When Connor Green took over two mostly failing gyms in California—Parkside CrossFit and Metcon Long Beach in 2018 and 2020 respectively—neither gym was doing very well.
One of them had 210 members but was running a monthly $10,000 deficit. The other was about to close their doors. In both cases, the owners at the time were trying to make everything “as cheap as possible,” said Green.
He had worked as a coach at other gyms in the past. Seeing what was happening at the gyms he was taking over, Green knew he had to do something different. For his business to become profitable, not to mention viable long-term, he needed a different business model entirely.
Fast Forward to Today.
Not only has Green been a member of PushPress’ Customer Experience team for the last 10 months, the membership fees at his CrossFit gyms are now $475 a month. This is possible, he said, because he and his team offer “high-touch coaching.”
In other words, “the emphasis during the sales process is getting people to see they need to work with a coach one-on-one,” he said.
Practically speaking, this means they offer hybrid memberships. Clients go to group classes but also meet with their coach for a personal training session once a week.
In addition, his gyms only need to have 15 group classes on their schedule weekly. Ultimately, this keeps coaches from burning out when they have to coach back-to-back-to-back CrossFit classes.
Further, clients also pay an additional $125 a month for nutrition coaching. They way the program is set up means coaches work just 30 minutes a month to service each client. This has been particularly valuable for the coach and the business.
Differentiating Is The Key.
Green said he’s able to charge $475 a month for a CrossFit membership because his gyms are differentiating themselves. They dig into what clients have done before, why it didn’t work, and how the services his team offers are different.
“Because almost everybody has tried something before. I tried this and I tried that, so we’re kind of up front saying we’re not going to do that. You cannot sign up for something that you already know doesn’t work, but here are the options that you haven’t tried before. That’s one-on-one coaching and nutrition and personal training,” he said.
“Because we know that people can’t reach their goals without a high quality lifestyle,” he continued.
In a nutshell it comes down to this: You need to do more than just a CrossFit work out. If people aren’t sleeping well or eating well, then they will not get to where they want to go, Green said.
“I know for a fact that you can come here twice a day, six or seven days a week, and you’re not going to get to where you want to go (without the other aspects of your life in place),” he said.
“And I have to have integrity as a human being. So we just won’t sell somebody something that will not get them to their goals,” he said.
“We’re really trying to get them to see why you are where you are, and how we are going to do this differently so you don’t have the same outcome that you had before.”
How PushPress Is Helping.
After trying just about every other client management software on the market for his CrossFit gyms, Green switched to PushPress and hasn’t looked back.
He credits PushPress with making his life a whole lot easier as a double-gym owner. It saves him a ton of time, all the while being easy to use and providing value-adding tools for his clients.
For example, PushPress software has made it simple for him to track his members’ attendance, so he can then celebrate them for their consistency.
Part of the way he does this is through his Hall of Fame program, where clients’ pictures go up on the wall after they reach 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 workouts.
Pro Tip: Schedule a demo today to find out how PushPress can help you track your gym members’ attendance and run your gym more effectively!
“The thing we focus on is consistency over intensity, so our main goal is just to get members to keep coming. Twice a week for the next ten years is way better than four times a week for a year,” he explained.
More Than Just CrossFit Memberships.
Also, PushPress’ store kiosk has allowed Green to sell merchandise in his CrossFit gyms, from protein powder and FitAid to apparel. This takes little to no effort, either on his part or on the part of the customer.
“The most important part is that it makes it as easy as possible for people to buy,” he said.
But “his favorite part about it” is how it creates a rolling tab for each client. Then at the end of the month, there’s an auto-close feature built into the system. It automatically bills the client for their entire month of purchases in one single transaction.
It sure beats the “IOU” days from the gyms Green used to work at. Further, it means he doesn’t have to pay a fee for every transaction, as each client is only billed once a month.
It’s a hands off experience for the CrossFit gym owner and an easy-to-use system for the client. The business earns some easy revenue that it might not otherwise make in the process.
Ultimately, Green believes PushPress, because of its time-saving abilities and value adds, is a key part in what will help him reach his ultimate goal: To avoid burning out so he can stay in business long term.
“I don’t want to burn out in six years. Cause that’s about the lifetime of your average gym owner. They just can’t take it anymore. I don’t want that life,” Green said.
“I want these gyms to be open in 100 years.”
