Chris Cooper's Blog, page 16
March 25, 2025
What Is MetFix? Emily Kaplan on Her New Project With Greg Glassman
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Owner Income: The No. 1 Sign of a Strong Gym
A gym that’s doing well pays you well—that is the number one sign a gym is strong and will be around for a long time.
We track a host of key metrics carefully, and net owner benefit (NOB) is one of the most important because it answers this question:
Are you taking home enough money to support your family and live the life you want?
Nobody gets into this business because they’re greedy or they want to leverage a gym to buy a fleet of Corvettes. The reality is that most of us consider it a huge reward to help people live longer, healthier, happier lives.
But here’s what happens when passionate gym owners don’t earn enough: They leave the industry because of money problems.
They don’t lose their passion. They don’t get bored with helping other people. They don’t burn out on changing lives. They don’t rekindle a passion for selling real estate.
It always comes back to money.
Money doesn’t solve every problem, but it sure solves the money problems. And when that happens, passionate gym owners keep changing lives.
I’m going to show you 10 gym owners who have really solved the money problem, and I’ll give you their top tips so you can learn from the best.
Check out this leaderboard, which shows rolling three-month averages:
Let’s start with what these gyms have in common.
The main thing: They’re all using very simple but incredibly effective tactics. Nobody talks about huge ad campaigns or complicated strategies for client acquisition. They’re just doing the simple but effective stuff repeatedly and by the book.
For example, they’re regularly running bring-a-friend events on a schedule, and they’re using our playbook to get people to come in with a friend, do a free consultation and sign up for membership. They’re not just using a “free community workout on Saturdays” or running a haphazard bring-a-friend day once every three years.
Here are some other simple but deadly effective tactics top gyms are using:
Raising rates annually. Inflation is a thing, right? If you don’t account for it, your profit margin will suffer.Focusing on service delivery and retention. You must have an excellent product and systems that ensure people stick around long enough to benefit from it.Moving beyond group classes to high-value services such as PT, semi-private training and corporate programs. Group coaching should be your discount option. That doesn’t mean it’s bad. It means that you have premium options that give clients more attention if they want it.
Now, here are quotes from the leaders:
Retention and Service Delivery
“We are building better connections with the members. Retention has improved and churn is better. (This NOB number) is 12 months in the making.”
“Attendance tracking: We reach out each week if they don’t attend, and we reach out to every client every month. I am responsible for 160 CrossFit class members. Each, month I’ll come up with a prompt I’ll use to text or call about 40 people a week.”
“We simplified our areas of focus, sticking to making our class experience better.”
Referral Funnel
“We ran our fourth or fifth bring-a-friend week. It gives us more qualified leads.”
“We ran our first bring-a-friend Friday. Weather put a damper on the event, but we still had half turn out and got some No Sweat Intros scheduled.”
“Eighty percent of our growth comes from referrals.”
Reviews and Content Funnel
“A local gym closed down, and that helped us. But the boost came because we have a great reputation and social-media presence. We’re the only gym in town with 150 reviews and five stars. We got them tactically. I knew that was very important. We ask our members, ‘Would you leave us a five-star review?’ It’s usually after we’ve given them something or they’ve reached a PR. ‘We’re so excited that we’ve been able to help you! Would you be able to help us by leaving a review?’”
“We pay a social-media manager to highlight the members, showcase the diversity of the members, celebrate milestones, make the clients famous and post videos of coaches.”
Beyond Group Classes
“We run a fundamentals program with about 60 people.”
“The three owners have all done PT loads, but we now give that to our coaches. We have two full-time coaches: One of them does some nutrition and another does some specific seminars.”
“Corporate training is $600,000 every year. It started with just one client, then 10-20 people per corporate client, with five corporate clients—about 60-70 people. We go to them, and three coaches deliver. It’s very easy: no attendance checking or check-ins on these people, and the programming is all the same. We have had many of them come to the gym. We’re expanding that to include habits and nutrition coaching.”
“We still do group classes (but are) planning to add semi-private training.”
“For Q2 we’re focused on our semi-private training.”
“We are getting smarter with special programs and getting strategic. In November, we did a healthy nutrition kickstart.”
“We are 50-50 PT and group.”
Annual Rate Increases
“We raise rates every year: ‘Thank you for the year! This is what we’ve done this year. This is what we’re doing next year.’”
Pay Yourself First
“In 2022, we started paying ourselves first, and now I know how much money I’ll be bringing home first. I think this is very important. It’s a lot of work to run a gym, and you should be compensated or you’ll start to dislike it. There is cash, but the NOB number also includes the car and other owner benefits.”
