Chris Cooper's Blog, page 9

How to Fix 17 Years of Big-Group Mistakes

I was one of the world leaders in small-group and semi-private training.

Except I didn’t know it at the time.

And I lost money on what are now very high-value services.

Read on: I bet you did the same thing.

If you operated a CrossFit affiliate or group-coaching gym between 2007 and 2024, it’s probable that you ran your own small-group and semi-private experiments.

To bring you up to speed:

In a semi-private session, four to six people do personalized programs with one coach.

In a small-group session, four to six people do the same workout with one coach.

Here’s what 2007-2024 experiment looked like:

You crave large groups of 12-20, where each person pays about $8 a class so you can take in $96-$160 an hour. This rate kicks the hell out of a personal training session sold at $50 an hour.You have one or maybe two classes a day with 10-12 people.Most of the other classes in the day have four or five people, who get incredible levels of attention in a small group. You take in $36 to $40 an hour—before paying the coach, of course.A few classes have one or maybe two people. These clients essentially receive personal training for $8 an hour, and you still lose money when the coach is paid just $20 for the hour.You aspire to turn two-person classes into six-person classes, six-person classes into 12-person classes and 12-person classes into 20-person classes. This is your sole focus: More people in classes.You do not officially offer PT, semi-private training or small-group training at premium rates that reflect their value.

This experiment played out in thousands of gyms, many of which no longer exist.

A few very rare gyms managed to fill lots of classes with 12 or more members all the time. The rest of us leased to much space for years, bought too many barbells, spent too much money on ads, ignored retention and struggled to make rent.

A Better Plan

If you are still stuck in the muck chasing huge numbers of clients, don’t worry. Many of us did that for more than a decade, and you have the chance to correct your error today.

First, recognize that group coaching is your discount service, not your premium service. (You are probably charging too little for it, but that’s another topic for another day.)

Second, start selling PT today. All you have to do is tell your next prospective clients how to accomplish their goals and ask if they would like the high-speed, one-on-one plan first. Some will, and you should take in $75-$100 an hour with those clients.

Third, consider adding a high-value small-group or semi-private program. When these programs are set up properly, they can take in about $240 an hour. A coach can make well more than $60 per hour in a well-run program.

Here are two catches:

1. You cannot just start charging more for underfilled “big group” classes because you’re now calling them “small-group training.” That doesn’t work.

2. You cannot start a semi-private program if you do not use the Prescriptive Model. Chris Cooper and mentor Daniel Purington have laid out all the details here so you can check off the prerequisites and successfully launch a high-value program.

To guarantee success:

1. Talk to your mentor if you’re a Two-Brain client. We have a host of resources available to help you create a program that can add thousands of dollars to your bottom line.

2. If you’re on your own, as I was when I made my greatest mistakes, book a call to talk about mentorship. An expert will help you get a plan in place to help you fix all aspects of your business—especially service pricing and packaging. You can do that here.

The worst approach: Keep trying to fill group classes by desperately acquiring more members. I can tell you from experience that you will struggle on that hamster wheel.

Don’t fall into the same trap that caught me. Remember that group classes are a discount service and focus on developing high-value services to bolster group revenue.

The post How to Fix 17 Years of Big-Group Mistakes appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

From $0 to $200,000 in Semi-Private Training Revenue

To watch this episode on YouTube, click here.

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Why Every CrossFit Gym Should Offer Semi-Private Personal Training

You’ve probably heard about semi-private personal training or small-group personal training.

Though CrossFit “biz gurus” have been mostly talking about large-group coaching for the last decade, small-group personal training was Greg Glassman’s original model.

Unfortunately, the big-group coaching model has many problems, and now many CrossFit gyms are starting to pay attention to the alternatives.

Here, I’ll explain what semi-private personal training is, how it’s different from small-group personal training and why every CrossFit gym owner should consider it for their model.

Definitions

The Two-Brain process starts with finding the truth: We collect data from thousands of gyms every year, analyze it and publish it for free. You can get a copy of our most recent report here.

