Running a CrossFit competition is one of the best ways to grow your member-base, it can also be a huge burden to take on. Done right, a competition can boost revenues, sign-ups, and gym culture. After getting input from hundreds of elite-level events, we’ve created the key steps to make your CrossFit competition a massive success.

1.) Begin with the end in mind

Stephen Covey wasn’t wrong. Starting with your ‘Why’ will always guide your decision-making throughout the planning process.

WHY are you putting the competition on?

• Get more membership sign-ups
• More free-trials
• Introduce more people to your gym
• Improve member retention
• Excite the heck out of your community

All of these are good end goals. Decide on what your ‘why’ is and refer back to it often.

Ask yourself, ‘does this help achieve the goal of the event?’. If it doesn’t, scrap it. 

With so many moving pieces in the background, it’s important to not set multiple goals early on. When your focus is centralized, you’ll have a much better time measuring success and achieving your goal. Perfect segway into…

2.) Measure your success

Based on your ‘why’, determine your ‘how’. This is not to be taken lightly. How will you know if your CrossFit competition was a huge success or not?

Keep it simple. Sign-ups and free-trials are easy and clear (you either got them or you didnt!) but measuring improvements in member retention or satisfaction may take some legwork and could be more valuable.

After all, this is no longer a debate. We have all the data.

Retaining customers is MUCH more valuable than attempting to acquire new ones.

If your goals are revenue-driven, great. This means you need to plan for how much (and what) are you going to sell. Competition registrations, merchandise, new customer membership revenue acquired and point-of-sale can all be contributing factors here.

3.) Merch & budget plan

You’ve set a goal and defined how you’ll measure progress. Now you must define the budget. If you plan to hit revenue goals, you should be able to work backward to arrive at your costs and budget.

i.e. selling $1000 in merch will require you to sell at least 30 shirts &10 hoodies.  Now price out the cost of the merch.

Pro Merch Tip for CrossFit competitions: Use event merchandise as teasers leading up to the event for pre-ordering and model it upon walking in on event day, but only actually buy/keep a few shirts, hoodies, leggings etc for on-site sale.

Trying to guess demand and hoping to sell all the merchandise you already bought is an unnecessary risk.

Instead, funnel all orders/pre-orders through your own e-commerce store via funnel through a drop-shipper.  This eliminates risk and helps avoid over-buying plus configuring shipping logistics.

If you’re advertising in Facebook and Google, you should know your cost per lead (CPL) already.

Build this into your total acceptable budget.

Will you look to sell sponsorships or vendor spots? Upholding sponsor dollars/deals requires a few extra steps but can dramatically offset costs while involving local businesses and improving the overall experience.

Alternatively, oftentimes gyms barter to allow vendors to setup on-site in exchange for free product.

This can legitimize your event but may be too much too soon if you’re just starting out.

Consider this as it fits into your facility and neighborhood!

4.) Enlist help & delegate

One person can’t put on a great CrossFit competition. It takes a small army and it’s best when one person, say a coach at the gym or volunteer super-member, can pitch-in to own things like:

• Social posting and content calendar
• Advertising and promotion
• Vendor partnerships and coordination
• Athlete & team registrations
• Volunteer management
• Event MC
• Head judge and heats timekeeper

Logistics Pro Tip: Run off one central calendar and spreadsheet leading up to the event that everyone has access too at all times.

A gym management software should be managing your registrations and all competition elements but for all the planning pieces leading up to the event, tap into the power of Google Calendar + Sheets.

5.) Follow. Up.

Officially voted the step least likely to be completed in the CrossFit competition guide.

Make this step part of your playbook as it’s arguably the most important of them all:

Follow up with all attendees and with all volunteers / event staff

This goes as a nice compliment to #2 and measuring your success but following up and gathering feedback about the competition is how your gym builds an amazing reputation beyond the town you’re located in.

Gyms often use a simple email follow up, “How was your experience” and “Why?”. Easy enough and many tools (which aren’t expensive) offer trials to see which you like best. We dig Signpost for its simplicity and easy deployment.

