Chris Cooper (00:02):
What do your coaches really want from you, the gym owner? There’s two things. Number one: They want to make a career. They want to stay invested in this place that they love, with the people that they love, doing the work that they love. The second thing they want is to feel important. They want to learn more. They want to feel smart. They want to feel like they’re part of the decision-making process, that they’re part of the growth of your business. This is really important, and this is why every year for the last five years, we’ve added a coaches’ stage to Summit. I’m Chris Cooper. This is “Run a Profitable Gym,” and today, I hope to inspire you by giving you some topics and some ideas on how you can inspire your coaches or just convince you to let us do it for you, and bring your team to Summit.
Chris Cooper (00:44):
Five years ago when we first added our coaches’ stage to Summit, we thought this could be good. Maybe a few gym owners will bring a coach or two. The coach can get some activities; they can have some fun. And what it’s morphed into is something beyond our wildest dreams. Now, gym owners bring one coach, two coaches, even sometimes 12 coaches—I believe the record is 20 of their coaches to the Summit. They have a nice weekend; they take their staff out to dinner. Some even stay an extra day and have an annual planning session with their staff. And you can imagine what happens, like put yourself in the shoes of the coach for a moment. You’re working for somebody, they take you to Chicago, you get to see some of the top brains—the most exciting people in fitness for the whole weekend.
Chris Cooper (01:30):
They’re speaking in front of you; they’re doing exercises. They’re helping you become a better coach. They’re teaching you how to build a better career. They’re teaching you how to deliver better. They’re teaching you new things that you can coach to kids and legends and everybody in between. They’re teaching you how to coach nutrition. Anything that you want to learn, you can learn it. You’re going out with the rest of your crew from your gym, you’re having some great meals, and then the owner says, “Let’s work together and build a plan.” How important do you feel? I mean, if the guy who owned the gym that I left way back in 2005 had ever done that with me, I would probably still be there. Let’s face it. This is what makes the Summit so powerful. We’ve got the owners’ stage with some very well-known speakers every single year.
Chris Cooper (02:12):
And we’ve also got the coaches’ stage. And we do that because we know that improving your product is really important to growing your business, but making your coaches feel excited and empowered is even more important. And so, I want you to bring your coaches to Summit. If you decide you don’t want to come to Summit this year—you can’t make it, or you can’t bring your coaches, or you’re coming by yourself, or you’re just going to bring your spouse—no problem. Use these topics and speakers as inspiration for later so that you can create your own little miniature summits within your gym. You might be the only presenter, or maybe you just take them to a little offsite at the beach and do an annual planning session or whatever. Use this episode as an inspiration on how to reinvigorate your team. Show them that you’re invested in them, and keep them getting more educated all the time, and keep them excited to grow your business.
Chris Cooper (03:01):
So, here is the list of Summit speakers and their topics for 2024. Again, if you want to get Summit tickets, you go to twobrainsummit.com. I’m mentioning that right now instead of the end of the episode because we’re 670 tickets in; our cap is going to be about a thousand. So, it will fill this year; it will absolutely sell out, especially the hotels will fill soon. We’ve got two hotels. We’ve got an amazing one where the Summit is held, and there’s a beautiful Hilton right next door, so you can get a room. But if you want to get in our room block, if you want to make sure that you’ve got seats, and especially if you want to bring your team, it is wise to book your tickets right now. OK, let’s talk about the speakers just on the coaches’ side at Summit 2024.
Chris Cooper (03:41):
First is Chris Plentus. Chris is a longtime mentor in Two-Brain. This guy has a background both in counseling and in engineering—a real “two-brain” mentor, right? The left side, the right side. He’s talking about unreasonable hospitality in the microgym industry. I love this topic. In our Tinker program, the book “Unreasonable Hospitality” was very popular. And if you’ve ever watched the TV show “The Bear,” that’s what that show is about: the book “Unreasonable Hospitality.” And it is really the story of how somebody took a fairly average restaurant and grew it into this Michelin-Star-rated restaurant and then did it again. And what you have to actually deliver for that to work and how you can deliver that in your own team. Chris is a master of this. He’s a great speaker, and this is such an amazing topic because it gets your team fired up to deliver unreasonable hospitality to your clients.