We don’t fall for the old stories and dogma, even when it comes from a CrossFit LLC source.

Let’s start by defining small-group personal training and semi-private personal training.

In small-group personal training, four to six people meet with a coach at a specific time. They follow the same warmup and workout, which is tailored to that specific group. Different groups might do different workouts on the same day.

Every person in the group gets a lot of personal attention. Each reviews their goals and progress with a coach regularly, and the group’s programming changes to reflect the needs of its members every few weeks.

In semi-private personal training, four to six people meet with a coach at a specific time. But in this model, each client has a personalized program. Their coach reviews their program before the session and rotates attention from one client to the next during the session.

Notice that I keep using “personal training” in the names of both services. That’s to remind you that these services do not fit in the industrialized model of “find a flaw and fix it” that’s common in big-group training. The coaching is much more specific, the touchpoints are much more frequent, and the service is far more valuable.

Data Dive

But why are we specifically recommending that CrossFit gyms adopt semi-private training into their models? Forget the dogma that “CrossFit is big-group training.”

Let’s look at “State of the Industry” numbers for the average CrossFit (big group) gym:

Average number of clients—122.5Average revenue per client—$167.76Average number of clients per class—6.34Average hours coached by the owner per week—36.6Average pay per class—$32.50

Now, for comparison, the average semi-private (small group) gym:

Average number of clients—62Average revenue per client—$230.18Average number of clients per session—4-6Average total hours worked by the owner per week—39.6Average pay per session—$45

Notice that most CrossFit gyms are actually coaching about the same number of clients per class as they would if they did small-group personal training. The difference is that they’re charging big-group rates.

So instead of coaching five people at once and earning $200, they’re coaching five people at once and earning $40.

Every hour of the day.

Evolution and Commoditization

The problem with big-group coaching now is commoditization.

When the first CrossFit gyms opened in major cities, they had the first-mover advantage. They attracted their first clients just because of novelty—they didn’t even have to advertise to jump over 200 members.

But those early adopters left after a year or two and opened their own gyms—at lower prices.

By 2015, you could find a CrossFit gym on every block in major cities, and CrossFit-influenced chains started to appear, such as Orangetheory and Fit Body Boot Camp. You could find dozens of independent bootcamps around, too.

They all looked the same to the common consumer, and that created downward price pressure.

Now most CrossFit gyms are running small groups of four to six people at big-group prices, and they’re paying big-group rent for space they don’t really need.

They can’t pay their coaches well, and many of the owners are making too little to survive, too.

For this reason, we recommend CrossFit gyms running the outdated big-group model sell “semi-private personal training” instead of “small-group personal training” because it’s hard for their clients to tell the difference between a “big group” option at $150 per month and a “small group” option priced at $300 per month.

Their clients have come to expect small groups for low rates already. Calling the new option “semi-private personal training” differentiates it enough to warrant the higher price.

The numbers alone are compelling, but here’s another twist: Greg Glassman’s gym didn’t do big-group coaching. They couldn’t fit a lot of people in the original gym in Santa Cruz, California. It was tiny. His model was high-value, small-group personal training. Clients paid close to personal training rates.

More Hard Data

Using 2024 “State of the Industry” data, here’s how average pricing for the most expensive membership stacks up:

1:1 training—$940Semi-private (small group) training—$477Big-group training (CrossFit)—$177Access-only gyms—$353

Now many of the top CrossFit gyms in the world are evolving to small-group personal training and semi-private personal training. With a smaller footprint, higher margin and lower churn, these gyms find the marketing pressure is much reduced, and—my favorite part—coaches can easily earn $80 per hour, instead of the current CrossFit average of $25.

No Gym Left Behind

Look, I wish the big-group model worked. I love coaching large groups.

But it doesn’t work for anyone long term. If CrossFit LLC collected any kind of data from its affiliates, this would have been obvious a decade ago.

Unfortunately, 20,000 affiliates have folded while trying this model because they didn’t know they had an alternative.

