Industry expert Thomas Plummer has seen it all in the fitness industry. A pioneer for the last 40-plus years, he shares a ton of insight and advice about how to appeal to affluent, older clientele in this week's episode.
Most fitness pros have no idea how to communicate with people who are a little bit different than the mainstream, 20-something customer. That's where I come in with Prime Fit Content, with material that helps gyms and studios reach the coveted older market. And Thom brings his perspective to the table -- how gym owners fall short, what the real opportunities are, and how to take advantage of them.
By the end of our chat, you’ll be armed with practical insights on how to dismantle fear and misinformation associated with fitness, and how to create a welcoming, inclusive space for everyone.
Resources and Links
Thomas Plummer
Perform Better
Life Priority Supplements -- Affiliate Discount here
Functional Aging Institute -- Use FAIMM50 discount code
Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market
Industry expert Thomas Plummer has seen it all in the fitness industry. A pioneer for the last 40-plus years, he shares a ton of insight and advice about how to appeal to affluent, older clientele in this week's episode.
Most fitness pros have no idea how to communicate with people who are a little bit different than the mainstream, 20-something customer. That's where I come in with Prime Fit Content, with material that helps gyms and studios reach the coveted older market. And Thom brings his perspective to the table -- how gym owners fall short, what the real opportunities are, and how to take advantage of them.
By the end of our chat, you’ll be armed with practical insights on how to dismantle fear and misinformation associated with fitness, and how to create a welcoming, inclusive space for everyone.
Resources and Links
Thomas Plummer
Perform Better
Life Priority Supplements -- Affiliate Discount here
Functional Aging Institute -- Use FAIMM50 discount code
Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market
Did you ever get a big shot of unexpected support for what you're doing, when someone you don't know very well offers encouragement and insight to make you feel like you're on the right path? Well, that's exactly what happened for me during this recent conversation with fitness industry pioneer Thomas Plummer, and I'll tell you more about what I got out of it in a second. But first, what will you get out of my interview with Tom? Well, tons of his invaluable tips about the current state of the fitness industry, where it's headed and how you can make the most of it for your business. Welcome to Optimal Aging the show for gym and studio owners who want to grow their businesses with more people over 50. I'm your host, jay Croft of Prime Fit Content, the only provider of original, premium marketing materials developed specifically for this lucrative, underserved segment.
Jay Croft:Now it's tempting to say Tom Plummer needs no introduction to people in the fitness industry, but I don't want to take the easy way out. I think that would be short changing him. See, tom has been in the game for more than 40 years, advising countless fitness professionals around the world, helping them start their businesses, grow their businesses, delivering speeches at conferences all over the place, writing at least 10 books and forming the National Fitness Business Alliance, which now partners with Perform Better to continue educating fitness professionals about business growth. Tom and I, both former newspaper people, share a gift of gab and a lack of BS and pretense. You get it straight from both of us and that's one of the things I enjoyed most about our conversation.
Jay Croft:As for the encouragement Tom gave me, well, it's important for you to, because he validated my belief that the quote unquote older segment of the population is the key to the future for gyms and studios that want to grow. I'm staking my name on it and I'm jazzed that an expert like Tom thinks I'm on the right track. So listen for his advice for you, the gym and studio owner, about the key to your bright future. I hope you enjoy. Here's my conversation with Tom Plummer. Tom, thanks so much for joining me today. I'm delighted to see you.
Thomas Plummer:My pleasure. Thank you for the imitation. It's nice to be able to talk about this. I think this is such an exciting subject. I'm glad you're doing this. I'm glad you're getting out there and getting some stuff around to the guys. I'm looking forward to diving in. Let's have some fun with this.
Jay Croft:Yeah, let's have some fun for sure, and one of the things that I had fun with when we were talking about a week or so ago was you and I have quite a bit in common, which excites me, because you're, you know you're, you've done so much in the industry and you're so well known. If I can imitate your path just a little bit, I'll be happy to, but we're both former newspaper people. That's pretty cool.
