November 6, 2025 • 29 mins
If you want to improve lead flow, add more high-value clients and generate more revenue, these three simple words can work wonders: “Bring a friend.”
In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” gym owner and chiropractor Dr. Braeden Cordts shares his secrets for using bring-a-friend events to replicate his very best clients and grow his membership.
Braeden walks through his plan to get red-hot leads into a workout at Kôr Fitness & Performance in Minnesota, and then he lays out his air-tight follow-up process for turning those leads into clients. The final step: He uses a system to ensure every new member he recruits is a source of future referrals.
Braeden's plan has produced amazing results: He's increased his membership nearly tenfold in just four years.
Tune in to hear the full breakdown, then schedule your own bring-a-friend event to add clients and revenue before the end of 2025.
Need an extra cash boost? Get the free “Year-End Revenue” guide in Gym Owners United, linked below.
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2:29 - Process for bring-a-friend events
6:45 - Bring-a-friend workout example
8:12 - What to do after the workout
13:15 - How to follow up with leads
19:58 - Mind-blowing gym metrics
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker (00:02):
Braden, let's hear your critical numbers on Bring a
Friend events.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Well, every Bring a Buddy week, we call it Buddy
because we're in Minnesota.
We shoot for 50 50 plus leadsand uh 20 to 30% conversion.
Speaker (00:15):
Wow, those are huge numbers.
Will you share your secretswith our listeners?
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Of course.
Speaker (00:19):
Ah, great.
Dr.
Quartz here might be achiropractor, but he's also a
bring a friend wizard.
And Braden is going to shareall his tips with you guys on
Run a Profitable Gym.
I'm your host, Mike Working.
And please hit subscribewherever you are before you go
any further so you get all thetips that we put out every week
to help gym owners.
Now, bring a friend events,they are one of Chris Cooper's
top five tactics for generatingyear-end riff revenue.
(00:41):
If you want the rest, send Coopa DM through our Gym Owners
United group.
He'll respond and he'll sendyou his complete guide.
Request that thing, tack on,use those five tactics to tack
on a ton of revenue and closeout your year in the black.
Today we're gonna dig intobring a friend events.
These things are great becauseyou can get some front-end
revenue and you can boostretention because you're using
(01:02):
great clients already in yourbusiness to refer their friends.
These are high value people,and retention is going to be
built into the system becausethey're gonna bring in their
friends and both are nowinvested in your business.
So this is a huge one.
We're gonna close out your yearjust like this.
Braden runs core fitness andperformance in Minnesota and he
crushes these events.
So, Braden, welcome.
(01:23):
I thank you for your stats.
In the intro, this is gonna bea really great show.
Thanks for being here.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Thanks, Mike.
Appreciate being here.
Speaker (01:30):
Yeah, we're gonna jump right into it.
So set the table before we tellpeople exactly what you do.
What's the 60-second summary ofyour business like?
Who do you sell to?
What are you selling?
I want people to understandwhat you're doing at these Bring
a Friend events before we talkabout the details.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, so I own Core Fitness and Performance.
I'm also a doctor ofchiropractic, practic that
practices out of the gym.
So our gym is, I mean, we serveparents, we serve kids, um, we
have a legends program as well,but we are predominantly a
CrossFit group fitness.
Okay, we have semi-private,small group, and personal
training.
Speaker (02:03):
Okay, so you've got a lot of like you got a broad
market, but you've dialed it inand you're selling it in.
I like big groups, smallgroups, personal training.
I love that stuff.
You've got a whole bunch ofdifferent legs to the revenue
stool there.
But if you talk about it,you've got high-intensity
fitness delivered to a goodswath from everything from like
you said kids to legends,correct?
Correct.
(02:23):
Yep, so you got everybody goingon in there.
I love it.
We're gonna talk about bringingfriends.
Here we go.
What is your exact process?
Like, how do you get so manyleads and clients?
Because a lot of people do thiswrong.
What do you do and how do youmake it work?
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Well, I think the biggest thing is making it very,
very how little a friction canyou have for people coming in?
And that's what we really tryto focus on.
So we start with our members,and our members, we do goal
reviews just like you guys talkabout on this podcast all the
time.
And we're told in those goalreviews, okay, hey, ask for them
to refer someone.
(02:56):
Not everyone is going to bereally adherent of like, hey,
here are five people.
So we make it, okay, here'sthree times a year that we do
bring a buddy events.
We have a big ass calendar atthe front of our gym, and every
year we have those dates alreadypre-listed.
Annual plan, yes.
Yeah, so we have a huge annualplan that our members are like,
(03:17):
okay, when's the next bring abuddy event?
And they have their list ofpeople and ready to go.
So we've been doing that forthree years.
Yes.
Speaker (03:25):
Yeah, so that's a huge one.
List is right there beforeBrandy Brain goes any further.
Have an annual plan, put yourstuff on there a year in advance
and start getting this stuffout there so that the people in
your gym know how the how thetrains run.
You will get more stuff if youjust make an annual plan right
now and take nothing else fromthis episode.
Keep rolling, Doctor.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, so uh we make it as easy as possible.
So the only thing that themembers and then the new person
has to have, or our lead, is thelead has to sign a waiver.
That's it.
They don't have to sign up forany classes, they don't have to
figure out any apps, and themember just has to tell them,
hey, fill out a waiver.
They don't even have to come tothe same class together, they
(04:04):
can go at different timesbecause we know a 6 p.m.
or is not going to go at 5 15in the morning.
Speaker (04:08):
Aha.
Okay.
So your your event, like you,and again, we'll go over this,
the details of the simplifiedversion of this, but you so in
this bring a friend week, youcan simply have them refer a
friend who can drop in atcertain at different times.
It's not like an official time,correct?
Okay.
So, listeners, this is anadvanced system that you again,
we talked to you about this.
You could just do a one-hourbring a friend event on a
(04:30):
weekend at 10 a.m.
Totally fine.
All you're gonna do there isyou're gonna get everyone to
come.
You might do a little seminar,you might do a very fun short
workout.
You're gonna collect emailaddresses and so forth.
That is the simplest plan thatyou can possibly use.
Braden, because he's a top gymowner, has scaled this up a
little bit.
And so he's got a system wherehe's got tons of referrals
coming in and he's opened it upwhere people can drop in at
(04:51):
different times.
Let me ask you this.
So, our how do your coachesaccommodate these people that
are dropping in?
Like, what's your plan there sothat people are like, oh, new
person?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yes.
So it's not the most stresslessweek of the year.
Um so there's a few differentthings that we do for our
coaches, especially.
We dumb down the programming alittle bit.
Um, we try to pair it up withour cycles.
That way it's a little bit moreof a D load for our current
members and then for everyoneelse coming in.
It's not the highest ofintensity, it's not the heaviest
(05:20):
of weights, and it's veryteachable movements.
And we also make the workoutsthat 90% of them are gonna be
partner.
That way we can plan for aclass of 10 or we can plan for a
class of 30.
And I'm gonna tell you rightthere, because I know a lot of
people are like, oh, a 30-personclass, I ran this out of 1,800
square feet, and now in ourcurrent space of 6,000 square
(05:42):
feet.
And the numbers are still thesame in terms of the amount of
leads that we get per week andconversions.
Speaker (05:48):
Yeah, and I talked to a gym owner, uh, Tyler Quinn,
who's up in, he was inMinnesota, but he's up in uh
Denver now.
He runs 18 to 30 person classesin 2,000 square foot classrooms
maximum, and he has no problemwith that because he programs
for that space and usesequipment that works in that
space.
So this isn't the time to likeprogram like muscle app sled
pushes, 800 meter runs, and abunch of other like crazy stuff
(06:10):
where it's people are moving allover the place.
Keep it simple.
And that that works whetheryou're doing, you know, bring a
friend week, bring a friend day,bring a friend hour.
Keep it simple and fun.
Like Chris Cooper's often talkabout like run a ninja warrior
course, something like that.
Like it does not have to be theproof of your elite status as a
fitness programming god.
This has to be fun.
People need to come in, get agood workout, do a little bit of
(06:31):
sweating.
The whole point is opening up aconversation.
They can't do that when they'revomiting in your parking lot.
I have made that mistake.
Make it fun.
So no matter what format youchoose, it's going to be a very
simple workout or even just aseminar.