Now, Two-Brain is saving gyms because we start from absolute truth instead of just accepting the big-group myth that keeps getting passed from gym owner to gym owner.

We’ll be talking about this topic more and more because we have increasing amounts of great data, and, as always, we’ll share it with you for free.

For example, Oskar Johed—one of the most successful affiliate owners in the world and a Two-Brain mentor—has recently opened his third gym, and he’s using the small-group model.

We’ll get his story out to the affiliate community this year.

To find out today how data and the ideal model can save your gym, book a call here.

The post Why Every CrossFit Gym Should Offer Semi-Private Personal Training appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

The Definitive Launch Playbook for Semi-Private Training in Gyms

Semi-private personal training is a revenue home run in gyms.

Our data shows gym owners can take in $200-$260+ an hour serving four clients at once, and trainers can earn more than $60 an hour.

The space and equipment requirements are minimal, so revenue per square foot goes way up.

Clients win, too. They receive personalized programs and lots of attention but pay less than they would for one-on-one sessions. (For a complete breakdown of this service, check out this resource.)

The program is a slam dunk—but you can’t just launch it and win.

To set you up for success, I had Two-Brain mentor, gym owner and semi-private expert Daniel Purington lay out the prerequisites for a semi-private personal training program.

Daniel’s resume:

At Woodslawn Fitness, he takes in $230 an hour serving six clients at once in a semi-private setting vs. about $80 an hour serving six clients in a big-group setting.For semi-private sessions, he pays his coaches three times what he pays them for a big-group class.He can pay his semi-private coaches $11,000 a month, creating real careers for them.He runs CrossFit sessions in 1,100 square feet of space.He runs semi-private sessions in 650 square feet of space with six wall-mounted squat racks.He runs six-on-one and four-on-one semi-private sessions concurrently, servicing 10 people with two coaches.His revenue per square foot is off the charts in this tiny space.
Prerequisites for Semi-Private Training
Introductory Consults

If you just dump people into group classes without discovering their problems and goals, you will have no success launching a semi-private training program.

“You’ve got to learn why people are coming to you and what they need,” Daniel said.

If you use the Prescriptive Model, you will always know your clients’ goals and can put together high-value service packages that solve their problems. You’ll find out what they want to accomplish when they enter the gym, and you’ll check in with them every 90 days to ensure they’re making progress.

Knowing exactly what your clients want is critical. Don’t guess or assume they want what you think they want. Ask them what they want and then solve their problems. For many great clients, semi-private training solves a ton of problems. Maybe their goals have changed, too.

You must bring people into your gym with a free consultation before you can launch a semi-private program. And you should be doing regular Goal Review Sessions as part of the Prescriptive Model, too.

Avatar alert: Likely not a good candidate for semi-private personal training.Avatar

Your semi-private program will flop if you can’t describe your avatar client to me right now in 20 seconds.

If you don’t know your avatar, you won’t have a clue how to solve problems with a semi-private personal training program. You’ll just offer another Olympic lifting class because that’s what you like to coach. Or you’ll try to push semi-private training on hard-charging college kids who want to do Fran in a big group for $150 a month.

If you know your avatar, you can identify common goals and pain points, then create programs that solve their problems.

Know What You Are Offering

You aren’t selling “group training with fewer people.” That’s worthless, and, really, many gyms are already selling this by accident at rock-bottom prices. We know that the average gym offering “big-group classes” only gets about six people in each session.

So if you just try to sell “smaller classes,” you’re essentially telling people, “Pay twice as much for pretty much the same service you’re already getting.”

You must realize you are selling something very different with a semi-private program: You are selling results at high speed through high-touch, personalized coaching.

“You’re selling specificity. You’re selling accountability. You’re selling speed. You’re selling specific programming to get to a specific goal. CrossFit is a lot more generalized. So the subtle nuances, they are critical,” Daniel said.

Organic Messaging on all Platforms

You must talk about your programs and services regularly on all platforms: email, social media and Google Business Profile, as well as in-house bulletin boards and groups for members.

