From 1 to 7 Orangetheory Fitness Locations | The GSD Show

Summary

In this insightful interview, Matt Kafora, a multi-business entrepreneur, discusses his journey and strategies for scaling businesses efficiently. As the owner of seven successful Orangetheory Fitness locations, four senior care facilities, and the CEO of Canine Games, Matt shares his experiences in building a strong team, creating systems for business scalability, and the importance of marketing and sales in growing a fitness brand. He emphasizes the significance of a people-centric approach, providing exceptional customer experiences, and the power of consistent follow-ups in sales. Matt's commitment to his team's success and his passion for continuous learning are highlighted as key drivers behind his prosperous ventures.

Takeaways

• 🧘 Matt Kafora is a multi-business owner with seven profitable Orangetheory fitness locations, four senior care facilities, and a dog training company, demonstrating the ability to scale and manage multiple businesses effectively.
• 📊 Despite suffering injuries that incapacitated him, Matt's businesses continued to thrive, highlighting the importance of having strong teams and systems in place for business continuity.
• 💡 The episode emphasizes the significance of creating systems that allow businesses to scale and operate efficiently even in the absence of the owner.
• 👥 Matt attributes his success to having a strong team of around 125 employees across all his businesses, emphasizing the importance of every role in the organization.
• 🤝 He stresses the importance of building relationships and a family atmosphere within the business, which contributes to employee retention and a strong company culture.
• 📈 Matt shares his learnings from his first presale experience, highlighting the importance of investing in marketing and the value of learning from initial struggles.
• 💰 He discusses the financial aspects of running a business, including the importance of understanding and managing numbers, with a focus on maintaining a salary cap between 30-40%.
• 🎯 The concept of lifetime customer value is discussed, with strategies to increase it such as upselling to premium packages and retaining members for longer periods.
• 🚀 Matt talks about the importance of recognizing and rewarding employees for their successes, which can include both monetary bonuses and non-monetary tokens of appreciation.
• 📚 The transcript underscores the value of continuous learning and development, with Matt recommending books like 'The Compound Effect' and 'The Energy Bus' for personal and business growth.
• 💡 The importance of quick and quality follow-up with leads is highlighted, with Matt sharing his strategies for personalized and creative communication to convert leads into paying members.

Q & A

What is Matt Kafora's business background?

Matt Kafora is the owner of seven profitable Orangetheory fitness locations, an area director in franchise, owner of four senior care facilities, and the CEO of the dog training company, Canine Games.

How did Matt's transition from big box gyms to boutique fitness studios affect his business?

Matt found that moving to the boutique fitness space allowed for better personal connections with clients and staff, which contributed to a more successful and enjoyable business experience compared to the big box gym environment.

What is the significance of having a strong team in managing multiple businesses like Matt's?

A strong team is crucial for managing multiple businesses as it allows the owner to delegate responsibilities, ensuring each business runs smoothly and efficiently without constant direct supervision.

How does Matt create a culture of hard-working employees in his businesses?

Matt creates a culture of hard-working employees by building personal relationships, showing genuine care for his employees, and fostering a family-like atmosphere where everyone feels part of the team.

What was Matt's approach to scaling his business and ensuring it could run without him?

Matt focused on creating systems and processes that could be duplicated across his businesses. He ensured that his team was well-trained and capable of maintaining operations in his absence.

How did Matt handle the challenge of managing a growing business while dealing with personal injuries?

Matt relied on the strong team and systems he had in place. His business continued to operate and even improved during his recovery, demonstrating the effectiveness of his team and business structure.

What is the importance of investing in marketing during the pre-sale phase of a new business location?

Investing in marketing during the pre-sale phase is crucial for generating leads and securing a client base before the business opens. This ensures a strong start and helps to cover the initial costs of the pre-sale process.

What is Matt's strategy for converting digital leads into paying members?

Matt's strategy involves a systematic and organized approach to following up with leads. He emphasizes the importance of speed, quantity, and quality in follow-ups, as well as personalizing the outreach to engage leads effectively.

How does Matt ensure that his employees are motivated and performing at their best?

Matt motivates his employees by setting clear goals, providing regular feedback, and offering rewards and bonuses for achieving targets. He also focuses on maintaining a positive work culture and building emotional connections with his team.

What is the role of sales in Matt's business model and how does he approach it?

Sales play a critical role in Matt's business model as it directly impacts membership growth and revenue. He approaches sales with a focus on providing excellent customer service, building relationships, and creating a supportive and enthusiastic atmosphere.

How does Matt measure the performance of his employees across different roles?

Matt measures employee performance based on specific metrics relevant to their roles. For sales associates, it's leads and sales conversion. For coaches, it's retention rates and adherence to corporate standards. Managers are evaluated on overall studio performance, including sales, retention, and staff happiness.

Outlines

00:00

🏋️‍♂️ Scaling a Fitness Empire with Systems and Teamwork

Matt Kafora, a successful entrepreneur in the fitness industry, discusses his journey from managing big box gyms to owning seven Orangetheory fitness locations, an area directorship in a franchise, four senior care facilities, and the CEO of Canine Games. Despite suffering injuries that immobilized him, his business thrived due to the strong systems and team he had in place. The episode focuses on creating scalable systems and running a business that can operate without the owner's constant presence. Matt emphasizes the importance of a reliable team, effective marketing, and the use of CRM software like UpLaunch to manage leads and improve client relationships.

05:03

🌟 Building a Culture of Dedication and Care

Matt Kafora shares his strategies for creating a company culture that fosters hard-working employees who are genuinely invested in the business. With over a hundred employees across his seven stores, Matt stresses the importance of communication, knowing what motivates his team, and building a familial atmosphere where everyone feels like they are part of something significant. His approach has led to a high level of employee retention and a strong, united team that contributes to the success of his businesses.

10:07

🚀 Lessons from the Presale: Marketing and Team Growth

Matt Kafora recounts his experiences from the presale phase of his business, highlighting the importance of investing in marketing and building a strong team. He admits to initial struggles and the pivotal moment when he decided to 'burn the boats,' fully committing to his business venture. Matt emphasizes the need for effective marketing strategies, especially during the pre-sale phase, and the importance of hiring the right people, like coaches, who drive the business and contribute to the member experience.

15:07

💰 The ROI of Marketing and Sales Strategies

In this segment, Matt Kafora discusses the return on investment (ROI) of marketing and sales strategies, particularly during the pre-sale phase of opening a fitness studio. He shares his insights on the importance of investing in marketing to generate leads and the need for a strong sales process to convert those leads into paying members. Matt also talks about the significance of digital marketing, the use of social media platforms, and the balance between traditional marketing and digital strategies to maximize ROI.

20:09

🔄 The Sales Process as a Team Effort

Matt Kafora explains his comprehensive sales process, which involves the entire team from the initial contact to the final sale. He believes that every member of his team, from sales associates to coaches and managers, plays a crucial role in the sales process. Matt's approach focuses on creating a personalized and community-driven experience for potential clients, emphasizing the importance of follow-ups and maintaining a consistent presence in the minds of potential members.

