April 21, 2025 • 21 mins
What if every client in your gym happily paid you $20 more per month? What about $50 more? Or even $100 more?
In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper presents the Top 10 leaderboard for average revenue per member (ARM), with the No. 1 gym earning $724 per client per month.
He explains how these elite gyms have boosted their revenue by prioritizing client value over headcount.
In fact, one gym on the leaderboard increased its revenue by 38 percent while reducing its client base by 20 percent.
Chris also breaks down the Prescriptive Model, a client-centric strategy that aligns gym services with individual goals to produce better results.
Focusing on measurable results—instead of just workouts—builds trust, boosts retention and justifies premium pricing.
Tune in to hear why “more clients” isn’t always the answer and then start scaling your gym’s average revenue per member.
Links
The Prescriptive Model
Gym Owners United
Book a Call
00:28 - Top 10 gyms for ARM
04:30 - Why you must be profitable
09:03 - Fewer members, more revenue
11:54 - Quotes from top gym owners
16:30 - Method versus model
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
What if every client in your gym was happy to pay
you $20 more a month, whatwould that do for you? What if
that number was $50 more amonth? What if that number was
a hundred dollars more a month?
Some gyms are actually doingthis and today we're gonna talk
about that. I'm Chris Cooper.
This is Run a Profitable Gym.
This is our monthly leaderboardshow. Every month I pull the
(00:24):
top 10 gyms from two brain inone of six different metrics.
This month we're talking abouta RM average revenue per
member. And I'm not just gonnashare what the top gyms are
earning per member per month.
I'm also gonna share exactlyhow they're doing it so that
you can stay on top of trendsand help make decisions about
the future of your gym. So ifyou wanna talk more about this
(00:44):
or you've got questions, justgo to gym owners united.com.
That's our free group. We'regonna let you in for nothing
and you can ask questions aboutthis podcast. You can talk to
other gym owners. There's10,500 of us in there now. It's
very upbeat, it's veryproductive, and it's the most
helpful place you can find forfree on the internet. The first
thing I wanna do is walk youthrough what the top 10 Gs in
(01:06):
two brain are earning for a RMand then we're gonna go step by
step through how they're doingit. Now, there's a couple of
things I'm gonna warn you of.
Number one, some of thesenumbers are going to be so high
that to you it seemsunreachable, right? Like me
watching the CrossFit games,I'm just not inspired by by it
because it's this other world.
However, what I should be doingis saying if I want to improve
my CrossFit capacity, I shouldbe watching the CrossFit games
(01:30):
and then looking at what thesepeople do and copying their
programs and that will make mebetter. That's what you should
be doing with your gym as a gymowner. Your duty to all the
people who count on you,including your members, your
staff, your family andyourself, is to keep growing
this gym. And one of the waysthat you do that is you look at
the best in the world and youcopy what they're doing. I make
it really, really easy for youon these podcasts because I go
(01:52):
interview these people, theytell me exactly what they're
doing and then I tell you, letme just be your middleman for
this. So the first , uh, let'stalk about the top 10. Now for
once all these gyms are fromthe us . If you listen to this
show regularly, you're going tohear a lot of international
flavor for net owner benefitfor a number of clients. And
you're going to hear about gymsin South America and gyms in
(02:14):
Eastern Europe and gyms inWestern Europe, in North
America and Canada andAustralia and New Zealand
everywhere for once. And thismight be the first time it's
ever happened, we've got aclean sweep. All of the top a
RM gyms are in the US . Now,there's a couple of reasons for
this. It doesn't mean that gymsin the US are charging more
than anywhere else in theworld. There's a couple of ,
(02:34):
uh, things that could causethis. Number one, the US dollar
is strong compared to a lot ofother currencies. And so to
compare apples to apples, whenwe compare what a gym in Canada
is charging, we put that intoUS dollars so that we compare
it against the gyms in the us .
Now that said that, that's justone reason, but more and more
(02:54):
what you're starting to see isthis shift in the industry
where gyms came into two Brain, they're just selling group
training, they add one-on-onemaybe, and quickly the lights
go on like, oh, people actuallywant this and it's a great way
for my coaches to buildcareers. And then over time
they gradually say, Hey, we'vegot all the one-on-ones we can
handle and our group classesare, you know, doing pretty
(03:16):
well. What's in the middle?
What's between them? And theystart offering semi-private or
small group. And that's gonnabe reflected in the data that
you see. It's not just thatgyms come into two brain , as
you'll hear, doing semi-privatealready and dominating
everybody else on the A RMleaderboard. Most of these gyms
came into two brain doing groupcoaching, running just CrossFit
classes or just doingone-on-one personal training.
(03:37):
And we help 'em evolve theirmodel to a point where every
client is worth a lot more.
Alright, so top 10 in number 10this month, $454 a month. A RM,
every client in their gym onaverage is paying $454. Now, it
doesn't mean that everybody'spaying the same rate. You're
gonna have some people paying600 and some people paying 200
and where they meet is $454. Anaverage ninth place was 464
(04:02):
eighth place, $469 a month. ARM seventh place, 472 sixth
place. Now keep in mind thatall of the top six are over
$500 a month. A RM $510 insixth place, fifth place, $554.