Thomas Plummer:Yeah, sometimes I don't think there's many of us left that grew up that way, coming up to the journalism, but I think what a great skill set for almost anybody if you could write, if you can speak, if you master those two. It just elevates any career. They're almost like dying arts. People send me maybe five, six books a month that somebody has written and self published and I like, oh my God, nobody's even edited this. And the ability to express yourself, and that's that's why I think your job so vital, because you can. You can express what all of us need to see and hear. You know better than most because of your background.
Jay Croft:Yeah, well, thank you. The market in fitness for serving people who are a little bit older than the norm is tremendous, and I'm excited about it with my business because it's a great way to make some money, but also as a storyteller you know, as a writer, because people who are a little bit older have better stories to tell. I think I love it. I love getting to meet all these people I'm talking to and learning how their lives are changing for the better.
Thomas Plummer:Yeah, I trained my first client in like 1977 and you watch the business over the decades, you see transitions, changes. I remember when goals Jim just took off and it was like they use that old thing to mecca of fitness and it was so true. You walked in there and was like I mean this with the lifestyle you want and then you saw curves come in and that was in some ways radical because they really went after somebody.
Thomas Plummer:The market ignored and figured out a way to bring them in. This is why, again, I admire what you're doing is I think you're kind of ahead of your time here, because this over 40 market is maybe right now the biggest segment that people are ignoring. This is where the money is going to be. If you're a coach, if you're a gym owner, I think this is where the money is going to be. Mainstream people are ignoring it. The people are different, the clients different, their expectation, the demographics, the influence. It's just it's really excited to see this take off now.
Thomas Plummer:And I think the next 10 years is really going to be that the gym in the future really for the training segment, is going to be, at least for the next decade or longer, is going to be that over 40 market, that market that just doesn't fit into other gyms Right.
Jay Croft:I don't understand why everyone's not pursuing this market. I talked to people in the business who say I want to coach young athletes or elite, elite people and I'm like why they don't stick with you? They don't need you, they're not going to pay you a lot of money that you can't upsell them on anything. Why in the world do you want to get some 25 year old boy in there when you can get a 65 year old woman who's going to spend a fortune with you over time?
Thomas Plummer:Most of the main street fitness facilities think that they do service the over 40 client well and they know I've got those guys. I was consulting at a JCC massive place, maybe the whole campus. The building was 60,000 but they had classrooms in it, all kinds of things well in California, and their weight facility was maybe 5000 feet of that. So they said, well, you'll take a look at this and look at that aspect of us helping with the whole project because they were doing some expansion and such.
Thomas Plummer:So I'm walking around the gym and there's guy maybe mid 50s this guy looked like a money guy and he was talking to a trainer. Of course the trainer standard check in his message and they were waiting to get on a bench press and some idiot kid was sitting there scrolling. So I got the trainer scrolling. I'm watching these guys waiting in a bench press. The kid doesn't even know the guys are waiting. He's scrolling. So I'm talking to the guy and I said are you a training client? Because, oh yeah, he was kind of frustrated. He says yeah, I mean, and he kind of gives me that look, you know, type stuff. But here's a guy that has money, comes in, his time is valuable and yet we make him wait. The trainer was rude to him by scrolling where the guy's waiting to share equipment. But if I asked the people that manage this facility, they'll say, oh no, we do a great job, we get that over the client. I mean, this is the JCC, this is what we do.
Thomas Plummer:But, if you think about it, they just pissed this guy off.
Jay Croft:Right.
Thomas Plummer:He doesn't fit there, he doesn't want to walk through that type of stuff. They don't fit in the big boxes. I talk about over 40 and your writing is really based on over 50. But I'm not extending it to 40 because I have the privacy of that wealthy client, but despite affluence and by age. So those have to go together Because you could have somebody that's 40 years old and is a happy schoolteacher but makes 50 grand a year.
Thomas Plummer:Or you can have somebody 40 and she owns her own state farm agency and she makes three million a year.
