This episode of Two-Brain Radio is short but powerful—just like the tactics it's about.

Tune in and learn how to make more money and improve retention with 12 simple text messages.

Links:

FOMO Alert: Three Minutes for Marketing (and Retention)
"Building $86,000 Monthly Revenue Through Retention (and Sales)" with John Heringer
How to Fix the Weak Links in Your Marketing Chain
Two-Brain Programming
Incite Tax
Gym Owners United

Timeline:

1:32 – You’re gonna want to hit “pause.”

4:13 – Why it’s more important to be clear than unique. 

5:53 – The three-minute drill to make more money. 

7:05 – Why it works.

The gym down the road from you isn't doing so hot. One day, you get a call from the owner: "Do you wanna buy my gym?"

There's a lot to consider—more than just gross revenue and client headcount.  How profitable is it? What mistakes and liabilities would you be acquiring? Do you actually need to buy that gym to get its clients?

Two-Brain Business founder Chris Cooper breaks it down step-by-step with exactly what to consider and how to crunch the numbers before you buy—or sell—a gym.

Links:

Driven Nutrition
Two-Brain Coaching
Free Tools
Gym Owners United

Timeline:

5:36 – How to determine what a gym is worth.

7:38 – Equipment and assets.

10:32 – Accounting for liabilities. 

14:22 – How it can all go wrong.

15:57 – Why you should interview the coaches before you buy.

17:13 – Talk to the seed clients.

18:39 – Buying out a partner.

20:01 – The importance of non-competes.

21:49 – The question you need to ask yourself before you buy a gym.

Ever seen an ad promising "exponential growth" with one easy trick? "Buy this lead program and grow your gym exponentially!"

It's a catchy buzzphrase, but true exponential growth—growth that continues to grow and expand on itself—requires intention.

Here, Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper shares how to make referral marketing an active process to achieve truly exponential growth.

Links:

Level Method
Drink O2
Affinity Marketing Cheat Sheet
"Help First"
Gym Owners United

Timeline:

1:01 – Defining “exponential growth.”

2:16 – What exponential growth looks like in the gym business.

4:00 – Create a culture of referral.

5:08 – How to ask for referrals.

9:29 – Play the long game.

10:57 – Using events to bring in new clients.

15:07 – The events that don’t work.

18:18 – Why you shouldn’t trade discounts for referrals.

20:24 – How discounts for long-term contracts hurt your business.

The three most important stats when it comes to marketing are these: Set rates (how many appointments you book), show rates (how many people actually show up to those appointments) and close rates (how many of those people actually buy something in those appointments).

In October, Kyle McGough of D1 Training Columbus led Two-Brain Business clients in all three. Here's how he did it.

Links:

D1 Training Columbus
Gym Lead Machine
Forever Fierce
Gym Owners United

Timeline:

2:22 – The challenges of being a “legacy” franchise.

5:24 – Flipping the system from high volume, low value to one-on-one relationships and high-value sales.

8:51 – Merging mentorship and the franchise model. 

12:33 – Franchise plus autonomy: The best of both worlds. 

15:27 – Implementing Two-Brain practices in to the D1 model. 

17:40 – The prescriptive model meets free trial workout.

23:14 – The intro and consultative process.

24:28 – One good month follows another: A peek at November’s numbers.

27:25 – How Kyle gets so many leads — and how he gets them to show up. 

33:19 – Who has time for all that lead nurture? 

36:14 – The secret to closing. 

39:11 – Finding the sweet spot between mentorship and the franchise model. 

You're an entrepreneur: You've got ideas, you're creative, and you want to do things your own way. We get that. But don't let your independent spirit cost you time and money.

Instead, ask yourself the same three questions Chris Cooper asks himself before he tackles any new business venture—and watch as you save gobs of resources.

Links:

Chalk It Pro
Arbox
Gym Owners United
Free Tools

Timeline:

1:51 – “Who has solved this before me?”