Fourth place, $562. That'sactually a tie. Third place is
also $562 a RM . Second place,$613 and first place, $724 a RM
(04:29):
per month. Now I want you tothink, because when you're
hearing that, you're like, wow,none of my current clients
would pay that. These PE I justwanna serve more people. I
wanna serve the average Joe.
This is how you do that. Youare a coaching business. That
means that you are an eliteservice and you make money off
people who want to pay for yourvalue charging, you know, a RM
(04:51):
of $700 a month. And then onceyou're profitable and you're
making more money, now you'rein a good position to actually
reach out your hand and helpother people. This is my
mantra, make lots of money andgive it away, because that is
how you help the people whoreally need it . You don't help
those people by underchargingand eventually going broke
yourself. You don't chargethose PE help those people by
(05:12):
starving yourself and foregoingyour family's paycheck and then
eventually going out ofbusiness. You help the people
in need by making lots of moneyon the people who can afford it
and then turning around andhelping those people. This is
how, if you're a CrossFit gym,this is, you know, really the
conversation. I didn't get inthis to make money, but if you
don't make money, you'll be outof it quickly. And I, I just
(05:34):
talked to Greg Glassman on thepodcast last week. You know,
Greg was able to buildsomething like 30 schools in
Kenya. I was there for one of'em . He built wells in Kenya.
He donated millions to CrossFitfor hope through CrossFit for
hope to, you know, St . JudeChildren's Hospital, that kind
of thing. He was able to dothat because he had a very
profitable business, which hedeserved and was able to give
(05:55):
the access away. This is howyou do it. You don't do it by
barely breaking even everymonth because then the first
time a tidal wave comes in,you're done. The first time a
coach leaves and takes fivemembers, you're done. Like any
little thing can put you on abusiness. You succeed by being
profitable, feeding yourfamily, then making good
careers for your coaches, thenproviding the best possible
(06:17):
opportunity that you can foryour clients and then helping
the people who don't know howto make money in your
community. Alright , let's getback to a RM here. I got off on
a rant. So first off, onlythree gyms from our last A RM
leaderboard four months ago areon this leaderboard. That's
interesting. What it does notmean is that there , these gyms
are going up and down in a RM ,they're staying consistent.
(06:40):
What's happening is that thebest gyms are growing faster
and faster and faster. So ifthey were on the leaderboard
four months ago back inNovember, and it was because
they had just introducedsemi-private or small group
training or personal trainingfor the first time, now what's
happened is that other peopleare introducing it and getting
better. I'm sure you rememberthis, you opened up the first
(07:01):
CrossFit or the first yoga gymin your town right away you had
300 members. Boom. And that'sbecause you were the first to
introduce it. Well , whenyou're also the first in two
brain to go to semi-private orone-on-one or whatever, you're
gonna zip up to the top of theleaderboard. But quickly we're
gonna learn from you and we'regonna keep getting better. And
this is how the snowball keepsgoing up. If you looked at our
(07:21):
A RM leaderboard from two yearsago, the winner would probably
have been around three to $400a month. Now the winner is $724
a month. These are the peoplewho are teaching everybody else
and pulling the industry up.
The other thing that'sinteresting here is that number
one on this leaderboard, $724 amonth was the same on the last
two leaderboards for a RM thatwe publish. So for six months
(07:45):
they've been at the top. Thatmeans that the best can still
keep getting better. If you'vegot an A RM that you think is
really good, it's the best inyour market, you can still
improve it with mentorshipalso. Number two was number
three last time. Not becausethe person ahead of them got
worse, but because they keptgetting better. And so what
you're seeing is this massiveeffect where the best gyms for
(08:07):
a RM are getting better andbetter and better and they're
pulling everybody else alongwith them. These really are the
tip of the spear. Alright , sofirst, you know, I mentioned
why there's such a great sweepby the US for a RM . A lot of
that is the strength of the USdollar over the last quarter.
Last time we published this,about 80% of the gyms were from
the us but you know, this yearor this time, the US is really
(08:31):
dominating these metrics.
That's not an excuse, okay?