Chris Cooper (04:35):
Imagine them delivering way better than you ever dream possible and being excited to do it. That’s what Chris is going to deliver to them. The second speaker—and these are not in the order of appearance, but they’ll all be on stage—is Matt Temby. Now, Matt is actually the head of our sales department here at Two-Brain, and Matt is constantly being mentored by professionals on sales. He is not just great at sales, but he is great at coaching other people at sales. And so one of the biggest roadblocks for a lot of gym owners is, they can teach other people to coach the classes, they can definitely hire other people to do the social media or sweep the floors, but when it comes down to selling the product, they get stuck in that seat forever because they’re the only ones who can do it well.
Chris Cooper (05:17):
And what Matt’s going to do is teach your coaches to be good at sales, probably even better than you, so that they can replace you in that chair. This does a couple things. Number one: It gets you out of that chair and working on other things. Number two: If you’re not comfortable in that chair, it puts somebody into the chair who might be better than you anyway. But number three: It gives your staff the view of the client’s goals from the moment they come in the door. Now, what that’s going to do is it’s going to frame the client’s journey a lot better. So, if you don’t have a sales process or your staff aren’t informed about a client’s goals, all your staff can really do is just like go out there and teach a great class. But if they know the goals of everybody in that class or they know the goals of that personal training client or the goals of that person in your semi-private session, they can tailor every single workout to that person better.
Chris Cooper (06:07):
That makes every single workout, every single appointment, every single session more valuable to the client because the coach knows their goals. So, for example, if we say, “OK, today we’re doing a workout called Elizabeth. It’s a 1,000-meter row, 1,000 thrusters and 50 pull-ups, 100 thrusters”—whatever Elizabeth is. Now the coach can look around the room and say, like, “What are the goals of the people in the room?” And he can say, “OK, look, if your goal is improved fitness, your job is to try and do this whole workout unbroken in under five minutes. If your job is to get stronger, then take your time on the rower and really focus on the thruster. If your goal is to lose some weight, burn some calories, then what we want to do is maintain a heart rate below zone two.” Whatever.
Chris Cooper (06:54):
The idea here is that your coaches should know your client’s goals so that they can tailor their coaching and their advice to the client. And if the client’s not achieving goals, then you can change their direction. You can recommend more personal training or, or more nutrition coaching or whatever that is. But if your coaches don’t know the client’s goals, then you can’t do any of that. You can’t tailor the client journey. You can’t deliver a bespoke service, a high-value service. That’s just one reason to get your coaches doing NSIs, but there are a lot more. So Matt, who is the master of NSIs, is going to teach this to your coaches. That to me alone is worth bringing my coaches to Chicago. Next, Brian Bott is going to lead a session on semi-private training called “Beyond Workouts: A Guide to Creating Client Winning Semi-Private Programming.” So, what he’s going to do is teach your coaches how to program for clients in a semi-private setting.
Chris Cooper (07:47):
But this also applies if they’re doing personal training or group training. A lot of your coaches want to talk programming; Brian is a master of it. If you’ve ever listened to this podcast and heard the four avatars episode, that came from Brian Bot. If you’ve ever been to Summit and said, “Oh, my favorite speaker was the semi-private guy,” that’s Brian Bot. Brian is really showing us what the future is for a lot of gyms, especially if you’re running a personal training studio, this is how you scale your business. And if you’re a business like mine that’s been around for a while, this is that beautiful bridge between selling your time doing one-on-one and trying to fill big groups. Semi-private is an amazing gift, and Brian is the expert; he’s the subject matter expert at Two-Brain. He’s going to teach your coaches how to deliver it and how to program for it.
Chris Cooper (08:35):
Next, Peter Brasovan—who was the MC on the coaches stage last year—he’s going to run a session on a career roadmap. What he’s going to do is have this conversation with your staff about how they can make a career in your gym. The big threat in the fitness industry is twofold. Number one: People say, “I can’t make enough money as a trainer; I’m leaving the fitness industry,” and you’ve invested time and resources and care into making them good coaches, and now they’re gone, and you’ve got to start over. The second big threat is they say, “I can’t make a career here.” And so, what do they do? They go out and open up their own box. Hey, that’s how I got started. Maybe that’s how you got started, but you don’t want that cycle to keep perpetuating itself. Instead, what you want to do is be able to make good careers.