Jay Croft:Right.
Thomas Plummer:So it's the top 30% by affluence and over 40. And if you put those two together then there's nobody really doing a great job of servicing that client. You know, it's just, it's crazy. So we think we do, Jay, but we don't. We don't touch that client. That client is floating around out there and nobody's waiting to occur. That's the opportunity.
Jay Croft:That is the opportunity and I'm advocating that people who want this market let it be known, because that's how you get them. You, it's not just communications, which is my wheelhouse, but it's also the whole customer experience.
Thomas Plummer:Yeah, I did one of the things, like you know, reading your stuff. One of the things I hope you do in the future is to provide maybe a newsletter and help that they, the gym owner, understand this client. There's a term I use a lot in my old workshop called disconnect, where if a trainer is making, he's 32 years old, she's 35 years old, she has her training gym, they're out there but they're making 50, 60,000. They've got one or two kids. Their spouse has got a job. They're a good, tight little family but at that level probably not financially, where they could be someday.
Thomas Plummer:Trainer got a trainer client comes in but last night he goes out to dinner. He's out with his wife. They order a hundred and fifty dollar bottle of wine because he just likes that brand and they eat at a high end steakhouse. So the steak was $47, big potato was 12, 15,. You know, oh my God, they might split a dessert. You know that's 15 bucks. So they walk out of there. This couple just went out and spent $354. And the trainer goes oh, I can't charge a lot of money, nobody's going to pay. That. The weird thing about that type of client is, in many ways, the more you charge, the actual perception of quality goes up. But most of the coaches that want to train this client don't do the research, they don't read the books, they don't understand the demographic flavor I love that term and the demographic flavor of this client.
Thomas Plummer:They don't understand where this guy eats what. What does he buy? Where does he? You know how does he think about his money.
Jay Croft:So what should they be doing? What should the gym owners be doing out there? You know that that they're not as far as their communications go.
Thomas Plummer:Of in their head start with the experience and then the. If they understand the client, then their communications have to match that. Almost again, the word disconnect. I'm helping a client. She's in a nutrition aspect of the business and she is very, very great shape. She's 50, great shape, but she writes as if she's writing to a 25 year old influencer. So she's, you know, like what's your protein and this percentage? And I'm like your client you're writing to. If you're writing to the over 40 client, why not even been in the gym in five years? She's worried about percentage of protein. Their communications are almost always too technical, too anal. They don't speak to the person. So you know, as you well know, one of the things all over Instagram and Facebook now is trainers writing tips.
Jay Croft:Yeah.
Thomas Plummer:So one of my trainers, I followed a New York guy upstate New York. I saw his stuff yesterday and he has a good training facility. Works with that. You know the client. But his tip was something that, my God, you'd have to be almost a professional athlete to do.
Jay Croft:Right.
Thomas Plummer:You know it was. It was no, so I'm not going to do that. So the communication really has to be softer. It has to be. You know. Here's something to think about when you think about nutrition. Here's the lies you've been told about training. Here's why women do need weights and structure and here's why and it also has to be a specific If you think about that group, the 40 to 50, that's the transition group to me right now.
Thomas Plummer:But if you're late 40s and beyond, you probably on Facebook, you're probably on Instagram. You probably can't spell TikTok. We know where they hang out, we know what they support, but the communication is always a disconnect because it's too technical. It is really written unconsciously for somebody that already gets it. You first have to get that person so excited to even want to try it. So communications back to your question should inspire confidence. It should have inspired the ability that I could do this. It should take me out of all the garbage I grew up with as a 50 plus years old on popcorn diets and all kinds of these strange drugs and people took in the 70s and 80s and 90s and say, look, here's some lies you've been told. Here's some success stories. Here's how people can change your life. Here's what fitness can do, here's what simple thing like walking can do for so the communications are always, I think, wrong, jay, because they're targeting sets of younger market and they're always too technical and they really don't understand the client they're trying to chase.