You must know how to highlight your services. Without a well-established “publishing habit,” you will not be able to promote a new program properly.

“If you don’t have strong organic media, you don’t have an audience that’s ripe for your knowledge—and for this program,” Daniel said. “So if you deploy a semi-private program before you have those things, it will fall flat on its face.”

If your coaches have never done this, they might struggle to handle four semi-private clients at once.
Staffing

You can’t launch a semi-private program if your coaches only know how to teach group classes.

If they’re most comfortable tossing a workout on the whiteboard, cranking the tunes and offering the occasional “chest up” cue while cheering people through a high-intensity session, you cannot start a semi-private program.

Semi-private coaches must have experience in a one-on-one (PT) or individual on-ramp setting. They must know how to design programs for individuals and deliver high-value service. From there, they’ll need to understand how to do that with four to six clients at once. This isn’t easy.

Yes, coaches can make way more in a semi-private program, but the demands on them are greater, too. They must be trained to deliver A+ service or your program’s value will plummet.

That sleepy, irritable disengaged top athlete who just coaches because he wants a key to your gym? He can’t be part of a semi-private program.

“We’re selling a higher level of service here, so the members should feel that on Day 1,” Daniel said.

Infrastructure

It’s a mistake to just wedge a semi-private program into a group space and assume everything will be fine.

“You don’t want to all of a sudden bring in this small group and push your big groups over without having the conversation. Animosity can develop very quickly in that environment,” Daniel explained. “Our semi-private training has a separate area. It’s got separate Bluetooth for speakers, separate weights. It’s got everything. It feels different.”

You don’t have to build out a dedicated room for semi-private training—you can, of course, but the expense isn’t needed. Daniel suggests even a row of plate trees can be used to segment a section of an open space so the semi-private area becomes “special.”

One note: A semi-private program should not be launched in a desperate attempt to fill the gym during those god-forsaken hours when no one wants to work out. This is a high-value service, and slots should be offered when demand is clear.

This is a super-weak offer: “Want to pay a bunch of money to work out with other people at an inconvenient time?”

Launching Without Prerequisites

Here’s what happens if you ignore the advice above:

“You’re going to get frustrated right off the bat,” Daniel said. “You’ll say, ‘This doesn’t work with my gym.’ But it’s not working because you don’t have the foundation set up.

“Yes, semi-private numbers are great. It’s awesome to pay a coach this much. It’s amazing to provide your members with faster results and better results, but you’ve got to lay the foundation.”

He continued: “If you don’t lay the foundation, the program won’t succeed, and you’ve just devalued that service to your members. You just showed that ‘we can’t fill it.’ Now you’ve got to backtrack and have some form of a waiting period before we can try launching it again.”

The takeaway: Don’t skip steps.

These racks can be used to separate a big-group space from a semi-private space.
Selling Semi-Private Training

When launching this program, market it internally first. This is key.

“They’re already purchasing fitness from you,” Daniel said. “That know, like and trust continuum is ongoing. Don’t forget that member nurture is equally as important as new-lead nurture. Your members are your best clients for this program.”

The way to sell semi-private training to members: Goal Review Sessions, which are part of the Prescriptive Model laid out above.

“I cannot emphasize Goal Reviews enough. They are critical,” Daniel explained. “We built this program based on members within our gym. And it was done through Goal Reviews. If you’re not using them, it’s going to be very difficult to truly know what your members need. So be aggressive with setting up Goal Reviews.”

From there, Daniel recommends first selling an eight-week program to members who see the value in speed, specificity, attention, accountability, convenience and coaching. If that program is successful, sell an ongoing program.

Intrapreneurial coaches can even be engaged to come to you with three clients whose problems would be solved in a semi-private setting, and you can set up a slot that’s a win for coaches, clients and gym.

That is your starting point—not costly external marketing of a half-baked program. Market internally first and get it right. Daniel suggests it could be years before you’re ready to market externally.

But that doesn’t mean it will be years before you’re generating lots of semi-private revenue.