Chris Cooper (09:21):
Now, you as the owner should know how to do these career roadmaps. We teach that in our mentorship practice, but the reality is that Peter is going to teach your staff how to map out a career. What he’s really doing is he’s doing a massive favor for you. He’s showing them how it’s possible for them to make an amazing career in fitness with you. So, if you see Peter, buy him a coffee after that session with a big thank you. Then, next up is Oskar Johed. Oskar owns one of the most successful CrossFit gyms in the world. And I don’t mean he’s got one bazillion clients. I mean, he has the revenue and the profit numbers that every other CrossFit gym in the world wishes they had. He, though, is also on the CrossFit Seminar Staff.
Chris Cooper (10:08):
And so, he travels most weekends teaching L1, L2. He runs study groups for Two-Brain for the L3 exam. And he’s just an amazing, passionate promoter of the CrossFit brand and method. What he’s going to do is teach exercise movement, teach how to run a better class, teach how to teach, how to make your coaches better at coaching. And so, these are always hilarious seminars, but they’re always also very interactive. Coaches love just being around Oskar for an hour. He is such a positive dude, and they will learn how to coach better with him in the room. Next, we are going to bring Alex up to the stage, and she is going to teach guiding clients to change. So, Alexandrina is in—she’s in Germany right now. That’s where she lives. She runs this really, really, really successful nutrition coaching business in Europe.
Chris Cooper (11:00):
But she knows that her business is really the change business. It’s not the “teach people what to eat” business. It’s not the diet business. It’s teaching people how to change and managing their behavioral change. And so, what she’s going to teach your coaches is how to guide clients to behavioral change. Look, the bottom line here is: If your clients stay longer, it’s for one of two or three reasons. Number one: They see their progress; they’re making gains, and they see it. Number two: They love the atmosphere of the community. And number three: They love you, the owner, right? Like they relate to those things. The number one thing though is if they’re not seeing progress, their time with you is limited. There’s going to be an expiry date. For them to see progress, they have to make behavioral change. You and I both know it, like we can’t change their entire lives in two to three hours a week.
Chris Cooper (11:48):
That two to three hours a week where they’re exercising with us can inspire them to make the bigger changes that will affect their life. And Alexandrina is going to tell us how to do that. She’s going to share how to take the workouts and turn that into long-term behavioral change that actually changes lives, actually keeps people engaged and in your gym, and extends their health span. Then we’ve got the crew from Mayhem speaking. So, Mayhem is going to be running our morning workouts at Summit this year. So, you can sign up in advance. They usually take about 100 people at a time, and they do this massive group workout. It’s super-duper fun. Jason Khalifa did an amazing job with this last year, and he’ll be back in the future. This year, Mayhem is going to run these workouts and so the crew from Mayhem will be there coaching people and just kind of demonstrating their programming at Summit too.
Chris Cooper (12:36):
They’re also going to be on stage talking about coaching. Now they’re going to get really specific with one topic, and they’re not going to reveal what that topic is until we get to Summit. But you know this is some of the best coaching in the world, and you’re going to have an amazing experience—plus there’s going to be some star power there. So, you’re going to want to get some autographs. Your coaches will love being around the Mayhem gang. They’ll love being around Khalipa, the NCFIT guys; they’re going to love being around Ben Bergeron, like all their heroes are going to be there. This is the best gift that you can give your staff as well as something that’s going to give back and build your gym too. Next, Brian Foley is going to take the stage and teach us how to build a 50+ program. Now, Brian has been running a 50+ program for years and years.
Chris Cooper (13:21):
What’s really interesting here is that this is like a growing area of interest within Two-Brain gyms. So, whether you’re in Two-Brain or not, this demographic is the fastest growing demographic in the States, in North America. It’s also a demographic who are most interested in investing in their health and have the resources to invest. So, at my gym, for example, our Legends program, which is for people over 50, is always full. It’s always sold out in advance. We run two classes a week. They pay more than the regular membership. So, the coaches earn more for coaching them. They refer their friends. They want to buy every scrap of Catalyst merchandise that we sell. You know, it’s like just when the gym opened again; they’re so fresh faced and eager. They’re not competitive. They’re very, very fun. You know, think of like your favorite uncle and aunt who play pickleball or whatever.