Jay Croft:That's right. I was going to ask you what are some of the communications mistakes you see, and you just went straight to it and I want to add a couple of more that I see a lot of. All the time is they talk about themselves too much the gym owner or the trainer, their communications is all about their passion and their, their qualifications and their courses and their certifications, and a lot of them will have sexy pictures of themselves online. It's like, yeah, I don't care, you're hot, good for you, I don't care. Right, and that that's one that I don't think is real effective with with people in this demographic. They want to know what are you going to do for me? I'm not trying to be 25 and sexy again.
Jay Croft:I just want to live my best life now. So how can you communicate that to me? And that's what I try to do with with my material. My content that I provided the gyms and the trainers and the studios is you know, I don't tell you how to do a Bulgarian split squat or why you should not do this overhead press or what have you. I leave that up to the fitness professionals. But if we show people respectfully and professionally, in an engaging manner, how much life has to offer if you're able to participate in it that's what I'm trying to promote is the freedom that being fit offers you at this stage in life.
Thomas Plummer:Yeah, that's. I think that's brilliant. You're the only one doing it. You're really ahead of your time. What? One of the things, weirdly, that you're up against is a lot of these coaches, especially the folks that have their businesses. I put I started following a Instagram guru on how to put 100 new members in your gym in, you know 90 days type guy.
Thomas Plummer:I clicked one. Now I'm following a team of these, so A lot of these guys. If you're a 27 year old trainer, you're marking that stuff does work there, yeah, but it doesn't work. As you said very well, it's a turnoff. So the communications that this is why everybody wants this dream client with money yeah, they don't know how to talk to them. That's where you come in, of course, is so the the? How do we talk to these people, but they don't respond to the same way. You know, hitting them 15 times and blindly. I think the best thing for the over 40 marketer testimonials right.
Thomas Plummer:You know, I tell the guys never run a picture of yourself. You don't need to. It's what you do for people. If you've helped people, to let them speak for you. And there's a lot of clients, especially when a certain age, that wanted to be seen. If I have a 50 year old woman that says I never fit in any gym, in anywhere, I went to this gym, I finally found a home and fitness and all of a sudden the woman's girl line goes Well, that's cool.
Thomas Plummer:Yeah you know, or just another great body. Well, that's kind of cool, you know so and off I go, but it's just like that. So your communications, that's what caught my eye with a lot of your stuff I first read was you're speaking to that client as if they, you understand that client and again, we said it probably too many times already but the trainer clients, these are your dream clients. This, in many cases, your future, the one. The first thing you need to learn is to communicate with them and you're you're such a good basis to start with that.
Jay Croft:Well, thank you, I really appreciate that. Obviously, I respect your opinion and your, your stature in the industry and your history in it. So let me ask you then how do I, how do I do a better job of that? How do I connect with more gym owners?
Thomas Plummer:A lot of people Don't understand. It's like you're a jump ahead.
Thomas Plummer:And there's this gap from where they are to where you start and this is the gap I think needs to be filled. I think getting people to understand that client and then the fact that you can communicate with them, I think that's the big deal. Yeah, they don't understand. They need you yet because in a lot of cases because they understand the clients a little that I had one of my clients he has five training gyms in London and one of the things we did outside pick a bunch of your clients and profile them, like their age, fluence, where they live, what area they're in.
Thomas Plummer:So we're training the staff, we're handing those out and I look at the picture and I turn them over and I said read this and you're like this guy makes, you know, two million a year. Yeah, this guy says cvo, this one's an attorney, you know they. Just they freak out. We're trying to get the staff to understand that the client is different. These clients have different needs and stuff. So it's like that's the type of information I would like to see from you is help me understand the client, then help me talk to the client. So I think the assumption we make I think maybe you made in your early days of starting this Is you assume that the clients already Are having this conversation, like you and I have.
Thomas Plummer:Yeah and they're, they're over here. So why this client? What does this client need? Why is this client different? What are these clients expectations? So if you start to Allow me to see this client, then the next logical step is boom, how do I communicate with that? You're not teaching them sales, but you're teaching them how to think about the client, how to view the client, how to see the client and, most importantly, how to communicate with the client. And again, you're a little early to the dance.