You could absolutely do that.
But you program, so give me anexample of like one day, a
workout on one day that might bein there.
Give me just a simple exampleof something.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Yeah, I mean, to keep it super simple.
I mean, and we started at andit might be better to frame it
how we structure the entireclass because the first five to
eight minutes is a question ofthe day because you have buddies
coming in that may not be withtheir buddy.
So we make sure that we do aquestion day sharing everyone's
name.
That way you know at least oneperson's name.
Icebreaker, sure.
(07:12):
Uh icebreaker.
And then we go into a warm-up,and you're going to be get
partnered right away.
And then we go into a partnerworkout.
Okay.
And then that partner workout,for example, let's say it's a
20-minute am rep, as many repsor rounds as possible of 10
synchro air squats, 10 am atsit-ups, and 10 synchro dumbbell
snatches.
Speaker (07:32):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Very simple.
Speaker (07:33):
Yep.
And that works for like if anelite athlete did that, they're
still going to get a goodworkout.
If someone does it in a partnerformat, they're still going to
get a good workout.
I love the partner thingbecause what you're doing is
like, it's bring a buddy, butmaybe your buddy's not there.
You get you make a new friendright away.
And then I love the formatbecause, you know, if I'm kind
of new and I don't know what I'mdoing, I get to watch you.
I get to rest a little bitwhile you're doing stuff.
(07:54):
I get to look and learn andkind of just catch my breath.
It's not intimidating.
Partner workouts are such anawesome way to do this.
And again, you just laid out agreat workout with like, I
think, one dumbbell, right?
In an abmat.
So you've got you could do thatin what, 50 square feet of
space or something like that.
Like it, it's it's great.
So you've got these greatworkouts.
What happens when the workoutends now?
Let's talk about this partbecause this is where it gets
(08:16):
interesting.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Okay, so this is where our systems have really
developed over the time.
And we are what 12 to 15 buddyweeks.
Our business is four years old.
So we've been running it sinceyear two, and we ran it
quarterly, and now we timed itthat it's every four months.
So our systems have gotten tothis point where there's no
pressure for selling or mycoaches to sell during these
(08:39):
sessions.
We want it to be fun, highenergy.
There's no pressure of anyonecoming in.
So how we do it is as soon asthe workout is done, everyone's
doing their stretching, thecoaches are announcing, hey
buddies, just make sure you knowthat you can come as many times
as you want for the rest of theweek.
Just make sure you don't cometwice in a day, right?
So we and then we takepictures.
(09:02):
If the buddy is there withtheir buddy, right?
They're the member and thebuddy, then they take a picture
together.
If not, then whoever the buddypartnered with takes a picture
with that individual as well.
That way they're gettingcamaraderie into getting picture
taken taken, social proof.
And here's the most importantthing when it comes to the
systems of me following uplater.
I still do all of our sales atthe gym.
(09:23):
I love this part of thebusiness.
So I tell the coaches I needone interesting thing about the
buddy that was brought in.
I don't care if it's they havea dog, they're doing, they're
playing hockey, they're incollege or whatever it is.
I need one interesting thing.
And then we have a list, ourbuddies put their name next to
the member, and then I get to gothrough that list at the end of
(09:46):
the week.
I typically tell my wife thaton Sunday and maybe the entire
next week, I'm going to be on myphone a whole lot more
following up with all thesepeople.
So, but once we get towardsthat end of the week, there's a
lot of people that willnaturally be coming up to us
because they came two to threetimes that week and they'll come
up and they'll sell themselves.
Speaker (10:06):
I'm having fun.
How do I continue?
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yes, exactly.
And then anyone else that waswaiting for me to reach out, I
hit on Sunday, and especiallyduring the NFL season.
Everyone's sitting aroundanyway, so might as well pick up
their phone and check with it.
Speaker (10:18):
Vikings, yeah, of course.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Yeah, exactly.
There we go.
Speaker (10:21):
So the thing that I'm gonna lay out before you go any
further is systems.
He has a system, listeners.
If you do not have a system,this whole thing will fail
because I tried this, you run abring a friend event, and you
stand there and you just waitfor people to sign up and they
don't.
Like that didn't happen for me.
You've got to talk to them.
And this is I'm sayingspecifically if you're doing
like a bring a friend eventthat's like an hour or
something.
Braden's got a different systemwhere it's a little more
(10:43):
involved with people who cancome more often.
But I would do this.
I'd have like an event and Ijust stand there and wait for
people to sign up.
It did not happen.
You need to get their contactinfo, and then you need to have
someone who is absolutelyresponsible for talking to
people and selling.
At Braden's gym, it is Bradenbecause he likes it and it's
he's good at it.
So, what you would do there isyou would have someone whose
goal at these events is to speakto people on the spot and say,
(11:06):
like, can we conduct a no-sweatintro?
That could be as simple as afive-minute conversation just
right where you are.
You could even pull them intothe office and have a more
involved thing, but you conductthis no-sweat intro, find out
what their goals are, what theirissues are, and then give them
a plan to accomplish that andyou can sell right on the spot.
That is the best way to makethis stuff happen and close on
the spot.
If you're not doing that, yourgoal is to contact them after
(11:27):
the fact.
Hey, did you I just wanted tocheck in with you?
You crushed the squats in thatworkout.
Did you have any additionalquestions for me?
Open a dialogue, and you'reinto that sales process again.
You can do it right there.
At minimum, you're going totake their contact info, feed it
into your content system, andyou're going to funnel it out
where they're in a nurturesequence.
Now, I wouldn't recommend thatyou automate the stuff right off
(11:49):
the bat.
I would do what Braden does.
Talk to them first.
Call them, talk, talk, talk tothem, get in front of them if
you can, do your best to getthem into the place.
But if you can't do that, feedthem into that CRM and have the
robots take care of thelong-term lead nurture for you
because Braden said 50 leadsthat he gets from each of these,
that's 50 chances to add aclient.
And like, have you ever hadsomeone, Braden, who like you'll
(12:10):
feed into a system or you'llnurture them long-term and
they'll come back like threemonths down the line from a
bring a friend?
Has that ever worked?
Speaker 1 (12:16):
So we've had people that have come to three buddy
weeks.
Like they won't respond to ourlong-term nurture or anything
like that, and they'll come andthey'll sign up after three
buddy weeks.
Speaker (12:25):
So there you go.
That is long-term nurture,though.
That is exactly what yep,consistency.
The message is still there.
They need to see somethingdifferent, eventually see it, or
the problem comes up.
We're like, I'm just not losingthat weight on my own, or I
really, you know, I'm still badat running.
I need to see, you know, theguys at core, right?
So, like, these you have to gettheir contact info.
So, like at minimum, no matterwhat format, get their contact
(12:46):
info, put that into your leadnurturing system.
Be try to get them right at theevent to sit down and talk with
you for a no-swhat intro.
The prescriptive model ofselling is the perfect way to do
it.
If you can't do that, try andget them on the phone as quickly
as possible, get them into thegym, or just talk to them on the
phone there.
So when you when you do you, Iguess we'll go into your your
sales process just a little bithere.
(13:06):
You talk to them, they'rewatching the Viking game.
They're probably a little bitsad right now.
I'm a Vikings fan, it's notgoing super well, but they're at
the moment.
They're talking, but you callthem and you they chat.
What do you say on the phone tothem after the Springer Friend
week?
Speaker 1 (13:18):
So the biggest thing is that one thing that I got
from the coach, I'm gonna usethat in my introduction saying,
Yes, hey, Mike, heard you didreally well in the Toes Bar
workout.
What do you think of what doyou think of yeah?
What'd you think of the what doyou think of the week, right?
And and then they typicallywill respond back right away,
and then I go into hey, do youhave any fitness goals that
you're looking to achieve?
(13:38):
Yeah, that is the number onething that will get people, and
then we go into a further eitherit's a sell-by-chat situation,
I get them on the phone, or ifthey're still curious, I have
them come in for an NSI.
But that this is the threetimes out of the year that you
do the most sell-by-chats, andit's the easiest and it's the
best conversion because theseleads are so warm.
Speaker (14:00):
Say that line one more time, the question about fitness
goals.
What is your line?
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Is there any fitness goals that you have that you're
looking to achieve right now?
Speaker (14:10):
And they almost, of course, they have something
because they came to your gym,right?
