Mike (00:02):
Got three minutes to make money and improve retention? Of course you do. Get out your smartphone and prepare to take action as Chris Cooper gives you 12 simple texts to send out right now. Get your thumbs ready. Here’s Coop.
Chris (00:16):
It’s Chris Cooper here. Your gym’s programming won’t attract new clients, but it can help you keep your clients longer. Good programming includes benchmarks, novelty, skills, progressions, leaderboards, you know all that stuff. But great programming contains something more: a link between each client’s fitness goals and the workout of the day. Your coaches need to tell your clients more than what they’re doing every day. They need to explain why they’re doing it. Gym’s whose coaches could explain the why connection had a 25% better retention rate during lockdowns. Imagine how that translates into better retention when things are back to normal. Now, I want to solve this problem for gym owners. Programming is the service you deliver to your clients. So I partnered with Brooks DiFiore, who had one of the highest adherence rates in the world for his group classes at his gym to build twobrainprogramming.com. We built this for Two-Brain gyms and we give them free access in our mentorship program. But I’m now making this available to the public. Programming proven to improve retention and cashflow in your gym. Visit Two-Brain programming.com to get it.
Chris (01:24):
Hey everybody, it’s Chris Cooper here. And today I’m gonna give you a three minute drill for marketing and retention. Now, before I give you this drill, ’cause it’s gonna be really, really fast. You’re gonna wanna hit pause and I’m giving you a second here to find a pen. This drill is a great illustration of the difference between acquiring knowledge and knowing the answer. Think back to seventh grade geography class and the teacher’s up at the board and they’re talking, talking, talking, and you’re writing, writing, writing, and they’re giving you this textbook and it’s got 300 pages in it. And invariably, somebody puts up their hand and says, teacher, will this be on the test? If the teacher says no, then you hear smack every pen, go down.
Chris (02:08):
If the teacher says yes, then you see people taking a quick note. We pay attention to what’s going to be on the test because we know that that’s the relevant information that we’re going to need. The problem is when you’re an adult and especially if you’re an entrepreneur, you start reading all these books, right? Like I read about a hundred business books a year and more fiction books. And it’s really hard to know like what is going to be on the test? What little tidbit outta that book or what tactic can you put into immediate action that’s going to help your gym. And so, as I’ve been talking to more and more gym owners, who’ve been following my content now for well over a decade, a lot of them are saying, Chris, your content just keeps getting better. It’s so much better. Thank you.
Chris (02:52):
And I get more emails back every day from people reading the content, taking action and saying, Hey, I used this and it worked. And when we posted this piece that I’m about to share with you, within five minutes, people started sharing in public Facebook groups. I did this thing and it worked. So I’m excited to give it to you. But the reason it works is not because these are new tactics. Not because I’ve never written about them before. Not because you can’t find them in our back catalog. They work because I was very clear about what you have to do. And actually the credit for this exercise goes to Mike Warkentin, our editor. Two-Brain produces a ton of content. I produce most of it, but what makes that content good is not the production or the volume. It’s the editing. And that’s what makes everything better and better and better.
Chris (03:40):
I’m a born anarchist. I love ripping everything down and just starting from scratch. It drives my team crazy. But once in a while, and you know, more and more, every single week, if you go in the Gym Owners United free Facebook group, you’re gonna find free guides from us. Sometimes these are brand new material. Sometimes these are brand new ideas that we’ve just finished data testing on. But a lot of times these are edited versions of content that we have published before. Why is this important for you? Well, when you’re delivering your message to your clients, it’s more important to be clear and actionable than it is to be unique, more important than it is to be loud, more important than it is to be novel or to even have like the new thing. It is more important to be clear in your coaching than it is to have the newest equipment.
Chris (04:31):
It’s more important to be clear and say, do exactly this than it is to have the best programming. It is more important to be clear than it is to have the biggest gym, the best location, the best website. Clarity is what it’s all about. And as noise increases in our world, clarity becomes ever more valuable. If you think about the high ticket practices that people are offering, it’s not that they’re dumping a bunch more, you know, extra services on people. Instead, what they’re providing is daily accountability step by step. Here’s a text. Do exactly this. Eat exactly that. That’s where the value comes is the clarity. So I don’t wanna add any more noise to this conversation. I’ve already spoken for almost four minutes and this is a three minute drill.
Chris (05:13):
Back to the show in just a minute. The people at Incite Tax know you’re working long hours to improve health for the world, but it can still be hard to turn a profit. You just can’t focus on your mission without money in your account. So Incite founder John Briggs wrote “Profit First for Microgyms” and created a system that increases your cashflow so you can be home for dinner with a thriving fitness business. Bookkeeping, profit first, cash flow consulting, taxes, whatever your financial needs, Incite can help. Join their free five-day challenge at profitfirstformicrogyms/five days to get a snapshot of the financial health of your gym. That’s profitfirstformicrogyms/five days.