Three Examples

Daniel’s gym—”So when new people come in, they have two choices: ‘Yes or no to nutrition, and then CrossFit or semi-private training?’ That’s it. So we’re marketing that on our website. We’re marketing that in all of our emails and our social media.” Remember, Daniel’s program is well established; he started it by marketing internally only.

A very large, long-standing CrossFit gym in Mississippi—The gym was having members “age out of intensity.” The owner worked with Daniel to use semi-private groups to solve this problem with personalized programming that acknowledges the goal is no longer “go so hard that I puke.” He’s now running 10 semi-private groups in a gym that’s 12,000 square feet.

A Bay Area garage gym—They were doing just one-on-one training, and the owner’s schedule was completely full. After pairing people up, the calendar was still full. So he worked with Daniel to set up a semi-private program: He now only accepts clients in a minimum three-on-one setting. Instead of having to cover 30 clients in 30 sessions, the owner must run just 10 to 12 sessions. The clients get great results, and the owner takes Wednesdays and Thursday afternoons off now to go to gymnastics with his daughter. Revenue increased last year by 84 percent, and their overhead didn’t change.

Don’t Skip Steps

Semi-private personal training is like building a garage: It solves a lot of problems.

But if you just throw up some wood and shingles without pouring a foundation, you’ll be in trouble.

Get a base in place, then scale up. That’s good advice for any aspect of business.

Two-Brain mentors can lead your through the exact steps to add semi-private training to your model. To hear more about how we make gyms profitable fast, book a call here.

The post The Definitive Launch Playbook for Semi-Private Training in Gyms appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

Never Launch a Semi-Private Program Without Doing THIS First

To watch this episode on YouTube, click here.

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The Best of the 2025 Summit!

The 2025 Two-Brain Summit is in the books, and I had one of the best jobs in Chicago:

Ask gym owners about their greatest accomplishments with the help of a mentor.

I’ll drop their answers below in between some of the best shots from an amazing weekend.

If you’d like to be part of the party in 2026, you can take advantage of early bird pricing here.

“I achieved millionaire status and then I increased it by 10 percent in eight months.” —Patrick Claffey, RX Gym and CrossFit Didsbury

“Mentorship for me unlocked time so I could grow and develop the business but also my lifestyle.” —Adam Clasper, Primal Mvmnt Fitness and Nutrition

“In the two years I’ve been with Two-Brain, we have added over $500,000 in recurring revenue every year, and we’ve tripled our net owner benefit.” —Tim Rainer, Fit One Five

“Since joining Two-Brain, my ARM has doubled in size, my number count for clients has doubled in size, and my revenue has grown from $5,000 to over $25,000 in less than 17 months.” —Theresa Straight, Iron Family Fitness

“When I first joined Two-Brain, I was barely making $6,000 a month, and within six months I was paying myself that much, and now I pay myself much more. Second accomplishment: I was able to put a $70,000 pool in my backyard. … And I did a ‘yes trip’ to Disney and Universal for my family for 11 days, meaning (for) anything they wanted I was able to say ‘yes.’ I would also add that I have time and freedom emotionally and physically to be with my family, to play hooky, to go to the kindergarten graduation, to go to the dance recitals and basically do what I want when I want—and it brings me joy.” —Ashley Kates, StrongHER

“The main thing I’ve learned from Two-Brain is how to be profitable, how to charge more and be in charge of my business.” —Daniel Dobbs, CrossFit Accion

“One of the biggest things that we’ve done as a gym and as an owner group is increasing our net owner benefit without necessarily the need to increase the amount of members. … One of the ways we did that was increase the ARM of each member.” —Ed Conway, The Tribe

“Since joining Two-Brain in 2022, our revenue has increased by about 30 to 40 percent, and our churn rate has gone down like 4 percent. So we’re super happy.” —Melissa Whitmer, Crush NTX Fitness

“We were on the leaderboard for revenue, and I believe it was in the range of $74K (per month). … One of the best things for me with the mentorship is just the one-on-one dialogue with someone who can speak business, but not just business but gym-related business. That has helped me immensely.” —Jon Bartholomeo, Mohawk Valley Wellness

