While we’re on the topic of challenges, here’s a challenge I ran every year before we took a break over the Christmas and New Year period.
In a nutshell: Challenge your campers to train with you every single day during the final week of your bootcamp.
How It Works
Normally my bootcamp ran 3 days per week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday. About half my clients came to two sessions per week and the other half came to three (I didn’t offer a once per week option).
But every December (or before I took time off e.g. for a holiday) I would run an intense week of bootcamp and I would invite all of my campers to try to come to every session.
I called it: Super Bootcamp Week
During Super Bootcamp Week I’d run sessions Monday through Friday at all of the times I offered. That meant clients could train at their favourite time every day that week.
The sessions I’d plan would be tough but also fun. Being the end of the year there would often be some Christmas and New Year themed workouts. We’d do a HIT session, a boxing session, a running session, a strength session and then finish off on Friday with a gamified workout like Bootcamp Monopoly. Something extravagant to finish the week.
Getting clients to sign up in advance means you can really nail down the plans for these sessions too. I’ll share how to get them to sign up a bit further down.
The Benefits Of Running This Challenge
This is not the kind of challenge that’s going to bring in new clients. Instead it’s more a way for your existing campers to see how far they’ve come in the past year.
It ends your period of training on a high, leaving people with a positive memory of accomplishing something they didn’t previously think they could do.
Speaking from experience, this helps with retention as clients return to train with you in the new year.
(And you know how much I love retention. It played a pivotal role in growing my bootcamp classes.
Promoting Your Super Bootcamp Week
Now you might be thinking, in your generous way, that you’ll run these extra sessions for free. Don’t. Charge for the sessions accordingly.
Not only is this a great challenge for your clients but it’s also a bit of a cash boost for you before a quiet time of the year.
This is how I approached booking people in and charging them:
A couple of week’s before the challenge I would let everyone know at our sessions that the final week of training was coming up and that I’d be running a mega week to finish the year. I’d use these time to build up a bit of hype:
‘We’re going to finish the year on a bang!’
‘Get in your last few workouts before the Christmas feasting!’
‘Can you survive Super Bootcamp Week?’
I’d follow up with an email with the date’s of the workouts and for campers to let me know what day’s they’d like to come.
The price per session got cheaper depending on how many days they booked in. Here’s what I charged back then:
2 sessions: $30
3 sessions: $40
4 sessions: $50
5 sessions: $55
It was only $5 more to come all 5 days so a lot of clients took me up on that. And with 80 clients it wasn’t uncommon for me to make $3,500+ in that final week.
Notice as well that I didn’t offer 1 session. I really wanted to encourage clients to push their comfort zone a bit that week and participate as much as they could.
After the email was sent out I kept track of who had signed up and who happened. Then, because it’s a busy time of year and people forget, I’d keep following up with clients until I had everyone booked in (or out because perhaps they were away that week).
Wrap Up
One final thing before I go.
As these sessions are a lot of fun, be sure to get photos and videos of your campers during the session and even afterwards with a quick testimonial of how they’ve enjoyed training with you this year.
These will make great content for you to share when you’re ready to jump back into things the following year!
Kyle Wood created Bootcamp Ideas in 2010 when he was hunting around on the internet for workout ideas. He ran a successful bootcamp in Victoria, Australia and spends his spare time managing this site, adventuring (or lazying) with his wife and find new ways to make bootcamps even better.
Leave a Reply