There's something that theycame for a reason.
There's something, and like,I'm sure there's one person
like, I just came to, you know,because my buddy berated me and
I'll see after the game orwhatever.
But I bet 99.9% of the timesomeone's like, you know, I'd
like to get a little stronger,I'd like to lose 10 pounds, I'd
like to whatever it was.
And then from there, do youjust give them your solution to
(14:33):
that problem?
Or how does your sales scriptgo from there?
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Depends on what the response was because you
sometimes will get a warmresponse, and then you can go
right into, hey, this is how wecan help you.
Speaker (14:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Or if they're a little bit like not upfront with
what their goals are, then yousay, Hey, I would love to sit
come, I would love to have youcome and sit down, and we can
really show you what we canmaybe do and uncover a little
bit more what your goals are.
Speaker (14:56):
Okay, let's play this out.
I'm gonna put you on the spothere.
So you just called me, we'rewe're doing the game.
You just said I did well in thetoaster bar workout, and you
just asked me, Do I have anyfitness goals?
I'm like, uh, you know, Braden,like, I I just I I play rec
league hockey and I'm just kindof feeling a little sluggish on
the ice these days.
Like, I don't know, like, is itit's I just don't feel great on
the ice.
Is that something you guys canhelp me with?
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Yeah, of course, Mike.
I think the biggest thing thatwe need to do is we need to
establish a baseline for you andkind of really see where you're
at.
Do you prefer doing personaltraining or do you prefer group
classes?
Speaker (15:28):
You know, I I honestly I gravitate towards group
classes, but my schedule isbrutal.
So I think I could like I can'tmake your five and six and
seven o'clock classes.
I have some weird availability.
Like, do you have personaltrainers that could accommodate
something like that, flexible?
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Yeah, of course.
And we actually have a starterpackage that is a mix of
personal training and groupclasses.
So that's perfect.
Yeah, so it's gonna be it willwork really well with your
schedule.
Let's get you booked for a timeto come in and meet with one of
those personal trainers.
Speaker (15:52):
Done.
That's as simple as it goes.
But you see how this hasobviously been rehearsed so much
that it sounds natural, butBraden's got everything in his
head, he knows exactly what he'sgonna say when I bring up
something here or there.
He's got it all rehearsed, butit sounds super natural, super
smooth, and it's as easy as comeon in, let's get you to sit
down, we'll talk about someoptions.
Here we go.
And this part is the hugestpart of the whole deal is that
(16:14):
following up with people afterthey get into the event.
So I mean, like you must yousaid like you're you're closing
20, like 20 to 30 percentconversion to membership after
each event.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Yeah.
Speaker (16:27):
Wow.
And that's so so like you'regetting 50 leads, like the guys
do the numbers, like this isincredible.
Your gym must have these bumpsevery time you do one of these,
just these bumps of membershiprevenue, huh?
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Yeah, and if you look at my revenue since I took over
the gym four years ago, andjust to kind of give you a
picture, like we started when Itook over, we had 28 members,
and now we have 220 in fouryears.
So it's 200 plus, yeah.
So a huge part of this is thesebring of bring a buddy events,
and also like I'm gonna tellpeople this is our first bring a
buddy event, we did not have 50people, and I did not close 20
(17:00):
to 30 percent of them.
The first one, I was looking upthe numbers when you asked me
to come on.
We had seven people, stillseven is good, yep.
And I converted one, right?
So it grows over time, buthere's the biggest tip that I
can give anyone is if you'regoing to start buddy weeks, you
need to be consistent and youneed to have them on your
calendar around the same dateevery year.
(17:23):
So our dates that work really,really well for us, and I'll
give you guys this little tip,is January, because everyone is
really timid to get back intothe gym, so you might as well go
with a friend.
It is June, the start ofsummer.
So in Minnesota, that's wheneveryone is on summer break.
Parents may have enough alittle bit more time on their
hands, or teachers are out andready to work on their fitness
(17:44):
again.
And then September, when allthe kiddos go back to school.
Speaker (17:47):
Yeah, yeah, that's it.
So those are the that's a greatframework.
If you have no idea where toput the stuff, try that.
If you have an idea of what'sperfect for your place, put that
in, but do put some stuff onthe calendar.
No matter what, put this stuffon your annual plan.
Now, Brain, you said somethingsuper interesting.
So you said you got sevenpeople for your first one and
you converted one.
Now that's still pretty decent,right?
(18:08):
Like you're that's a plus oneat a time when you said you had
like 28 or 30 members at thatpoint.
So like that one person issuper valuable.
But the thing you said is thatit snowballs, and that's so
obvious, but you don't get itwhen you really think about it.
As your gym grows, you get moremembers.
Each of those members has agroup of friends and a network
of people that they're connectedto.
And if you find creative waysto access that network, actively
(18:29):
trying to do so, not justwaiting for it to happen, all of
a sudden the snowball rollsdownhill big time.
Now, it's just it's so obvious,but I didn't realize this
because I thought that referralswould just happen.
It doesn't work like that.
But if you actively sit thereand do this and Two Brain calls
it the affinity marketing plan,where you're doing goal review
sessions with people, and thenyou're finding out, you know,
(18:49):
hey, could we do a referral?
Could we talk about your friendgroup?
And we actually have a cheatsheet that you can look at where
you're writing down this isBob.
Bob is an engineer, he works inan engineering firm, he also
plays Rack League hockey, healso is uh a golfer, you know,
and he's got all and this is hisfamily.
So you have all these peoplelisted.
You can say in that meeting,Bob, I know your buddy Dale from
(19:09):
the golf club said his he'sjust not driving the ball as far
as you and he's getting alittle angry about it.
What do we can we get him inhere for some strength training?
Boom.
If you actively do this, everynew member that you get becomes
a referral source.
And this is the best part.
Chris Cooper has written aboutthis.
People who refer members staylonger because they're invested
in that member's success.
So uh Bob refers Dale, Dalerefers Cindy, Cindy refers Sam,
(19:32):
and all of a sudden you've gotthis massive chain of retention
of high value, amazing peoplewho are all connected together
at your gym, and you've gotlife-changing fitness results
because they're all stayingthere for 24 months or more,
paying 200 to 300 to $500 amonth.
You've got a great life, yourstaff has great careers, and
your clients are getting greatresults.
Now, Braden, I think you'reseeing that at your gym.
(19:54):
Have I just laid out basicallywhat you're doing?
Oh, 100%.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
I mean, the big the big metric for that is our leg
is over 40.
Speaker (20:01):
40 months.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yeah, 40 months.
Yeah.
So our leg is over 40.
Speaker (20:06):
So you're crushing that by almost 4x.
Wow.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Yeah, so that's a huge, huge piece of it.
And then also, like at thestart of this conversation, we
were talking about all theprograms I have, but all those
programs wouldn't exist orwouldn't be able to be filled if
it wasn't for these bring abuddy events.
And also saying if someonecomes in and group classes are
not their thing, then great, wehave personal training, we have
semi-private, we have a kidsprogram for your parents that
(20:32):
are coming in for the kids thatare not doing anything in the
off seasons.
Speaker (20:36):
So everybody that comes in probably has parents and
kids, right?
So and you've got thoseprograms set up.
So this is like this is kind ofa fish in a barrel sort of
situation.
Do you happen to have handy andwould you mind sharing your
ARM?
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Yeah, so our ARM is 212-220, right around there,
fluctuates.
Speaker (20:56):
So guys, think about that.
212-220.
And you said you've got in theneighborhood of what uh 280
members, was it?
Did I say that?
Did I remember that right?
220.
220, and you've got a leglength engagement of 40 months.
Like these are industry leadingstats, and we know for a fact
with two-brained data, if youget 150 clients at $205 a month,
(21:18):
you can make $100,000 from yourgym.
If you do better than that, youcan make more.
And there's a complete plan forthat.
But the idea is you're keepingmembers for a long time.
And uh do you have a lot of adcosts, Braden, or any?
Speaker 1 (21:31):
No.
No.
Speaker (21:32):
Obviously, because you're doing so well with this
other stuff.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yeah.
Speaker (21:36):
Yeah.
So, guys, when you look at thisstuff, you do not have to spend
money on ads.
