream dividends. Maybe not right away, but that’s OK. Maybe down the line. Wesley, I’m going to ask you this question: What is the number one thing that you would tell gym owners out there if they wanted to get more people who book appointments to show up? What would they—what should they do?
Wesley Kalkhoven (29:05):
Well, what I said in the beginning, I think: All these little nuggets from the emails to the messages to the calls to social, it—I try to think that everybody’s busy. So, we’re just going, and we are being imprinted with certain ads or with certain things that we’re interested in. And if it’s only one time that something sticks, it’s probably not going to stick too long. But if it’s every time just a bit, not too screamy, but then something will—like a seed has been planted, and it will grow slowly or for some quickly, and it’s up for the people then to use that thought or to make an action on it. So, I highly believe in these little things. They will make—they’ll definitely make the difference.
Mike Warkentin (29:44):
So if I summarize that and said consistent follow up with new leads, would you say that’s accurate?
Wesley Kalkhoven (29:49):
Yes, correct.
Mike Warkentin (29:50):
There you go. You heard it here. This is Wesley Kalkhoven, and he was one of our leaders for set/show rates this month. Got a ton of people, a ton of leads, got a bunch of them to show up, and he’s closing enough sales that he’s approaching 20 spots remaining, and then he can start thinking about other aspects of his business. So, a really cool model. If you are not tracking your metrics in leads set, show and close rates, start doing that. That is step one to improving them. After that, the best way to improve them is to work with a mentor who can tell you exactly how to improve them by doing this thing right now. Wesley, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it. I hope you’ll come back in a while and tell us what happens after maybe a year that you’ve done all this stuff. Is it a date?
Wesley Kalkhoven (30:29):
Yeah, it will be amazing, Mike.
Mike Warkentin (30:31):
Alright, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time. This is “Run a Profitable Gym.” I’m your host, Mike Warkentin. You can continue this conversation in Gym Owners United, and here’s Chris Cooper to remind you of just that.
Chris Cooper (30:41):
Hey, it’s Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper with a quick note. We created the Gym Owners United Facebook group to help you run a profitable gym. Thousands of gym owners, just like you have already joined. In the group, we share sound advice about the business of fitness every day. I answer questions, I run free webinars and I give away all kinds of great resources to help you grow your gym. I’d love to have you in that group. It’s Gym Owners United on Facebook, or gotogymownersunited.com to join. Do it today.
