Exactly How to Boost Revenue With a 55+ Program

Great clients get fitter and healthier trainers, make more gym owners make more, but you have to do it right. My guest today is Brian Foley. He runs Activate in C Ireland. He's got the largest 55 plus program on the Emerald aisle and he'll be speaking of the two Brain Summit that's coming up June 8th and ninth in Chicago. His topic, growing a 55 plus program in your gym, this can generate revenue for you.

It can also fracture your offer if you don't do it properly. So we're gonna talk about that today. Ryan , welcome. How are you today?

And then you mentioned , uh, the , you know, how long those clients stay around for and absolutely our length of engagement with this particular group is higher than all the other groups in our gym.

So to put in perspective here, brand's got a program that's kicking in 10% of his gross at the exact same average revenue per member as his normal classes. When I ran a legends program, I charged below my average revenue per member . That was a bit of an issue. And he's got people who are staying longer than his normal members. So this is a huge win across the board that shows you what's possible.

And if you look at your revenue and say, what's 10%? Could I add that in? Yeah, you probably could with a great population.

So we're gonna dig into the details of this so that you can take action and add something like this in Brian , how long has it been since you put this program in place and like how did you market it given that like, at least in North America, older adults tend to just sit on the couch and watch tv? How did you get these people in here?

So we started with one group and we've built it to four and we've got plans to expand to eight separate groups. Our marketing funnels are a little different to what we do tr use traditionally. Um, we still operate four funnels. Um, and it's, it is really important to, to make sure that we do this right because you can't treat a 55 plus program like everyone else. Um,

So what we had were clinical referrals. So they were our main, main go-to at the start. So we linked in with local physiotherapists, local general practitioners, orthopedic surgeons and rheumatologists were kind of main go-tos who work with this particular , uh, demographic. So we made sure that we made a lot of referral links with these particular clinicians. Um , so that was funnel number one.

Funnel number two was member referrals.

So affinity marketing, making sure that we had mavens within our program that were telling all their golf buddies and their, their paddle buddies, that they were getting fitter stronger for their, their chosen pursuits and making sure that, you know, when we were doing member check-ins with our masters , uh, members, that we were asking them, Hey, have you got anyone else that you played bridge with at the weekend?

Uh, you know , um, just getting them to refer friends. So there are our two referral funnels. Um, and then we've got two more funnels and that's the content funnel and a social media funnel. So the, the content funnel, again, we didn't really go down what people would traditionally think when they're talking content. We went to old school , we went to print media, which is a bit, you know, almost taboo nowadays.

Um, we took out an article every week in our local , uh, newspaper and we made sure that we built trust , um, by writing in that every week. Um, and we knew that the readership was really high amongst 50 plus for this particular newspaper. So we spoke about the reasons for string training and why it was so beneficial as we age. And that was a regular topic, so we kept beating that drum.

And then the last one is the social media funnel. Again, we don't really rely on that , that that much. Our clinical referrals and member referrals are really where we get the, the most bang for buck. But the social media funnel, what we do is that we post about our master's program, what we most, we , we show them what we do, but more importantly we show them why we do it. And I think that's what's key.

Um, we, and I guess when we looked at this originally , uh, we looked at what gym culture was like for 55 plus when they were growing up. And you know, in the seventies, jazzer size was, was the big thing. And Arnold Schwarzenegger was , uh, you know, what , what symbolized Jim culture? And, and we wanted to make sure that we were showing that that's not really what it's about anymore.

Um , so that's what our social media really speaks to.

You're probably gonna do social media advertising or something like that. That's just different for this generation. Some of them are tied to newspapers. My parents still get a physical printed paper delivered to their door every day . They read it cover to cover other older , older , older adults are like that. They often are on Facebook, but not Instagram.

There's a whole bunch of different varieties that you'll have to figure out in your market. The point though is you need to know how to connect with these people. My funnel was , uh, exactly what you said, Brian . I got people, I said to them , Hey, do you have a parent who needs our help? And they said, oh my god, I do. And they just started funneling them in.

Their friends started coming in from there and it spiraled. Then we had this group of amazing people , uh, covid hit and we shut the whole gym down at that point. But before that, we had plans to expand into like connecting with local , uh, fitness groups for older adults and things like that. And senior centers. You need to figure out how to get to these people.