You may in some markets orwhatever, but if you have not
asked for referral lately andyou're spending a ton of money
on ads, I'd encourage you to runa bring a friend event.
I'm gonna lay out the simpleprocess again.
Pick a date, put it on yourcalendar, and put another one on
your calendar.
Do at least two, and you'rejust you can just start very
(21:59):
easy.
Do a one-hour thing, tell allyour clients we're doing a
one-hour nutrition seminar or ahealthy habit seminar or a fun
workout, bring a friend.
Get those people to signwaivers, get them on your
contact list, feed that intoyour robots so that they do this
some nurturing for you, buttalk to them on the spot, try
and get them to do a no-sweatintrude there.
If not, try and get them in foras soon as possible after that
(22:19):
and follow up after the fact,follow up regularly, nurture
them long term.
That is your simple plan.
If you do this before the endof the year, you will add
revenue to your gym.
Now, Brayden, I'm gonna askyou, how is your process
evolved?
You hinted at a few otherthings.
Is there anything else thatjust didn't work that you cut,
or anything that worked so wellthat you emphasized it and
locked it into your system?
Speaker 1 (22:37):
One of the things that we absolutely locked into
our system is we do a drawing atthe end of this for our
members.
And I do just because our legis so high, our LTB is so high,
I'm able to do this.
So I'd give away a pair oftraining shoes for each buddy
week.
People are competitive, peoplewant to bring in more people.
So each person you bring in isa drawing into this, uh, or is
(23:00):
an entry into this drawing, andyou get a free pair of training
shoes.
So that was something that westarted even when we were at 28
members, right?
It was it was really hard atthat time.
So maybe I don't recommend itto people that were at that
point where I was at, but it'svery easy for me to do that now,
and it's an incentive for ourmembers.
The other part that we didn'thave um that we have adapted is
(23:23):
that follow-up, that system offollowing up.
I just thought, like you said,the first couple times, I'm
like, people are gonna just kindof sign themselves up.
They're here, might as well,right?
No, you have to follow up, youhave to be persistent, and then
the consistency piece.
We got very deterred from doinganother one after our second.
We did, what was it, seven andone, one sign up, and then we
(23:45):
did, I think it was 15, 16, andthen we only had one sign up
again.
I'm like, well, we had morepeople, but less vote only one
person still signed up, which isgreat.
But we're like, is this reallyworking?
Is this really serving us?
And this is that's where theconsistency comes in, time after
time, having the same productand making sure the product is
always improving.
Speaker (24:06):
And it might take two or three bring a friends, like
you said.
It might take someone comingtwo or three times before
they're convinced enough, theylike you enough, they're not
scared enough, the problem isbig enough, whatever it is, for
them to just do it, you know.
So, and you saw that.
So I imagine as you starteddoing this, they just started
getting bigger and better to thepoint where now 50 leads each
time with a 20 to 30 percentconversion rate to members.
(24:28):
Like, guys, these are industryleading stats, and it's costing
Braden a price of shoes.
You know, like that's reallyit.
And you don't even have to dothat.
You could certainly make, youknow, you you don't have to, you
could have a the prize could beas simple as a gift certificate
to a local coffee store orsomething if you want to spend
$20 or whatever it is.
But if you want to go a littlebigger, I love this idea because
now people are gettingcompetitive about it.
What a great idea that is,right?
(24:49):
What's the most one person isreferred?
Do you know that off the top ofyour head?
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Uh, this Pasco around, one of our clients that
has been with us since before Ibought the gym, she brought in
eight.
And you know what's reallyfunny?
Here's the competitiveness.
Her husband brought in one.
Guess who got the pair ofshoes?
Speaker (25:06):
He did.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
He did.
Speaker (25:07):
Yeah.
Luck of the draw, but that's Imean, they that that is
incredible.
So you got one family bringingin nine people.
Were they all like randos fromall over the the world, or were
they like in a peer group, orwhere did these people you have
an idea of where these peoplecame from?
Speaker 1 (25:24):
So hockey for this family, this family pre
specifically, it was a lot ofhockey friends or uh things
along those lines.
But here's a really goodexample.
The parents that came, theyjoined in the group classes, and
then their kids, they wantedtheir kids to do semi-private
for sports training.
So the kids never even came tothe Bring a Buddy event, but the
(25:44):
parents signed up and theydidn't like the training their
kids were receiving.
And we said, Hey, we can meetyou where you're at.
Speaker (25:51):
Yeah, so you can see, guys, how this can spiral so
quickly.
One amazing socially connectedperson can connect you to like
50 to 60 people, just that oneperson, because they are out
there.
Those people, those Maven's uhseed clients, we often call
them, those people are outthere.
I had one at my gym.
He was uh just a man of thepeople, for lack of a better
(26:11):
term, and like he knew everyone,he knew everyone all over the
city, and he would constantlybring people and refer people,
and that one client alone was asource of probably dozens of new
clients for me.
Your clients are out there, butif you never ask them for this
stuff, they're not just gonna doit.
It just doesn't happen.
You have to start setting thesethings up.
Uh so you said one thing I wantto just dial in systems.
(26:32):
No successful gym owner I'vehad on the show does not mention
that word.
It's systems.
So you look, you did this thinginitially, you looked at it and
said, Ah, this was okay, thiswasn't great.
Fix some stuff.
Okay, try this, try this, trythis.
So now you've got this thingdialed in.
I imagine your staff iscompletely like everyone on your
staff knows exactly what to doduring these weeks, correct?
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Yes.
Speaker (26:54):
Yeah, and it just probably runs super smoothly
every single time.
And it's a is it stressful?
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, it's always going tobe stressful because you're
having it's a little bit of theCrossFit mentality, and it's a
little unknown uh how manypeople you're gonna have in
class.
Yeah, and that's totally finebecause we tell our coaches, we
make sure they're prepared.
They're gonna have and we wetell them and remind them on
Sundays hey, this is ourprotocol.
Just remember you're planningfor a class of 10 and you're
(27:22):
planning for a class of 30.
So, and the most people we everhad was a Saturday, and we had
64 people in one class.
Speaker (27:29):
Wow.
So, I mean, that's a goodproblem to have, right?
It's it's amazing.
And guys, if you're thinkingthough, oh scary, don't worry
about it.
Remember, Braden's done thisfor like four years now, and
he's got his systems in place tomanage stuff like this.
If you again want to be justsimple about it, end of year,
nutrition seminar, healthyhabits seminar, 10 a.m.
Saturday, sign up with yourfriend, register in advance.
(27:51):
I've got your email address.
You don't even need a waiverbecause they're not doing
anything physical, they're justsitting there and listening to
you.
But you get them to sign up fora draw or just sign in for your
email newsletter or whatever itis, get their contact info.
You know who's coming, you knowwhat you're gonna do, you talk
to them, everything works verysimply.
You don't have to go big onthis.
Eventually, once you've gotyour systems in place, and this
is two-brain you know, DOSdoctrine right here.
(28:12):
Once the systems are in placeand the foundation is built, you
can go as big as you want.
But don't go big right off thebat.
Keep it simple and stress-free.
Start small, build momentum,and then go big.
So easiest thing you can doagain.
Chris Cooper has this completeguide.
There are four other tactics inthis guide.
DM him through our Gym Unitedgroup, and he will send it to
you and you can run on thisstuff.
Braden, as we close this out,let's help gym owners take
(28:33):
action.
Top three things to rememberwhen planning a bring a friend
event.
What do you got on your list?
Speaker 1 (28:39):
One, make it very easy for people to sign up.
Okay, I cannot stress thatenough.
Yep, plan ahead.
Put dates on the calendar ayear ahead so people can look
forward to it.
Speaker (28:49):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Okay.
And then three, create a systemfor following up.
Speaker (28:53):
Yes.
Those three things.
Listeners, if you take nothingelse from the show and do those
three things, you will addrevenue through this program at
the end of the year.
Braden, thank you for sharingoutstanding numbers here and
helping gym owners.
I think you're gonna make somecash for people out there.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
That's the hope.
Speaker (29:08):
Yeah.
Well, we'll check in with youagain because uh you've just
become a two-brain uh mentor anduh you're gonna be helping
clients do this uh for reelsnow, not just as a podcast
guest.
So congrats on that.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
I'm really excited to help alltheir gym owners.