Like I quite often hear, oh, wecan't charge that. The U
Australian dollar sucks. Nope ,that's not valid. You hear the
same thing in the states. Ican't charge that. I am in the
poorest county in the pooreststate of like, I've heard that
a thousand times over the lastdecade. It's not valid because
you're not selling yourcoaching business to the
(08:55):
average family income. You'reselling it to the top 10 or 20%
of earners. Again, making aprofit and turning around and
helping the people who need itthe most. Alright ? Two of the
gyms on the leaderboard , uh,brand themselves as physical
therapy or medical exercise,interesting. Two brand
themselves as personaltraining, but the rest are
general fitness or athleticbrands, including a couple of
(09:15):
CrossFits. We took four ofthese owners and we interviewed
them in depth. So we sent aquestionnaire to all 10, but
four of them were so incrediblethat we did a deep dive with
them. You'll hear those fullinterviews on this podcast over
the next month. But I wannahighlight their keys. All of
them mentioned semi-private andpersonal training and all of
(09:36):
them said that their a RMnumbers are very consistent and
will only go up from here. Thecool thing about a RM is it
never really goes down unlessyou make a big mistake as CEO
of your gym and you start tooffer like an access only
membership, right? And I'msaying this because when you
enter a time of economicuncertainty, like we're about
(09:56):
to, especially in the westernhemisphere, you need to move up
the value ladder, okay? You ,you wanna work more with
clients who are the leastaffected by economic
uncertainty. It's alwaystempting to say, oh man, people
can't afford this. I need tooffer a lower price option. I
need to lower my rates, I needto give a discount. I need to
offer access only becausepeople are hurting. That's not
(10:18):
actually true. What you need todo is serve the top of the
market who are unaffected bythis, make money and give it
away to people who really needhelp in times of uncertainty,
okay? But you don't do that bysacrificing your service. So
here's a great note. One of thegyms has been only open since
October 24 and started byselling group only at that
(10:38):
time. Then she addedsemi-private after she was in
one of the two brain officehours presentations. She was in
this office hours presentation,we were talking about
semi-private. She booked aone-on-one call with Nick Hait
, who's our sales coach, andstarted implementing it. She
started executing on it rightaway, and now she's in the top
10. So she went from, you know,an a RM of under $200 up to an
(11:01):
a RM of well over $400 just bycoming to one office hour
session in two brain , bookinga one-on-one session with our
sales coach. And executingexecution is the key to all
this. It's not like I need tobe in Midtown Manhattan, it's
just getting the work done.
Alright , here's a secondamazing story. This gym ditched
group training, and they put insemi-private training in
(11:22):
February, 2024. So about a yearago when they did that, their a
RM was $269. Now that's a higha RM if you're only doing group
training now though, their a RMis $464 monthly revenue is up
40, 38%, and they've actuallygone backward in clients
because they're working withfewer members on purpose. So
they're down 20% in clients andtheir monthly revenue is up
(11:45):
38%. Anybody who tells you thatgetting more clients is the way
to get more profitable is nottelling you the full story at
best and probably lying to youat worst. Here's some quotes
from our leaderboard members.
First, this first Jim said theyreally focus on client results.
We focus on results driventransformation. This focus has
fundamentally transformed ourstudio culture. We've become
(12:07):
much more results orientedacross all aspects of our
business. Our trainers are moreinvested in client outcomes.
Our marketing highlights,tangible successes, and our
entire team celebratesmeasurable achievements. That's
the end of the quote. I want totell you that like focusing on
results is different thanfocusing on your method. You
are not selling yoga, you arenot selling CrossFit, you are
(12:30):
not selling kettlebelltraining, you are not selling
movement screens, you are notselling mobility. You are
selling outcomes. This is thetheme of our new book Help
Best, which comes out justbefore Summit in June. How do
you get clients' actualresults? How do you measure
those results and make surethat the client understands
them and gets there and seesthem and celebrates them ? That
(12:51):
is what success in the gymindustry is all about. It's not
about making somebody a betterdead lifter. It's not about
making them better at yoga ormore flexible. It's about
getting them results that theycare about. That means you have
to start by asking what resultsdo you care about measuring
their starting point and thengetting them to their end point
as fast as you can. So whenthis gym says that it's focused
(13:13):
on client results, it's notfocused on, you know, being a
black belt sensei ofweightlifting or being the best
running coach we can be. Theyare focused on the client came
in and said they wanted to lose20 pounds. How do we help 'em
lose 20 pounds as quickly asthey can? They kept the client
results at the center of theircoaching. They're a
client-centric business. Thenext quote is about the
(13:35):
retention of high valueclients. They said, we are
being intentional with themembers that we have now, and
we're focused on keeping churnlow by making them feel unique.
We've recently started offeringour goal reviews through an
online form with the option toalso meet in person. We're
hoping this continues to helpwith client and, and , uh,
satisfaction and retention. Sohere's a gym . They didn't say,
(13:57):
oh, we don't have time for goalreviews, or, oh man, I , I
just, I can't meet all thesepeople in person, or where do I
start? Or, nobody wants goalreviews. They said, how can we
apply this lesson of goalreviews in our gym? That's why
we're a one-on-one mentorshippractice. The mentor's job is
to help you apply the two brandsystem in your particular gym
without making you feel likeyou're doing a franchise. And
(14:18):
so they modified how they dothe goal review. They still use
our scripts, they still use ourprocess. They still do the goal
review. And guess what? Theyretain their high value
clients. It works with a coupleof little tweaks for their
business, okay? They don't doit differently. They don't
avoid doing the work. They dothe work in a way that matches
their business. Okay? Thirdquote, they said that they are
(14:41):
spending time working on thebusiness instead of in the
business. They said, literally,I've taken myself outta the
business in terms of coaching.
I'm passionate about thebusiness and the people. I put
people in place to besuccessful and I empower them
to take action without mydirection. That is leadership.
You know, that's realleadership. You can read all
the Simon Sinek books you wantabout leaders Eat Last and all
(15:02):
that stuff. But the realityhere is like, if you don't
empower people to do things theway you would have , have them
done yourself without you beingthere, it doesn't matter about
reading. You can read 50 booksabout leadership and doing hard
things and all that stuff. Ifpeople don't do it the way that
you want it done without youbeing there, all of your
(15:22):
leadership books don't matter.
