What Happened to Hybrid Ep 161

Speaker A discusses the evolution and challenges of introducing the 'hybrid' model—a combination of nutrition, accountability, and personal training—to his gym owner community. Initially, the idea faced internal resistance as it was misconstrued as a pivot away from serving gyms, and externally, it attracted low-quality prospects seeking a 'laptop lifestyle.' Learning from this, Speaker A rebranded the service as 'one on one nutrition and accountability,' which better resonated with serious gym owners. The key takeaway is the importance of clear messaging and targeting the right audience, as well as the value of personalization in differentiating gym services from low-cost group workout chains. Speaker A emphasizes the importance of adapting to feedback and refining business models for better market fit and profitability.

• Hybrid is a program combining nutrition and accountability for gym clients.
• It offers an online/remote component, allowing for nutrition training without gym attendance.
• The concept is not new; it follows models like Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig.
• Hybrid allows charging more due to the personal training component.

"So hybrid, for those of you who don't know, was essentially having nutrition and accountability 101 for people who walk into the facility."

The quote explains the basic premise of the Hybrid program, which combines nutrition guidance and accountability measures for clients at a gym facility.

• Branding was used to make the concept seem new and different.
• Aggressive marketing was employed for the Hybrid program.
• The name 'Hybrid' was chosen for branding purposes.

"I just put a name on it because I like branding things to make them new and different."

This quote highlights the importance of branding in marketing the Hybrid program, aiming to refresh a familiar concept with a new name.

• There was a significant backlash within the speaker's community.
• Community members misunderstood the speaker's intentions, thinking they no longer wanted to work with gyms.
• Miscommunication was partly due to selective listening and misinterpretation of the message.

"I honestly had a huge revolt within my community of people who thought I no longer wanted to work with gyms."

The quote indicates the internal conflict and misunderstanding that arose within the speaker's community regarding their commitment to gym-based services.

• The importance of clear messaging in advertising is emphasized.
• Every advertisement should convey the complete concept of a product.
• Consumers typically remember only one advertisement, not a series.

"David Ogilvy, who's a great advertiser, is like no prospect. Every ad has to contain the full concept of a product."

This quote conveys a lesson from David Ogilvy on advertising, stressing the need for each ad to fully encapsulate the product's concept for effective consumer communication.

• The speaker shifted from using 'Hybrid' to 'one on one, nutrition and accountability' to avoid confusion.
• The term 'Hybrid' was associated with an undesirable online component.
• The change in terminology was a response to internal and external misinterpretations.

"And so what I shifted towards, you may have heard me talking about it, is I just now say one on one, nutrition and accountability rather than hybrid."

The quote reflects the speaker's strategic decision to alter their messaging to clarify the services offered and to distance themselves from the negative connotations that had become associated with the term 'Hybrid'.

• Mentioning an online aspect attracted unwanted attention from non-serious entrepreneurs.
• The online component led to an influx of individuals looking for a casual side hustle.
• This demographic was not aligned with the business's goals and was detrimental.

"Externally, when I had any kind of mentions of online, it attracted a lot of trash."

The quote expresses the speaker's frustration with the negative impact that the online component of the Hybrid program had on the quality of their business prospects.

• The initial marketing strategy aimed at a broad audience, including potential gym owners and others.
• The strategy was implemented as a 90-day run, focusing on marketing from June to the end of September.
• The campaign generated a high volume of sales and inquiries but attracted prospects of lower quality.
• After 90 days, the most successful clients were predominantly gym owners with substantial businesses.

"And by doing that, we just saw that we had more sales than we ever had because we had so much inbound, so much inquiries."

This quote highlights the success in terms of sales volume and interest generated by the marketing strategy.

"It was literally just gym owners... specifically gym owners that had over 25 clients. They were full time gym owners. They had real leases. They have employees."

This quote specifies the demographic that found the most success with the product, indicating a need to refine the target market.