“In another quarter, a lot of extra cash was left over from a nearby special event, so we pulled it out.”
Basics and Mentorship
“The plan in Q1 is focused on increasing average revenue per member and length of engagement.”
“We focused on the basics—everything that Two-Brain’s taught us. We’ve doubled in size since last year. We didn’t do any paid ads; this is all organic.”
You Deserve to Earn!
Here’s a reminder: You deserve to earn a great living from your gym.
I know you’re sacrificing time from your family, you’re sacrificing a stable career, you’re taking risks, you’re serving other people, and you’re giving them all your energy no matter what’s happening in your own life.
No matter how bad a day you’re having, you’re forcing a smile and giving people the best coaching.
You’re changing their lives, even when they falter. You’re calling them when they’re not showing up. You’re taking charge of their health on their behalf. You’re telling them you believe in them even when they doubt themselves.
Because of all that, you deserve to be successful. And my selfish reason is that if you’re successful, you’ll stay in the business and help more people longer.
But the reality is that nobody deserves to be more successful than gym owners who work hard to make clients healthier.
If you’re not earning what you want from your business, we have a plan to get you to $100,000 fast. Then we can decide where to go from there.
To hear more about that, book a call here.
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March 24, 2025
Earn More as a Gym Owner: Lessons From Industry Leaders
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March 22, 2025
CrossFit Games: Moving Beyond the Fittest on Earth
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March 21, 2025
CrossFit Affiliates: How to Save the Movement
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The $73 Media Kit Your Gym Must Have
If you publish solid media regularly, your content and social-media funnels should provide you with a steady stream of new leads.
If people always see engaging, high-quality images and videos of smiling people working with expert coaches, they’ll think of your business first when they have a fitness problem to solve.
But if you produce low-quality content—blurry photos, inaudible videos and so on—your competitors will earn the eyeballs instead.
Good news: You don’t have to be a professional photographer or videographer. Cheap technology makes it very easy to significantly upgrade your content.
The short list below includes one piece of equipment everyone already has, and the other gear can be obtained for less than $100.
You can, of course, find many versions of the products listed below. The equipment was selected for price and basic functionality only, and I don’t get any kickbacks on this stuff. Substitute any similar products you prefer!
Cell Phone
Recommended: Any current smartphone you already own
The cameras in phones—especially the latest models—are incredible. You can use any smartphone to make spectacular videos and photos. You do not need to invest in a DSLR or mirrorless camera. You can, of course. They produce outstanding media. But you can make do with a cell phone for now.
Key Feature: Clean lenses. Use a lens-cleaning cloth and solution from time to time. The best camera is useless if it’s got a smear of peanut butter laced with protein powder across its lens.
Protip: Enter this in Google: “[YOUR PHONE MAKE AND MODEL] camera tips.” Example: “iPhone 15 Pro camera tips.” Then run through a few of the top articles and videos. In about 10 minutes, you’ll learn how to use lots of basic and even a few advanced functions to create better images.
Tripod Without Light
You need a tripod. There is a time and place for off-the-cuff, jiggly but natural, selfie-style filming. But excessive movement can make videos unwatchable. A simple, lightweight tripod that doubles as a selfie stick will solve your problems.
You can get a tripod with a light—see below—but I like having a small, no-frills model for use when you don’t need a light and a USB cable dangling off the tripod.
Recommended: Sensyne 62-Inch Tripod—$20
Key Feature: The articulating head so you can film vertically or horizontally. Vertical videos are all the rage at present, but YouTube is still a thing, so your tripod should allow you to create in both portrait and landscape orientation.
ProTip: Let clients use the tripod to film PRs: “Be sure to tag the gym when you post that or send me the video!”
Ring Light Tripod
Recommended: Weilisi 10-Inch Selfie Ring—$30
Light makes all the difference in the world when filming videos or taking photos. A small, cheap, USB-powered light isn’t going to turn your gym into a professional studio, but it will dramatically improve your video content—especially interviews/testimonials, food videos, monologues and so on.
Filming your next client testimonial in a gym with mediocre lighting? Turn on the ring light and your happy client will stand out!
This light has color and temperature settings that allow you to change the look of a photo or video. For example, baked goods often look better with a cooler light setting in the range of 5500K. Or maybe you want to catch a person’s eye on social by giving a video a purple hue. Experiment with the light’s settings to create different looks.
Key Feature: Adjustable brightness, color and temperature.
ProTip: Any time you hang a cord off a tripod, you create a tripping hazard. Be mindful of cables, and get a small sandbag you can put on the base of the tripod so it doesn’t topple easily. This guide is about minimizing costs, but you will see the irony in placing a $1,000 cell phone in a $30 tripod.