Chris Cooper (14:15):
Like, that’s what these legends programs do. They’re a lot of fun. They’re very easy to coach; they’re grateful for the coaching. They’re eager to keep going—just amazing. And that’s why they’re growing in popularity so much. And Brian Foley is going to teach your staff how to do this. So, what will happen here is Brian is going to teach your staff how to build this program, how to promote it, how to sell it, where to get clients for it, how to program for it, how to run it. He’ll answer questions about what to charge, all that stuff. The beauty to you is that now you’ve got a focused, targeted track—your own niche within your gym—and your coach is doing the work to build that program for you. You don’t really have to do a lot. So, it’s amazing, and every one of these sessions where we teach your coaches how to run a nutrition program, how to run legends, like that will pay for their trip.
Chris Cooper (15:06):
The coaches’ tickets are not expensive at all. They’re an amazing investment. It’s so easy to get an ROI when you bring your coaches. In fact, attending this as a gym owner, I know that I can get a great ROI out of any one of the sessions on the owner stage. But if my coaches learn something that will earn money, that’s amazing ROI because they’ll keep a lot of that money, they’ll make a better career, and my gym will make more money without me doing anything. That’s why bringing a coach to Summit is such an amazing investment. And finally, Josh Martin, he’s going to talk about the refined art of coaching. And so, what he’s going to talk about is bringing passion, bringing care, bringing behavior and awareness to coaching. He’s a very inspiring guy. He’s going to really fire your coaches up to keep going. You know, one thing that I didn’t mention is that a lot of people quit fitness because of burnout.
Chris Cooper (15:57):
They’re not making enough. Of course, they’re working at 5 a.m. Of course they’re working at 9 p.m. Of course they’re working on weekends. Some people just don’t like coming to the gym; it is like the hardest job there is. And they’re doing it out of a passion for service and a desire to help other people find fitness. Josh is going to stoke up that passion. He’s going to make them want to continue, help you keep your staff and really remind them of why they’re in this game and that’s so valuable. So, I want you to come to Summit. If you go to twobrainsummit.com, you can get tickets; you can bring your coaches. They’re going to be exposed to all of these speakers and, and one more that we’re still confirming, but I am crazy excited about. They’re going to get to meet a lot of their heroes.
Chris Cooper (16:40):
Jason Khalifa, Ben Bergeron, the Crew from Mayhem, other amazing speakers like Jonathan Goodman. You know, there’s so many, and they’re going to get to spend time with you kind of building that team. You can take them out for dinner, you can take them out for drinks. You can do workouts together on the road. Rosemont area is just absolutely beautiful. There’s so many things that you can do. They’re going to interact with coaches from other gyms. They’re going to make friends that they’ll keep for life. They’re going to make connections, so they can talk back and forth about programming with coaches from other gyms. Like it’s just such an amazing win. But if you can’t do it yourself, go back through this episode, make a list of those topics, and deliver a session on each one of them to your coaches this year. Run your own like mini-summit spread throughout the year.
Chris Cooper (17:23):
Take them to a beach house for the weekend and do a session on how to do programming. Call them in on Saturday. You know, get a catered breakfast. Teach them how to do an NSI; take them one by one and do career roadmaps with every single one. Or talk to them about kids’ programs and 50 plus programs and all that other stuff—like inspire them, remind them of why you’re doing this and how they inspire you. It’s so important to do this. And I’ll be frank with you, I’m bad at it—like I’m not good at remembering to do this stuff with my staff. And so, the easy button for me, “boop,” is just bring them to Summit. That’s why I do it every year, and that’s why we have a coaches’ stage at Summit. Twobrainsummit.com. Hope to see you and your coaches there. Come and enjoy coffee and snacks and all the amazing stuff that Summit has to offer. I’m Chris Cooper. This is “Run a Profitable Gym.” Thank you for your service.