• The company shifted its messaging to focus on one-on-one nutrition and accountability.
• This change was made to ensure current clients did not feel overwhelmed by the introduction of a "new thing."
• The adaptation involved combining existing large group services with additional nutrition and accountability, making it easier for clients to understand and accept.

"And so I changed the messaging internally to one on one nutrition and accountability so people wouldn't freak out about it being a new thing."

This quote explains the internal messaging shift to ease the introduction of new services to existing clients.

"There was no beliefs I had to break about adding nutrition and accountability to an existing service. Like, everyone was okay with that."

This quote highlights the ease of integrating additional services into the existing model without the need to change client beliefs.

• The new approach allowed the company to charge over $400 per month for large group services with the added nutrition and accountability.
• The pricing strategy was presented in a way that emphasized the added value without the need for dramatic changes to the existing services.

"And so what it ended up doing is allowing us to have $400 plus per month for large group."

This quote indicates the successful pricing model that resulted from the service adaptation.

• The speaker learned that people generally resist change, including employees, clients, and family members.
• Reflecting on the experience, the speaker would avoid using terms like "hybrid" or "online" due to negative connotations.
• The preferred approach would be to focus on enhancing existing services and clearly communicating the benefits without suggesting a complete overhaul.

"No one likes change. Employees don't like change. Clients don't like change. Your mother doesn't like change."

This quote emphasizes the universal resistance to change and the importance of considering this in messaging strategies.

"I would have simply said, take your large group, add this on top, make more money, separate yourself, and don't sell workouts."

This quote reveals the speaker's revised strategy for communicating change, focusing on incremental additions rather than a complete shift in service delivery.

• Morale can be negatively affected by external criticism.
• Non-starters and lack of engagement from the team can be a significant issue.
• Real business owners tend to perform better and have realistic expectations.

"And it would have probably gone over way smoother than it did internally. And then externally, I wouldn't have had all the trash that came in, because that just kind of crushes morale for the team."

This quote emphasizes the impact of external negativity on team morale and suggests that smoother internal communication could have mitigated this effect.

"They have people not showing up for calls. They have people who are non starters who they're three weeks in, and they're like, hey, we're like, dude, why haven't you launched your ads yet? They're like, yeah, I haven't got logged in the portal yet."

This quote highlights the problems with team members not fulfilling their responsibilities, which can hinder progress and team dynamics.

• There is a common misconception that online businesses require less work.
• Real business owners understand the time commitment required for success.
• The speaker has firsthand experience with the effort needed to run an online business.

"People think that online means you don't work, right? I can tell you, I have an online business. I fucking work, right?"

The quote challenges the misconception that online businesses are effortless, emphasizing the reality of hard work behind the scenes.

• The speaker has changed the way they talk about their services both internally and externally.
• "One on one nutrition and accountability" is a rebranded term used to describe the service without marketing spin.
• The rebranding was necessary for the evolution and improvement of the business.

"So that's why I said I stopped talking about that way externally and why I call it one on one nutrition and accountability internally now as well, and in the marketing."

This quote explains the strategic decision to rebrand the service to better align with the business's values and target audience.

• The speaker views innovation as a process that includes failures and learning experiences.
• A 90-day sprint allowed the team to quickly learn from a failed approach and adapt.
• The diagnostic sale was an outcome of this learning process, significantly changing the business model.

"I needed to fail that way. I found out another way not to do something. And luckily it was a 90 day sprint. We learned and then we adapted."

This quote reflects the importance of learning from failure and the ability to pivot quickly in business.

• The diagnostic sale approach is a fundamental change in the business model.
• It combines the best components of previous models for clarity, differentiation, and value.
• The goal is to solve the customer's problem within a specific timeframe, after which they may choose to stay for the community.

"But what came from that was the combination of the diagnostic sale, which is probably the single greatest fundamental change that we've had in gym launch in the last year, to the model, right?"