“Two-Brain mentorship has helped me go from having a very empty gym to a very full gym, and for me from working 70 hours a week to only coaching four hours per week.” —Ian Smith, Mountain Speed, Strength and Fitness

“I was able to grow my ARM by over $400 and get freedom  of time back for days when I’m not in the gym because I was able to put staff there.” —Estreya Rosado, Avenger Athletics

“Being able to bubble-proof my business and not have it fall apart when I get sick or when something has to happen with the kids.” —Amanda Buckner, Untamed Fitness

“Since working with Two-Brain, we have bumped our length of engagement up by 33 percent, which is amazing.” —Justin Keane, Woodshed Strength and Conditioning

“One thing that I’ve accomplished with Two-Brain after about three years is taken our revenue close to double.” —Ben Dominique, Pro Performance

“We grew our staff—we have like five, six, new staff members—and that helped us free up our time immensely. So we have more free time to do things with our family, friends and just stuff we want to do on our own. And that was all thanks to Two-Brain.” —Kern Leader, Pro Performance

“Last year we doubled in size with our member count.” —Travis Laufle, TRVFIT Detroit

“They got me through the pandemic, survived that. So far we’ve doubled our revenue since then. … I have a lot more time.” —Lawrence Herrera, Performance Ranch

“Our ARM went from like $79 up to $189. Our LEG has increased from like 70 days now to almost two years.” —Kelsey Goncalves, TRVFIT Southwest Grand Rapids

“Through all this we’ve just won freedom of time, where I get to hang out with my wife and daughter at home, don’t have to clock a nine-to-five, and get to be really fit doing all of that.” —Blake Bramer, 413 Fit Club

“We have doubled our monthly revenue since we’ve been with Two-Brain.” —Aaron Scott, CrossFit Structure

“We got rid of an open access style gym and went all in on the group coaching, which is a huge task. We’re now four years on, and we’re crushing our revenue from when we were on the open access, and we’ve also brought two lovely kids into the world, who I get to spend loads of time with.” —Charlie Banfield, Function Fitness

“Since joining Two-Brain we’ve bought the land for our building and built a building on it.” —Kidd Ellis, Vegvisir CrossFit

“I’ve bene able to go from not paying myself to now $600 a week for me and my husband, and we’re now taking Wednesday evenings off, spending time with our family, cooking dinners together and really actually living our lives again.” —Jill Alvarez, Xtreme Fitness

“We have bought our building in the last two years, and in the last year I quit my job as a teacher to become a full-time gym owner.” —Justin Ruffing, CrossFit Tiffin

“The one thing that has been great to me and my success of my gym is getting my wife out of the corporate world into the gym full time, and that recently just happened.” —Steven Colon, CrossFit Tao

“The best thing that’s probably happened to me is getting some systems in place because I actually went through a six-organ transplant, but unfortunately the first time it rejected, so I had a second translant again. I was gone the whole year, but the business was able to survive, and I was able to keep it going. Without the systems in place, it wouldn’t have been possible.” —Tim Urbanik, Get Fit Kenosha/Elite Endurance

“One of the greatest things that has happened at our gym since being a part of Two-Brain is that we have been able to create more time for ourselves, taking more trips together, which just used to be such a far-off dream—to be able to leave our gym. Now we get to travel.” —Joanne Tablang, All Kine Community and Fitness

“Over the last year we really focused on our founders club, so were were able to open our doors with 54 paying members, so that was huge.” —Tori Jablonka, Immortal Athletics

“It’s amazing when you ask somebody for help and you actually take that help and you lay it out step by step like they tell you what to do. So when we did that, we swallowed our pride and said, ‘OK, thousands of gyms do this. It’s gotta work.’ Sure as all get up, the stuff just works as long as you follow the steps. That’s exactly what we did to a tee, and the proof is in the pudding. … I think Two-Brain is worth its weight in gold.” —Scott Jablonka, Immortal Athletics