25:11

🤝 The Art of Personalized Follow-Up for Sales

Matt Kafora shares his tactics for following up with leads in a personalized and creative manner, which goes beyond standard check-ins. He discusses the importance of immediate follow-up, the use of video messages, and maintaining a high level of enthusiasm and engagement. Matt's strategy involves keeping the potential client at the forefront of the sales team's mind, even when scaling back the frequency of contact, and ensuring that the client feels cared for and supported throughout the process.

30:12

📈 Understanding Lifetime Customer Value and Retention

Matt Kafora dives into the concept of lifetime customer value (LCV) and the strategies he uses to retain members for longer periods, thereby increasing the LCV. He discusses the importance of moving members into higher-tier packages, providing a great member experience to encourage referrals, and the role of employee retention in maintaining a consistent and motivating environment for members. Matt also touches on the financial aspects of running a fitness studio, emphasizing the need to balance lead acquisition costs with the long-term value of retained clients.

35:14

🛠️ Systematic Training and Employee Retention

Matt Kafora outlines his systematic approach to training employees across all his locations, ensuring consistency and efficiency. He highlights the importance of having a clear vision for the company culture and hiring employees who fit that vision. Matt also discusses the significance of ongoing training and development, as well as the need for honest conversations about performance and goals. His methods have contributed to a low employee turnover rate and a high level of employee satisfaction.

40:15

💬 The Power of Feedback and Measuring Employee Performance

Matt Kafora discusses the implementation of a feedback tracker to improve employee performance and retention. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining a balance between constructive and positive feedback to foster a healthy work environment. Matt also explains how he measures the performance of different employees based on their roles and how he encourages self-assessment and goal-setting among his team members.

45:17

💰 Compensation Strategies for Sales and Service Teams

Matt Kafora shares his approach to compensating his sales and service teams, focusing on a balance between hourly wages and commissions. He believes in rewarding employees for their hard work and providing them with the motivation to excel. Matt also discusses the importance of celebrating victories and building an emotional bank account with employees, which contributes to a positive and supportive company culture.

50:18

📊 Financial Management and Benchmarks for Business Growth

Matt Kafora emphasizes the importance of understanding and managing financials for a successful business. He discusses the need to monitor expenses, payroll, and profits to ensure the sustainability and growth of the business. Matt also talks about the benchmarks he aims for in terms of salary caps and how he uses bonuses to reward his team for surpassing expectations.

55:21

🏆 Recognizing Success and Building Team Morale

Matt Kafora talks about the significance of recognizing and celebrating the success of both staff and members. He believes in creating a supportive environment where victories are acknowledged and shared. Matt discusses various ways he rewards his team, including monetary bonuses and other incentives that show he cares about their success and well-being.

📚 Embracing Continuous Education and Personal Growth

Matt Kafora highlights the importance of continuous education for personal and professional development. He shares his daily routine of reading and reflects on the impact of books like 'The Compound Effect' and 'The Energy Bus' on his mindset and business approach. Matt's commitment to learning and growth is a key factor in his success as an entrepreneur.

🌟 Prioritizing Energy and Culture in Business Success

In this final segment, Matt Kafora discusses the importance of energy and culture in creating a successful business environment. He emphasizes the need to avoid becoming an 'energy vampire' and to find the right 'seat on the bus' for each team member. Matt also shares his morning routine of reading and setting himself up for the day, illustrating his dedication to personal development and business growth.

Keywords

💡Orangetheory Fitness

Orangetheory Fitness is a popular workout franchise that focuses on high-intensity interval training. In the video, Matt Kafora, the guest, owns seven profitable Orangetheory Fitness locations, each generating over seven figures in revenue. The success of these locations is a testament to the business strategies and systems he has implemented, which is a central theme of the video.

💡Systems

Systems refer to the established procedures and processes that allow a business to operate efficiently and effectively. Matt Kafora emphasizes the importance of creating systems that enable scaling and running a business without the constant need for the owner's presence. This is crucial in his ability to manage multiple businesses, as he delegates tasks and ensures consistency across all his ventures.

💡CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

CRM is a technology solution designed to manage a company's interaction with current and potential customers. In the context of the video, CRM is mentioned as a tool trusted by gym owners worldwide to manage leads, improve retention, and build meaningful relationships with clients. It is an integral part of the marketing and sales strategies discussed by Matt.

💡Pre-sale

A pre-sale is a marketing strategy used to generate interest and secure customers before a business officially opens. Matt Kafora shares his experiences with pre-sales, emphasizing the importance of investing in marketing during this phase to ensure a strong start with a large member base. His first pre-sale resulted in 185 paying members, which he considers a learning experience.

💡Boutique Fitness

Boutique fitness refers to specialized, often niche fitness studios that offer a more personalized and higher-end experience compared to traditional gyms. Matt Kafora contrasts the boutique fitness experience with the 'big box' gyms, highlighting the personal connections, culture, and results that boutique spaces like Orangetheory Fitness provide.

💡Sales Process

The sales process is the series of steps involved in selling a product or service. Matt Kafora discusses the importance of a strong sales process in converting leads into paying members. He emphasizes the role of organization, consistency, and personalization in following up with leads and ensuring that no potential customer is lost.

💡Lifetime Customer Value (LCV)

Lifetime Customer Value is the amount of revenue a company can expect to generate from a single customer over the course of their relationship. In the video, Matt Kafora explains how understanding LCV helps in making informed decisions about lead acquisition costs and customer retention strategies, which are key to the financial success of his businesses.

💡Retention

Retention refers to the ability of a business to keep its customers over time. Matt Kafora discusses various strategies for retaining members, such as offering tiered memberships, upgrading members to premium packages, and ensuring that members see results from their fitness journey. Retention is vital for the recurring revenue and long-term success of a fitness studio.

💡Employee Turnover

Employee turnover is the rate at which employees leave a company and are replaced. Matt Kafora addresses the issue of employee turnover, particularly in the context of fitness instructors and coaches. He shares that some of his coaches have been with him for about five years, which is significant in the industry. Reducing employee turnover is important for maintaining a consistent and high-quality member experience.

💡Marketing Campaigns

Marketing campaigns are organized, strategic efforts to promote a product, service, or brand. In the video, Matt Kafora talks about investing in marketing campaigns during the pre-sale phase and the importance of digital marketing, such as social media platforms, for reaching a wider audience and generating leads.

💡Follow-up

Follow-up refers to the actions taken after an initial sales pitch or contact to maintain interest and close a sale. Matt Kafora stresses the importance of the speed, quantity, and quality of follow-ups with potential customers. He provides examples from his own sales process, such as sending personalized text messages and videos to engage leads and convert them into members.

Highlights

Matt Kafora, owner of seven profitable Orangetheory fitness locations, shares his insights on scaling a business.

Kafora discusses the importance of creating systems for business scalability and autonomy.

Despite injuries that incapacitated him, Kafora credits his team for improving the business during his absence.

The significance of building a strong team across different business verticals for effective management.

Kafora's transition from big box gyms to boutique fitness spaces and the benefits of personal connections.

The strategy behind investing heavily in marketing during pre-sales to ensure a profitable business opening.

The value of a personalized sales approach and creating a 'Cheers' atmosphere in the business.

Kafora's emphasis on the importance of employee retention and creating a caring company culture.

