The 2015 Box Owners’ Survey was the largest, most insightful poll of affiliate owners to date. We’re proud of that, and you should be, too.
While some of the answers made us worry about specific boxes, we were pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming optimism shown by most. Today, competition has forced us to professionalize our gyms, and that’s obvious in the responses to the 2015 survey. We’re growing up. We’re glad.
Proof: more than half of all boxes (54%) surveyed said they had a set of “written roles and responsibilities” in their gym. None did five years ago. 740 out of 917 (80.6%) have an OnRamp of Fundamentals course; 88% of those said it was mandatory.
We still have a way to go, of course. With its low barrier to entry, CrossFit allows us to use its license without any mandatory business knowledge. That’s good: we’re now forced to learn these things to compete. For example, out of 1359 responses to the question, “What do you need most to create or enhance success?” 591 said, “More members” before anything else. In my experience, this isn’t true; most gyms should be focusing on earning more per member instead. But more owners realize this fact every day. We’re getting there.
We’ll address some other exciting (and crazy!) responses later in this post, but we care enough about the success of our gyms to give some tough love here. If you’re not making a great living with your gym, look at yourself first. Other gyms aren’t “poaching” your clients, unless they want to be poached; your coaches aren’t “unmotivated” unless you’re failing to motivate them. Your cancellations aren’t all due to “schedule changes” and “moving away.” And the CrossFit brand has a ridiculously high ROI: if you haven’t generated 100x the cost of your annual affiliation fees in revenue this year, you’re missing something in your business.
In the rest of this post, we’ll review some of the biggest revelations from the 2015 Box Owners’ Survey, and point you in the direction of help where it’s needed. All the information required to solve your problems sits waiting on our blog; if you need more help, just reach out to us.
Question #1 was to measure the scope of our survey. Specifically, would the sample represent the size and age of the functional fitness business community accurately? Considering rates of affiliation over the last 8 years, we believe we’re not far off – the largest group of responders, by far, had been open 2-5 years, followed by those open 0-1 year, and then the class of 2013. But our own market might skew those numbers a bit: at 321Go, we’re frequently approached by people who want to start their business on the right foot (0-1 year) and those who have realized the business doesn’t just run itself (2-5 years.) In my experience, the sophomores are most optimistic: they might have seen early success (and good for them,) or are hovering around break-even. Either way, they might still run the business on instinct for awhile longer. And that’s fine.
But the veterans’ responses to, “Did you feel adequately prepared to open your gym?” were revealing: in hindsight, 971 out of 1313 responders (73.9%) said they needed more guidance in fitness (13%,) business (31.5%,) marketing (25.3%) or something else (3.5%.) The “something else” write-in responses revealed primarily business-related needs (e.g. “Finding/hiring,” “balancing life/work” and “a little bit of everything.”)
The Bright Spots:
We knew we’d love the answers to, “Why did you open your box?” and we weren’t disappointed. Most open their gym for emotional–not financial–reasons. 761 of 2615 (29%) responded : “I enjoy working with people and helping them reach their goals.” Congratulations to all of us: we’re in this for the right reasons. 408 answered, “I considered it a way to give something back to the community” — even more outstanding. These responses are what drives us at 321Go to produce hours and hours of free help every week. And that’s why we push structure and business sense on you: we want you to KEEP helping your community for the rest of your life. And as a box owner myself, I know you can’t do that if you’re overworked, under-rested, stressed out or broke.
Most gyms now have some sort of “OnRamp” program, as we mentioned above. That’s great. But 338 out of 917 (36%) indicated that most clients start simply by showing up and trying a class. Only 225 of 917 (24.5%) spoke with a client about their goals before putting them into a group class. If you’re charging a client to be their coach, you might consider a short conversation about their goals and history first. We say it often: CrossFit is for everyone, but group training isn’t. “Free Trials” have a low close rate for exactly this reason: too little interaction. Unless they’re already sure how your group will help them achieve their goals, you have to tell them. This might slow down the intake process. Maybe it should.
Pricing OnRamp programs is a hot issue, and we’ll have a separate blog post on the topic soon. For now, here’s our OnRamp program.
WE LOVE that most gyms (721 of 904, or 79.7%) build coaches from within. It’s a great start, and a more formal approach can only help. Continuing education will help even more.
Almost 90% of box owners said they’d do it all over again if they could. That was a huge relief: We love the business, love the brand, and want to see everyone succeed.
What Worries Us:
It’s a fact: very few boxes will reach the 300-member mark, and that most will need to make a living from 150 members. That’s reasonable and very possible…but not if you’re charging $90 per month in a class-only model. And even those with 300 members aren’t always making a great living.. Want more on this topic? Read, “Building a Robust Business“.