Jay Croft:These I feel like I am really just coming.
Thomas Plummer:Yeah, you know you're ahead of your time with this, but I think it's final.
Jay Croft:Well, thank you. I feel like I'm a little ahead of the curve too, and my, my problem is that gap in between. I'm not sure how to bring everybody up, but I think I'm the only one doing it.
Thomas Plummer:The majority of the training clients over 40 are female and they vary from 55 to 60% on the low end, depending on the region, as high as 80 to 90% in some markets. If I'm looking at that woman, that's, let's say, I had a couple of kids. Kids are older. Now she's working, but maybe that busy, possibly got divorced, started her own company, all the life issues that we all do with. So she wakes up one day she's 45, 47 years old, she's 20 pounds over and she goes oh my God, I am ready to go. Date Trigger is always a trigger and the self esteem is not there. Yeah, so what the trainers don't understand yet and what they will, if you want to own this segment, is okay. What does this person need? How do they make decisions? Well, what's the data? Where do they look? Well, they look on Facebook, but a lot of trainers are on Instagram and TikTok now.
Jay Croft:Yeah.
Thomas Plummer:So how does this person make a buying decision? What's their issues with money? By a fluency. So the statistics on the money and the experiences people expect, how do they spend their money and how does that relate to a training gym. So gathering as a reporter, as a journalist, gathering those statistics helps me see my clients, because I don't know my clients. Speaking for a lot of the gym people, they really don't know who their clients are and how they got there. Right. They know they have money. That's about all they know.
Jay Croft:Yeah, but they don't know those triggers. You said there's always a trigger or a catalyst. There's always something that happens in your 40s, 50s or 60s where you go. Oh shit.
Jay Croft:Everything's suddenly different. Your wife leaves you, a child dies, you get a health scare, you get fired from your job of 20 years. You know something life happens that you don't understand when you're 25 years old because you haven't seen it yet. But that catalyst is really important because it takes something to get you off the couch. If all you've been doing is working and raising children and paying the mortgage for 20 or 30 or 40 years, you need something to spark your you into action and therefore the gym owner and the trainer needs to understand that to really connect.
Thomas Plummer:I think you just solve the whole problem. That's. Your purpose in all of this is to help me, as a gym owner, get them off the couch.
Thomas Plummer:Yeah, but they don't know where to start. If I had to summarize it all, a client over 40 that's not in a gym doesn't know where to begin. Yes, they don't know how to get started with that. So you, you said it better than I did. Right, there is, you've got how do I get them off the couch? And that's what good content has to do, is that person sits down, goes yes, yes, it's time I can do this. Death, divorce, class reunions, right, new significant others yeah, it's just all of that. One of my clients she's just turning 50 and was divorced about five years ago and really hasn't dated working on her career in her business and she goes.
Thomas Plummer:I'm going back in, I've gotten out there and she's a fitness person. She lives the lifestyle. She goes, the thought of being naked with a stranger for the first time in four years. She goes. It's traumatizing. I say, well, you work out for a living, you understand the lifestyle, and she goes. It's still mentally my self esteem is still, as I'm a 17 year old.
Jay Croft:Yes.
Thomas Plummer:So if this person has that trouble, how would you feel if I, as one of my guys in the UK says, he says this one came in, she was two stone over. We're talking about brutal two stone 14 pounds. So she's 28 pounds over. Or this guy came in We've been an attorney so out of shape that he only sees his shoes every other step. But these people, they don't have a home in fitness. We use that.
Thomas Plummer:A lot of my clients that are gyms that specialize in over 40 and I have significant number of those all around the world now as clients, because I kept pushing guys to get into this because I think it is the next big thing. But that guy that you know he had trouble seeing his shoes. That one of that is is 2030 pounds overweight. You know, he stressed out adults, they just they have no place to call home. They don't fit in. So come on in. You know you fit here. We're going to go slow. We're going to take care of you. We're going to help you fit in. That's where you come in. And here's some things to think about when you start thinking about fitness. You know, instead of skinny jeans and look better and stuff like that, yeah, no, they just don't want to die.