This person is successfulbecause they are free to work
on the business, addingsemi-private, adding pt,
marketing, sales, whatever,because they've put people in
the other roles. Now, for you,this might look like, you know
what I, I just want to coach,right? And you know, maybe you,
(15:43):
maybe you open a gym becauseyou couldn't make enough money
coaching at another gym. Thatwas me, and you're not
passionate about owning thebusiness part. Then you need to
build the business to the pointyourself where you can hand off
pieces of it to other people.
That means you gotta dig in,but it doesn't mean you have to
just be the CEO forever. Youcan be whatever you wanna be.
Once the business issustainable, you're a good
(16:04):
leader and it's profitable.
This next person talked reallyspecifically about semi-private
training. This person and I, Imentioned them earlier. They
said we've been open sinceOctober and we didn't know what
the value would be. All I wasselling was group training. I
didn't even ask people to signup for semi-private. I did some
office hours in two brainin andthen an additional one-on-one
call with a mentor, Nick Haage. I gained confidence on
(16:27):
selling semi-private trainingand then the results boosted my
confidence too. Another personsaid, we switched our
memberships from group classesto semi-private training in
February, 2024. We offered bothfor a little while just to
transition, but we now offeronly semi-private training
memberships. We received helpfrom the two Brain toolkit and
several mentors when switchingto the semi-private model. It
(16:48):
was a huge change for us, butone that we're incredibly happy
with. It's allowed us todeliver a better product,
create a culture that both ourmembers and coaches enjoy and
help our clients get what theywant and need. It was a tough
transition, but we're veryhappy with how things are
going. Now look, I've heardthis from CrossFit gyms. You
can do CrossFit one-on-one, youcan do CrossFit, semi-private
(17:08):
CrossFit's. The method you wantto use to get people results,
wonderful. If yoga Pilates isthe method you want to use to
get people results, wonderful.
But CrossFit is not a model.
Neither is yoga, neither isPilates, neither is bootcamp.
The model is how you deliveryour method. You can do it
one-on-one, you can do itsemi-private, you can do it
group. I just wanna make thatpoint because a lot of people
(17:32):
confuse the two things, themethod that you use to get
results and the model in whichyou deliver that method. This
next person was talking aboutpersonal training and they said
a significant factor in our ARM is our emphasis on high
ticket personal trainingofferings. By allocating
substantial resources andattention to developing these
premium services, we've beenable to create more
personalized fitnessexperiences, deliver more
(17:54):
measurable results for ourclients, justify a higher price
point through enhanced value,and improve client retention
through stronger relationships.
Couldn't have said it better.
Uh, the next person alsotalking about personal training
said we focus on small groupand one-on-one training because
that is what's truly best formost people. We accepted the
few who want the energy oflarge group workouts. We'll
(18:15):
have to find that some otherplace and they have many
options for that. This is agreat point because the reality
here is that sometimes we offerdiscounts to people who don't
really need the discounts andthey don't even really need our
help. You know, if they'recoming to your gym for the
community or the programming orwhatever, they're eventually
gonna leave and go find thatsomewhere else. That's because
(18:36):
they don't really need you. Thepeople that we can save that we
really have the biggestopportunity to save are the
people who really need you, whoreally need value, and that
means they need one-on-one highaccountability or small group
or semi-private. Next persontalked about the prescriptive
model. They said, ourcommitment to integrity has
been fundamental to our growth.
(18:57):
By consistently putting ourclients' needs first and
focusing on delivering genuinevalue, we've strengthened our
conviction during the salesprocess. Our client-centric
approach has built trust andallowed us to confidently
recommend solutions that trulybenefit our members. Listen,
what they're talking about whenthey talk about a
client-centric approach isasking the client what they
(19:18):
want to achieve and thenbuilding a plan to achieve it .
Achieve commitment to valuemeans putting the client at the
center and solving the client'sproblems. It does not mean
getting your level fivecertification in your method.
It does not mean asking abetter question of the day. At
the whiteboard, it does notmean, you know, practicing and
(19:40):
doing better as an athlete inyour own method. What it means
is asking the client what theywant and then getting them that
result. That is value. Theother stuff is stuff that you
value, but you know, if youwant to have an ego-centric
business, just get better andbetter at the stuff that you
care about. If you wanna have aclient-centric business that
actually solves problems andhelps people, put them at the
(20:02):
center and do whatever it takesto help them. Even if that
means taking lessons in anothermethod, even if it means
learning about nutrition, evenif it means changing your model
or your method, do what theclient needs done. Finally, the
last quotes are aboutmentorship. They said, I
haven't done anything outsideof Two Brain . I couldn't do
this without y'all. I love itwhen people say y'all and the
(20:24):
last person said, all we'redoing is exactly what Two Brain
told us. That's what mentorshipis all about. It's clarity. I
mean, you're listening to thisand you're hearing, gee, I need
to start offering pt or I needto do semi-private. And then
you go in Gym Owners United andyou say, what do you guys
charge for semi-private? You'regonna get a lot of opinions.
You're not gonna get clarity.