How Matt's team follows up with leads creatively to increase conversion rates.

The impact of tiered memberships on increasing lifetime customer value and business revenue.

Kafora explains the metrics and strategies for measuring employee performance across various roles.

The role of bonuses and recognition in motivating employees and fostering a positive company culture.

Matt's approach to compensating his sales team with a balance of hourly wages and commissions.

The necessity of understanding financials and setting benchmarks for a successful business expansion.

Kafora's personal commitment to daily reading and continuous learning for business and personal growth.

The significance of celebrating member victories and using their stories as powerful marketing tools.

Transcripts

today I'm here with Matt Kafora owner of seven profitable Orangetheory fitness

locations each doing over seven figures as well as an area director in franchise

owner of four senior care facilities and the CEO of the dog training company

canine games which is also doing some figures and very profitable I was forced

to open a second location from there although the last two businesses have

nothing to do with fitness I felt it was worth sharing with you as a topic of

this episode is all about creating systems that allow you to scale and have

a business that can run without you and since Mack can't be at twelve places at

once I believe he'd be an excellent guest for

this topic I ended up tearing both of my biceps literally can't do anything

believe it or not my business improved during this time which is which

is a huge credit to my team gym owners and fitness entrepreneurs are you doing

all you can to manage leads improve retention and build meaningful

relationships of your clients if not up launch can help built by gym owners for

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started toward a loud rumor bt calm again that's loud rumor VT calm

Matt got started in the fitness industry when he was just 17 years old

although he had a passion for fitness he realized his passion for the business of

fitness was much stronger enjoyed helping people getting them in shape I

was much better at sales than I was you know getting people to their goals I had

a hard time carrying a little more native so I moved into the sales side of

things and very quickly moved into management after I was able to teach

people how to do the sales process so that's kind of where it started and

that's where it stays like many fitness studio owners Matt got his start in the

big box gym world and what he's been able to do since then has been nothing

short of remarkable so I moved from the big box world and moved into the

Orangetheory fitness space started with 1 & 2 7 over just a couple years orange

it was a great model and from there it exploded my first one actually forced me

to open my second one because I was turning clients away because I was too

busy I mean terrible problem to have you know but it was a problem for sure

so I've stayed in that space and moving from the big box world to the boutique

world has been a a very drastic change but when I welcomed and wouldn't ever go

back to the box woman he's not alone many studio owners that came from big

box gyms have also shared that they never go back but I wanted to get Matt's

reasons as to why I like the people connection of the boutique space as

opposed to the numbers connection of the debacle you know the the people make

Orangetheory that people make the boutique space and that's junk just the

clients that's the clients that's the the staff and the relationships that are

built between that's what really separates that and I can I can back that

I can get on board that because I truly do care about people and then getting

results and then feeling like they're a part of something and the culture that

you're able to create in that small boutique space as opposed to the big box

where it's you know scan your car you know maybe I wave

don't maybe i grunt maybe i don't not my cup of tea

I like the YouTube space many studio owners have a hard time running just one

studio successfully it takes a great amount of work running seven seven

figure studio while also managing five other businesses that takes a great team

and there's a difference between owning a business and running a business Matt

is an owner and I want to learn more about the teams that he's built to run

them all so I have about a hundred and twenty five employees across all seven

of my stores some full-time some part-time I have everything from my my

sales associates to the front desk to my coaches to my head coaches to my studio

managers to a regional manager as well so it kind of is my org chart there if

you will but they they're all equally important in the in the system the

business couldn't function without eating one of those roles and they're

all very very value to what we do and to the experience that the members receive

having a hundred and twenty-five employees can be a lot of work

especially if you don't design a culture that gets each of them to give their

best and not need to be told what to do and when to do it I asked Matt what he

does to create a culture of hard-working employees that truly care about the

companies that they work for it's a lot especially when you know I'm in constant

communication with certain employees more than others I do try to make it

into all my locations and make sure I know everything they know me you know

and it's it's important to know your people because then you know what drives

your people what motivates your people and then they actually care about the

business when they care about you and they see that you care about them you

know so building that that relationship and some sort of you know family

atmosphere to where everyone feels that they're a part of something you know

typically they don't leave when they're a part of something I can tell you

firsthand Matt described his team perfectly my

wife marjan and I each got a membership to their Lake Pleasant location in

Peoria Arizona and most of the employees I've talked to have worked for Matt for

many years and talked about him as if he were a good friend or a family member

they also did an incredible job representing his vision when he wasn't

there as they taught each class with enthusiasm and really worked hard to get

every member to give their best but obviously Matt

didn't start with 125 Rockstar employees he started by himself and grew his team

from there I want to know more about what that part of his journey looked

like I started with I found coaches right away so we start in a presale

space so I signed my lease signed my life away that's the first time I've

ever done that you know food money put my house on the line that whole thing so

it was a burn the boat situation right I had to make this succeed otherwise I had

nowhere to live I couldn't feed my kid you know all of these things so it's

really important that I I own that for sure but I start there

and I found coaches and I found coaches knowing that I wasn't gonna be open for

3-4 months during my whole build-out in the pre sale process but the coaches are

what drives the business that's the experience that the members receive and

that's what I'm able to deliver with my product my services if I don't have that

I have nothing right so I start there I ran the pre sell myself for quite some

time so I was out in the Sun under a tent you know soliciting random people

soliciting businesses signing up members and things like that I was able to bring

someone else on at that point in time and you know help assist the preset

process again I'm thinking I need to control my payroll you know I don't have

an income at that point I've burned the boats and this has to work

so I started there once the business grew you know I worked in the store

quite a bit as the studio manager if you will had my coaches had my sales

associates to help you know offset the hours and things because of course I

can't do everything although I tried you know and then from there I was able to

to grow it and scale it and then I brought in a manager to oversee that

store as I went on for presale number two like many entrepreneurs I've made

many mistakes and learn from them all I talked with him at about his first

presale and last presale to see what he's learned and improved along the way

as he's incredible at this part of his business and opens each of his locations

with hundreds of paying members that stick around for longer than the average

studio member that the first preset was a was an eye-opening experience for me

like I said I burned the boats I had nothing

you know as far as other streams of income this was it this was the only

thing that I had and now I'm going on a three or four month you know income

hiatus if you will you know and I and I knew I had to make it happen and I did

it but I failed I struggle you know it was it was hard you know I tripped over

a lot of a lot of stones in that process I actually opened up my first studio

with 185 paying members I don't know if it was good or bad I didn't I I knew

when I needed more but 185 paying members hurt you know within 12 months

we were kissing a thousand members of them so the exponential growth was

insane I wish that would have started at five hundred members and more and I

couldn't imagine where that studio would be now but what did I learn through that

process was you know I was I was scared I was scared financially because I

needed to hold whatever money I had and I was scared to you know invest in some

marketing and you know how do I could I go back and start from one again that's

exactly what I've done is you know if it costs me you know X amount of dollars in