And the biggest one, I agree with you Brian , is trust. A lot of older adults don't wanna be injured. They don't necessarily understand fitness. They're a little bit scared of it. They've seen a lot of different stuff like Arnold back in the day, weird things that maybe they don't understand. They need to understand what you do, why you do it, and how it solves their problems.

And for us, it was strong enough to lift your grandkids, fit enough to carry your groceries, you can move around without injuring yourself. It actually prevents injury, helps you stay independent. And all those things went into social media and every other aspect.

So Brian , this is really good stuff and I wanna ask you before I go to the next question, something you said at the beginning you had four programs for these guys . Is that by age cohort or is it just like time slots or what do you mean by four programs?

So their on-ramp program determines what, what level they start at, so that we make sure that it's appropriate for them , um, and that the coach knows them and that they're comfortable within their cohort. So we split it by ability , but not really make it that obvious. You know, it's, it's, it's more for the coach and more for actually the programming of the entire thing.

They wanna ask questions, will I get injured? You know, how can you help me? That process, and it's laid out in two brains media everywhere that no sweat intro prescriptive model will work for this population almost better than any other I'll suggest. It's essential for a gym. It's ultra essential for a gym with a 55 plus program. How did you identify this niche? It's not common.

A lot of us, when we were looking back in the day, like you talked seven, eight years ago, I wanna do CrossFit workouts or I wanna do functional fitness stuff for tattooed Navy Seals and we're gonna crush it . Do it . Fran, as a big group, how did you id this group seven years ago and say, Hey, older adults is a good market.

Um, it's a very popular tourist destination. But with that tourism comes a lot of retirees who like to move here when they, they get to the age where they're not working anymore. And what the census data was telling us is that Kalani has a very large 55 plus population and that is growing.

And that's, that's actually something that's growing everywhere in the world really because the , the world's population is getting older. Um, but particularly in Ireland within the eu, we are getting older faster, which is funny. Uh, we're getting older faster than every other country in the eu. So we've got a very rapidly aging population.

So we identified that and it was, you know, it , it wasn't something that we were like, yeah, this is something we've got to do. Because I had spent the bones of 20 years trying to convince my parents that strength training was for them and they would just would not convert Mike.

I cannot tell you the amount of conversations I had with my mom, and I'm gonna tell, I'm gonna tell a story about that at the summit so people can , uh, people can listen in for that one. But , um, there was no guarantee that this program was gonna work really with that, with that kind of , you know, trying to convince people and not understanding.

But we had seen that doing a little bit of research, less than 10% of people aged 50 years plus were not partaking in any strength training yet. All the research has shown that there's a strong correlation with bone density, fall prevention, independent living. Um, and we knew that that had to be part of our mission When we rolled our mission, we wanted to prolong the lives of, of people living locally.

And you don't just stop once someone hits the age of 50. So we knew this had to be part of what we were doing.

And Brian's right, most populations in the world are aging right now. You'll probably find these people, I'll ask you a demographic thing, Brian . Are older adults or 50 plus retirees in Ireland, are they generally affluent or do they have the money to spend on this? Or how does that go?

And we've done that and, and you know, there was no data to tell us what people were , were they affluent or not, but we found out that they are. And when you give them a strong enough why and a strong enough reason to train, it's part of an investment for them. And it's an investment into further living and prolonging the years in their life.

It's a great investment, but you have to lay that value out for people and tell them how your program actually makes that happen. You right, they won't understand that. They won't see that value. And they'll say, I could go to whatever the local gym is for $20 a month access. Why wouldn't I do that? Well, you are not gonna get personalized coaching.

You're not gonna get the exact plan that's gonna help you stay independent later in life. You're not gonna get check-ins, you're not gonna get community. You're not gonna get all these benefits that will help you accomplish your goals. That's where that prescriptive model no sweat intro that Brian mentioned is essential. So you said you made a couple of mistakes.

Did you , uh, how many times did you have to raise prices on this program? Was it just that one time?

There is quite a bit of work. And that's not to put anyone off, but you just need to be very mindful of who you're coaching. So a coach needs to be pretty strong to make adaptations on the fly. People at 55 plus typically can come to you with more flashing red lights on the dashboard than , than everyone else. And you've gotta be able to make those adjustments.

So there is a little bit more coaching involved, so there's more time involved, more programming involved. So that all has to be imputed into the value of the program.

