What Crossfit Can Teach You About Sales

Over the past few years, I’ve become an avid Crossfitter I put my body through rigorous levels of exercise with ropes, kettle bells and weights, often pushing myself to the point where I can no longer stand. And I do this at least four days per week. I love it.

I also love the Crossfit business model. These local, independently owned gyms can teach us a great deal about sales. Here are three powerful lessons to be learned from Crossfit:

1. Target only your best clients. Crossfit is not for everyone; it’s for a very specific type of person. Someone interested in moderate exercise for a few hours per week will be happier at a typical gym such as Work Out World than at the local Crossfit. That’s because Crossfit demands a commitment to hard work and the desire to achieve an exceptional level of physical fitness. As a result, Crossfit gyms can demand a higher price than typical gyms. Crossfitters are willing to pay top dollar, since they know they won’t find the same type of athletic community, commitment to hard hard work or intensity of exercise anywhere but at Crossfit. Consider this: The average Crossfit gym membership costs anywhere from two to five times as much as the average gym. By catering their business model to the right clients, Crossfit can charge more and customers will gladly pay more. (I gladly pay my own $275/month Crossfit membership!). How can you focus your business model on your best clients?

2. Offer more value so you can charge more. Most typical gyms offer workout machines, free-weights, large group classes and showers – that’s about it. Crossfit gyms, on the other hand, give members heaps of individualized attention with small class sizes and lots of personal instruction. This not only safeguards that members are properly performing the Crossfit movements, but it also ensures that members are getting the most out of their gym time, thereby improving personal results. Most Crossfit gyms also host nutrition clinics and workout challenges, as well as running competitions. All of these features offer far greater value than a typical gym does, which is what allows Crossfit gyms to charge so much more than typical gyms. How can you offer more value to your clients so they will pay more for your services?

3. Focus on your clients’ results. When people work out, what are they looking to achieve? The answer is results. While many typical gyms boast about their top-of-the-line machinery, clean facilities and friendly staff, very few boast about their ability to help members achieve specific workout goals. Crossfit, on the other hand, focuses exclusively on helping members achieve results. Because of this, most new Crossfitters are in better shape than they’ve ever been within just a few months. This personal success reinforces members’ willingness to invest so much money – often the equivalent of a monthly car payment – in their Crossfit gym memberships. What results do your clients really want? Focus on helping your clients achieve desired results, and you’ll become infinitely more valuable to them.

What do you do to ensure that you help customers achieve their desired results? Please share below in the comments.

Marc Wayshak is author of the book Game Plan Selling and a sales keynote speaker.