Chris Cooper's Blog, page 6

“The Golden Hour”: How This Daily Habit Saved Chris Cooper’s Gym

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The 60-Minute Fix for Every Gym Problem

Every day at the crack of dawn, I spend one uninterrupted hour growing my business before I do anything else.

I call it the Golden Hour.

And the practice produces measurable results because it’s simple, consistent and focused.

If you set aside a Golden Hour for yourself and commit to focusing and doing the work, I promise your gym will grow.

Why the Golden Hour Works

Every gym owner has good ideas.

You listen to podcasts, read books, scroll Instagram and suddenly you’ve got six new things you want to try.

But then your day starts: you coach, you clean, someone texts, someone cancels, someone’s unhappy, someone needs to buy a T-shirt, and you realize you need to run to the supplier to get more toilet paper.

You work hard but get to the end of the day only to realize:

“I didn’t do a single thing to grow my gym.”

That used to be me—until a mentor gave me a simple rule:

Do one thing every day to grow your business before anything else.

That simple, focused daily activity turned into a short streak, and that streak grew to become a powerful habit.

Now, that habit is one of my core entrepreneurial skills. I can use it to grow any business I own or create in the future.

And I can teach you how to develop that skill so you can grow your business, too.

Get this: The top-performing gyms in Two-Brain are growing 32X faster than industry averages.

Why? Because their owners are focused, consistent and proactive.

If you want to crush industry-average growth and leave your competitors in the dust, you need to set aside just 60 minutes a day.

What Is the Golden Hour?

It’s one focused hour every morning. Here’s the exact plan:

1. Go to a place where you can focus.
2. Open your mind.
3. Lead with marketing reps.
4. Do a big project.
5. End after one hour.
6. Next steps: Plan for tomorrow.

G—Go to a Place You Can Focus

No phones. No emails. No distractions.

Whether it’s your home office, a coffee shop or your gym before it opens, find a space where you can think clearly and work without interruption.

O—Open Your Mind

Clear your mental clutter. Do a written brain dump—like I do using 750words.com—or just speak your thoughts into your phone.

This gets stress, distractions and negativity out of your head so you can focus.

L—Lead with Marketing Reps

Here’s a simple schedule of very effective activities:

Monday: Record a short video or write a quick blog. Teach something—your method, nutrition basics, mindset tips, etc.Tuesday: Distribute that content. Post to Instagram, Facebook, Google Business Profile, etc.Wednesday: Check in with five clients. Book Goal Review Sessions or just say “thanks for training with us!”Thursday: Follow up with five leads—past clients, appointment no-shows, new followers on social media.Friday: Reuse, repurpose or refine your best content.Saturday: Collect client testimonials.Sunday: Send a weekly preview message to your staff.

Done consistently, these basic activities build real momentum one rep at a time.

D—Do a Big Project

Big projects move you forward fast. But it’s not enough to come up with great idea after great idea. You must work on and complete big projects.

Here are some examples of move-the-needle big projects:

Write your staff playbook.Build your on-ramp.Improve your sales binder.Audit your marketing funnel.Plan your 90-day client journey.Clean up your P&L.

These aren’t daily tasks—they’re deep work. And they’re the difference between spinning your wheels and building a real business.

E—End After an Hour

This is a test: as much productive work as possible in one hour.

Don’t go beyond that.

Finish while you still have gas in the tank.

N—Next Steps

Ernest Hemingway stopped writing mid-sentence so he knew exactly where to pick up in his next session. Copy that: Write down your to-do list for the next day so you know exactly where to start tomorrow.

Hope Comes from Clarity and Action

If you do the Golden Hour for 30 days straight, your business will grow.

If you do it for 90 days, you’ll build momentum and create something powerful:

Hope.

Gym owners don’t fail because they don’t care or don’t work hard enough.

They fail when they lose hope, when they stop believing things can get better.

Hope requires two things:

1. A clear vision of where you’re going.
2. A clear action you can take today

The Golden Hour gives you both.

Join the Golden Hour Challenge

You can grab my book “The Golden Hour” on Amazon for free from Aug. 4 to 8.

Get it, then go to goldenhourchallenge.com and sign up for the free Resource Hub. You’ll get:

A step-by-step video walkthrough.A printable checklist.A simple system to follow for 21 days.Access to our group Gym Owners United for support.

You just need an hour to create hope.

Start tomorrow.

Pick one thing that will grow your business.

Do it before anything else.

Repeat.

About the Author: Chris Cooper is the author of 10 books for business owners. Visit his author page here.

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Which (Free) Book Should You Read Right Now?

I’ve written 10 books to help gym owners grow their businesses.