Others put ballot boxes at the door with a short form “Tell us about your experience” with an enter-to-win drawing for free personal training or store items.

The feedback completes the circle so each event you’re putting will be better than the last! 3-2-1 Go!

Whether your Box has been open for 5 days or 5 years, the goal to grow your gym membership is a constant. And that’s good! More members give you more opportunity to get people healthier and happier while allowing you to bring on more staff, saving you time.

The bad news is 50% of small businesses fail in four years.

The good news is most available public info indicates Crossfit gyms have more staying power than that. In this part, we’re showing you how to persevere and continue the growth well after opening your doors.

Here are some key initiatives deployed by thriving gym owners. These are key growth elements from those who have been open for a bit and are still building their membership consistently.

1.) Optimize For Google – Get Awesome Reviews

By this point, you’ve likely googled your business several (hundred) times. There is, however, a fundamental difference between showing up on Google and being optimized for Google. Have you shaken Google’s hand, introduced yourself and told Google where you are located? As a quick house-cleaning item, be sure you’ve explored Google.com/MyBusiness.

Are you showing up when people are searching locally for gyms like yours? Odds are google reviews are showing up in tandem with a short list. How many reviews do you have? There’s a large debate on where you should focus on getting reviews, with so many options creating more noise. It’s safe to say Facebook Reviews and Google Reviews are going to be the best places to encourage people to go.

According to Search Engine Land, 87% of potential customers won’t consider businesses with low ratings.

An astounding 92% of consumers read online reviews of local businesses in order to determine whether these businesses are good or not, with 80% considering reviews just as important as personal recommendations.

What this means: reviews matter in a huge way for local businesses. Especially if a similar competitor is only a few miles down the road.

What you can do: consider a strategy to reach out to each member after a free trial. Ask them how their experience was and how they’d rate the gym/community. Inside the Triib platform for example, you can set an automated alert and customize the email to be sent upon completing a free trial. Alternatively, you can set a reminder for yourself to send out a review request email 30 days after someone joins and give each email a more personal touch.

Good reviews get customers.

2.) Hire an Intern For Social Content

This checks off a lot of boxes. More posts equal more reach which equals more exposure, leads, and new members, right? Of course, this ‘hopeful marketing’ methodology is silly but it shouldn’t de-emphasize how important social media is to the life of your fitness business.

You cannot just be an affiliate gym posting WOD’s every day. To grow your gym consistently, you have to be a source of something greater to keep people coming back. Your social presence can communicate what your business and community represent. This helps break down barriers for new members thinking of joining and shows, first hand, the experiences people just like them are having.

Odds are your staff already contributes some imagery for Facebook or Instagram posting. The intern, preferably at the college level, can help adapt around what is currently being posted and spearhead a content creation strategy.

Understanding ‘Why’ Your Gym Should Be Focusing On Social

You’re posting already. This is about creating a true plan to what you’re posting. First things first. Your target customer is on Facebook, Instagram, and SnapChat. Facebook’s organic reach is 1%, which means for every post you share, only 1% of your existing audience will likely see it. Alternatively, Instagram’s organic reach is 30%. Use this to help determine where you’re marketing initiatives should go.

For the lowest or no cost, Instagram is the clear place to invest in producing content. For more direct and paid local reach, Facebook is your choice (discussed later). Both should be utilized when thinking about reaching new potential members.

For affiliate gyms, it’s best to think about your social presence the same way you thought about your website. It’s another storefront and a face of your business. Are you conveying what you’re all about? Is all the positive energy from your fitness community on display? Are you sharing transformations, stories, etc? These are all things to consider as it establishes true connections before people even decide to do a free-trial or try a class.

Put together a weekly list of goals, a social posting schedule, and to-do checklist for a newly hired intern. It will cost you 1-3 hours for one week and WILL help your gym. Odds are the new hire will help TEACH YOU and help your staff on creating some great visual content.