“We got back to our pre-COVID revenue numbers and membership numbers.” —Graham King, Urban Athletic Group

“The Help First mentality finally helped me find the intersection between making an impact in the world and making a good living for myself and my family.” —Damon Vincent, Train Unique

“The biggest thing that happened for me since joining Two-Brain is my schedule is filled with one-on-one clients two weeks out.” —Zachary Goldstein, Unlimited Performance

“The number 1 thing I’ve learned so far since being with Two-Brain is to delegate and just get things off of my plate so I can focus on more important things.”—Marybeth Goldstein, Unlimited Performance

“Over the last year in mentorship I’ve gone from owning one gym established for 15 years to now three. They are in the green and moving in the right direction.” —Eamon Boylan, Ronin CrossFit/Ronin Strength and Fitness

“This last year we bought our dream house.”—Michael Plank, Underwood Park CrossFit

“I’ve been traveling more since I’ve been setting some systems up in the studio.” — Neychla Abreu, NFit Studio

“Since joining Two-Brain, something I’ve been really proud of is being able to be at home with our 15-month-old son and helping my wife with her PT business that runs out of our facility. We get to work together a lot. And overall stress has dropped dramatically.” —Nick Showman, Showtime Strength and Performance

Join Us in 2026!

That’s an incredible list of successes—all as a result of focused work with the help of a mentor.

I’d like to talk to you in 2026 at the summit in Chicago to hear what you’ve accomplished!

Early bird pricing is available for a limited time. Take advantage of it here.

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How to Book More Intros and Sell More Without Buying More Ads

To watch this episode on YouTube, click here.

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6 Simple Lead-Nurture Strategies to Grow Your Gym

By John Franklin, Two-Brain Business CMO

I’ve taken more than 500 sales calls for Two-Brain Business. Nearly every time I ask “what’s your biggest challenge?” gym owners say, “I need more leads.”

But lead volume isn’t the real bottleneck; follow-up is. Roughly 80 percent of gym leads go cold simply because they aren’t nurtured well.

The good news? Fixing nurture is very simple and has a huge impact on your business.

Below are six strategies you can put in place today to convert the leads you already have into paying members.

1. Call Your Leads—Fast

Speed sells.

InsideSales found that your odds of reaching a prospect drop eight-fold when you wait longer than five minutes to pick up the phone. Yet fewer than 1 percent of businesses call new leads within the first hour, and our own “State of the Industry” report shows 14.4 percent of gyms never call their leads at all.

You juggle a hundred tasks every day, but nothing moves the revenue needle faster than dialing a lead the moment their form hits your inbox.

The faster you contact a lead, the better your chances of selling them.

What to do

A. Route every lead to your phone. If you’re the primary sales contact, make sure all phone calls, form fills, DMs and Facebook Lead Ads go directly to your phone.

B. Assign a “rapid-response” point person. If you have admin staff, you can delegate this role—but only after setting up a system to monitor response time.

C. Have a script ready:

“Hi [NAME], this is [COACH] from [GYM]. Thanks for reaching out about [GOAL/PROGRAM]. I can meet today at [TIME] or tomorrow at [TIME]. Which works better for you?”

2. Follow up 6 Times in 3 Days

Here’s a hard truth: Most prospects don’t pick up on the first dial. Yet roughly 70 percent of gym owners give up on leads after one contact attempt.

To increase your chances of connecting with a prospect, aim for two calls per day for the first three days they’re in your system.

3. Have Lots of Calendar Availability

If a prospect can’t book a visit within 24 hours, their motivation starts to fade—and so do your chances of closing.

Keep the path from “I’m interested” to “see you tomorrow” as short as possible.

What to do:

Offer same-day or next-day slots. Keep at least two intro times open during peak hours.Keep peak-hour openings (before work, lunch, 5-7 p.m.). Yes, that’s when your floor is busiest, but it’s also when people buy.Make it easy to book. Make it easy for prospects to lock down sales appointments directly from your website.
4. Automate Part of the Process

Tools such as Gym Lead Machine (or any solid CRM) can:

Shoot out an instant text with a link to your sales calendar.Remind leads to book an appointment.Send appointment reminders to increase show rates.