This week, you can have them for free.

But wait a sec—instead of just downloading them all and adding to an ever-growing library, let me help you pick the right one.

The book you need right now.

The one that will help you take the next best step.

Let’s be honest: Most of us are drowning in information. We read books and listen to podcasts, and then we move on without doing any work.

You don’t get a prize for collecting the most business books.

You get a prize for using knowledge to measurably push your business forward.

So here’s how to pick the book that will move the needle for you.

If You’re Just Getting Started: “Start a Gym”

This book is ideal if you’re dreaming of opening a gym or already planning to open one. It’s also perfect if you’ve just opened a gym—you can take quick steps to backfill elements that are essential for long-term success. We call this Founder Phase.

I’ll walk you through choosing a location, writing a business plan and—most importantly—becoming profitable fast. Some entrepreneurs who read this book use it to open in the black on Day 1 with dozens of paying members.

If nothing else, this book is a checklist you can use to ensure you don’t miss something critical. Many startup mistakes will take six months and $100,000 to fix. Let’s skip that.

This book is $0, and you can read it in a few hours. If you use it to avoid costly mistakes, your ROI is massive.

If You’re Open But Stuck in the Grind: “Gym Owners Handbook”

This is the book for Farmer Phase: The doors are open, but the business isn’t growing like you hoped it would.

You’ve got staff, but you’re still doing everything. You’re working hard, but the gym isn’t working for you.

“Gym Owners Handbook” is tactical. It teaches you how to:

Build a marketing plan.Sell your service.Write SOPs.Retain clients.Systemize your business.

It’s the one book that almost every gym owner needs because it’s a step-by-step manual you can use to fix or improve every critical aspect of your business.

If You’re Earning a Living and Ready to Build Wealth: “Millionaire Gym Owner”

Your gym is successful. Congrats! So what’s next? Welcome to the Tinker Phase.

“Millionaire Gym Owner” will help you go from income to investment.

Whether you’re thinking about buying your building, opening another gym or starting something new, this book supplies a roadmap and real stories from 25 gym owners who became millionaires.

If You’re Not Sure What Phase You’re In: “Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Thief”

This book lays out the entire entrepreneurial journey and helps you figure out where you are—and what you need to do next.

If you’re overwhelmed, scattered or unsure what book to read first, start here.

If You Can’t Find Time to Work on Your Business: “The Golden Hour”

Every gym owner I know is passionate and hardworking, but many are overwhelmed, too.

You get up early, stay late and do everything—but at the end of the day, you feel like you didn’t accomplish anything, right? You’re working in the business, not on it.

The solution? A simple habit: Do one thing to grow your gym every day before you do anything else.

“The Golden Hour” explains how that habit compounded over 15 years and took me from bankruptcy to owning a thriving business. The book even includes a six-week challenge with daily tasks to complete and a collection of resources to help you succeed.

“The Golden Hour” will help you create a key entrepreneurial habit you can use forever to implement anything you learn. It’s highly recommended.

If You’re a Great Gym Owner But Your Coaching Needs to Improve: “Help Best”

This book is for gym owners who have built a great business but now need their coaches to deliver world-class service and get A+ results for clients.

“Help Best” is all about serving clients in measurable, meaningful ways.

Your gym won’t thrive because of “great community” or some trendy method. If you want a strong business that will last for decades, you need to produce measurable results for clients and help them accomplish their goals.

This book teaches your coaches how to deliver those results—at scale. Yes, doing so will provide a financial reward. But it will also literally improve the health of your community, and I know you got into the gym biz to help people become healthier.

Do Something!

These books—and a few others from my catalogue—are free on Amazon until Aug. 8.

You can access everything from my Amazon author page.

Or if you want the personal touch, just send me a message on Facebook and ask, “Coop, which book should I read?”

I’ll tell you.

You can also DM me to tell me which book you selected and the action you took after reading it.

Action is what matters most, and I’d love to hear what you did.

Get a book on me. Pick the one that fits your current phase as a business owner.

Then dig in and do the work.

About the Author: Chris Cooper has written 10 books on the fitness business, and he is the founder of Two-Brain Business, a mentorship company that serves 1,000 gym owners around the world.

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Free Books for Gym Owners: Chris Cooper’s Complete Library Giveaway

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Struggling With Sales? Here’s the Fix.

Many gym owners struggle with sales.

That’s supported by the fact that very few gyms have accurate sales metrics. We see a glaring lack of marketing data every year when we prepare our annual “State of the Industry” report.

Without numbers, we don’t have a lot to discuss.

“I’m good at the bench press.”

“Yeah? What’s your max?”