5:41 – “Who has solved this better than anyone else?”

7:50 – “What’s the average solution?”

10:10 – How to use the answers to those three questions to improve your business.

What's better than a free trial?  Providing value.

Free knowledge won't get you long-term clients. Providing something of value will — and value isn't free.

Here's Chris Cooper on the difference between value and price, and why you're doing yourself a disservice by offering free trials.

Links:

AGuard
Beyond the Whiteboard
Gym Owners United

Timeline:

1:08 – Value vs. price.

6:14 – Value is better than free.

9:54 – Knowledge doesn’t create value. Action does.

You want your coaches to make a good living at your gym. But how can you pay them more without hurting your bottom line?

It's not about giving staff a bigger piece of the pie, Chris Cooper says. It's about baking a bigger pie.

Here's how to do it.

Links:

Two-Brain Coaching
Two-Brain Programming
Gym Management: The Case for Part-Time Coaches
Intrapreneurialism 101
Go With Them

Timeline:

2:31 – You earn more money by creating more value for more people.

3:28 – Pay coaches more by helping them build their careers.

6:57 – The wrong way to pay coaches more. 

7:33 – Figure out what you can afford to pay per class.

9:34 – What to do if that figure is too low.

11:42 – The ratios stay the same—so bake a bigger pie.

12:15 – Should coaches get paid the same amount?

If there's a business book out there, chances are Chris Cooper's read it. That's good news for you, because it means you don't have to guess which ones are worth your while.

Here are Chris Cooper's top reads — books that actually made a measurable difference in his business — from 2021, as well as which ones you can stand to skip.

Links:

Incite Tax
Driven Nutrition
Gym Owners United

Timeline:

1:49 – “$100M Offers: How to Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No” by Alex Hormozi.

3:06 – “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less” by Greg McKeown. 

4:50 – “Steal the Show: From Speeches to Job Interviews to Deal-Closing Pitches, How to Guarantee a Standing Ovation for all the Performances in Your Life” by Michael Port.

6:24 – “Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day” by Jay Shetty.

7:40 – “The Dichotomy of Leadership: Balancing the Challenges of Extreme Ownership to Lead and Win” by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin.

10:01 – “Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life” by Jordan Peterson.

11:44 – “Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork” by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy.

14:29 – “Get Different” by Mike Michalowicz.

16:13 – The books you can skip from 2021.

The holiday season: Chris Cooper calls it the "black hole of hedonism." Schedules fill up, good eating habits go out the window for weeks on end and frustrated clients pause their memberships—or even quit altogether.

How do you keep your clients from getting sucked in?

Here's Coop on the best way to retain clients during the holidays.

Links:

Drink O2
Gym Lead Machine
Gym Owners United

Timeline:

0:46 – A coach’s greatest weapon during the holiday season.

1:48 – Give your clients a plan.

2:48 – The habits tracker.

4:04 – Go back to the CALM model.

Want to sell a higher-value service?  Or increase the value of the service you already provide? You've got to increase your "with-ness."

"With-ness" is the degree to which your service is a "done-with-you" service. That means you're not selling a commodity (done for you) and you're not selling an instruction manual (do it yourself). You're walking the path right alongside your client, giving them personalized attention and feedback and adjusting the course as needed. You're doing it with them.

Done-for-you and do-it-yourself services are not bad. But they're not what you're selling—at least not if you're selling high-value coaching.

Links:

Drink O2
Gym Lead Machine
Gym Owners United

Timeline:

1:21 – Lessons from Coop’s editor. 

4:37 – Why you’re worth big-ticket prices.

5:12 – Done-for-you services: Pros and cons.

6:35 – DIY: Pros and cons.

8:51 – Bridging the gap with done-with-you services.

9:42 – Benefits of the done-for-you approach.

11:06 – DIY and done for you: Neither is your competition.

14:26 – “With-ness”: Where the value is.

18:29 – What high-value coaching looks like.