Many gyms have run competitions without making much money for all the time they invest.
I’d like that to change.
My Intramural Open guide will help you run a fun, in-house competition you can connect to the CrossFit Games Open if you like. But it will help you grow your business, too.
As an entrepreneur, your time is precious. You only have so much of it. So when you put in a bunch of extra hours running a competition for three to five weeks, you’re spending your most valuable resource.
I recall working 35-42 days straight during the Open one year, and I put in a lot of extra hours organizing, judging, cheering, coaching, validating scores and so on.
This isn’t a rare experience; all gym owners put in a lot of extra time when competition season rolls around. That time could be invested in doing goal reviews with clients, running a bring-a-friend event, setting up a marketing funnel, and so on. All those things will generate revenue or improve retention—so if you’re going to spend hours on a competition instead, that competition must generate ROI.
Revenue and the Intramural Open
My annual Intramural Open guide will tell you exactly how to run a fun, low-drag competition. It will also tell you how to earn revenue before, during and after the event.
I lay out a host of revenue-generating tactics in our 31-page guide, but I’ll highlight one for you here: Charge a registration fee for your in-house competition. If your clients enter any competition outside the gym, they’ll pay a registration fee. So charge them a fee for this one and then make sure they see value in the transaction.
Think about it: Most gym owners add three to five weeks of extra stuff to the menu during the Open. They’ll host Friday Night Lights events or Saturday Slugfests; they’ll organize heats, book judges and handle scoring; they’ll often supply prizes; they’ll accommodate second attempts at workouts; they’ll coach, cheer and support nervous athletes; they’ll work extra hard to create a fun atmosphere. All that is extra, and it’s worth $20-$50.
By charging a registration fee, you ensure you get a small return on your time investment. And you can go further with group competition-prep courses, personal-training sessions, goal reviews, retail sales and so on. It’s all laid out in our 2023 Intramural Open guide. The complete plan can add thousands to your bottom line.
It’s not a “cash grab” to profit from a competition. Remember: Everything you do in your gym should have a purpose. You invest time and energy in competitions, and the return on that investment should be better retention, more revenue or more clients.
If the Open doesn’t make you money, doesn’t improve adherence or retention in a measurable way and just wears you out, you can just skip it.
Or you can use my plan to ensure the 2023 competition season improves length of engagement and gross revenue. Provide a thrilling, fun event members can enjoy and improve key business metrics at the same time.
Sounds like a great plan, right?