“I don’t track it.”

See what I mean?

Two-Brain gyms are mentored to track and log all key business metrics:

Revenue.Net owner benefit.Average revenue per member.Client count.Length of engagement.Lifetime value.Leads, set rate, show rate and close rate.

The last line is critical for sales and marketing.

If you have all four numbers, you can analyze your marketing chain and identify weak spots.

Then you will know if your sales numbers are strong or need improvement.

If you don’t have any numbers, your sales system has flaws. Tracking is a key part of selling.

When you finally start tracking sales metrics, you will likely find that one or several parts of your funnel need attention.

That’s excellent: You will know exactly where your problems are, and you can take action.

Here is your clear fix-it plan after you log and review your numbers:

No LeadsYou are struggling to generate interest in your gym.Fix: Create or repair up to four marketing funnels. And send Chris Cooper a DM to request the guide “How to Generate 30 Leads in 30 Days Without Paid Ads.”
Few Appointments Booked or Few ShowsYou are not nurturing leads enough.Fix: Learn to nurture. Send Chris Cooper a DM and request the guide “10 Lead Nurture Strategies to Unlock Hidden Profit.”
Few Sales Your closing needs work.Fix: Practice selling using the Prescriptive Model and handling objections. Send Chris Cooper a DM and request the guide “Two-Brain’s 23 Best Sales and Marketing Scripts.”
Start Tracking Today

The first step to improving your sales process:

Track your metrics.

That’s your starting point.

Here’s what tracking and sales virtuosity look like at ground level: “The Simple Stat Behind Epic Sales Months in a Florida Gym.”

Step 2: Use one of the resources listed above to improve your sales process.

Your rewards:

More revenue.More profit.More happy, healthy clients.

The worst plan:

Run without numbers and assume your sales process is “fine.”

Need help executing on the plan? A mentor can hold you accountable. To talk about that, book a call here.

The post Struggling With Sales? Here’s the Fix. appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

You’re Probably Bad at Sales. Here’s the Fix.

Many gyms are very bad at sales.

That’s supported by the fact that very few gyms have accurate sales metrics. We see a glaring lack of marketing data every year when we prepare our annual “State of the Industry” report.

Without numbers, we have nothing to discuss.

“I’m good at the bench press.”

“Yeah? What’s your max?”

“I don’t track it.”

See what I mean?

Two-Brain gyms are mentored to track and log all key business metrics:

Revenue.Net owner benefit.Average revenue per member.Client count.Length of engagement.Lifetime value.Leads, set rate, show rate and close rate.

The last line is critical for sales and marketing.

If you have all four numbers, you can analyze your marketing chain and identify weak spots.

Then you will know if you are good or bad at sales.

If you don’t have any numbers, you are, by default, bad at sales. Tracking is a key part of selling.

When you finally start tracking sales metrics, you will likely find that one or several parts of your funnel need attention.

That’s excellent: You will know exactly where your problems are, and you can take action.

Here is your clear fix-it plan after you log and review your numbers:

No LeadsYou are bad at generating interest in your gym.Fix: Create or repair up to four marketing funnels. And send Chris Cooper a DM to request the guide “How to Generate 30 Leads in 30 Days Without Paid Ads.”
Few Appointments Booked or Few ShowsYou are bad at nurturing leads.Fix: Learn to nurture. Send Chris Cooper a DM and request the guide “10 Lead Nurture Strategies to Unlock Hidden Profit.”
Few Sales You are bad at closing.Fix: Practice selling using the Prescriptive Model and handling objections. Send Chris Cooper a DM and request the guide “Two-Brain’s 23 Best Sales and Marketing Scripts.”
Start Tracking Today

The first step to improving your sales process:

Track your metrics.

That’s your starting point.

Here’s what tracking and sales virtuosity look like at ground level: “The Simple Stat Behind Epic Sales Months in a Florida Gym.”

Step 2: Use one of the resources listed above to improve your sales process.

Your rewards:

More revenue.More profit.More happy, healthy clients.

The worst plan:

Run without numbers and assume your sales process is “really good.”

Need help executing on the plan? A mentor can hold you accountable. To talk about that, book a call here.

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93% Close Rate: Gym Sales Leader Reveals His System

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The Simple Stat Behind Epic Sales Months in a Florida Gym

Here are some impressive sales stats from a gym that made all three of our marketing leaderboards:

78 leads51 appointments set44 shows41 sales

These are outstanding numbers, and when we dug in, we found another important number.

Here it is:

381 follow-ups with leads in 30 days

We don’t track this number officially, but Korey Schindler, co-owner of Impact Fitness in Florida, provided it when we contacted him to find out why his marketing numbers are so good.