marketing month one and month to and month three in month four and that ramps

up and that grows do it do it it's worth every penny right and I know you're

sitting there you know nodding your head and shaking but it's true you know I

wish I would have known that you know six years ago when I started that as

opposed to I'm so scared about the money and the income that let me try and hold

on to this and let me see if I can pound the pavement and beat the streets

because that's the mindset that I was so used to at the big box let me go flyer

let me go do door hangers let me you know see if I get out in front of the

masses that way I didn't do very well with that as far as you know numbers

goes and I wish I would have invested more in in the marketing dollars and

invested more you know in conjunction with the the pound the pavement

guerrilla marketing if you will the presale can be a make or break part of

any business many businesses run out of money before

their doors even open and being able to start day one and profit is an

incredible way to kick things off Matt as well as many other successful

fitness studio owners believe in investing more marketing dollars during

those three to four months prior to opening to make sure that this happens

how much do you think Matt invests per month during his pre-sales I I would do

truly at least ten thousand dollars a month and you know for a lot of people

in in this boutique space you know that it's their first or second store that

probably sounds like a little bit more and just insane amount of overkill

because they drop of thirty forty thousand dollars in a pre-sale process

so you don't see that return for you know however long but the ROI on that

number is insane right you know just to kind of put things in perspective my my

seventh presale as opposed to my first presale my seventh presale was five

times better than the first one you know and and I still think the perso could

have been better from there but you know five times better than pre still number

one right it's nuts ten thousand dollars per month probably

seems like a lot of money and it is but if Matt spends thirty thousand dollars

over the three months prior to opening and that thirty thousand generates five

hundred paying members which is something that every Orangetheory

fitness studio and our aims to open with and those members pay about a hundred

and fifty dollars a month that's $75,000 of a monthly recurring revenue not a bad

way to open your doors especially when your overhead is most likely under

thirty thousand dollars per month this difference in profit allows you to

continue that level of marketing so you can inevitably double that member

account as matt has but you don't want to spend your money blindly you want to

invest it in the marketing avenues that have the highest and quickest return

with the least amount of effort so the mass market is is where it's at right

I've done the guerrilla marketing that's the that's the world that I came from I

still think that's tried-and-true despite where technology's gone despite

the the Facebook and Instagram and the YouTube and you know all of those things

I think those are you know insanely important and exponentially you know

better as far as you know getting a return on it but there's something to be

said for the you know client engagement face to face to you know getting

two parking lots and beating the street that way door hangers you don't get the

return that you do from you know the the social media platforms and things and I

think dollar for dollar it's still something you need to do you need to

touch that space but primarily my marketing dollars would be spent to you

know allocate those towards the social media platforms for sure you can just

touch so many people and then engaging those people and the people of those

people and those people's people you know it just makes a lot more sense so I

probably allocate seventy percent of that towards the the social media space

digital marketing is a tool of giants for people like Matt and many others

that have led the way for fitness studios all over the world and

conferences like GST Khan and programs like loud rumor VT allow us to be owners

to learn exactly how to do this right so you get the best use of every dollar you

spend that brings me to the next important step sales you can have a

great marketing campaign and if your sales game isn't strong you may find

yourself wasting money a few months back I interviewed 4.4 billion dollar ad

agency owner Jordan Zimmerman listen to what he said when I asked him about this

do you ever have brands that you work with or have you had brains do you work

with I have so much potential and you run great ads for and all the marketing

does this job but the sales process that they have afterwards is somewhat broken

or not as sophisticated like you already know the answer I know I'm absolutely

listen you know great advertising too bad brands right does it work okay I'd

rather have okay advertising to great brands at least I know it'll work

operationally a brand has to be set up a brand has to be ready for digital

traffic and the conversion of that digital traffic through their BDC their

business development centers okay back to Matt let's dive into his process on

how he converts his digital leads into paying members it's all about the

organization you know you and I spoke earlier about you know how you do one

thing you do all things the OCD that I have

it's crazy right so but organizing those things and being so OCD with them again

I go back to my days where I I didn't have the income and I didn't have the

money and it's like okay if I get a hundred leads I can't not stop calling

these leads I can't afford to not call these leads I can't afford to lose one

lead you know I need to follow up with those I need to stay consistent with

those I need to you know continuously touch them to ensure that nothing falls

through the cracks so truly it's the organization of putting the systems in

place to be able to grow and scale that whether it's 10 leads 100 leads 10,000

leads and again based on those marketing dollars that's the goal is to make those

and leads come through you know at crazy numbers you've probably heard the phrase

the fortune is in the follow up and I believe this to be true this goes for

the speed in which you follow up the quantity and the quality the speed a

study done by MIT proves that you have a 900 percent greater chance of making

contact with the form lead if you call within the first five minutes quantity

more than eighty percent of sales are made between the fifth and twelfth

contact yet more than 84 percent of salespeople and business owners admit to

discontinue their follow up by the third contact in quality companies like mine

and Matt's use different ways to reach out to leads to make it fun and

different he'll talk about that later in the episode but before we get into that

let's hear what his sales process looks like end to end as Matt's made it a real

team effort at his companies the sales process starts from the very beginning

the very first time that they're touched so that engages my entire team are there

people that are designed and designated to complete the sales process yes but

every single person on my team understands and is a part of the sales

process because that client of mine touches every single person in there and

everything is a sale so the first point of contact is my sales associate

typically you know they're feeling the phone calls they're

guess they're you know going through their goals and finding out what's what

we can do to help them from there my coaches touch it

that's what that's what delivers our product you know the sales associate

talks to the coach and says hey this is mrs. Jones is going on

you know mrs. Jones needs help you're the fitness professional help mrs. Jones

out mrs. Jones goes through the workout with you know one of my coaches the

coach comes back out prescribes to them you know hey mrs. Jones based on your

goals here's what we need from you hands it back to my sales associate who then

presents a different membership options based on their votes the studio manager

gets involved for any assistance that's needed again I want familiar faces I

want the client to know everyone this year's atmosphere is what separates the

B teams in the big box that's what keeps people there I want mrs. Jones to know

every single person in there and I want every single person in there to know

mrs. Jones know we're kids how was Billy soccer game you know what's going on

with the vacation where we have with your goals I want all of those things so

to answer your question yes yes everyone is a part of the sales process because

they need to be having a cheers atmosphere meaning everyone knows your

name and there's a real community in the business isn't easy to do and when you

have a thousand members having all your employees know every member's name can

be a tough request so how does Matt ensure that this happens at each of his

locations when a client comes in to me they unbeknownst to the client

oftentimes they are giving us the responsibility of their goals and that's

something that I chat with my team all the time about is when Mike walks in

it's no longer Mike's job to get to Mike's goals it is now our job Mike has

now entrusted us with getting him to his goals so what does he need some guidance

accountability motivation you know and if they don't genuinely care about you

and care about your goals we're not gonna get there unfortunately

people don't always love working out it's hard and get sore it's

well it's an hour out of your day that you don't give back you know we all know

we need to do it but it's not always at the forefront of everyone's brain so how

can we make this enjoyable how can we provide that support system how can we

show that care to show that we truly truly want Mike to get to his goals we

have to care you don't care we're in the wrong business it's a people business

it's a people business otherwise known as a relational business a few weeks

back we launched one of our most popular GST Story episodes with Pedro school Ian