I can tell you that from, from experience. So when you raised rates, how did that go? Did you lose a bunch of people or were you able to communicate value and retain them ?

And it's interesting, only recently we had a feedback from initially when we, when we met with orthopedic surgeons on this, those guys saw us as a threat to their kids' college fund, potentially less, less hip replacements, less knee replacements, means less trust fund. Wow . Um , potentially , but , um, sorry to all the surgeons out there.

But , um, what , what they've actually found now , and a lot of what the research is telling us is that the outcomes post-surgery, because even if surgery is inevitable and which it is in some, some people, there's no way that like squats and deadlifts are gonna get rid of everyone's surgery needs.

But what it is showing us is that the outcomes post-operation , um, and even pre-operation are far better if the person has been involved in some resistance training. So we've gotten a lot of the surgeons on board , and then you look at this , um, and you, you display the value to a member and you tell them, well, look, yes, you are gonna be , uh, do a hip replacement in five years.

If you string train and get really robust up to that five years, you can save yourself all these healthcare issues , uh, stair lifts, you know, bath aids , all these things, carrying assistance, all this stuff that you can actually impute into the price that's thousands and thousands of euros every year for 150 euros a week or a month is, you know, it's very hard to argue with that.

I think the , that relationship alone was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars over the last decade. This person and Chris had this great relationship. Chris would send clients that way, clients would come this way, and they both made money off of it and it became complimentary building up those referral networks. I know there are other gyms that have done this with medical.

Uh , there's , uh, another gym owner that I spoke to on the show talked about how she took , uh, baked goods to local , uh, clinics and so forth and doctors and had them refer clients to her. If you can build up these relationships, especially in this population, you're gonna succeed. If a client trusts their doctor and the doctor says, go see Brian at Activate, what do you think's gonna happen? Right?

And that client's gonna bounce back from all the medical stuff better. So that's, those are no-brainers. Brian, you've actually, like, I'm glad you're speaking on Summit about this because people are gonna take the information you give them there and they're gonna make money off of it probably in the next month.

But there is a little bit of stigma around , um, what we found is that our members that are 55 plus in this program, and we are actually rebranding the program , um, what they, what they loved about what we do was we weren't wrapping them in cotton wool. We weren't treating them any differently. They were part of the gym culture. They were part of the community.

They didn't like to be referred to as our masters crew or our legends crew. Or , I know some people call 'em like silver barbells and you know, there's a little bit of stigma around it. So I would, I would say we'd rename it. Um , I know someone that called theirs Prime, I think that's excellent. Um , but possibly not, you know, making it very obvious that, you know, these are older people.

We wrap them in cotton wool here, make sure that you're very ap , uh, appropriate in how you brand it and how you market it. Um, apart from that and the pricing, I wouldn't say anything else. I mean, we're really lucky, Mike. We've got a, a physiotherapist that we work very closely with who rinse the space from us in the gym. And he, he , he's an amazing part of the program.

He, he manages the program and he's got a lot of the, the clinical referrals that, that we use. But you don't necessarily have to have a physio in your gym. You just have to start with one connection and then start building those networks so that they were the only mistakes really that I can, that I can earmark.

There's all sorts of different things. These are vibrant people, so I get it. Like name your program, something that appeals to them and makes them feel like active, vibrant people rather than, you know, old broken down cars sitting in the corner of the driveway. I agree with you on that. So those are two big things you can think about. Get your pricing right, name your program. Right.

Two brain mentors help people figure out exactly how to price programs. They have exact formulas to figure out the value. You're the , the , pardon me, the value that you're delivering and the profit margin that you need to make and all the other things that go into that. There is an exact system. If you don't know about that system or want some help, book a call, you can do it in the links below.

And mentors will be able to tell you exactly how these things work and work you through the process because you can save a ton of time. And Brian , I underpriced this by $50 for, you know, eight years. So do the math on that. You did it for a while too. We lost a lot of money if we had just worked with the mentors , start sooner .

And I know you already listed out you've got your marketing funnels. What are other must haves?

So that's, that might be bringing them baked goods, but it's also showing them how the program, what's in it for them. How the program can improve their referrals , uh, clinically, and how that they can improve outcomes for their patients with the public.