Speaker (29:20):
Yeah, you guys can connect with Braden as a
two-brain mentor now.
That was Braden Quartz's run ofprofit for William.
I'm your host, Mike Workman.
Thanks for watching andlistening.
Again, please subscribe andhead to Gym Owners United.
There's a link in the shownotes for that.
DM Chris Cooper through thatgroup.
Ask for his guide to year endrevenue.
He's got five sure thing, worksevery time tactics you can use
before the end of the year toadd revenue to close out 2025
(29:41):
and move into 2026 with hugemomentum.
Jim Owners United, DM Coopright now.
Braden, let's hear your critical numbers on Bring a
Friend events.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Well, every Bring a Buddy week, we call it Buddy
because we're in Minnesota.
We shoot for 50 50 plus leadsand uh 20 to 30% conversion.
Speaker (00:15):
Wow, those are huge numbers.
Will you share your secretswith our listeners?
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Of course.
Speaker (00:19):
Ah, great.
Dr.
Quartz here might be achiropractor, but he's also a
bring a friend wizard.
And Braden is going to shareall his tips with you guys on
Run a Profitable Gym.
I'm your host, Mike Working.
And please hit subscribewherever you are before you go
any further so you get all thetips that we put out every week
to help gym owners.
Now, bring a friend events,they are one of Chris Cooper's
top five tactics for generatingyear-end riff revenue.
(00:41):
If you want the rest, send Coopa DM through our Gym Owners
United group.
He'll respond and he'll sendyou his complete guide.
Request that thing, tack on,use those five tactics to tack
on a ton of revenue and closeout your year in the black.
Today we're gonna dig intobring a friend events.
These things are great becauseyou can get some front-end
revenue and you can boostretention because you're using
(01:02):
great clients already in yourbusiness to refer their friends.
These are high value people,and retention is going to be
built into the system becausethey're gonna bring in their
friends and both are nowinvested in your business.
So this is a huge one.
We're gonna close out your yearjust like this.
Braden runs core fitness andperformance in Minnesota and he
crushes these events.
So, Braden, welcome.
(01:23):
I thank you for your stats.
In the intro, this is gonna bea really great show.
Thanks for being here.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Thanks, Mike.
Appreciate being here.
Speaker (01:30):
Yeah, we're gonna jump right into it.
So set the table before we tellpeople exactly what you do.
What's the 60-second summary ofyour business like?
Who do you sell to?
What are you selling?
I want people to understandwhat you're doing at these Bring
a Friend events before we talkabout the details.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, so I own Core Fitness and Performance.
I'm also a doctor ofchiropractic, practic that
practices out of the gym.
So our gym is, I mean, we serveparents, we serve kids, um, we
have a legends program as well,but we are predominantly a
CrossFit group fitness.
Okay, we have semi-private,small group, and personal
training.
Speaker (02:03):
Okay, so you've got a lot of like you got a broad
market, but you've dialed it inand you're selling it in.
I like big groups, smallgroups, personal training.
I love that stuff.
You've got a whole bunch ofdifferent legs to the revenue
stool there.
But if you talk about it,you've got high-intensity
fitness delivered to a goodswath from everything from like
you said kids to legends,correct?
Correct.
(02:23):
Yep, so you got everybody goingon in there.
I love it.
We're gonna talk about bringingfriends.
Here we go.
What is your exact process?
Like, how do you get so manyleads and clients?
Because a lot of people do thiswrong.
What do you do and how do youmake it work?
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Well, I think the biggest thing is making it very,
very how little a friction canyou have for people coming in?
And that's what we really tryto focus on.
So we start with our members,and our members, we do goal
reviews just like you guys talkabout on this podcast all the
time.
And we're told in those goalreviews, okay, hey, ask for them
to refer someone.
(02:56):
Not everyone is going to bereally adherent of like, hey,
here are five people.
So we make it, okay, here'sthree times a year that we do
bring a buddy events.
We have a big ass calendar atthe front of our gym, and every
year we have those dates alreadypre-listed.
Annual plan, yes.
Yeah, so we have a huge annualplan that our members are like,
(03:17):
okay, when's the next bring abuddy event?
And they have their list ofpeople and ready to go.
So we've been doing that forthree years.
Yes.
Speaker (03:25):
Yeah, so that's a huge one.
List is right there beforeBrandy Brain goes any further.
Have an annual plan, put yourstuff on there a year in advance
and start getting this stuffout there so that the people in
your gym know how the how thetrains run.
You will get more stuff if youjust make an annual plan right
now and take nothing else fromthis episode.
Keep rolling, Doctor.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, so uh we make it as easy as possible.
So the only thing that themembers and then the new person
has to have, or our lead, is thelead has to sign a waiver.
That's it.
They don't have to sign up forany classes, they don't have to
figure out any apps, and themember just has to tell them,
hey, fill out a waiver.
They don't even have to come tothe same class together, they
(04:04):
can go at different timesbecause we know a 6 p.m.
or is not going to go at 5 15in the morning.
Speaker (04:08):
Aha.
Okay.
So your your event, like you,and again, we'll go over this,
the details of the simplifiedversion of this, but you so in
this bring a friend week, youcan simply have them refer a
friend who can drop in atcertain at different times.
It's not like an official time,correct?
Okay.
So, listeners, this is anadvanced system that you again,
we talked to you about this.
You could just do a one-hourbring a friend event on a
(04:30):
weekend at 10 a.m.
Totally fine.
All you're gonna do there isyou're gonna get everyone to
come.
You might do a little seminar,you might do a very fun short
workout.
You're gonna collect emailaddresses and so forth.
That is the simplest plan thatyou can possibly use.
Braden, because he's a top gymowner, has scaled this up a
little bit.
And so he's got a system wherehe's got tons of referrals
coming in and he's opened it upwhere people can drop in at
(04:51):
different times.
Let me ask you this.
So, our how do your coachesaccommodate these people that
are dropping in?
Like, what's your plan there sothat people are like, oh, new
person?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yes.
So it's not the most stresslessweek of the year.
Um so there's a few differentthings that we do for our
coaches, especially.
We dumb down the programming alittle bit.
Um, we try to pair it up withour cycles.
That way it's a little bit moreof a D load for our current
members and then for everyoneelse coming in.
It's not the highest ofintensity, it's not the heaviest
(05:20):
of weights, and it's veryteachable movements.
And we also make the workoutsthat 90% of them are gonna be
partner.
That way we can plan for aclass of 10 or we can plan for a
class of 30.
And I'm gonna tell you rightthere, because I know a lot of
people are like, oh, a 30-personclass, I ran this out of 1,800
square feet, and now in ourcurrent space of 6,000 square
(05:42):
feet.
And the numbers are still thesame in terms of the amount of
leads that we get per week andconversions.
Speaker (05:48):
Yeah, and I talked to a gym owner, uh, Tyler Quinn,
who's up in, he was inMinnesota, but he's up in uh
Denver now.
He runs 18 to 30 person classesin 2,000 square foot classrooms
maximum, and he has no problemwith that because he programs
for that space and usesequipment that works in that
space.
So this isn't the time to likeprogram like muscle app sled
pushes, 800 meter runs, and abunch of other like crazy stuff
(06:10):
where it's people are moving allover the place.
Keep it simple.
And that that works whetheryou're doing, you know, bring a
friend week, bring a friend day,bring a friend hour.
Keep it simple and fun.
Like Chris Cooper's often talkabout like run a ninja warrior
course, something like that.
Like it does not have to be theproof of your elite status as a
fitness programming god.
This has to be fun.
People need to come in, get agood workout, do a little bit of
(06:31):
sweating.
The whole point is opening up aconversation.
They can't do that when they'revomiting in your parking lot.
I have made that mistake.
Make it fun.
So no matter what format youchoose, it's going to be a very
simple workout or even just aseminar.
You could absolutely do that.
But you program, so give me anexample of like one day, a
workout on one day that might bein there.
Give me just a simple exampleof something.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Yeah, I mean, to keep it super simple.
I mean, and we started at andit might be better to frame it
how we structure the entireclass because the first five to
eight minutes is a question ofthe day because you have buddies
coming in that may not be withtheir buddy.
So we make sure that we do aquestion day sharing everyone's
name.
That way you know at least oneperson's name.
Icebreaker, sure.
(07:12):
Uh icebreaker.
