Stephen runs a UK business coaching fitness professionals. It does over $1.2M a year. On paper, it looks great.
Underneath, it was falling apart. Cash collected was barely covering ad spend, and the sales team had shrunk instead of grown.
Here is what I found and what I told him to fix.
The business
Stephen works with a partner in Dubai, so between them they cover Dubai, UK and US time zones. They sell two offers:
- A high ticket “boardroom” program around $23K.
- A 12 month group program around $4K.
Their peak month was about $130K in August. Since then, revenue has settled around $105K to $110K.
What went wrong
Payment plans were the norm, and the team only started pushing paid in full later. By December they had a single point of failure: one closer, fully booked.
They hired an agency and a fractional sales manager to build a sales team. It failed. They ended up with fewer reps than they started with.
My core read: the messaging attracts the wrong people. Mostly under resourced coaches. So calls get booked that never should have been.
A typical closer earns $20K to $25K a month. Earning $40K means grinding hard. When the calendar is full but revenue per closer is nowhere near that, the calendar is full of unqualified calls.
The numbers do not lie
Here is what we looked at, in pounds:
- December: about £14.1K ad spend, roughly 7 customers, CAC about £2,016, 38 leads, about £13K cash collected, about £67.6K contract value.
- January: about £19.6K ad spend, about £20.7K cash collected, about £52.1K contract value.
- February: about £24.2K ad spend, about £8.7K cash collected. Only two $10K packages closed.
Cash collected barely covers ad spend, and the cost per sales call is far too high. The target should be closer to £150 per call.
The front end
They run a self liquidating offer: a $17 front end, a $27 order bump, and a $97 bump discounted to $67 if declined, leading to a booked call. Spend is about $500 a day, and it roughly breaks even.
Straight to page ads are easier to scale than DM funnels. Do not copy what others do blindly. Build the skill, then adapt when something stops working.
The niche is a trade off. Fitness pros means less competition but a lower ceiling. A broader offer reaches more people but faces more competition and makes fulfillment harder. That is exactly why I eventually pivoted to a general audience. Big fish, small pond, until the pond runs out.
Going from here to $1M a month would take roughly 8x. The realistic near term target is $200K to $300K.
The fixes
- Kill the 15 minute triage call. Let setters qualify by phone or text and book straight to a sales call.
- Qualify on three questions. When can they start (ASAP is ideal)? Are they willing to invest financially? Do they need a spouse’s permission?
- Use open ended application questions. Text boxes, not multiple choice, because people pick the lowest option. Use parentheses to nudge, like noting that applicants who cannot invest should book later.
- Follow up on every application. Route submissions to Slack and contact every applicant.
- Lower the price with a script, not a shrug. Confirm price is the only objection. Ask about cash on hand across checking, savings and credit. Set a floor, like about $1,000 a month or around $5K for the year, and walk away below it. Closers should close 40% to 50% at the lower price. A smaller deal extends runway and funds more ads.
- Fix retargeting. Put about 20% of budget there, split between middle of funnel (engagers, page viewers) and bottom of funnel (leads who did not book). Keep frequency around four a week.
- Test other lead sources carefully. A Skool group opt in adds volume but usually lower intent. Narrow lookback windows bring more intent at a higher cost. Broad middle funnel audiences are usually cheaper.
The follow up sequence
After someone opts in:
- A 14 day email sequence with about three texts pushing toward a call.
- Two weeks of downsell style messaging, then two more weeks.
- Then long term nurture, like a group or Skool community.
Speak to the buyer you want
The marketing needs to look more professional and talk to the problems of higher level owners. A barrier to entry filters out beginners, but it also cuts volume. Beginners will always outnumber experts. Price is the main filter.
The takeaway
Revenue can hide a broken business. Look at cash collected against ad spend and cost per call. If your calendar is full but your closers are not getting paid, the problem is who you are attracting. Fix the message, tighten qualification, and follow up on everything.
Run your own business through the same questions I asked Stephen:
- Does cash collected each month clearly beat ad spend, or are you living on contract value that may never land?
- Is your cost per sales call anywhere near £150, or the equivalent in your currency?
- Do you depend on one closer who is fully booked?
- Are your applications multiple choice, letting people pick the lowest option?
- Does someone contact every single applicant?
- Is about 20% of your budget going to retargeting?
If you answered the wrong way on two or more, you do not have a traffic problem. You have a qualification and follow up problem, and more ad spend will only make it louder.
Want to know where your business is leaking cash? Take my free 90 Day Ceiling Plan. Answer 18 questions and get a written plan, built on your own numbers, that names the one thing holding you back and what to fix first.