3.)Run Events, Competitions & Challenges

Events/Competitons

They are great ways to excite your existing membership and attract some great new traffic into the facility. This is a great engagement tool. It will excite your current members, allow them to team up and compete across all levels of fitness.

Challenges

If you want more reach beyond your current membership, explore running internal Challenges.  These can be nutrition and/or fitness-based and don’t require the person to be physically in the facility at all times, further reducing the barrier to trial your program. This is a MUST if you plan on growing outside of using traditional marketing tactics. It’s creating a memorable experience without any pressure or friction to register. During the Challenge, you can send emails, community updates, standings & leaderboard reports to show the value of being part of your fitness community. There are a number of event platforms out there. If you’d like to run them with integration into your existing gym software, it could be worth investigating Triib’s Challenges feature where all the above is possible.

Consider partnering with other local affiliate gyms on a fundraiser event. It’s a great gym-to-community relationship builder, strengthens affiliate partnership, and helps accomplish a meaningful goal. Everybody wins.

Organizing and running a GREAT event takes a lot of time so don’t worry if you’re not putting on a big event every single month. Consider micro-events or even mobility seminars that take place on weekends and ask members to bring friends or family for free.

Lighting round brainstorm:

• Spring Cleaning Technical Weightlifing Seminar
• Once a Month Kids Fitness Obstacle Course Event
• Halloween Handstand Walks Seminar
• Host a local businesses employees with a Corporate Fitness Challenge
• Celebrate Arbor Day by hosting your own version of the Lumberjack Championships

The list is truly endless. Because we know that time is limited, it would BEHOOVE you to consider #2 to assist!

Growth comes in stages so be patient. Don’t ever try to do everything at once and start small. Try working in a micro-event a month to start. Get comfortable using Facebook events and, for competitions/challenges, experience the process of registration all the way through to walking in to your gym.

The only thing that will keep you on a plateau or struggling to grow will be inaction. If you’re doing what you’ve always done then you can expect the same results. Keep exploring new avenues and telling the stories of your fitness community. There are many more people who want to be a part of it.

Choosing the right affiliate gym software

There is a lot to consider when choosing affiliate gym software! Before you spend a penny, be sure the system you’re considering includes these five features.

 How To Build & Grow Your CrossFit Gym

Join us for an in-depth look at best practices, learning from mistakes made by those before you, and the right strategy for success on your path to growing your fitness community. Whether you’re at the beginning steps or well into your first year’s, we’ll give you the steps to succeed and the pitfalls to avoid as you grow your CrossFit gym into a powerhouse.

Part 1 – Opening a Successful CrossFit Gym

This covers all the basics of starting your own CrossFit gym. It includes the major pitfalls to avoid and the best things to spend your focus and energy on. You’ll get great insight into finding your initial identity as a business and what steps need to be taken to ahead of your official opening!

Part 2 – Getting Your First 50 Members

We’re covering how starting strong is just as important as staying strong. We’ll cover the ins-and-outs of early member acquisition and some of the best practices to get your gym community off the ground. Establishing key goals and how your gym fits into your community are front and center as you discover your immediate resources for growth early on.

Part 3 – Breaking Through the Plateau to New Growth

You’ve opened your Box and now the brand new gym smell has worn off. You’re well on your way and branching out for new growth techniques beyond word of mouth. In this part, we’ll discuss breaking through the noise to connect with new members and introduce them to your thriving fitness community with new techniques your competition isn’t using.

Part 4 – Retention & Creating a Thriving Gym Culture

Sure, keeping members is a lot cheaper than acquiring new ones. We’ll dive into the key identifiers in a GREAT gym culture and why they always win. If you don’t build a thriving fitness community, someone else will. This will give you the tools to pass along to your coaches and empower your staff by creating the most desirable member experience.

Grow your affiliate gym with the right software

There is a lot to consider when choosing your affiliate gym software! Before you spend a penny, be sure the system you’re considering these five features.