founder of Fit Body Boot Camp a franchise approaching a thousand

locations he to bolete studio owners need to see it this way so it all starts

their vision mission values so are they hard-working are they echo do they

believe in fitness or do they just want to make money from the franchise that's

the case there's Jiffy Lube and there's Subway go be a sandwich artist or change

oil in the car right that's a transactional business we are in a

relational business and so for someone to say hey look in their application I

want to make lots of money and I'm off I'm a capitalist man like I love money

money is the vehicle to freedom money helps me help the causes that I believe

in but this is a service industry it's transformational what we do is not

transactional when you get a chance I strongly recommend going back to catch

the full episode with Pedro's as it's a fan favorite

okay back to Matt who by the way has an incredible sales process too many times

I hear people shy away from sales as they don't believe sales and customer

service are in the same family I believe the exact opposite and so does Matt

let's dive in his sales process and how he enhances a members experience during

it we call the leads immediately nights weekends whatever strike while

the iron's hot obviously your goals and point to you at that point in time if

it's 7 o'clock at night it's 7 o'clock at night

guess what Mike it's important to you then and now become support to us then

right it's important at that point from there you don't answer the phone you're

busy you're eating dinner you did it while you're in line whatever no problem

let me send you a follow-up text early in this episode I shared that the

quality of your follow-up was important and being creative can go a long way

with your leads compared to just checking in every time I promise you

that later in this episode Matt would explain how his team follows up

creatively so here we go the text for me have evolved we started out with a

follow-up text hey Mike we missed you you know we'd love to get you both seems

like you're interested double thing our text evolved we've gotten a lot more

creative with them and we've seen much better feedback with them so what we've

done is we've really personalized it again a text message is cool my dentist

sent them to me as well hey Matt you have a feeling tomorrow and I'm like oh

man it's terrible right so I don't want to be a dentist office right Fitness is

not the dentist office any dentists I apologize you know but it's not a

dentist's office it needs to be Disneyland it needs to be something

that's enjoyable because to most people it's not so how can we make this

enjoyable how can we make it personal how can I show that I care about Mike's

goals what we've done now Mike is we've we've created something to wear yes we

sent a text message we sent a text message with members of my team saying

hey Mike and we talked to you you know we're talking to you we send you a video

we send you a boomerang we have something personalized for you so again

it goes back to the organization because that's important so we get a certain

number of leads you know we always need and want more leads but why wouldn't we

invest the time and energy into the ones that we have to ensure that we're gonna

get the most bang for our buck so let's personalize it let's really reach out

and touch Mike's heartstrings at that point I'm gonna leave it the Disneyland

voice now I'm gonna be you know over-the-top excited energized engaged

and asking you hey where yeah you expressed some interest let's catch in

here from there again it's the text message with the video

the boomerang with you know something exciting and personalizing it for you

I'm gonna keep following up Mike you've now given me the responsibility of your

goals you've entrusted me with getting you to your goals whether you are aware

of it or not you have from when you submitted your name and number and your

email to me it's not my job to get you in here it's now my job to get you to

your goals and my team embraces that mindset so I'm gonna keep calling you

I'm gonna keep sending you text messages we're gonna get creative with it Mike

where you been we haven't seen you man we're so excited for you to get in here

you know it's been two weeks guess what you could have burned X amount of

calories with us in two weeks we could be down this far we're yeah let's get

you in here you know we're sharing a little bit knowledge we're sharing a

little bit of that that guidance that motivation and we're personalizing we're

trying to touch your heart through that text message through that phone call

through that voice mail through that email and I'm gonna keep and reaching

out until you tell me hey Matt I'm not interested Mike we were interested at

some point so when you're ready to be you know interested again you let me

know I'm gonna reach back out to you in 30 days you know and it's it's again

it's our job so I think once everyone embraced that mindset of you've now

entrusted me with getting to you to your rules whether you are aware of it or not

as the client you have so once they embrace that and we show the care and

that's what seemed to go very very well for us Matt and many other successful

studio owners I speak with send text messages with personalized videos in it

but it did learn that this process has a glitch if you're sending iPhone to

iPhone or droid a droid for example the video comes out perfectly but if you

send a video text from an iPhone to a droid sometimes the quality distorts

quite a bit and it really ruins the experience my team uses a free app that

you can download on your phone and it's called vidyard go video you can just as

quickly shoot a video through the app and send it to anyone in a text without

worrying about losing quality WeVideo texts a lot here at my company

works extremely well okay so that's an example of quality follow-up we also

talked about the importance of speed and quantity of follow-up Matt broke this

part down for us to leave comes in the morning you're there in the morning your

job to call immediately you know five minutes call get them in there you know

they're excited then we're excited then get them in you don't touch them in the

morning my evening team comes in guess what Mike was excited this morning

he's probably at work today I called him I text him let's touch base with it one

more time today and ensure that we can try and reach out

to him because again it's our responsibility now to get Mike to his

goals he's excited we're excited for him follow up the next thing and the next

day for about the first week we're gonna touch every day you know you were

excited then we're just as excited and motivated to get you in because they're

your goals after that maybe we scale back to you know three or four days a

week but I'm still touching Mike I still want to be at the forefront of your

brain you know with marketing we need seven to eight touches before okay I'm

ready I need those touches keep touching keep touching keep touching something

may spark it because you're gonna get back on Facebook at some point maybe

scrolling through hey this is that this is okay I'm ready for I see Orangetheory

they've called me three times they sent me the cool text they sent me the funny

guy doing this Matt in my video okay the final touch you know but we'll keep

going like that and I'll still touch them all three or four times a week you

know thirty days later okay you know we'll still touch with the phone calls

and the text messages and the emails again until that person says I no longer

want you responsible for my goals I'm still responsible for me so why did the

best work so hard to follow up with leads why work so hard for just one sale

well there are a few reasons one reason many don't think of is that that one

sale that you make today could be the sale that changes your business it could

be the member that refers you to their boss and he signs up 60 of his employees

with you in a corporate deal or a member that eventually becomes your best

employee and sells memberships better than anyone you've ever had I've signed

up customers that are worth 80 customers when it comes to how much they spend and