Clarity is what fixes yourbusiness fast. We build a
(20:46):
client centric approach tobrain . When you come in, you
say, here's what I wanna do,and then we say, here's how
we're gonna get there. That'swhat mentorship is. That's what
coaching is. That's what yousell. That's what I sell. If
you wanna continue thisconversation in a free private
group called Gym Owners United,just go to gym owners
united.com. Ask questionsthere. You'll see me posting
about this. You'll see lots oftips. You can search that group
(21:08):
for a RM on tips to improve it,and when you're ready to make
changes fast, that's when youbook a call with my team. I'm
Chris Cooper. This is Run aProfitable Jim , and I hope you
do.
What if every client in your gym was happy to pay
you $20 more a month, whatwould that do for you? What if
that number was $50 more amonth? What if that number was
a hundred dollars more a month?
Some gyms are actually doingthis and today we're gonna talk
about that. I'm Chris Cooper.
This is Run a Profitable Gym.
This is our monthly leaderboardshow. Every month I pull the
(00:24):
top 10 gyms from two brain inone of six different metrics.
This month we're talking abouta RM average revenue per
member. And I'm not just gonnashare what the top gyms are
earning per member per month.
I'm also gonna share exactlyhow they're doing it so that
you can stay on top of trendsand help make decisions about
the future of your gym. So ifyou wanna talk more about this
(00:44):
or you've got questions, justgo to gym owners united.com.
That's our free group. We'regonna let you in for nothing
and you can ask questions aboutthis podcast. You can talk to
other gym owners. There's10,500 of us in there now. It's
very upbeat, it's veryproductive, and it's the most
helpful place you can find forfree on the internet. The first
thing I wanna do is walk youthrough what the top 10 Gs in
(01:06):
two brain are earning for a RMand then we're gonna go step by
step through how they're doingit. Now, there's a couple of
things I'm gonna warn you of.
Number one, some of thesenumbers are going to be so high
that to you it seemsunreachable, right? Like me
watching the CrossFit games,I'm just not inspired by by it
because it's this other world.
However, what I should be doingis saying if I want to improve
my CrossFit capacity, I shouldbe watching the CrossFit games
(01:30):
and then looking at what thesepeople do and copying their
programs and that will make mebetter. That's what you should
be doing with your gym as a gymowner. Your duty to all the
people who count on you,including your members, your
staff, your family andyourself, is to keep growing
this gym. And one of the waysthat you do that is you look at
the best in the world and youcopy what they're doing. I make
it really, really easy for youon these podcasts because I go
(01:52):
interview these people, theytell me exactly what they're
doing and then I tell you, letme just be your middleman for
this. So the first , uh, let'stalk about the top 10. Now for
once all these gyms are fromthe us . If you listen to this
show regularly, you're going tohear a lot of international
flavor for net owner benefitfor a number of clients. And
you're going to hear about gymsin South America and gyms in
(02:14):
Eastern Europe and gyms inWestern Europe, in North
America and Canada andAustralia and New Zealand
everywhere for once. And thismight be the first time it's
ever happened, we've got aclean sweep. All of the top a
RM gyms are in the US . Now,there's a couple of reasons for
this. It doesn't mean that gymsin the US are charging more
than anywhere else in theworld. There's a couple of ,
(02:34):
uh, things that could causethis. Number one, the US dollar
is strong compared to a lot ofother currencies. And so to
compare apples to apples, whenwe compare what a gym in Canada
is charging, we put that intoUS dollars so that we compare
it against the gyms in the us .
Now that said that, that's justone reason, but more and more
(02:54):
what you're starting to see isthis shift in the industry
where gyms came into two Brain, they're just selling group
training, they add one-on-onemaybe, and quickly the lights
go on like, oh, people actuallywant this and it's a great way
for my coaches to buildcareers. And then over time
they gradually say, Hey, we'vegot all the one-on-ones we can
handle and our group classesare, you know, doing pretty
(03:16):
well. What's in the middle?
What's between them? And theystart offering semi-private or
small group. And that's gonnabe reflected in the data that
you see. It's not just thatgyms come into two brain , as
you'll hear, doing semi-privatealready and dominating
everybody else on the A RMleaderboard. Most of these gyms
came into two brain doing groupcoaching, running just CrossFit
classes or just doingone-on-one personal training.
(03:37):
And we help 'em evolve theirmodel to a point where every
client is worth a lot more.
Alright, so top 10 in number 10this month, $454 a month. A RM,
every client in their gym onaverage is paying $454. Now, it
doesn't mean that everybody'spaying the same rate. You're
gonna have some people paying600 and some people paying 200
and where they meet is $454. Anaverage ninth place was 464
(04:02):
eighth place, $469 a month. ARM seventh place, 472 sixth
place. Now keep in mind thatall of the top six are over
$500 a month. A RM $510 insixth place, fifth place, $554.
Fourth place, $562. That'sactually a tie. Third place is
also $562 a RM . Second place,$613 and first place, $724 a RM
(04:29):
per month. Now I want you tothink, because when you're
hearing that, you're like, wow,none of my current clients
would pay that. These PE I justwanna serve more people. I
wanna serve the average Joe.
