So I got on a call with Adrian again. He runs an online fitness coaching business out of Ireland, and since the last time I saw him he actually scaled it. He’s at about 50 to 56K a month now, pretty consistent, and he wants to double it.
We went through his numbers live and I didn’t tell him to change his funnel or go after a new market. I gave him three things, in order, easiest to hardest.
Where his business was at
Let me give you his numbers so you can compare them to yours. He sells a 6 month program for 2,400 and a 12 month program for 3,600, so like 300 to 400 a month. He’s spending about 9 to 10K a month on ads, split between a VSL that goes straight to a booking page, retargeting and follower ads. Four part time coaches, paid per client.
Last month he had 101 calls booked, took 74 of them, and he’s closing at about 63%. That’s a great close rate. The sales side is working so well I told him not to touch it. If it’s working, leave it alone.
The problem was his time. He’s on sales calls from 12:30 to 9 at night. Mornings are the gym from 4:30 to 8:30, then about 3 hours of deep work. He’s also running fulfillment and managing the setters. He told me he’s out of time. And he’s right, he is.
Why I told him to stay on the sales calls
His first instinct was to bring in a sales guy and get off the phone. Sounds good in theory, right? So let’s do the math. Whoever you hire is usually about 80% as good as you. So the second you step off the calls you probably lose around 10K a month, and you go from 50 to 40. Then you pay them 10% of the 40K they closed, that’s another 4 grand. So you’ve basically lost 15 grand just by getting off the phone. And that’s if they’re good.
The thing is, nobody good is going to take sales calls for 5K a month. If they’re not making 10K a month, they’re probably not good, so maybe you lose another 20% on top of that. Now you’re at like 25 grand. You just cut your business in half to get some time back. Doesn’t make sense.
At 100K a month it’s a different story. If you drop from 100 to 80 while a new rep ramps up, it is what it is. Going from 50 to 25 is a massive hit. So I want people taking their own sales calls until about 100K a month, then you bring in the rep.
Number one, get your time back
This is the easiest one because nothing in the business has to change. You just have to decide what you want.
When I was at 50K a month, I knew that until I got to 100, basically nothing would change. So I sprinted. I gave up the long gym sessions for a while. Some weeks I’d go for an hour a few times and that was it. I was kind of chubby for a bit, not gonna lie. Now I go to the gym like 3 hours a day and I love it, but that’s because I have a team now and they just look at me for direction.
For Adrian, if he cut the gym from 3 hours to 1 and deep work from 3 hours to 1, that’s 28 hours a week back. I’m not saying he has to do that. But compare it to the 3 renewal calls he does on a Thursday. Those aren’t what’s eating his week. The gym and the deep work are.
After that, I’d make his best coach the head coach and let them run fulfillment. He still talks to that coach, but they check in with the other coaches, not him. Then if one of the setters is strong enough, same thing, make them the setter manager. If nobody on the team is good enough yet, don’t hand it off. That just turns into a mess.
And I always tell people this. The reason they won’t sprint is because they think it’s forever. It isn’t. If you go from 50 to 55 to 60 over a whole year, you’re just making the pain last longer.
Number two, raise the price
Out of everything, this one makes more money with zero new leads and zero new calls. Same calls, same close rate, more money.
Adrian is at 300 to 400 a month on a year long program. When I was selling fitness I was at 3,200 for 4 months. So I was charging basically what he charges for a year, in a third of the time. Four months is also an easier yes than 12 when they don’t know you yet.
When I asked what was holding him back, he said fear of losing the sale and a bit of imposter syndrome. I get it. I was selling a $47 product when I was told I had to raise my price, and I was like, there’s no way. Then I decided that’s what I had to do or I’d stay stuck. That was it. It’s your business, you can charge what you want.
The fear of losing the sale is fair though, so I showed him the price drop. You quote the highest price, and if they can’t do it, you find out their cash on hand and build one offer around it. Once you know you can always come down, testing a higher price isn’t scary anymore.
That’s how I found my own number. Above 3,200 I’d get way too much pushback, at like 4,000 about 90% said no. Below it, people said yes too easy. I want a little resistance. So 3,200 for 4 months, about 800 a month, was the sweet spot. For most fitness offers I think 800 to 1,000 a month is the top end, so he has a lot of room.
Number three, spend more on ads
This is the hardest of the three because more leads means more DMs, more setting, more calls. But it’s also the one you can’t skip. Even if he raises the price and goes from 50 to 70, he still needs more leads to hit 100.
If a stranger told you they put 10K a month into ads and get 50K back, you’d tell them to spend more. To get to 100 I think he needs to be spending around 15 to 20K a month. The return drops a bit as you spend more, which is normal. It’s still profitable.
The number I watch is 4x revenue and at least 2x collected. So if you sell a 3,200 package with 2K down, 3,200 is revenue and 2K is collected. As long as you’re above that, keep spending until it breaks. When it breaks, give yourself about 3 months to fix it before you change strategy.
And put the money where the sales come from. If it’s about even between the DMs and the VSL, go 50/50 until you see which one wins.
One smaller thing I’d fix
On calls, I’d open the calendar as wide as you can and then cap the bookings. I used to let 8 calls book a day knowing a couple would cancel or not show, so I’d usually take 5 or 6. If someone in Ireland wants a call at 6 in the morning their time, that’s 9 in the morning where he is. Let them take it.
So just to recap. Get your time back, raise your price, then spend more on ads. Easiest to hardest. He doesn’t need a new offer or a new market right now, everything he has is working. He just needs to push it.
That’s Adrian’s breakdown. He’s at 50K, and next time I see him I expect him at 100 or more.
Want to know what’s capping your business right now? Take my free 90 Day Ceiling Plan. Answer 18 questions and get a written plan, built on your own numbers, that names the one thing holding you back and what to fix first.