Most gyms aren’t offering Personal Training. 402 of 847 (47%) responded “0” to the question, “How many sessions of PT do you sell each week?” 284 owners (33.5%) said, “Less than 5” and 103 (12.1%) said “Less than 10.” Of the 5 owners who said, “More than 40,” I was one. Friends, one-on-one training IS the original model. It’s the BEST model for many of your clients. And yes, some prefer it to group training.
Question #8 continues to be the largest misconception: that the best way to succeed is through recruitment of more members, NOT more revenue per member. In light of other questions, like ‘How many fulltime staff do you have?’ and “What’s most important to you?” and “How many gyms are nearby?” this simply doesn’t make sense. Read the comments, too: people know the best way to succeed is through more individual time with members, more time spent on business practices, and better development of coaching staff. Finally, considering answers to questions on retention, staff training and formal business practices, most gyms aren’t ready for more members anyway. More members means more coaches (not part-timers,) more equipment, more space…I think I’ll quote BJ Maucere here: “…most boxes would expand if they continued to add members. If I keep adding new rent, I never get to where I want to be. I’d rather cap my growth at 150 and then work to make more from each of those 150.”
Almost 50% of respondents have a business partner. But only 229 of 917 (24.9%) had a notarized shareholders’ agreement. Another 133 (14.5%) had a signed document that might hold up in court. 87 believed a verbal contract would suffice; they’re wrong. A shareholder’s agreement isn’t a prenuptial agreement; it’s the whole marriage.
The Head-Scratchers:
Question #7 had a mysterious answer, considering the response to “How many full-time staff work at your box?”–a later question. While 450 out of 900 said no other full-time staff worked at their gym, twice that number were sure they could take two full weeks away without consequence. That means many would have to depend on the schedules and priorities of part-time coaches if they ever wanted to take a vacation, or–heaven forbid–faced a serious injury or illness. Another point: some of the bills proposed to “license” fitness coaches in certain states would mandate that an injured or ill coach can’t go to work…
Most owners reported spending “just enough” (58%) or “too much” (30%) time coaching, and too little time on everything else (branding-71.3%, marketing – 69.8%, business planning – 77.4%, personal life – 64.8%.) And out of 1954 responses to, “What’s your greatest fear?” 1549 (78.8%) listed fears that won’t solve themselves (ability to retire, pay for kids’ education, bankruptcy, can’t take a sick day.) Comments also strongly indicated a need for external help: (“Can’t drive new members in,” “Can’t replace myself,” “Being patient with member growth,” “Chaos!”)
Gym owners said their pricing model came from “What others are doing” 64% of the time (501 out of 778.) Some wrote, “What we feel is reasonable,” or “Based on our opinion.” In other words, they weren’t really sure. And most also believed they were doing better than most gyms, curiously.
Finally, 48.8% said they were earning at least $25,000 less than they expected.
Clearly, affiliates need business help. But when asked the value of a business coach, about 1/3 answered “Less than the price of a new rower.”
A gym owner in our mentoring program described business coaching as, “Indispensible…you should build it into your costs, like your affiliation fee.” Another, this morning, said that his business had gone from 11k in gross sales every month to over 22k. And a third said that, of the 12 people he pitched his new PT service to last week, 12 signed up. All of them.
Let’s be clear: these problems don’t just go away on their own. Some respondents listed business mentoring services (ours included) and that’s good. We included those responses in our report. But the question shouldn’t be, “Which business coach should I use?” but, “Which should I try NEXT?”
Any business service that will generate $1 more than its cost is worth it. Look for those with experience (they know what it’s like to be in your shoes, and how to buy new ones) and success (they don’t have to spam you, because they don’t need the money.)
Those who answered “no” to the final question (“If you had it to do all over again, would you?”) were kind enough to provide reasons WHY they’d have stayed in their day jobs or remained a coach in another gym. The answer to every single challenge (not enough money/not enough time with family/not worth the ROI) is out there. You can (and should) make a fantastic living at this.
Our Takeaway
Our “Help First” philosophy isn’t a slogan: it’s how we shape our business. We build services to help. And it’s clear that even after over 500 hours spent talking to gym owners for FREE, it’s not enough.
March 1, we’ll be unveiling a huge opportunity for gym owners at an affordable price.
We won’t spam you with the details, but if you want to hear more about it (and get monthly articles, videos and tips from us,) signup below. We’ve been working on it for months, but we’re going to unveil it sooner than planned because others need help NOW.
Thanks again for participating. We promise to use these results to guide our free efforts to help. You won’t be sorry.