12 years ago, when I set up this business, this was one of the very first Group Personal Training clubs in the whole of the country.
I was aware of one in Sheffield and a couple in London.
And maybe they were others, but it was definitely a very new concept.
And, as happens anytime there’s something different, we used to get a lot of comments.
Often to do with the price.
Which I get.
It costs more than joining a gym.
But it costs an awful lot less than a fairer comparison of having a 1:1 Personal Trainer.
And I’m always more than happy to put our results up against 99% of 1:1 trainers.
The comments have reduced massively in frequency over the years as people become more familiar with the concept.
But we still get some.
I mentioned in yesterday’s blog that people sometimes comment on our retention.
“Maybe you should concentrate on your retention then you wouldn’t have to advertise” is something I hear every now and again.
And I have a standard response.
“What is our retention rate? And how does that compare to the industry average?”
The normal response to this is “Huh?”
And I repeat the questions.
And do you know how many times the people commenting on our retention have had the answers to either?
Zero.
I know the numbers.
Our retention is above average.
But, yeah, people leave.
Beware the facility that tells you that people don’t leave there.
They are either lying to you or utterly clueless about what their members are doing.
Neither of which is a reason to go there.
And I get a similar response when people make comments about how much money they think I earn and how many hours I work.
“How much do I earn and how many hours do I do?”
They never have an answer.
—— It’s average hours (doing everything else outside of the Sessions takes time you know) for a reasonable, but very normal, income if you’re interested.
If someone would rather have a coach who has to work a lot of hours for very little money (like most), then that’s cool – there’s plenty of them and they’ve got availability —–
Because it’s very easy in life to have an opinion.
But some opinions can easily be verified or disproved.
With numbers.
And the great thing with numbers is………
They strip away a lot of the emotion.
They help us see the reality, irrespective of how we feel about it.
And there’s one super powerful number.
If weight loss (or maintenance) is something that we want.
Our energy balance.
In every closed environment test ever done………
Where there is a reduction in energy that can only come from the person being tested……..
Everyone ever tested has lost weight.
This isn’t just going off food labels and formulas, this is actual super accurate measurement of actual energy movement.
So, if we were to not lose weight in such a verified deficit……..
We would be the first person ever to do that.
Knowing this strips back the emotion.
We gained weight because we were in an energy surplus.
We haven’t lost weight because we haven’t been in an energy deficit.
Simple facts.
Not always easy to change, sure.
Not the entirety of the story with regards to healthy eating and eating in general, I know.
But still a very simple number that is by far the most relevant one in this case.
So, much like someone should really know what someone’s retention rate, earnings and hours are before having an opinion on that………
We would, at least, benefit from knowing the numbers behind our weight gain or loss.
Especially if that’s not going the way that we’d like.
And even more so if we’re not sure why.
Much love,
Jon ‘Numberwang’ Hall
P.S. Whatever the case, you’ll make better progress with us than without. I guarantee that. Find out more by entering your details at www.myrise.co.uk/apply
——————————————————————-
RISE in Macclesfield was established in 2012 and specialise in Group Personal Training weight loss programmes for those that don’t like the gym and find diets boring and restrictive!