This quote highlights the significance of the diagnostic sale in transforming the business model over the past year.

• The promotional duration (e.g., 28 days, six weeks) is irrelevant when selling to a customer's goal.
• The aim is to solve the customer's problem within a realistic timeframe.
• The process educates customers to maintain results independently, with the option to stay for community rather than necessity.

"Because when that person walks in the door, we're going to sell to goal. We're going to sell to their goal so we can actually solve their problem, right?"

The quote outlines the strategy of focusing on the customer's goal as a means to effectively address their needs and provide a solution.

• The end goal is for customers to be self-sufficient in maintaining their results.
• Customers should be able to enjoy the process and lifestyle changes.
• The community aspect of the gym is an added benefit, not the sole reason for customers to stay.

"And if you choose to stay, it's because you want to stay for the community, and that's awesome. But you will be able to have cake, you'll be able to count your macros, you'll be able to know how to train by the end of this period of time so that you can keep this off for life and actually enjoy the process, right?"

This quote conveys the business's objective to empower customers to be independent in their fitness journey while highlighting the community as a positive, but non-essential, aspect of the experience.

• Tailoring fitness programs to individual needs, such as nutrition and accountability, is crucial.
• Personalization can lead to better client retention and higher value services.
• Differentiation from low-cost group workout chains is achieved through offering more personalized services.
• Providing daily follow-ups and nutritional guidance is highly valued by clients.
• The business model allows for significant additional recurring revenue with high margins.

"But it would be great for her to have help with nutrition, accountability, and just walk every day." This quote emphasizes the importance of a personalized approach to fitness that goes beyond just workouts to include nutrition and accountability.

"People value someone following up with them every day and helping them with their food more than they value workouts." This quote highlights clients' appreciation for personalized attention and assistance with their diet over just the exercise component.

• The speaker discusses a shift in their business model that focuses on high-value packages and personalization.
• The new model allows for rapid growth to a million-dollar run rate with a relatively small client base.
• It emphasizes the importance of low attrition rates and high average monthly revenue per client.
• The model includes a combination of large group sessions and personalized add-ons.

"Bolt this on, on top to your existing membership base overnight at $10,000 a month recurring with basically almost all margin." This quote describes the profitability of adding personalized services to existing memberships, creating a high-margin revenue stream.

"You only need 180 efts to get to a million-dollar run rate, which if you have 8% attrition, takes twelve months if you start at zero." This quote outlines the efficiency of the business model, where a small number of clients can lead to a significant revenue milestone within a year, contingent on low attrition rates.

• The speaker has refined their messaging to be super exclusive, targeting only a specific segment of the market.
• They emphasize the importance of working with legitimate, full-time gym owners with physical locations and employees.
• The strategy involves avoiding certain terminology that could attract undesirable clients.
• The speaker's company remains committed to the hybrid model but communicates it in a way that doesn't alarm clients.

"We are super exclusive in our messaging now. After we saw, we're like, we only work with gym owners." This quote illustrates the company's strategic decision to focus exclusively on a niche market of gym owners, which allows for more targeted and effective messaging.

"I never say the word online ever again in the online space because, dear God, the trash that you attract." This quote reflects the speaker's negative experiences with the term "online," leading to a strategic avoidance of the word in their marketing to attract a higher quality clientele.

• The speaker concludes by reiterating the silent yet integral role of the hybrid model in their business.
• They invite the audience to engage with the content by liking or reviewing it.
• The speaker ends on a positive note, wishing the audience a great day and signaling the end of the discussion.

"I just don't talk about it that way. I just say one on one, nutrition, accountability, because no one loses their minds when I say that." This quote reveals the speaker's strategic communication choice to reframe the hybrid model in a way that is more acceptable and less controversial to their audience.

"Drop a like if you like this. Don't drop a like if you did not like this." This quote is a call to action for the audience to engage with the content based on their personal reaction to it, a common practice to gauge audience response and encourage interaction.