And then we go into a warm-up,and you're going to be get
partnered right away.
And then we go into a partnerworkout.
Okay.
And then that partner workout,for example, let's say it's a
20-minute am rep, as many repsor rounds as possible of 10
synchro air squats, 10 am atsit-ups, and 10 synchro dumbbell
snatches.
Speaker (07:32):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Very simple.
Speaker (07:33):
Yep.
And that works for like if anelite athlete did that, they're
still going to get a goodworkout.
If someone does it in a partnerformat, they're still going to
get a good workout.
I love the partner thingbecause what you're doing is
like, it's bring a buddy, butmaybe your buddy's not there.
You get you make a new friendright away.
And then I love the formatbecause, you know, if I'm kind
of new and I don't know what I'mdoing, I get to watch you.
I get to rest a little bitwhile you're doing stuff.
(07:54):
I get to look and learn andkind of just catch my breath.
It's not intimidating.
Partner workouts are such anawesome way to do this.
And again, you just laid out agreat workout with like, I
think, one dumbbell, right?
In an abmat.
So you've got you could do thatin what, 50 square feet of
space or something like that.
Like it, it's it's great.
So you've got these greatworkouts.
What happens when the workoutends now?
Let's talk about this partbecause this is where it gets
(08:16):
interesting.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Okay, so this is where our systems have really
developed over the time.
And we are what 12 to 15 buddyweeks.
Our business is four years old.
So we've been running it sinceyear two, and we ran it
quarterly, and now we timed itthat it's every four months.
So our systems have gotten tothis point where there's no
pressure for selling or mycoaches to sell during these
(08:39):
sessions.
We want it to be fun, highenergy.
There's no pressure of anyonecoming in.
So how we do it is as soon asthe workout is done, everyone's
doing their stretching, thecoaches are announcing, hey
buddies, just make sure you knowthat you can come as many times
as you want for the rest of theweek.
Just make sure you don't cometwice in a day, right?
So we and then we takepictures.
(09:02):
If the buddy is there withtheir buddy, right?
They're the member and thebuddy, then they take a picture
together.
If not, then whoever the buddypartnered with takes a picture
with that individual as well.
That way they're gettingcamaraderie into getting picture
taken taken, social proof.
And here's the most importantthing when it comes to the
systems of me following uplater.
I still do all of our sales atthe gym.
(09:23):
I love this part of thebusiness.
So I tell the coaches I needone interesting thing about the
buddy that was brought in.
I don't care if it's they havea dog, they're doing, they're
playing hockey, they're incollege or whatever it is.
I need one interesting thing.
And then we have a list, ourbuddies put their name next to
the member, and then I get to gothrough that list at the end of
(09:46):
the week.
I typically tell my wife thaton Sunday and maybe the entire
next week, I'm going to be on myphone a whole lot more
following up with all thesepeople.
So, but once we get towardsthat end of the week, there's a
lot of people that willnaturally be coming up to us
because they came two to threetimes that week and they'll come
up and they'll sell themselves.
Speaker (10:06):
I'm having fun.
How do I continue?
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yes, exactly.
And then anyone else that waswaiting for me to reach out, I
hit on Sunday, and especiallyduring the NFL season.
Everyone's sitting aroundanyway, so might as well pick up
their phone and check with it.
Speaker (10:18):
Vikings, yeah, of course.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Yeah, exactly.
There we go.
Speaker (10:21):
So the thing that I'm gonna lay out before you go any
further is systems.
He has a system, listeners.
If you do not have a system,this whole thing will fail
because I tried this, you run abring a friend event, and you
stand there and you just waitfor people to sign up and they
don't.
Like that didn't happen for me.
You've got to talk to them.
And this is I'm sayingspecifically if you're doing
like a bring a friend eventthat's like an hour or
something.
Braden's got a different systemwhere it's a little more
(10:43):
involved with people who cancome more often.
But I would do this.
I'd have like an event and Ijust stand there and wait for
people to sign up.
It did not happen.
You need to get their contactinfo, and then you need to have
someone who is absolutelyresponsible for talking to
people and selling.
At Braden's gym, it is Bradenbecause he likes it and it's
he's good at it.
So, what you would do there isyou would have someone whose
goal at these events is to speakto people on the spot and say,
(11:06):
like, can we conduct a no-sweatintro?
That could be as simple as afive-minute conversation just
right where you are.
You could even pull them intothe office and have a more
involved thing, but you conductthis no-sweat intro, find out
what their goals are, what theirissues are, and then give them
a plan to accomplish that andyou can sell right on the spot.
That is the best way to makethis stuff happen and close on
the spot.
If you're not doing that, yourgoal is to contact them after
(11:27):
the fact.
Hey, did you I just wanted tocheck in with you?
You crushed the squats in thatworkout.
Did you have any additionalquestions for me?
Open a dialogue, and you'reinto that sales process again.
You can do it right there.
At minimum, you're going totake their contact info, feed it
into your content system, andyou're going to funnel it out
where they're in a nurturesequence.
Now, I wouldn't recommend thatyou automate the stuff right off
(11:49):
the bat.
I would do what Braden does.
Talk to them first.
Call them, talk, talk, talk tothem, get in front of them if
you can, do your best to getthem into the place.
But if you can't do that, feedthem into that CRM and have the
robots take care of thelong-term lead nurture for you
because Braden said 50 leadsthat he gets from each of these,
that's 50 chances to add aclient.
And like, have you ever hadsomeone, Braden, who like you'll
(12:10):
feed into a system or you'llnurture them long-term and
they'll come back like threemonths down the line from a
bring a friend?
Has that ever worked?
Speaker 1 (12:16):
So we've had people that have come to three buddy
weeks.
Like they won't respond to ourlong-term nurture or anything
like that, and they'll come andthey'll sign up after three
buddy weeks.
Speaker (12:25):
So there you go.
That is long-term nurture,though.
That is exactly what yep,consistency.
The message is still there.
They need to see somethingdifferent, eventually see it, or
the problem comes up.
We're like, I'm just not losingthat weight on my own, or I
really, you know, I'm still badat running.
I need to see, you know, theguys at core, right?
So, like, these you have to gettheir contact info.
So, like at minimum, no matterwhat format, get their contact
(12:46):
info, put that into your leadnurturing system.
Be try to get them right at theevent to sit down and talk with
you for a no-swhat intro.
The prescriptive model ofselling is the perfect way to do
it.
If you can't do that, try andget them on the phone as quickly
as possible, get them into thegym, or just talk to them on the
phone there.
So when you when you do you, Iguess we'll go into your your
sales process just a little bithere.
(13:06):
You talk to them, they'rewatching the Viking game.
They're probably a little bitsad right now.
I'm a Vikings fan, it's notgoing super well, but they're at
the moment.
They're talking, but you callthem and you they chat.
What do you say on the phone tothem after the Springer Friend
week?
Speaker 1 (13:18):
So the biggest thing is that one thing that I got
from the coach, I'm gonna usethat in my introduction saying,
Yes, hey, Mike, heard you didreally well in the Toes Bar
workout.
What do you think of what doyou think of yeah?
What'd you think of the what doyou think of the week, right?
And and then they typicallywill respond back right away,
and then I go into hey, do youhave any fitness goals that
you're looking to achieve?
(13:38):
Yeah, that is the number onething that will get people, and
then we go into a further eitherit's a sell-by-chat situation,
I get them on the phone, or ifthey're still curious, I have
them come in for an NSI.
But that this is the threetimes out of the year that you
do the most sell-by-chats, andit's the easiest and it's the
best conversion because theseleads are so warm.
Speaker (14:00):
Say that line one more time, the question about fitness
goals.
What is your line?
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Is there any fitness goals that you have that you're
looking to achieve right now?
Speaker (14:10):
And they almost, of course, they have something
because they came to your gym,right?
There's something that theycame for a reason.
There's something, and like,I'm sure there's one person
like, I just came to, you know,because my buddy berated me and
I'll see after the game orwhatever.
But I bet 99.9% of the timesomeone's like, you know, I'd
like to get a little stronger,I'd like to lose 10 pounds, I'd
like to whatever it was.
And then from there, do youjust give them your solution to
(14:33):
that problem?
Or how does your sales scriptgo from there?
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Depends on what the response was because you
sometimes will get a warmresponse, and then you can go
right into, hey, this is how wecan help you.