Here’s an example of great follow-up from a local SweatHouz in my market:      

Remember this: Automation is helpful for maintaining speed and consistency, but it doesn’t replace calling your leads.

5. Use Personalization to Increase Show Rates

A 30-second selfie video the day before the appointment can cut no-show rates dramatically.

Steal this script:

“Hey [PROSPECT]. It’s [YOUR NAME] from [YOUR GYM]. Excited to meet you tomorrow at [TIME] to talk about [PROGRAM/GOAL]! This is our front door, and you can park right here. Quick question: What T-shirt size do you wear? We’ve got a welcome gift waiting for you. Text me if you need anything!”

Why it works:

Personalization—Uses the prospect’s name and speaks directly to their goal.Clarity—Shows the entrance and parking, removing any “first-visit anxiety.”Reciprocity—A promised gift builds goodwill before they arrive.Human connection—Reminds them a real person is expecting them, reducing the urge to ghost.
6. Develop a Long-Term Nurture Sequence

Most prospects won’t book on the first pass. But research shows 63 percent of leads who say “not yet” can still convert when they receive consistent, helpful follow-ups.

That’s why we recommend Two-Brain gyms develop a nurture sequence that sends out a client win or helpful resource along with a booking link every two weeks. Automate the delivery using your CRM and keep going for at least 90 days.

Consistent value keeps you top of mind, builds trust and gives prospects a clear path to book when their timing is right.

Why This Matters

Two-Brain’s 2023 “State of the Industry” report showed the average microgym pulls in 27 leads a month but converts only five.

If average client lifetime value is $1,381.55, closing just one extra sale per month would add about $16,578.60 in revenue—and you wouldn’t have to spend a dime on additional lead generation.

The post 6 Simple Lead-Nurture Strategies to Grow Your Gym appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

Filling the Gap Between “Lead” and “Member”

Do you really need more leads?

Really?

Let’s make a deal: I’ll click into your sales funnel right now and enter my contact info, and if you contact me within five minutes, I’ll accept that you need more leads.

But if I click in and don’t get a high-quality contact in short order, you must commit to doing a better job of nurturing the leads you have.

Deal?

I’m being facetious here, but you get the point.

Most gyms do not nurture their leads well, so getting more leads doesn’t solve their sales problem.

It’s like wishing you had more strawberries on the table, then planting more seeds while ripe fruit dies on the vine because no one picked it.

Facts and Fixes

I’ll hit you with some data. Here’s what we know from our annual “State of the Industry Report”:

The average big group gym gets 35 leads per month.The median number of sales appointments in a big-group gym is just 6.The average big group, small group or 1:1 gym adds just 2 new clients per month (net).

The last two numbers are scary.

So where do all those leads go? They bleed out of the funnel for various reasons that all come down to “lack of nurturing.”

Getting leads isn’t that hard, and we can teach you how to close sales at an 80 percent clip. But your gym just won’t grow if you can’t get leads to book appointments.

Let’s fix that and remove the clogs from you your funnel.

I have a new guide for you, and I’m going to work through it in a live training session. Here are the details:

What—Teach you to nurture leads better.
Where—Gym Owners United
When—June 17 at noon Eastern

I’ve got 10 proven strategies to help you warm your leads, and we’ll work through them together. Then I’ll send you my new guide, including a checklist you can use to evaluate and improve your funnel.

If you aren’t a member of our free group Gym Owners United, join now so you’ve got access when the broadcast starts—we screen that group carefully to make sure it’s packed with like-minded entrepreneurs who want to help each other.

If you’re already a member, set an alarm: I go live at noon Eastern. Be there!

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10 Lead Nurture Strategies to Unlock Hidden Profit

To watch this episode on YouTube, click here.

The post 10 Lead Nurture Strategies to Unlock Hidden Profit appeared first on Two-Brain Business.