how much they refer to my business the other reason we work so hard for a sale

is because we've done the math and learned

with the real lifetime customer value is for our members once you really know

that number it's hard not to follow up consistently as you really feel the

money you're leaving on the table there are a few different ways to break that

member value down so let's see how Matt does it well we break it down based on

obviously the membership type that we sell you know based on our membership

numbers you know each of these clients we we keep a client in between 8 and 10

months on average at $159 a month you know so I have no problem with my my

lead acquisition costs at you know $20 you know of course I'd like it lower all

the time right but based on the ROI on that you know and it's my team's job to

retain them longer than that you know need the analogy that I that I give to

my team is the water bucket I'm sure you've heard it before right so it's

it's my team's job to continuously pour water in the top of the bucket

inevitably there's a hold of out of the bucket people leave for whatever reason

they get sick family issues financial issues whatever the goal is to continue

to pour the water in that bucket and then I provide the marketing dollars as

well as their guerrilla marketing outside to to drive the traffic to be

able to pour the water on top of that bucket so you know breaking down the

lead costs and things I'm less concerned about that and more concerned about

client retention because again it's delivering on our promise that we make

it's you know fulfilling the the responsibility that we have for those

client goals so the acquisition cost is less important to me because I know once

they're there I can retain their business I can retain them as a client

because we care I can get them results because that's what emergence theory

does you know we are we're a results based business you know when people see

results they don't quit you know go to work and get a paycheck you're you're

gonna go back to work getting your members to ascend a bigger packages that

costs more as a whole but les precession is a great way to increase lifetime

customer value the top studio owners do their best to move prospects into their

premium packages right from the beginning but for those members that

started smaller people like Matt and his team continue to keep an eye on them

and look for opportunities to bump them into the highest tier where the business

can earn more money and the member can gain better results faster

there's tiered memberships and again it's always going to be based on the

client and what their goals are and what they need sometimes we do you know need

to upgrade a member their goals don't change but maybe they're finding

themselves using things more often so instead of buying additional sessions

through me my teams are trained to do what's right for the member from a

business standpoint it makes way more sense for them to continue purchasing

additional sessions from me I'm gonna make more money on it from a morality

standpoint do what's right for the member so they stay with us so they

become walking billboards for us if we're doing what's right by them we're

gonna save them the money it's the world's easiest sale at that point hey

did you want to save some money sure another way to increase your lifetime

customer value is to retain your members for longer every additional month they

stay with you increases our value by that much more there are many things

that can negatively affect retention the most popular reason being they're just

not getting results the next most popular reason is employee turnover

their favorite instructors and their coaches that kept them motivated begin

to leave and just when they get used to the new coach they leave and this can be

terrible for member experience thus really hurting retention so how does

Matt keep his coaches and instructors for so long to make sure he eliminates

this type of negative impact so some of my coaches have been with me I think my

longest coaches have been with me for about five years since the Lake Pleasant

location actually opened pretty cool to think about that they've

they've enjoyed their time with with me with Orangetheory and more importantly

with my members for that long I mean especially in the fitness industry in

that space that's unheard of for people to stay around the home I try to

interact with them I you know they they know me I know them you know one of my

coaches has been play for five years like I just reached out to me other day

every time I'm in a store I seem to have missed him based on his schedule just

shot him a quick text the other day hey haven't seen you for a little bit how

are you how's the family how are things zero work-related it's not a you need to

do this or what's happening there it's truly paint how are you I haven't

talked to you for a little bit are you doing okay how's the family how's the

kids you know I truly think those little touches again we talked about caring

about our members you know we have the internal external customers those are my

internal customers you know they they at the end of the day you know are my

people you know you don't care about your people that I could stay the first

step to building a great team of employees is creating a vision of what

you want your culture to look like a few episodes ago we had author of the vivid

vision Cameron Herald on where he explains step by step how to do this

once you have the vision you are constantly hiring people that fit that

vision and developing employees to fit it better and better each day my team

kind of goes by the mantra train I'm a trainer right so I think it goes back to

I always look to myself and my team first are we doing everything that we

possibly can to ensure Mike's success if not it's on us so training right we take

a very systematic approach to it over the past six or seven years that I've

you know had all these locations it has streamlined itself you know with the

help of the franchise but more importantly I've created a pretty

systematic approach to train everyone from my sales associates to my coaches

to my managers to the point where there's even a binder anybody can walk

in and learn exactly what to do and walk through step by step by step and I think

that's how I've been able to scale and scale to a point that everyone is on the

same page so everyone has an interchangeable cog piece if you

well I can move you from one location to another location and the things gonna

skip a beat because the systems are the same you know while the well the people

are different systematically you're running the same

business time and time and time again so to be able to train you know my managers

that way to be able to train my sales Sosa to my coaches that way is really

important one of my favorite books and a favorite amongst many entrepreneurs is

the e-myth revisited by Michael Gerber Michael explains that people shouldn't

run a company great systems should run a company and great people should run the

systems people like Matt understand the importance of this and live by it having

great systems and training on those systems dramatically increases the

likelihood of your employees doing great work but what happens when you do come

across an employee that refuses to follow systems or just can't seem to

keep up with the other employees no matter how much you train them so

oftentimes it's an honest conversation nine times out of ten they know that

it's coming because we're big on goal setting so I sat down with my managers

at the beginning of the year and you know we talked about goal setting so I

said Mike I want to know three personal goals for you and I want to know three

professional goals for you what are we looking to accomplish this you know

again going back to knowing your people and genuinely caring about your people

you might some people who hey I want to you know invest you know this amount of

money into my retirement this year so guess what we've touched on that a

couple times hey work work hold of the way through the year where we at with

this how can I help facilitate this do you one of my financial team do what

what what can I do for you how can I serve you I know I have a lot of the

right people right so maybe they're not the right seat on a bus maybe I can use

them in a different capacity if not that's okay you know because these

measurable goals they understand that a lot of times they'll come to me and say

hey I'm not meeting my goals I'm not meeting my expectations it's nothing

that you've done nothing that you haven't provided to me I think I need to

do something in a different area because I

don't want to let you or the business where my team down and I think that's a

that's a very hard conversation for someone to have that's a very hard look

in the mirror to have and it's awesome it's awesome as a person to be able to

sit there and say I can't do this this isn't for me it's not it's not anyone

else's fault it's just not a good fit I can't do it and often times we have

those conversations and those conversations happen before I even have

to say anything which is which is great you know it that means that I know I

hired the right person at heart and they're just not a good fit

having these honest conversations can only happen if your employees are scored

and measured they have to know if they're meeting expectations just as

much as you do otherwise your honest conversation can

come as a total shock to them I asked Matt about how he measures the different

employees at his studios I mean obviously each employee is measured

differently based on you know what what department they're in it and what their

job title and skill set is sales associates pretty easy right they have

they have leads to generate they have you know calls to make and at the end of

the day sales to make right so pretty easy to break that down what's a little

bit more difficult or my coaches coaches don't have necessarily that same

scorecard but they have the retention scorecard they have the helpful your

glasses scorecard they have are you meeting the the corporate standards and

the metrics and the parameters that I set to ensure that we're delivering the

best possible product and the best possible experience to our members you

know my managers they're overseeing the entire operation they're the same thing

hey its sales its retention it's you know how happy are your staff are we

retaining our staff where we at with all of those things so everyone has a little

bit different scorecard but the end of day it's about the experience right so

the better the experience from the the sales associates for those members the

more members will gain from there the better the experience for the members

through the coaches the more members will be in the coaches classes you know

the better the experience for the team the better the numbers look for the

studio manager when it comes to salespeople

they're the easiest to measure and the most difficult to manage and many sales

focused organizations the best salespeople are often paid more than

some of the c-level executives and my company I find this to be true as well

sales is hard and most people are either afraid of doing it don't want to do it

or can't do it finding people that aren't afraid want to do it and do it

extremely well should be paid appropriately I wanted to see how Matt

compensates his sales people we know Commission's we do hourly plus

commissions I think that's really important because people like to be

rewarded people like to be rewarded for their work I don't want people to stress

about money so there's always the hourly the base pay my experience with this

industry as a whole is you don't want the base pay too high because I'll even

kick back and relax you don't want it so low that you know we're strapped and

stressed for money and strapped for cash sort of things so finding that balance

right there but commissions are important you know because people want

to be paid what they're worth and it gives them that drive factor to get out

and do more to reap the benefits of their hard work there's nothing better

than my sales associates coming in high-fiving me when I walk in and saying

Matt I did this today and I'm like man that's awesome you know I walked in and

one of the girls told me the other day you know my commission check just wasn't

wasn't what it normally is you know and again it's it's we're talking about 1819

you will grow at this point saying hey I had a hard look in the mirror and I said