It's things like, you know, you've gotta treat everyone like your own parents essentially, and show the public that you've got that level of care for these people and for your members. So it's just building that trust with content, building that trust by being consistent with your message, building the trust with , with, with , um, with your members as well.

And , and to do that you have to have a very robust intake process. So to give you a little bit of an insight into ours , it's, it's a no sweat intro and then it's straight to a physiotherapy assessment. Um, and that is varies in linked , depending on the person. So it's not like our regular on-ramp program. Um, it's, it's, it's essentially the same.

They, they go through one-to-one coaching, you know, to learn everything, to feel comfortable with movements. But we don't designate, it's got to be four or six sessions. It's let's take it at your pace, you know, it, it's, it's will we'll make the referral to the class and to the group when you are ready. Um, so that's, you know, that builds the trust.

It it, it doesn't rush anybody and it just makes the, the member feel really comfortable when they get , uh, welcomed into the community. Another thing is to create mavens within your program. So the early adopters typically are those people meet with them, you know, take them for a coffee, find out who they hang out with, what they do in their spare time, and , um, ask them for referrals essentially.

Um, and, and get them to bring their friends, run social events like a bring a friend day, bring a parent day , um, get them to come into the gym, build that trust with within your community so that people bring their parents and they trust you enough to bring their parents. Then that the , the , the members carry other , uh, members that are 55 plus with them . Um, and then that's, that's pretty much it.

Just make them feel welcome, make them feel part of it and, and just make sure that everyone's involved. That we don't, like, we don't do a social occasion and we don't , uh, invite our 55 plus athletes. Our Christmas party. We invite our 55 plus athletes. Some of them decided they'd do go and do their own Christmas party 'cause we're clearly boring under 55 year olds .

Um , but , but you just gotta integrate everyone into the same thing really into the, into the community and make sure that, you know, they're trusted and they're welcome part of the community.

But, but you do know that when they come into the No Sweat intro, you ask, oh, how did you find out about us? And they'll tell you, oh, I read, I read Brian's article. I read Sam's article at the week, at the weekend. So we were able to measure it that way and, and just, just making sure that we were showing people what we do at all stages of their journey and that it wasn't, it wasn't their perception.

We were breaking down those barriers for people.

See if you can get in and help people. Other question that I was gonna ask you was, do you do just personal training with older adults? Is that a thing that happens there as well? So we

And they say, I'd like to work one-to-one. Well that's fine. We've got, we've got coaches that are dedicated to your progress, whatever that may be.

And some of them, they obviously have the time and the money because they're retired and they have some, you know, cash saved up, but they really want that personal attention and they didn't even wanna share with one other person. Like one guy was like, I don't wanna bring my spouse, I want all your attention on me to make sure that I'm doing this right and getting the exact results.

It was a great long-term high value client . So I think that personal training option, you don't have to market it as master's personal training, but having it is essential. Chris Cooper has said, if you do not have a personal training option, some of your best clients are going to go find personal training somewhere else. So consider putting that in, especially for this population.

Your intro doesn't have to be a funnel to group. It might be an intro to Fitness one-on-one with Brian. Right, exactly . That works just fine. Yeah ,

And listeners, we only have a very few summit tickets left at the time that I'm recording this. So if you wanna come see this, you better get 'em. Quick link will be in the bio. Brian , what are they gonna learn from you

You've got no excuses. You , you're straight to work on Monday and you've got steps laid out in front of you what you need to do on Monday to grow a master's program.

Brian , is there anything else that gym owners essentially need to know about Masters training before we sign off here? I think we've covered just about everything. I

So there's a lot of extra benefit and extra value that be given to this demographic as well. So it's not just a master's program.

They're like losing canes. Like they'll walk in with canes, learn how to squat, and they don't need the cane anymore. Like, it's such a rewarding group. I, I would wager to say, Brian , that this is the most rewarding group of people of cohort that I've ever worked with in a gym. What's your, do you think that's accurate?

So if you don't have a master's program in your gym, you're, you're definitely missing out.

Take that to kids athletes, you know, soccer players, NFL, combine people, whatever you want. Apply that knowledge. Brian , thanks so much for sharing all this stuff. This is super helpful on its own. People can also learn more from you at the summit. June 8th, the ninth . Thank you.

I'd love to have you in that group. It's Gym Owners United on Facebook, or go to gym owners united.com to join. Do it today.