Know What Your Aiming For


Ryan Holiday, Perennial Seller

For every product we buy, every service we employ, every community we join, there's a mental checklist we all unconsciously speed through to make what feels like a logical decision. 

The checklist for somebody considering your gym for the first time might look something like this:

✓ I know exercise is important
✓ I'm willing to make time for it
✓ I'm ready to pay for it
✓ I think doing it in a group is a good idea
✓ I believe having guidance & coaching is important
✓ I'm prepared to pay more for those things
✓ I know enough about CrossFit not to be scared
✓ This gym looks like I might belong there
✓ The price seems reasonable
✓ The location seems convenient
✓ The schedule seems suitable
✓ I understand how to start
✓ Starting doesn't feel overwhelming
✓ I'm ready to start

The point:

Somebody who doesn't appreciate the value of exercise is too many miles from you to spend your finite resources on. Somebody ready to pay for a gym membership, but who doesn't see value in a group setting or having a coach is also too far to be worth your time, money, & attention. Same from someone who wants coaching & is ready to be in a class, but who thinks yoga or spinning is more effective than CrossFit.

It's not that you can't help these people. It's that they don't believe what you need them to believe. Going after them is the business equivalent of a Jehovah's Witness wandering door-to-door & hoping.

Focus your attention instead on the people who already believe enough of what you need them to believe, then focus your marketing on articulating all the reasons why you’re the place they've been searching for.

Patrick Cummings