Mike my check isn't what it normally is you know I need to step up my game

that's not a conversation that I had that's a conversation that she had with

herself and I was privy to that when she told me that it's a pretty cool thing to

hear when they say I know I need to do better here's my plan let me share this

from there I'm applauding every victory that she has and she's proud of those

victories that she wants to tell me more she wants to win and Nate Lee people

want to win they don't want to lose they want to be good at what they do they

want to be good at their job it's my job and my manager's job to play that

support role to Pat them on the back to high-five them to celebrate their

victories and by doing so I build that emotional

bank account with them because every 10 Pat's on the back

inevitably I'm gonna have to give them a kick in the butt but if I don't have

that 10 to one ratio I'm always kick them in the butt

very their experience is bad they don't stay I'm doing a poor job retaining my

team and providing a good experience to them a feedback tracker is a real thing

to focus on I learned this lesson the hard way I used to have pretty bad

employee turnover and couldn't figure out why I paid well gave vacations and

benefits and we had a cool place to work but my employee turnover was still

pretty bad I then had a coach tell me to create a feedback tracker just a simple

spreadsheet that listed all of my employees in the left column then the

next column was a spot where I can notch causative feedback and the column after

that was to notch constructive feedback I realized that I was at a 3 to 2 ratio

3 being constructive and 2 being positive my coach encouraged me to

adjust it so that I'm at a 3 to 1 ratio where I had 3 positive things to say for

every one piece of constructive feedback it was hard to do and I'd be lying to

you if I didn't tell you I was feeling a little bit authentic at times as to real

me just wanted to focus on the problems that needed to be fixed but I worked at

it and before I knew it I was authentically at that three-to-one ratio

that I was aiming for I built habits on purpose to get there and the culture has

never been better this was a recommendation that was made to me and

I'll pass on to anyone else looking to race culture in their business and when

you do these things and build a great team like Mantid you have the people

that you need to expand your business properly since matt has seven profitable

fitness studios I want to get his insight on when he knows it's time to

expand and how to do it successfully I was forced to open a second location

initially when I started I thought I was gonna do two or three the first one did

poorly with with the pre-sale right we discussed that from there and explore

again I treated that to the coaches and the systems that we had in place the

experience that the members receive it exploded to the point where you signed

up as a member I couldn't get you in for classes for a week two weeks I was

actually losing people because they could not utilize their membership again

you know haha that's a good problem but it's a real problem you know my my

revenue actually decreased because I got too full it was bad though I mean truly

in the social media age like it's bad people are complaining about their

experience because it was too full so that led to my second location less than

a year later out of necessity truly and it was kind of a release valve

that's you know I was able to open that up

get it open as fast as possible and it's you know ten minutes away to where okay

we can kind of normalize things a little bit more so when is it when is it time

to open another location you know that one happened out of necessity when is it

time and my best advice that I can give with that is when one is so so secure

and functioning so well that you can duplicate processes if that means you're

in it and you make up your business you can't duplicate it and that's the

hardest thing that I've seen and when I've talked to people is you know if

they are so much a part of the operation it makes it difficult duplicate find

somebody train them get them 80% what you are and then you can go do it again

if you can't duplicate you through systems and processes the 2nd 3rd 8th

15th location is going to fail if you've ever watched an episode of shark tank or

CNBC the profit you've already caught on to how much weight they put on the

entrepreneur really knowing their numbers and every coach that I've ever

had has challenged me to really understand them to Mack áfourá is a real

numbers guy I'm crazy about my numbers so I look at them quite often right I

look at my my some of the financials on a

amazes again it's my scorecard it's my scorecard for my team's because I'd like

to communicate with them where they're at where they need to go based on where

they're at and I like to know where we're at and how I can improve and what

I need to fix and work on to ensure the success of my team so I look at certain

things every day as far as that goes my actual pianos I look at you know

every two weeks every month and ensure that nothing's out of the ordinary if I

have anything trending up or down I want to look at things and ensure that I can

maximize and minimize based on where we're going you know now that's truly it

I mean just owning your numbers is so so important I talk to a lot of people who

don't know where they're at and I just add them how if you don't know where

you're at then how do you game plan where you're gonna go I don't know how

to plan my day unless I'm able to see certain parts of my financials and know

where I'm at you know how are you going without seeing that is beyond me okay so

if you don't know your numbers well already you've probably made the

decision to do so but what number should you be looking at and what benchmarks

should you be aiming for expenses are gonna more or less stay the same as far

as as far as payroll in the hard costs and things like that you know I like to

operate in that 30 40 percent larger you know and depending on the month and

depend the location all of those things but that's truly the bottom line I need

to be right around there to a sustain business to be grow business and then

ensure that you know we're staying successful and I'm able to continue the

successful friend you know but that's that's the sweet spot in this space you

know some are lower than that some are higher than that but that is truly right

where it needs to stay I was a part of entrepreneur groups called

yo and yo its elevator and that's where I first learned the phrase the revenues

for vanity profits for sanity and cash is king at the end of the day how much

cash your business is making truly determines that your business is winning

and that's what Matt is talking about here when you have a service-based

business your biggest expense is always going to be people and if you don't

manage your team and salary cap appropriately you may find yourself

running out of cash quickly I like to keep my overall salary cap on

40% and less some investing in revenue generating employees that will

temporarily set me over salary cap until they begin earning that profit back into