Speaker (14:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Or if they're a little bit like not upfront with
what their goals are, then yousay, Hey, I would love to sit
come, I would love to have youcome and sit down, and we can
really show you what we canmaybe do and uncover a little
bit more what your goals are.
Speaker (14:56):
Okay, let's play this out.
I'm gonna put you on the spothere.
So you just called me, we'rewe're doing the game.
You just said I did well in thetoaster bar workout, and you
just asked me, Do I have anyfitness goals?
I'm like, uh, you know, Braden,like, I I just I I play rec
league hockey and I'm just kindof feeling a little sluggish on
the ice these days.
Like, I don't know, like, is itit's I just don't feel great on
the ice.
Is that something you guys canhelp me with?
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Yeah, of course, Mike.
I think the biggest thing thatwe need to do is we need to
establish a baseline for you andkind of really see where you're
at.
Do you prefer doing personaltraining or do you prefer group
classes?
Speaker (15:28):
You know, I I honestly I gravitate towards group
classes, but my schedule isbrutal.
So I think I could like I can'tmake your five and six and
seven o'clock classes.
I have some weird availability.
Like, do you have personaltrainers that could accommodate
something like that, flexible?
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Yeah, of course.
And we actually have a starterpackage that is a mix of
personal training and groupclasses.
So that's perfect.
Yeah, so it's gonna be it willwork really well with your
schedule.
Let's get you booked for a timeto come in and meet with one of
those personal trainers.
Speaker (15:52):
Done.
That's as simple as it goes.
But you see how this hasobviously been rehearsed so much
that it sounds natural, butBraden's got everything in his
head, he knows exactly what he'sgonna say when I bring up
something here or there.
He's got it all rehearsed, butit sounds super natural, super
smooth, and it's as easy as comeon in, let's get you to sit
down, we'll talk about someoptions.
Here we go.
And this part is the hugestpart of the whole deal is that
(16:14):
following up with people afterthey get into the event.
So I mean, like you must yousaid like you're you're closing
20, like 20 to 30 percentconversion to membership after
each event.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Yeah.
Speaker (16:27):
Wow.
And that's so so like you'regetting 50 leads, like the guys
do the numbers, like this isincredible.
Your gym must have these bumpsevery time you do one of these,
just these bumps of membershiprevenue, huh?
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Yeah, and if you look at my revenue since I took over
the gym four years ago, andjust to kind of give you a
picture, like we started when Itook over, we had 28 members,
and now we have 220 in fouryears.
So it's 200 plus, yeah.
So a huge part of this is thesebring of bring a buddy events,
and also like I'm gonna tellpeople this is our first bring a
buddy event, we did not have 50people, and I did not close 20
(17:00):
to 30 percent of them.
The first one, I was looking upthe numbers when you asked me
to come on.
We had seven people, stillseven is good, yep.
And I converted one, right?
So it grows over time, buthere's the biggest tip that I
can give anyone is if you'regoing to start buddy weeks, you
need to be consistent and youneed to have them on your
calendar around the same dateevery year.
(17:23):
So our dates that work really,really well for us, and I'll
give you guys this little tip,is January, because everyone is
really timid to get back intothe gym, so you might as well go
with a friend.
It is June, the start ofsummer.
So in Minnesota, that's wheneveryone is on summer break.
Parents may have enough alittle bit more time on their
hands, or teachers are out andready to work on their fitness
(17:44):
again.
And then September, when allthe kiddos go back to school.
Speaker (17:47):
Yeah, yeah, that's it.
So those are the that's a greatframework.
If you have no idea where toput the stuff, try that.
If you have an idea of what'sperfect for your place, put that
in, but do put some stuff onthe calendar.
No matter what, put this stuffon your annual plan.
Now, Brain, you said somethingsuper interesting.
So you said you got sevenpeople for your first one and
you converted one.
Now that's still pretty decent,right?
(18:08):
Like you're that's a plus oneat a time when you said you had
like 28 or 30 members at thatpoint.
So like that one person issuper valuable.
But the thing you said is thatit snowballs, and that's so
obvious, but you don't get itwhen you really think about it.
As your gym grows, you get moremembers.
Each of those members has agroup of friends and a network
of people that they're connectedto.
And if you find creative waysto access that network, actively
(18:29):
trying to do so, not justwaiting for it to happen, all of
a sudden the snowball rollsdownhill big time.
Now, it's just it's so obvious,but I didn't realize this
because I thought that referralswould just happen.
It doesn't work like that.
But if you actively sit thereand do this and Two Brain calls
it the affinity marketing plan,where you're doing goal review
sessions with people, and thenyou're finding out, you know,
(18:49):
hey, could we do a referral?
Could we talk about your friendgroup?
And we actually have a cheatsheet that you can look at where
you're writing down this isBob.
Bob is an engineer, he works inan engineering firm, he also
plays Rack League hockey, healso is uh a golfer, you know,
and he's got all and this is hisfamily.
So you have all these peoplelisted.
You can say in that meeting,Bob, I know your buddy Dale from
(19:09):
the golf club said his he'sjust not driving the ball as far
as you and he's getting alittle angry about it.
What do we can we get him inhere for some strength training?
Boom.
If you actively do this, everynew member that you get becomes
a referral source.
And this is the best part.
Chris Cooper has written aboutthis.
People who refer members staylonger because they're invested
in that member's success.
So uh Bob refers Dale, Dalerefers Cindy, Cindy refers Sam,
(19:32):
and all of a sudden you've gotthis massive chain of retention
of high value, amazing peoplewho are all connected together
at your gym, and you've gotlife-changing fitness results
because they're all stayingthere for 24 months or more,
paying 200 to 300 to $500 amonth.
You've got a great life, yourstaff has great careers, and
your clients are getting greatresults.
Now, Braden, I think you'reseeing that at your gym.
(19:54):
Have I just laid out basicallywhat you're doing?
Oh, 100%.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
I mean, the big the big metric for that is our leg
is over 40.
Speaker (20:01):
40 months.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yeah, 40 months.
Yeah.
So our leg is over 40.
Speaker (20:06):
So you're crushing that by almost 4x.
Wow.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Yeah, so that's a huge, huge piece of it.
And then also, like at thestart of this conversation, we
were talking about all theprograms I have, but all those
programs wouldn't exist orwouldn't be able to be filled if
it wasn't for these bring abuddy events.
And also saying if someonecomes in and group classes are
not their thing, then great, wehave personal training, we have
semi-private, we have a kidsprogram for your parents that
(20:32):
are coming in for the kids thatare not doing anything in the
off seasons.
Speaker (20:36):
So everybody that comes in probably has parents and
kids, right?
So and you've got thoseprograms set up.
So this is like this is kind ofa fish in a barrel sort of
situation.
Do you happen to have handy andwould you mind sharing your
ARM?
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Yeah, so our ARM is 212-220, right around there,
fluctuates.
Speaker (20:56):
So guys, think about that.
212-220.
And you said you've got in theneighborhood of what uh 280
members, was it?
Did I say that?
Did I remember that right?
220.
220, and you've got a leglength engagement of 40 months.
Like these are industry leadingstats, and we know for a fact
with two-brained data, if youget 150 clients at $205 a month,
(21:18):
you can make $100,000 from yourgym.
If you do better than that, youcan make more.
And there's a complete plan forthat.
But the idea is you're keepingmembers for a long time.
And uh do you have a lot of adcosts, Braden, or any?
Speaker 1 (21:31):
No.
No.
Speaker (21:32):
Obviously, because you're doing so well with this
other stuff.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yeah.
Speaker (21:36):
Yeah.
So, guys, when you look at thisstuff, you do not have to spend
money on ads.
You may in some markets orwhatever, but if you have not
asked for referral lately andyou're spending a ton of money
on ads, I'd encourage you to runa bring a friend event.
I'm gonna lay out the simpleprocess again.
Pick a date, put it on yourcalendar, and put another one on
your calendar.
Do at least two, and you'rejust you can just start very
(21:59):
easy.
Do a one-hour thing, tell allyour clients we're doing a
one-hour nutrition seminar or ahealthy habit seminar or a fun
workout, bring a friend.
Get those people to signwaivers, get them on your
contact list, feed that intoyour robots so that they do this
some nurturing for you, buttalk to them on the spot, try
and get them to do a no-sweatintrude there.