Mic
Recommended: Mini Mic Pro—$23
Mics on cell phones are not great, and they’re almost useless when recording voices in a noisy environment like a gym. No one on social is going to struggle to hear you. People will just scroll on to a better video.
To significantly improve audio quality, you only need a basic set-up: a receiver that plugs into the phone and two wireless lav mics.
Your monologues will sound outstanding with a mic, and you’ll be able to record great interviews, too. The days of echo-filled, inaudible client success stories are long gone.
Key Feature: Two mics—perfect for interviews.
Protip: These mics are designed to be clipped onto clothing so you can use both hands freely. There is literally no reason to hold the mic in your hand except to look trendy. Feel free to do so, but know that this is a style decision by the influencer crowd, not a technical decision. Also, the “fluffy mic cover,” often called a “dead cat,” is for reducing wind noise when recording. It might look cool, but it’s not essential indoors.
Level Up!
I’d strongly recommend you pick up these three pieces of gear today if you don’t already have them. Use them for every piece of media, and teach staff members how to use them if you delegate content creation.
With a tripod, a small light and a mic, you’ll be able to take your content funnel from a D to a B+ fast—and that’s going to generate more leads.
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March 20, 2025
Saving CrossFit: Coop Answers Your Questions
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Stop Using Free Trials at Your Gym and Do Exactly This Instead
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March 19, 2025
How to Save CrossFit
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Do This to Kill the Value of Coaching
You must fight the “commodity effect” with your business.
Here’s what commoditization looks like in fitness. It’s the exact plan to reduce the perception of value for coaching:
You offer free trials to prospective clients. But inexperienced people can’t tell the difference between your free trial workout and F45’s trial workout and a CrossFit gym’s trial workout and a Fit Body Boot Camp’s trial workout.
You think your coaching is far superior, but prospective clients don’t have a clue how to evaluate coaching. They don’t know anything about fitness. They see “free trial workout” and that’s it.
Remember, you know your workouts are different, but they don’t. It’s just burpees or biceps curls in a different building to them. They have no frame of reference.
When a consumer can’t discern differences among products, the lowest price is the determining factor.
Competing on price is very bad for service businesses, and you do not want to win the race to the bottom. It’s also bad for clients, who will continually jump ship for a better deal and never experience the long-term effects of great coaching.
Quick Test
Free trials, free weeks and free months drive value down in the eyes of the consumer.
Want proof?
Look at the pricing for similar fitness services in your town 10 years ago versus now. Has it gone up, down or stayed the same?
If pricing is lower or about the same, that means the perception of value is not going up in your town.
Here’s now to change course.
Free Consultations
Top gym owners use the Prescriptive Model to fight commoditization, stand out in the market, and attract and retain high-value clients for years.
I’ll give you the basics below, but if you want to dig into details, they are all here.
Here’s the thousand-foot view:
Meet with prospective clients and ask them for their goals.Lay out exactly how your service can help them accomplish those goals.Show them the price, sign them up, start the on-ramp program, and schedule a Goal Review Session 90 days down the line.After 90 days, meet with the client to show them the progress they have made toward their goal and celebrate it.Adjust your plan if needed to make swifter progress or reaffirm the existing plan.
This cycle is full of positives:
If you use a free consultation to sell your services, you will stand out in the market because you are showcasing coaching, not a workout. Instead of assuming an inexperienced person will appreciate your coaching during a trial session, you are demonstrating excellence as a problem-solving fitness expert.
That creates value.
If you show clients you are invested in their journey by tracking their progress and updating their prescriptions as necessary, you further increase value.
The Prescriptive Model is the cure for commoditization. It’s not uncommon for Two-Brain gyms that use this model to have ARM of $260 while nearby gyms that sell the same thing collect about $110 per client per month (these are actual stats from Stockholm, Sweden, by the way).
I’ll tack on a few more stats from over 10,000 gyms worldwide:
The average close rate on consultations is close to 80 percent.The average close rate on free trials is under 30 percent in gyms that track the number (most don’t).The average length of engagement for a client who comes in through a consultation is 23 months.The average length of engagement for a client who comes in through a free trial is 7.8 months.
And now I’ll be blunt: Free trials will not help you build a great fitness business.
If you’ve only used free trials, it might seem like they’re working, but that’s because you haven’t tried anything else.
Free trials simply don’t convert well. They lead to lower retention. They commoditize your coaching and drive the price down.
The Prescriptive Model will serve your business and your clients better.
If you want to build a sustainable, profitable gym and produce fitter, healthier, happier clients, ditch the free trials and focus on building real relationships, one on one, with consultations and consistently updated prescriptions.
Change more lives!
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