Thomas Plummer:They want to feel a little better. They got passed over promotion because they're too heavy.
Thomas Plummer:Yeah it's the woman and the man both command and their self esteem is damaged because of the way we can help. You know, at least we can start there. You know, and I don't want you to be a bikini strut and I don't want, dude, I don't want you walking down in some banana pack on the beach, right, no, just, you get up tomorrow morning and you look in the mirror and you go. I feel better about myself, like yesterday. We win, we win, the gym win, the client wins. But if you're riding it, if I'm the gym owner, that's the content I have to have, because I have to get that again. You said it better than I did. I'm going to get that person to feel if I get off the couch, there's a place for me to go. That understands me.
Thomas Plummer:And that's what we don't do. That's the disconnect.
Jay Croft:I'm glad we've stumbled upon this because I'm finishing up my first direct to consumer course. All of my material so far has been directed to my customers or gym owners and trainers, and so everything I do is written for them to purchase and then share with their customers and their prospects. But I want to branch out and speak directly to the fitness consumer, and so the first thing I'm doing is an online digital course, and this is exactly what the course is. It's not a workout plan, it's not a diet plan. It's how to get off the couch.
Jay Croft:You're how to break through all the misinformation and the BS that we've all been fed about fitness in general, but they each of us as an individual accumulates over the decades that I'm too fat, I'm too old, I'm not good enough, I'm not handsome enough, I'm not blah, blah, blah. None of this has anything to do with anything regarding your health, but it keeps people on the couch. So I've written this course that I'm going to start selling directly to individual, to people to say, hey, here's the, here's the nonsense in your head, here's how to unlock it a little bit. And when we talk about fitness, we don't mean you need to be Chris Hemsworth or 35 year old Adonis. We're talking about moving better, feeling better, looking better, and it doesn't take that much, it just takes a start. That's what I'm trying to do with this course you can bring it down to just a couple.
Thomas Plummer:That that person on the couch. What are they afraid of? And one of the big things they're afraid they everybody in that gym is going to be in shape with me. Yeah, so they feel they won't fit in. And the other one is I can't do it, it's going to be too much, because then they see some crazy crossfitter doing that and there's a place for those folks, there's a place for everybody to fit in.
Thomas Plummer:So if you enjoy the CrossFit lifestyle, that's, that's, that's a great journey. If you enjoy going into a gym and just walking on treadmill slowly, then there's that low value, $10 gym somewhere Right For that top 30% by a fluence we seem to have left them out. So telling them you know, we know you failed everywhere because it was never built for success. I think you're going to be successful in this gym and here's why we're different. You're afraid of failing, not fitting in. You're afraid that everybody in there is in shape, that people are going to laugh at, that You're going to go. All those fears are is what good marketing for that type of gym overcomes, because I got to let the client know yes, you can do this. Yes, there are people like you. Yes, a lot of people get to a certain age and struggle with their esteem and their weight. You're not unusual.
Thomas Plummer:But back to the regular training gym type concept they jump all past that and go well if you just ate 20% of protein more or you did this magical shake, or my God, the worst, the worst I hate. I got to throw this out. The worst I hate is just click through and see somebody doing meal prep. So here's a guy standing with a ball cap on no shirt, he's shredded, he's got 40 plastic bowls. It's Sunday, you can see the window, it's beautiful, and he's in here. He's got 40, 50 plastic bowls full of dried chicken. And then there's always the his significant standing behind him and she's in some workout bra and little training pants.
Jay Croft:Now.
Thomas Plummer:I'm looking at these two going. It's Sunday afternoon, you're both healthy. I'd like, dude, get a bottle of wine, just run out in the woods and get naked and just spend all afternoon. Just anything but shum and chicken in a plastic bowl, dude, that's all you can think of to do on Sunday afternoon.