the business I asked Matt what he aims for regards to the salary caps in his

fitness studios yeah I mean I probably say around between 30 and 40 you know I

think again that's kind of the sweet spot if you I want to make sure my

people are compensated for what they do again I think that attributes a lot to

them staying for for a longer term and enhances the member experience because

of that I also don't want people to become complacent either so kind of find

that sweet spot and really kind of breaking it down from there I think is

important paying your people well is definitely one way that helps retain

them for longer bonuses are another great way to compensate employees when

going above and beyond what was expected of them matt has a lot of great ideas

around bonusing his team when they surpass expectations I think bonuses are

really important like I said I think people people want to be compensated and

people want to feel like they were rewarded for winning so we've done

everything from you know setting annual goals and if that's a certain revenue

increase in certain benchmarks across these different revenue increases you

know and it's cash is cool right cash is king that makes sense everyone loves

being paid everyone also loves being recognized

so I've done everything as far as you know hey here's a plaque Mike you've

really just killed it here's a plaque engraved with you engraved with what

you've done hang this up and be proud that's cool

Mike here's a backpack embroider with your name filled with some goodies you

know hey it's January you guys killed it and maybe this is an even numbers based

but like my team worked hard in January I get its fitness it's it's a hard part

of the year it's a fun part of the year but they've lost of their butts and it's

it's an intense time of year they're tired there's a goodie bag here's a you

know a care package if you will you know here's a day at the spa here's you know

some candy here's some coffee you're some

gift cards things like that you know when we talk monetary bonuses and things

I pay those out monthly to my team based on certain buckets that they that they

need and I've changed the comp plans over the years again trial and error

right I've failed many times it used to be an all-or-nothing sort of thing Mike

you hit this number you win this big bonus right you earned this

well it doesn't it take into account all the other buckets and all the other

parts of the the business that are equally important so then my team lost

sight of all those things because I didn't compensate for those things as a

result certain things start to slip you know so in stepping back and taking a

look in and really evaluating myself and having a how conversation with myself

it's man I missed the boat on that that was that was not very intelligent of me

to miss the boat so let's emphasize these certain things so let's look at

member retention let's look at of course sales let's look at staff retention

let's look at you know what are we doing as far as our product sales our product

sales you know on par with our membership sales are they all getting

heart rate monitors because that's what we do you know if we're not selling the

product and we can't deliver the service that we promised we're failing you know

so so ensuring that all of those bonuses and buckets are met on a monthly basis

it is big you know but again I'm such a huge fan of the the other bonuses that

show you know care outside of the paycheck so anything you're not given

with beach cruisers I've given my iPads Apple watches you know embroidered

backpacks just things that show that you kind of care go almost further than the

money and I say that tongue-in-cheek cuz everyone loves money but right it shows

that you do truly care truly caring about the success of your employees

helps build better relationships with them which in turn helps keep them for

longer the same goes for your members your members have to truly believe that

you care about their success and all of their wins your prospective members want

to see it too it helps them believe that joining your studio will give them a

better chance of succeeding than anywhere else if they see how vested you

are in your members goals demonio videos case studies and

documenting the successful journeys of your members is a great way to do this

people like sharing their victories and people should be rewarded for their

victories you know whether it's the staff of the members you know so I like

to highlight that I'm proud of you for getting to your goals Mike I know this

is hard you have a family you have a business you have this enough going on

in life I get it what I want to do is make this place awesome for you because

I'm proud of you for winning I'm proud of you for getting to your goals tell me

your story everyone's excited to tell their story

that's why there's all these you know reality TV shows and it follows them

through because everyone loves a good story so to be able to allow our members

to share their experiences share their victories and be proud of what they've

accomplished I'd be doing them a disservice if I didn't allow them to do

that so show a little bit of you know the workout before with their coach you

know have them talking a little bit before you know showing pictures of the

before you know maybe we catch a little bit during but primarily the after the

after is great because we can show the start we can show the end people like

measurable results both as an audience and as a participant you want to be

rewarded for your hard work if you go to work and you don't get a paycheck you're

not going back right it's the same with the gym if you show up for two months

and you see nothing I've lost you yeah that's my fault

I'm responsible for your goals so when we can celebrate those victories and

keep you motivated along the way and show these these videos and show the

start and show the end and have you talked about how impactful this has been

not only inside the gym but how much more life you know Orangetheory and

achieving your goals has given you that's big that's really big once we

have all of the transformation challenges and the before-and-afters and

everything that members have accomplished and achieve again people

want to be recognized and deserve to be

recognized so that goes out to everyone a lot of times that'll go into our email

blast to all of our numbers at each into the studio because inevitably if that

person is winning people know that person is they see him oftentimes they

see him a lot what else that does Mike besides recognizing that member is that

gives hope and motivation to other members because many of a a mother of

four who works full-time and you know takes care of the family and the kids

and this and that but she finds four hours a week to come in and she's down

thirty pounds in eight weeks because she's made this a priority and she's put

in the effort and she's received the guidance and the knowledge and the

accountability and Orangetheory someone else looks at that sees that

reads that says why not me these are the types of marketing assets i sell new

members into your studios and continue to sell existing members so they stay

and refer more to you but when you have seven studios you can't be the one doing

it it's a team effort which brings me back to the importance of having systems

in your business that people follow so these things get done without you and

Matt really learned the value of having this set up after two immobilizing

injuries that happen within the same two days of each other talk about a humbling

experience I've been working out for fifteen years I do some Orangetheory

classes of course and I do a lot of body building I ended up tearing both of my

biceps within about a two day time frame I'm in hard casts both arms 90 degrees

long hard cast and slings for about ten days literally can't do anything can't

scratch my nose can't take a drink can't eat on my own

very very difficult very humbling talk about losing some independence

ruff thankfully Mike teams that had in place

nothing skipped a beat in the business entrance believe it or not my business

improved during this time which is which is a huge credit to my team true they

knew I was going through some things and you know they were able to step up and

they were able to improve the numbers through this time it cool to look back

as as a business owner that I know that I have the right people in place that I

know that they have the right stuff to get things done even in my absence which

is really really cool I'm not saying that I want to go redo my injury just so

my numbers continue to improve but really nice to see that my team was able

to handle business in my absence and continue to do so after interviewing and

meeting with many successful entrepreneurs throughout my career I've

noticed that every single one of them values continued education not just in

Fitness but in business and communication I had a feeling that if I

asked a successful guy like Matt if he reads each day I wouldn't be

disappointed I do read a lot and I'm old school

right I like my my pen and my highlighter and I like a paper book one

of my all-time favorite books and it's so basic is the common effect Darren

Hardy okay compound effect and truly just talks about how all of these little

things make a huge difference when added up you know we talked about you know how

you do one thing you do all things you know if your car is a messy or your

house is a mess your life is a mess I can't I can't deal with that stuff but

Darren Hardy really breaks it down in this book and talks about how small

improvements consistently compound and all of a sudden make big things

any person who ever asked me for a book to read any of my new hires any of my

team who wants to improve wants to get better you know on top of the normal

books that I do you know monthly or quarterly as my team's that is my go-to

because it's so well written and so applicable to business to life too

Nation ships - you know the Jim whatever it is breaking those things down and

doing consistently and the other one I love believe it or not is the energy bus

so energy bus for me is really the epitome of my business it's again such

an easy read so quick so basic but it realigns people's mindset so quickly you

know talks about energy vampires and people who you know suck energy out of

the room and out of the business and out of the members and all the other staff

members don't be an energy vampire you know it talks about finding the right

seat on the bus for individual people maybe they're just not in the right seat

maybe we need to reassign their seat but keep them on the bus and keep them on

the team and it talks about you know how energy is everything and being in this

boutique space and in the fitness industry as a whole energy is everything

that's what creates the buying atmosphere in these boutique spaces if

you don't have the energy might as well close the doors you know that's true Lea

I actually wake up every morning it's been at least 30 minutes reading in my

office it's quiet it's dark before the world starts and that's when I do a lot

of my reading and it's daily that I do that it's really cool and it's kind of

my time to you know set myself up for my day and go from there clearly Matt likes

to learn and he likes to learn from the best

so I asked him if he could have dinner with anyone anyone in the world to learn

from who would it be I'm a huge huge market man I appreciate

everything that he's done the way in which he interacts and addresses people

and obviously the successes that he's had in multiple different arenas and you

know the the amount of candidness that he has is just amazing to me but truly I

think he's probably the guy that I would be like you you if I can talk to you

that's who I want to talk to you I've had the pleasure of knowing Matt for a

few years now and the conversations I've had with him have always been great this

one is no

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