If not, try and get them in foras soon as possible after that
(22:19):
and follow up after the fact,follow up regularly, nurture
them long term.
That is your simple plan.
If you do this before the endof the year, you will add
revenue to your gym.
Now, Brayden, I'm gonna askyou, how is your process
evolved?
You hinted at a few otherthings.
Is there anything else thatjust didn't work that you cut,
or anything that worked so wellthat you emphasized it and
locked it into your system?
Speaker 1 (22:37):
One of the things that we absolutely locked into
our system is we do a drawing atthe end of this for our
members.
And I do just because our legis so high, our LTB is so high,
I'm able to do this.
So I'd give away a pair oftraining shoes for each buddy
week.
People are competitive, peoplewant to bring in more people.
So each person you bring in isa drawing into this, uh, or is
(23:00):
an entry into this drawing, andyou get a free pair of training
shoes.
So that was something that westarted even when we were at 28
members, right?
It was it was really hard atthat time.
So maybe I don't recommend itto people that were at that
point where I was at, but it'svery easy for me to do that now,
and it's an incentive for ourmembers.
The other part that we didn'thave um that we have adapted is
(23:23):
that follow-up, that system offollowing up.
I just thought, like you said,the first couple times, I'm
like, people are gonna just kindof sign themselves up.
They're here, might as well,right?
No, you have to follow up, youhave to be persistent, and then
the consistency piece.
We got very deterred from doinganother one after our second.
We did, what was it, seven andone, one sign up, and then we
(23:45):
did, I think it was 15, 16, andthen we only had one sign up
again.
I'm like, well, we had morepeople, but less vote only one
person still signed up, which isgreat.
But we're like, is this reallyworking?
Is this really serving us?
And this is that's where theconsistency comes in, time after
time, having the same productand making sure the product is
always improving.
Speaker (24:06):
And it might take two or three bring a friends, like
you said.
It might take someone comingtwo or three times before
they're convinced enough, theylike you enough, they're not
scared enough, the problem isbig enough, whatever it is, for
them to just do it, you know.
So, and you saw that.
So I imagine as you starteddoing this, they just started
getting bigger and better to thepoint where now 50 leads each
time with a 20 to 30 percentconversion rate to members.
(24:28):
Like, guys, these are industryleading stats, and it's costing
Braden a price of shoes.
You know, like that's reallyit.
And you don't even have to dothat.
You could certainly make, youknow, you you don't have to, you
could have a the prize could beas simple as a gift certificate
to a local coffee store orsomething if you want to spend
$20 or whatever it is.
But if you want to go a littlebigger, I love this idea because
now people are gettingcompetitive about it.
What a great idea that is,right?
(24:49):
What's the most one person isreferred?
Do you know that off the top ofyour head?
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Uh, this Pasco around, one of our clients that
has been with us since before Ibought the gym, she brought in
eight.
And you know what's reallyfunny?
Here's the competitiveness.
Her husband brought in one.
Guess who got the pair ofshoes?
Speaker (25:06):
He did.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
He did.
Speaker (25:07):
Yeah.
Luck of the draw, but that's Imean, they that that is
incredible.
So you got one family bringingin nine people.
Were they all like randos fromall over the the world, or were
they like in a peer group, orwhere did these people you have
an idea of where these peoplecame from?
Speaker 1 (25:24):
So hockey for this family, this family pre
specifically, it was a lot ofhockey friends or uh things
along those lines.
But here's a really goodexample.
The parents that came, theyjoined in the group classes, and
then their kids, they wantedtheir kids to do semi-private
for sports training.
So the kids never even came tothe Bring a Buddy event, but the
(25:44):
parents signed up and theydidn't like the training their
kids were receiving.
And we said, Hey, we can meetyou where you're at.
Speaker (25:51):
Yeah, so you can see, guys, how this can spiral so
quickly.
One amazing socially connectedperson can connect you to like
50 to 60 people, just that oneperson, because they are out
there.
Those people, those Maven's uhseed clients, we often call
them, those people are outthere.
I had one at my gym.
He was uh just a man of thepeople, for lack of a better
(26:11):
term, and like he knew everyone,he knew everyone all over the
city, and he would constantlybring people and refer people,
and that one client alone was asource of probably dozens of new
clients for me.
Your clients are out there, butif you never ask them for this
stuff, they're not just gonna doit.
It just doesn't happen.
You have to start setting thesethings up.
Uh so you said one thing I wantto just dial in systems.
(26:32):
No successful gym owner I'vehad on the show does not mention
that word.
It's systems.
So you look, you did this thinginitially, you looked at it and
said, Ah, this was okay, thiswasn't great.
Fix some stuff.
Okay, try this, try this, trythis.
So now you've got this thingdialed in.
I imagine your staff iscompletely like everyone on your
staff knows exactly what to doduring these weeks, correct?
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Yes.
Speaker (26:54):
Yeah, and it just probably runs super smoothly
every single time.
And it's a is it stressful?
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, it's always going tobe stressful because you're
having it's a little bit of theCrossFit mentality, and it's a
little unknown uh how manypeople you're gonna have in
class.
Yeah, and that's totally finebecause we tell our coaches, we
make sure they're prepared.
They're gonna have and we wetell them and remind them on
Sundays hey, this is ourprotocol.
Just remember you're planningfor a class of 10 and you're
(27:22):
planning for a class of 30.
So, and the most people we everhad was a Saturday, and we had
64 people in one class.
Speaker (27:29):
Wow.
So, I mean, that's a goodproblem to have, right?
It's it's amazing.
And guys, if you're thinkingthough, oh scary, don't worry
about it.
Remember, Braden's done thisfor like four years now, and
he's got his systems in place tomanage stuff like this.
If you again want to be justsimple about it, end of year,
nutrition seminar, healthyhabits seminar, 10 a.m.
Saturday, sign up with yourfriend, register in advance.
(27:51):
I've got your email address.
You don't even need a waiverbecause they're not doing
anything physical, they're justsitting there and listening to
you.
But you get them to sign up fora draw or just sign in for your
email newsletter or whatever itis, get their contact info.
You know who's coming, you knowwhat you're gonna do, you talk
to them, everything works verysimply.
You don't have to go big onthis.
Eventually, once you've gotyour systems in place, and this
is two-brain you know, DOSdoctrine right here.
(28:12):
Once the systems are in placeand the foundation is built, you
can go as big as you want.
But don't go big right off thebat.
Keep it simple and stress-free.
Start small, build momentum,and then go big.
So easiest thing you can doagain.
Chris Cooper has this completeguide.
There are four other tactics inthis guide.
DM him through our Gym Unitedgroup, and he will send it to
you and you can run on thisstuff.
Braden, as we close this out,let's help gym owners take
(28:33):
action.
Top three things to rememberwhen planning a bring a friend
event.
What do you got on your list?
Speaker 1 (28:39):
One, make it very easy for people to sign up.
Okay, I cannot stress thatenough.
Yep, plan ahead.
Put dates on the calendar ayear ahead so people can look
forward to it.
Speaker (28:49):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Okay.
And then three, create a systemfor following up.
Speaker (28:53):
Yes.
Those three things.
Listeners, if you take nothingelse from the show and do those
three things, you will addrevenue through this program at
the end of the year.
Braden, thank you for sharingoutstanding numbers here and
helping gym owners.
I think you're gonna make somecash for people out there.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
That's the hope.
Speaker (29:08):
Yeah.
Well, we'll check in with youagain because uh you've just
become a two-brain uh mentor anduh you're gonna be helping
clients do this uh for reelsnow, not just as a podcast
guest.
So congrats on that.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
I'm really excited to help alltheir gym owners.
Speaker (29:20):
Yeah, you guys can connect with Braden as a
two-brain mentor now.
That was Braden Quartz's run ofprofit for William.
I'm your host, Mike Workman.
Thanks for watching andlistening.
Again, please subscribe andhead to Gym Owners United.
There's a link in the shownotes for that.
DM Chris Cooper through thatgroup.
Ask for his guide to year endrevenue.
He's got five sure thing, worksevery time tactics you can use
before the end of the year toadd revenue to close out 2025
(29:41):
and move into 2026 with hugemomentum.
Jim Owners United, DM Coopright now.
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