Jay Croft:That's right, that's right.
Thomas Plummer:Live a little, that 40 year old, 50 year old person who hasn't been to gym in three years and they're going to buy 50 plastic bowls and shove dried chicken in. That's why they don't go to gym, because, oh my God, I'll never be able to eat anything but dried chicken ever again. It's like we put barrier stuff. We don't want your business, we don't need you. Why come in here? You're not going to fit in. Well, that's what all these guys that run these ads do. If you don't look like me, you're not going to be happy in here. It's crazy.
Jay Croft:It's crazy and it's bad business and it's bad communications. You're not helping anybody when you're just limiting who you're talking to. It's oftentimes the people who need it the most who are not getting the messages that can help them.
Thomas Plummer:Yeah, as you said, we spend too much time talking about ourselves and not enough time talking about their fears. Again, I'm going to go back to it, and this is where I think you're so vital is they. We don't understand that client, we don't understand who that is. Because disconnect. I'm 30. I'm in there, I own a business, but I live the lifestyle. I do that and this client comes in with More money in their checking account and your life is worth, and we immediately apply all we know to them, which is Lifestyle. 35 years old, you train four or five days a week, you do this and that person goes. Oh, my god, we're so far apart, you know.
Thomas Plummer:I just the hardest thing in my life was coming through this door. And no, I don't want to be plastic bowls, for, you know, a discount.
Jay Croft:No, you know right, I'm gonna play in the park with my grandson on sunday afternoon. That's what I'm doing.
Thomas Plummer:Yeah, and I, have you ever worked with anybody like me? Yeah, you know I would notice. I'm back to the testimonials. You're not the product you sell in the gym. You sell the results and that's the people. You help them, let them do the talking.
Jay Croft:You're not the product and you know, I see people doing it. Well, you don't have to be 65 to train a 65 year old person anymore than you have to be a woman to train a woman. You just have to open your mind and acquire some extra training and perspective. There at the gym I go to here in Atlanta, is is not what you would call an older person's gym, but the owner is smart enough to court older people in the middle of the day when working people are at their jobs. Otherwise it would be empty.
Jay Croft:So you go in there between nine and three and there's a bunch of people and they're 50, 60s and 70s in there working out with trainers for a hundred bucks an hour, and these trainers are 25, 28, 30 years old and you know, physically perfect young men. Well, guess what? They're smart enough to know that that's where the money is, because they don't want to work at 8 pm when all the 25 year olds can come in after their jobs. They want to work in the daytime so they can have their family life in the evenings. Just makes perfect sense, and I really admire that when I see it. So it's possible.
Thomas Plummer:Yeah, you know we're laughing at the clients on the way to start, but sometimes I think the gym owners, you know, don't know where it's. It's an interesting thing and it's Maybe too technical, but I'll throw it out anyway. But we look at the gym business. You know, we look at the demographic to support gyms. So if you look at the 24 to 35 36 year old client, that client is defined. We know what they make, we know what generation they're in, we know the characteristics of that generation, we know everything about that person and a lot of gyms have been built for that person. The second demographic is one that's that 35 to 55 year old, and why they cross over is I could be 35 years old and be a senior manager at a bank, or I could be 35 years old and school teachers making 45 per year.
Thomas Plummer:So the this is really by a fluence. The 35 to 55. They tend to like the small groups, but not 10, 12, 15 people. They like groups of four or less. They they'll pay more money for more elite. They'll pay more money to be in the gym without a bunch of crazies. They'll usually support a smaller training gym. So by a fluence level, we have that 24 to 35, then we have the 35 to 55, but sitting on top of that and is that for Plus to by god down 90 something? We've seen people come in the gym. That's a client that does like the one-on-one, but they're there mostly because of privacy. It's not there because you're the best trainers, because I've got an hour where I don't have to think. I've got 60 employees and I hate all of them and I go to the gym. Just tell me what to do. I don't want to think. Don't explain stuff. I don't need to know how this muscle works.