Chris (05:53):
So here we go, got your pen ready? Today, you’re gonna pick up your phone and make money. So first you’re going to listen to this whole thing before you take action. But if you’re feeling like, ah, Chris, this has already gone on too long and you don’t want the rationale or the reasons behind these instructions, then just take this shortcut.
Chris (06:11):
OK? Here’s the short version. Number one, send this text to three members that you haven’t seen all week. Here’s the text: Coming to the gym today? Just send them that text. OK. Number two, send this text to three members that you’ve seen recently. Hey, first name. I’ve noticed how hard you’re working in the gym. Way to go. What’s your next goal? OK. That’s the second text. Third text. Send this text to three departed members. Do you still want to improve your fitness this year? Send that. Now. Four, here’s the fourth text. Send this text to three people on your lead list who haven’t signed up yet. Hey, first name, it’s Chris from Catalyst. I haven’t forgotten about you. Do you want to talk about personal training or new nutrition? OK. Just send those texts out. If you aren’t gonna send those messages right now, then listen and find out why you should.
Chris (07:05):
And again, this is Mike Warkentin’s weekly column on twobrainbusiness.com. Every single week, Mike has something of super high value like this. We’ve been hanging out together for years and years, I think since 2012. And so Mike is amazing at pulling like these tiny, actionable, but incredibly valuable tidbits out of our content. So Mike writes: https://twobrainbusiness.com/three-minute-marketing/. And when I hear the same things from a bunch of them, I take note. When a large number of very intelligent, very successful people are doing the exact same thing, you might want to consider doing it too. Two-Brain Business takes a scientific data based approach with stuff like this. We analyze the actions of successful gym owners. We test them and then we recommend those actions if they’re proven to work.
Chris (07:53):
So in the limited space of this column, I’ll jump over the research and just tell you that the best owners in the world are doing the things I’m recommending here. And if you’re not doing them, then you’re probably missing out. So first, retention, the where have you been text. John Heringer of Method3 Fitness is just one of many successful entrepreneurs who prioritizes retention of current clients. Every week, he runs a report to find absentees and then he calls, emails or text them. Simple, right? But John’s revenue in August, 2021 was $86,000. And you can listen to him talk about it on Two-Brain Radio, I’ll put links in the show notes. You don’t even have to run the report, just do a mental review, pick three members you haven’t seen this week and fire off those texts. The next is podiums, right? Make them a star.
Chris (08:40):
And Mike writes, for years, Chris Cooper has been telling gyms owners to make their clients famous and put them on podiums. Your gym might be the only place in the world where they feel special. So take a minute and high five three people. You’ll give three members a warm fuzzy that will last all day and strengthen your bond, and you can high five them through a text. The next one is the 10 word message. So just send this message to departed clients. Do you still wanna improve your fitness this year? It’s a kind of magical marketing message because it starts a conversation with them and Mike Writes, Chris Cooper talks about it in one of our podcasts, but if you only have time for one action, skip the podcast and spend your time just sending this message. Next, follow up with your leads.
Chris (09:23):
When it comes to marketing, I’ve heard a relentless drumbeat for years now, contact your leads quickly and keep trying until you get in touch with them. Without fail, the gyms that sell more, get touch with leads in minutes, not weeks. And they attempt to contact leads many, many times before writing them off. I bet some of your leads could use another quick text. So pick three and start thumb typing. And you we’ve got a link to Mateo Lopez on Two-Brain Radio where he talks about lead nurture texts, too. Now you need to take action here. I bet that it would take you less than three minutes to send these 12 messages. And some of you will literally make money in those three minutes. Maybe a disheartened member will perk up and give you a chance to reengage and prevent their cancellation. Maybe a valued member will feel noticed and appreciated and less likely to cancel a membership or miss their next workout.
Chris (10:13):
Maybe a departed member might jump at the chance to reconnect with you and get back into training. Or maybe a lead will see your message and respond, giving you a chance to book a consultation. At some point today, you’re going to spend three minutes doing something useless, probably checking Facebook or Instagram or TikTok. Instead, take those three minutes to improve your retention, reacquire departed members and nurture future members. And when you hit a home run with these tactics, remember Two-Brain has hundreds of others that will help you solve every single problem in your business. To hear more about these tactics book, a free call. Mentorship is really the difference between acquiring knowledge and knowing the answer. Because as an entrepreneur, yyou can bet that at some point, this will all be on the test. Every day is the test. And if you know the answers in advance, you’re far more likely to ace it. Have a good one.
Mike (11:09):
Two-Brain Radio comes out twice a week and features all the info you need to run a successful fitness business. Subscribe so you don’t miss a show. Now here’s Coop one more time.
Chris (11:18):
Thanks for listening to Two-Brain Radio. If you aren’t in the Gym Owners United group on Facebook, this is my personal invitation to join. It’s the only public Facebook group that I participate in. And I’m there all the time with tips, tactics, and free resources. I’d love to network with you and help you grow your business. Join Gym Owners United on Facebook.