Korey literally has a counting app on his phone, and he keeps track of his follow-ups with leads every month. When we contacted him mid-month, he was at 217. When we interviewed him after month end, his counter read 381.

He logged 400 follow-ups in the two months before that, too.

“If it’s a slow time, I’ll do 30-40 follow-up attempts per day sometimes,” Korey said. “Phone call is my favorite. If they don’t answer, I’ll send a video text.”

So instead of checking Instagram for fail videos in dead hours, Korey is:

Calling people.Sending emails.Firing out texts and videos.

Korey, who sells sports performance training for kids, will even use a tactic he calls VAFU—value-added follow-up:

He’ll send videos of a kid’s training session to the parent. This is a great retention play.

There’s more.

Korey has door-to-door sales experience from his college days and years of experience selling. Sales is his sole focus at the gym.

Despite all that, Korey:

Tracks every single contact point with a lead in a Google sheet.Uses battle-tested scripts to get leads to book No Sweat Intros (NSIs).Rehearses before every NSI.Watches Two-Brain sales training videos in our Toolkit for clients.Works with a mentor to ensure his sales skills remain A+.

He also audits and improves his sales systems as the market changes.

For example, when he realized Facebook ads were producing colder leads, he revamped his process to get the results he wants.

Overall, this is a relentless commitment to the basics—virtuosity in business. And I’m not surprised it produced spectacular numbers.

Impact Fitness was fourth on all three of these leaderboards, and five other gyms appeared on all three as well (we reveal the names to our clients):

The sales engines at these gyms are world class, and they are built on solid systems, not wild offers, discounts and once-in-a-lifetime deals.

Here’s Korey’s summary: “I can’t control how many people sign up, to an extent, but I can control how much effort I put in.”

I love it: Business virtuosity for the win.

How many leads have you followed up with today?

Do this:

Take 10 minutes right now to call as many leads as you can.If you don’t get an answer, send a text.Do this every day for a week.Send me a message and let me know what happens (I already know your sales numbers will improve, but I’d love to hear from you).

Great gym owners are masters of the basics, and their commitment is rewarded by outstanding metrics.

If you need help with business fundamentals, it’s a phone call away: Book a chat here.

About the Author: Chris Cooper is the author of 10 books on the fitness business and the founder of Two-Brain, a mentorship company that serves 1,000 gym owners around the world.

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The Marketing Metrics That Help You Change More Lives

Imagine you’re an independent gym owner in Ireland.

You don’t own a multinational brand, and you’re not part of a giant franchise chain.

You own a microgym serving your community, and last month, 65 people joined your gym.

You didn’t just get 65 leads.

You got 65 new clients.

They signed up, and you get to change their lives with fitness.

That’s what happened at a Two-Brain gym on the Emerald Isle.

And it could happen at your gym, too.

Here’s why I roll out Top 10 leaderboards every month: Someone out there is building the gym you want, and they’ll share exactly how they did it so you can have the same success.

This month, we’re diving into the most important marketing metrics in the gym business:

Set rate—How many people booked an appointment from your website.Show rate—How many people booked an appointment and showed up.Close rate—How many people booked, showed up and signed up.
Set Rate

This is where the funnel clogs for a lot of gyms.

They run ads or post on social, and people click through … but then nothing happens. They don’t book appointments.

That’s a website problem.

Here’s what set-rate excellence looks like:

Set-rate solution: If people aren’t booking appointments, don’t try to solve the problem by spending money on ads. No amount of advertising will help. Want more clients? Fix your website first.

Show Rate

Show rate tells us how good you are at nurturing leads.

Here’s what our top performers accomplished:

These numbers exist because these gym owners followed up with leads. They didn’t just fire off one email and hope people would keep their appointments.

Instead, they made calls, sent texts, created video messages, issued reminders and used tools like Gym Lead Machine to respond 24/7.

Compare these two approaches:

Video message: “Excited to see you tomorrow at 5! Here’s where to park, and here’s the front door. Come on in, and I’ll be waiting with a gift. See you soon, Tom!”Nothing.

It’s obvious which tactic will produce more shows.

Set-rate solution: If you want a plug-and-play guide, go to GymOwnersUnited.com to get my ebook “10 Lead-Nurture Strategies to Unlock Hidden Profit.”

Close Rate

Close rate tells you how many people signed up.

It’s my favorite leaderboard, but not because of the money. Each of the 357 people who signed up to train with our leaders represents a changed life—a better life.

Yes, the owners add clients and earn more. But I know why you started a gym, so be sure to recognize that the numbers on this board represent real people who are losing weight, getting stronger and improving their health.