Thomas Plummer:Right, I don't care what do you want to do, tom? Pick up the medicine ball, put it over your head. Thank you, right. Oh, by the way, tom, you're paying me more money by us. Here's a bottle of water, cool, exactly 45 minutes later, jay, I'm done.
Thomas Plummer:You know what? I'm gonna go up here because I don't want to go home, because I got 60 boys. I don't like. I got Kids at home. I don't like. I'm just gonna sit up here and scroll for 30 minutes and drink a $9 shake and maybe have a six dollar cup of coffee to get me wired up before the workout. So we sell the whole clubhouse experience to that client. So the training gym of the future will take that 35 to 55, bend them into smaller group activities, classes like restoration, natural movement Into.
Thomas Plummer:One of my guys just came. He redid his concept because we were so successful with the six week trial that he did all his gyms. He has a class now called fit for life, which he's taken a traditional team thing and slowed it down with more mobility, agility, more stuff for people 40 50 that needs to move better but it's still a group class but it's so that supports his other stuff, so that 35 to 55 would be that type of person, and then the 40 plus. So the training gym of the future is going to be based on those two upper demographics and the third one that's serviced by a whole different type of brand.
Thomas Plummer:If you're functioning, that you've got some kind of one of those, god bless, you keep going if it's working for you, but as the if you want to work with a market that's underserved. And who you write to, is that 35 to 55 and 40 plus wrapped together in a 3000 to 6000 foot training gym. When you get into the demographics design, the expectation we understand the client Boom, there you are is how do I talk to this client and get that client to find me, to get them off the couch? And there's testimonials, fitness tips, great copy through blogs, through social media, that you're providing all that copy for these guys. Now you're talking to the client in my voice and that's what I I like. That's why I think you do so well.
Jay Croft:Wow. Well, thank you, tom. You just made my day, so I think that's a good place to end this, with me feeling good about myself. So We'll take that as a clue.
Thomas Plummer:It should be the way it goes, jay.
Jay Croft:I like that. I like that. Okay, Well, listen. Thank you so much for your time and your generosity and all you've done for so many people in the industry. I appreciate it my pleasure.
Thomas Plummer:Yeah, nice to spend time with you. I hope you can do it again.
Jay Croft:We will for sure. Thanks, tom. Thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed the show and I hope you'll subscribe, tell a friend and write a review. All of that helps us grow our audience. I also hope you'll check out the powerful fitness business training and certifications offered by my friends at the Functional Aging Institute. Fai is the leading authority on how to build a business that's focused on helping people over 50 live their best lives through fitness. Their educational services, networking opportunities and coaching are invaluable and the pricing is unbeatable. Just use this special code so they know you're coming to them through me. You can find it on the show notes page and follow the link to learn more. Also, fai president and co-founder, dan Ritchie, was our very first guest on Optimal Aging, so reach back to episode one for more about the Functional Aging Institute. I'm now thankful for FAI support as another affiliate sponsor of this show, so you'll be supporting me as well as yourself and this great organization.
Jay Croft:While we're talking about sponsors of the show, I want to welcome life priority supplements as an affiliate sponsor and thank them for their support. Life priority is owned by former World Series champion Greg Pryor and his wife, michelle, and any gym or studio that wants to expand its offerings to people over 50 should check out its products. I will leave the link in the show notes and, yes, if you use it to make purchases, the show gets financial support. But here's the deal. I would not do this with just any supplement company.
Jay Croft:I've been using life priority products for a couple of years now, since I had Greg on the show in episode 19 in February 20,. I like their no-nonsense approach and I am happy to tell you I love their products. Life priority supports joint health and immunity, improves energy and sleep and lots more of interest to people over 50. Your clients will appreciate you offering this product line for them, investing in your health. Since 1994, life priority recognizes the importance of sourcing scientifically formulated, high quality supplements for their customers. So follow the link in my show notes and get started with life priority now.