This is how you do that. Youare a coaching business. That
means that you are an eliteservice and you make money off
people who want to pay for yourvalue charging, you know, a RM
(04:51):
of $700 a month. And then onceyou're profitable and you're
making more money, now you'rein a good position to actually
reach out your hand and helpother people. This is my
mantra, make lots of money andgive it away, because that is
how you help the people whoreally need it . You don't help
those people by underchargingand eventually going broke
yourself. You don't chargethose PE help those people by
(05:12):
starving yourself and foregoingyour family's paycheck and then
eventually going out ofbusiness. You help the people
in need by making lots of moneyon the people who can afford it
and then turning around andhelping those people. This is
how, if you're a CrossFit gym,this is, you know, really the
conversation. I didn't get inthis to make money, but if you
don't make money, you'll be outof it quickly. And I, I just
(05:34):
talked to Greg Glassman on thepodcast last week. You know,
Greg was able to buildsomething like 30 schools in
Kenya. I was there for one of'em . He built wells in Kenya.
He donated millions to CrossFitfor hope through CrossFit for
hope to, you know, St . JudeChildren's Hospital, that kind
of thing. He was able to dothat because he had a very
profitable business, which hedeserved and was able to give
(05:55):
the access away. This is howyou do it. You don't do it by
barely breaking even everymonth because then the first
time a tidal wave comes in,you're done. The first time a
coach leaves and takes fivemembers, you're done. Like any
little thing can put you on abusiness. You succeed by being
profitable, feeding yourfamily, then making good
careers for your coaches, thenproviding the best possible
(06:17):
opportunity that you can foryour clients and then helping
the people who don't know howto make money in your
community. Alright , let's getback to a RM here. I got off on
a rant. So first off, onlythree gyms from our last A RM
leaderboard four months ago areon this leaderboard. That's
interesting. What it does notmean is that there , these gyms
are going up and down in a RM ,they're staying consistent.
(06:40):
What's happening is that thebest gyms are growing faster
and faster and faster. So ifthey were on the leaderboard
four months ago back inNovember, and it was because
they had just introducedsemi-private or small group
training or personal trainingfor the first time, now what's
happened is that other peopleare introducing it and getting
better. I'm sure you rememberthis, you opened up the first
(07:01):
CrossFit or the first yoga gymin your town right away you had
300 members. Boom. And that'sbecause you were the first to
introduce it. Well , whenyou're also the first in two
brain to go to semi-private orone-on-one or whatever, you're
gonna zip up to the top of theleaderboard. But quickly we're
gonna learn from you and we'regonna keep getting better. And
this is how the snowball keepsgoing up. If you looked at our
(07:21):
A RM leaderboard from two yearsago, the winner would probably
have been around three to $400a month. Now the winner is $724
a month. These are the peoplewho are teaching everybody else
and pulling the industry up.
The other thing that'sinteresting here is that number
one on this leaderboard, $724 amonth was the same on the last
two leaderboards for a RM thatwe publish. So for six months
(07:45):
they've been at the top. Thatmeans that the best can still
keep getting better. If you'vegot an A RM that you think is
really good, it's the best inyour market, you can still
improve it with mentorshipalso. Number two was number
three last time. Not becausethe person ahead of them got
worse, but because they keptgetting better. And so what
you're seeing is this massiveeffect where the best gyms for
(08:07):
a RM are getting better andbetter and better and they're
pulling everybody else alongwith them. These really are the
tip of the spear. Alright , sofirst, you know, I mentioned
why there's such a great sweepby the US for a RM . A lot of
that is the strength of the USdollar over the last quarter.
Last time we published this,about 80% of the gyms were from
the us but you know, this yearor this time, the US is really
(08:31):
dominating these metrics.
That's not an excuse, okay?
Like I quite often hear, oh, wecan't charge that. The U
Australian dollar sucks. Nope ,that's not valid. You hear the
same thing in the states. Ican't charge that. I am in the
poorest county in the pooreststate of like, I've heard that
a thousand times over the lastdecade. It's not valid because
you're not selling yourcoaching business to the
(08:55):
average family income. You'reselling it to the top 10 or 20%
of earners. Again, making aprofit and turning around and
helping the people who need itthe most. Alright ? Two of the
gyms on the leaderboard , uh,brand themselves as physical
therapy or medical exercise,interesting. Two brand
themselves as personaltraining, but the rest are
general fitness or athleticbrands, including a couple of
(09:15):
CrossFits. We took four ofthese owners and we interviewed
them in depth. So we sent aquestionnaire to all 10, but
four of them were so incrediblethat we did a deep dive with
them. You'll hear those fullinterviews on this podcast over
the next month. But I wannahighlight their keys. All of
them mentioned semi-private andpersonal training and all of
(09:36):
them said that their a RMnumbers are very consistent and
will only go up from here. Thecool thing about a RM is it
never really goes down unlessyou make a big mistake as CEO
of your gym and you start tooffer like an access only
membership, right? And I'msaying this because when you
enter a time of economicuncertainty, like we're about
(09:56):
to, especially in the westernhemisphere, you need to move up
the value ladder, okay? You ,you wanna work more with
clients who are the leastaffected by economic
uncertainty. It's alwaystempting to say, oh man, people
can't afford this. I need tooffer a lower price option. I
need to lower my rates, I needto give a discount. I need to
offer access only becausepeople are hurting. That's not
(10:18):
actually true. What you need todo is serve the top of the
market who are unaffected bythis, make money and give it
away to people who really needhelp in times of uncertainty,
okay? But you don't do that bysacrificing your service. So
here's a great note. One of thegyms has been only open since
October 24 and started byselling group only at that
(10:38):
time. Then she addedsemi-private after she was in
one of the two brain officehours presentations. She was in
this office hours presentation,we were talking about
semi-private. She booked aone-on-one call with Nick Hait
, who's our sales coach, andstarted implementing it. She
started executing on it rightaway, and now she's in the top
10. So she went from, you know,an a RM of under $200 up to an
(11:01):
a RM of well over $400 just bycoming to one office hour
session in two brain , bookinga one-on-one session with our
sales coach. And executingexecution is the key to all
this. It's not like I need tobe in Midtown Manhattan, it's
just getting the work done.