These gym owners didn’t “sell” in the old-school sense. They coached people to commit using Two-Brain’s Prescriptive Model: The person walks in and the coach listens, prescribes and helps them commit to accomplishing their goals.

Close-rate solution: Don’t wing it. Rehearse before every consultation. One of our top closers does this every time even though he has a decade of sales experience.

Tips From Our Leaders

Our marketing stars don’t keep secrets. They share their tips so you can change more lives, too.

Check it out:

Nurturing

“When they click your ad, you now have their contact info, and it’s my job to get them in the door, so I focus on that now.”

“We did a really good job of reaching prospects as soon as possible—within 10 minutes. When they do message us back, before we book their appointment, we try to create some rapport and emotional responses from them to be excited about that appointment.”

“Sometimes they just book the appointment through Kilo and GLM, which I think has obviously helped as far as lead nurture goes. Before I was using Gmail, and it was cluttered. I had a full inbox and it was hard to manage.”

“When someone books and we don’t know who they are, mentor Nick Habich mentioned on Office Hours to reach out and say, ‘I’m between clients and saw your booking came through, and I wanted to introduce myself.’ We confirm the time and give them an idea of how the No Sweat Intro goes to build trust.”

“When we are lead nurturing, four hours before the appointment we confirm: ‘Hey, Person, just wanted to confirm for 4 p.m.’ If they don’t confirm, I’ll usually call them an hour before the appointment.”

“Our client success manager is great at following up with No Sweat Intros—she messages each person early on the morning of their appointment as a reminder, which definitely helps with show rates.”

“It’s pretty rare for someone to come in for an NSI and not sign up for at least a membership. The hard part is always getting them through the door in the first place—but when they show up, we usually have a high chance of success.”

“I have a counter app on my phone. I use this to be consistent in my follow-ups. As of today, I’m at 217 prospect follow-ups this month. If it’s a slow time, I’ll do 30-40 follow-up attempts per day sometimes. I do follow-ups by email and text.”

“Phone call is my favorite. If they don’t answer, I’ll send a video text. For April and May, I did 400 follow-ups for the month.”

Professional Sales

“I rehearse every NSI before the actual appointment. I watch Nick Habich’s videos in the Toolkit.”

“We use an assessment room for the NSI.”

“We’re an access gym that also offers coaching. Sometimes we have walk-ins who want to sign up for a membership on the spot before doing an NSI. When that happens, we’ll still book them in for an NSI afterwards to upsell programming or coaching.”

“I have a sales background—door-to-door in college. I have noticed that the new leads through Facebook are colder. I revamped the sales process for these new, colder leads: I keep track of every single contact point on a Google sheet. I call the leads immediately to set up the NSI and follow a script on the call.”

Product-Market Fit

“We’ve evolved over three years in business with our marketing and website. We market now more toward PT, and we are bringing in the avatar for this particular product.”

“Turning on lead ads has really increased the leads. We’re a bit different in that we are targeting moms of kids, as this is a sports performance gym, but Leighton Bingham helped us craft the ads.”

“We are a kids sports performance gym, so we are not selling to the person who will attend the gym, and we actually start with a workout. My partner does the welcome, gives the tour and asks how we can help (one-one or group?).  Then I talk to the parent about schedule, and the kids do a workout. The trainer makes them laugh and builds rapport during the workout. This is a fun and evaluative process, and my partner gets the child to say how much fun it was—this makes the close that much simpler.”

“For a value-add follow-up, I send a video of athletes to the mom.”

Staff Development

“It came down to our team really nailing their roles. We’ve got three of us focused on lead gen, NSIs and retention, and everything clicked.”

“My gym manager runs most of our NSIs and is very consistent with conversions.”

“We’ve trained staff to go through the workout with the kids, and sometimes we have two or three going at the same time. Then I can stagger the close with the parents.”

Four-Funnel Marketing Concept

“Our paid ads didn’t perform that well last month, but our referral funnel more than made up for it.”

Focus

“To an extent, I can’t control how many people sign up, but I can control how much effort I put in.”

3 Critical Questions

If you’re wondering why your gym isn’t growing, ask three questions:

Are people booking from your website?Are they showing up for appointments?Are they signing up?

If you answer “no” to any of those questions, you don’t need more leads and you don’t need to burn more cash on ads.

You need to fix your funnel and learn to coach people to commit.

We teach our mentees exactly how to do this because you can’t build a world-class gym until you know how to get people to walk through the door and commit to changing their lives with your services.

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Marketing Excellence: How Top Gyms Get Leads to Book, Show and Buy

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