Alright , here's a secondamazing story. This gym ditched
group training, and they put insemi-private training in
(11:22):
February, 2024. So about a yearago when they did that, their a
RM was $269. Now that's a higha RM if you're only doing group
training now though, their a RMis $464 monthly revenue is up
40, 38%, and they've actuallygone backward in clients
because they're working withfewer members on purpose. So
they're down 20% in clients andtheir monthly revenue is up
(11:45):
38%. Anybody who tells you thatgetting more clients is the way
to get more profitable is nottelling you the full story at
best and probably lying to youat worst. Here's some quotes
from our leaderboard members.
First, this first Jim said theyreally focus on client results.
We focus on results driventransformation. This focus has
fundamentally transformed ourstudio culture. We've become
(12:07):
much more results orientedacross all aspects of our
business. Our trainers are moreinvested in client outcomes.
Our marketing highlights,tangible successes, and our
entire team celebratesmeasurable achievements. That's
the end of the quote. I want totell you that like focusing on
results is different thanfocusing on your method. You
are not selling yoga, you arenot selling CrossFit, you are
(12:30):
not selling kettlebelltraining, you are not selling
movement screens, you are notselling mobility. You are
selling outcomes. This is thetheme of our new book Help
Best, which comes out justbefore Summit in June. How do
you get clients' actualresults? How do you measure
those results and make surethat the client understands
them and gets there and seesthem and celebrates them ? That
(12:51):
is what success in the gymindustry is all about. It's not
about making somebody a betterdead lifter. It's not about
making them better at yoga ormore flexible. It's about
getting them results that theycare about. That means you have
to start by asking what resultsdo you care about measuring
their starting point and thengetting them to their end point
as fast as you can. So whenthis gym says that it's focused
(13:13):
on client results, it's notfocused on, you know, being a
black belt sensei ofweightlifting or being the best
running coach we can be. Theyare focused on the client came
in and said they wanted to lose20 pounds. How do we help 'em
lose 20 pounds as quickly asthey can? They kept the client
results at the center of theircoaching. They're a
client-centric business. Thenext quote is about the
(13:35):
retention of high valueclients. They said, we are
being intentional with themembers that we have now, and
we're focused on keeping churnlow by making them feel unique.
We've recently started offeringour goal reviews through an
online form with the option toalso meet in person. We're
hoping this continues to helpwith client and, and , uh,
satisfaction and retention. Sohere's a gym . They didn't say,
(13:57):
oh, we don't have time for goalreviews, or, oh man, I , I
just, I can't meet all thesepeople in person, or where do I
start? Or, nobody wants goalreviews. They said, how can we
apply this lesson of goalreviews in our gym? That's why
we're a one-on-one mentorshippractice. The mentor's job is
to help you apply the two brandsystem in your particular gym
without making you feel likeyou're doing a franchise. And
(14:18):
so they modified how they dothe goal review. They still use
our scripts, they still use ourprocess. They still do the goal
review. And guess what? Theyretain their high value
clients. It works with a coupleof little tweaks for their
business, okay? They don't doit differently. They don't
avoid doing the work. They dothe work in a way that matches
their business. Okay? Thirdquote, they said that they are
(14:41):
spending time working on thebusiness instead of in the
business. They said, literally,I've taken myself outta the
business in terms of coaching.
I'm passionate about thebusiness and the people. I put
people in place to besuccessful and I empower them
to take action without mydirection. That is leadership.
You know, that's realleadership. You can read all
the Simon Sinek books you wantabout leaders Eat Last and all
(15:02):
that stuff. But the realityhere is like, if you don't
empower people to do things theway you would have , have them
done yourself without you beingthere, it doesn't matter about
reading. You can read 50 booksabout leadership and doing hard
things and all that stuff. Ifpeople don't do it the way that
you want it done without youbeing there, all of your
(15:22):
leadership books don't matter.
This person is successfulbecause they are free to work
on the business, addingsemi-private, adding pt,
marketing, sales, whatever,because they've put people in
the other roles. Now, for you,this might look like, you know
what I, I just want to coach,right? And you know, maybe you,
(15:43):
maybe you open a gym becauseyou couldn't make enough money
coaching at another gym. Thatwas me, and you're not
passionate about owning thebusiness part. Then you need to
build the business to the pointyourself where you can hand off
pieces of it to other people.
That means you gotta dig in,but it doesn't mean you have to
just be the CEO forever. Youcan be whatever you wanna be.
Once the business issustainable, you're a good
(16:04):
leader and it's profitable.
This next person talked reallyspecifically about semi-private
training. This person and I, Imentioned them earlier. They
said we've been open sinceOctober and we didn't know what
the value would be. All I wasselling was group training. I
didn't even ask people to signup for semi-private. I did some
office hours in two brainin andthen an additional one-on-one
call with a mentor, Nick Haage. I gained confidence on
(16:27):
selling semi-private trainingand then the results boosted my
confidence too. Another personsaid, we switched our
memberships from group classesto semi-private training in
February, 2024. We offered bothfor a little while just to
transition, but we now offeronly semi-private training
memberships. We received helpfrom the two Brain toolkit and
several mentors when switchingto the semi-private model. It
(16:48):
was a huge change for us, butone that we're incredibly happy
with. It's allowed us todeliver a better product,
create a culture that both ourmembers and coaches enjoy and
help our clients get what theywant and need. It was a tough
transition, but we're veryhappy with how things are
going. Now look, I've heardthis from CrossFit gyms. You
can do CrossFit one-on-one, youcan do CrossFit, semi-private
(17:08):
CrossFit's. The method you wantto use to get people results,
wonderful. If yoga Pilates isthe method you want to use to
get people results, wonderful.
But CrossFit is not a model.
Neither is yoga, neither isPilates, neither is bootcamp.
The model is how you deliveryour method. You can do it
one-on-one, you can do itsemi-private, you can do it
group. I just wanna make thatpoint because a lot of people
(17:32):
confuse the two things, themethod that you use to get
results and the model in whichyou deliver that method. This
next person was talking aboutpersonal training and they said
a significant factor in our ARM is our emphasis on high
ticket personal trainingofferings. By allocating
substantial resources andattention to developing these
premium services, we've beenable to create more
personalized fitnessexperiences, deliver more
(17:54):
measurable results for ourclients, justify a higher price
point through enhanced value,and improve client retention
through stronger relationships.
Couldn't have said it better.
Uh, the next person alsotalking about personal training
said we focus on small groupand one-on-one training because
that is what's truly best formost people. We accepted the
few who want the energy oflarge group workouts. We'll
(18:15):
have to find that some otherplace and they have many
options for that. This is agreat point because the reality
here is that sometimes we offerdiscounts to people who don't
really need the discounts andthey don't even really need our
help. You know, if they'recoming to your gym for the
community or the programming orwhatever, they're eventually
gonna leave and go find thatsomewhere else. That's because
(18:36):
they don't really need you. Thepeople that we can save that we
really have the biggestopportunity to save are the
people who really need you, whoreally need value, and that
means they need one-on-one highaccountability or small group
or semi-private. Next persontalked about the prescriptive
model. They said, ourcommitment to integrity has
been fundamental to our growth.
(18:57):
By consistently putting ourclients' needs first and
focusing on delivering genuinevalue, we've strengthened our
conviction during the salesprocess. Our client-centric
approach has built trust andallowed us to confidently
recommend solutions that trulybenefit our members. Listen,
what they're talking about whenthey talk about a
client-centric approach isasking the client what they
(19:18):
want to achieve and thenbuilding a plan to achieve it .
Achieve commitment to valuemeans putting the client at the
center and solving the client'sproblems. It does not mean
getting your level fivecertification in your method.
It does not mean asking abetter question of the day. At
the whiteboard, it does notmean, you know, practicing and
(19:40):
doing better as an athlete inyour own method. What it means
is asking the client what theywant and then getting them that
result. That is value. Theother stuff is stuff that you
value, but you know, if youwant to have an ego-centric
business, just get better andbetter at the stuff that you
care about. If you wanna have aclient-centric business that
actually solves problems andhelps people, put them at the
(20:02):
center and do whatever it takesto help them. Even if that
means taking lessons in anothermethod, even if it means
learning about nutrition, evenif it means changing your model
or your method, do what theclient needs done. Finally, the
last quotes are aboutmentorship. They said, I
haven't done anything outsideof Two Brain . I couldn't do
this without y'all. I love itwhen people say y'all and the
(20:24):
last person said, all we'redoing is exactly what Two Brain
told us. That's what mentorshipis all about. It's clarity. I
mean, you're listening to thisand you're hearing, gee, I need
to start offering pt or I needto do semi-private. And then
you go in Gym Owners United andyou say, what do you guys
charge for semi-private? You'regonna get a lot of opinions.
You're not gonna get clarity.
Clarity is what fixes yourbusiness fast. We build a
(20:46):
client centric approach tobrain . When you come in, you
say, here's what I wanna do,and then we say, here's how
we're gonna get there. That'swhat mentorship is. That's what
coaching is. That's what yousell. That's what I sell. If
you wanna continue thisconversation in a free private
group called Gym Owners United,just go to gym owners
united.com. Ask questionsthere. You'll see me posting
about this. You'll see lots oftips. You can search that group
(21:08):
for a RM on tips to improve it,and when you're ready to make
changes fast, that's when youbook a call with my team. I'm
Chris Cooper. This is Run aProfitable Jim , and I hope you
do.
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