Make BoxEx Part Of Your Pitch To Every Prospect.
Most people read your site before they ever call or walk in, and they are comparing you to the other gyms they looked at that night. A membership with you now comes with a free class at every box in the network, every year, and only gyms in the network can say that. This step puts that on your site, so a prospect reads it and understands it before they ever walk in the door.
Prospects Read Your Site Before They Call
Most people who find your gym online visit your site before they ever contact you. That visit is where they decide whether to come in. A free class at every box in the network, every year, is not on the other gyms' sites unless those gyms are in the network too. If it is not on your site, they will not know you have it.
This step has four parts. The first two are for this week. The third takes ten minutes. The fourth is a once-a-year thing: new gym shirts for every member, and a review ask the same week.
Add BoxEx to Your Homepage and Build a Travel Page
Two moves here. First, add a line or section to your homepage that tells every prospect their membership comes with a free class at every box in the network, every year. Second, build a dedicated travel page on your site that explains exactly what BoxEx means for your members.
[Gym Name] is part of The Box Exchange, a network of 100+ CrossFit gyms across the country. Our membership comes with a free class at every one of them, every year, booked from your phone before you leave town. Athletes from other network gyms can book a class with us the same way. theboxexchange.co
Why this works: A prospect comparing your gym to one that is not in the network sees one thing on your site they will not see on the other one. A membership that works in other cities used to be the one thing the big chains had on us, and now you have it too, so say so.
Homepage Copy - Add This to Your Benefits or Membership Section
[Gym Name] is part of the BoxEx network of 100+ CrossFit gyms in 30+ states. Your membership here comes with a free class at every one of them, every year, when you travel. Book the class from your phone before you fly out and go train.
[Gym Name] is a member gym in the BoxEx network, 100+ CrossFit gyms across 30+ states that take each other's members when they travel. When you join here, your membership travels with you. Find a BoxEx gym wherever you're headed, book the class from your phone, and go train. Every year, you get a free class at every box in the network, and it comes with your membership here.
Build a Travel Page on Your Site
A dedicated travel page gives your members a place to send their friends and gives prospects a deeper look at the benefit. Use the copy below to build it. See the sample page for a reference on layout and structure.
Page headline: Your Membership Does Not Stop When You Leave Town.
Subhead: [Gym Name] is part of BoxEx, a network of 100+ CrossFit gyms across the country. Your membership here comes with a free class at every one of them, every year.
Body: Find a BoxEx gym near where you're staying and book the class from your phone. The coach has your name before you get there. The class is free, you do not have to call anybody, and you walk into a warmup you already know instead of a hotel gym in an unfamiliar place.
What you get: When you're a [Gym Name] member, you have a free class waiting at 100+ boxes in 30+ states, every year. Walk into any of them and you already know the movements, the whiteboard, and how the hour is going to go.
Find gyms in the network: [Link to theboxexchange.co/gym-locations or your BoxEx affiliate page]
Print the Awareness Poster and Put It In Your Gym
Download the BoxEx poster, print it at Staples on 11x17 good paper, and put it somewhere visible inside your gym. Your members see it every session and visiting athletes see it the moment they walk in.
Where to put it: Near the whiteboard, at the front desk, or on the wall by the entrance. Anywhere athletes have their phone out and a moment to read it.
The poster does two things. It reminds your members that their membership comes with a free class at 100+ boxes every year, which is one more reason they keep paying you every month. And it tells a visiting athlete who walks in that you host people from the network, which is one more reason to book with you the next time they are in town.
Add the BoxEx Badge to Your Website Footer
Add the BoxEx logo badge to the footer of your website. It takes about ten minutes. It tells every visitor, prospect or current member, that your gym is in the network. The badge links to a page that explains what BoxEx is so your site doesn't have to do all the work.
This is how the badge will appear on your site
How to Add It
Save it to your computer. You will upload it to your site builder.
In WordPress, Squarespace, or your custom builder, find the footer section and add an image block.
Upload the image and set the link destination to: https://theboxexchange.co/Gym-Locations
Keep it clean and proportional. It doesn't need to be large, just visible next to your other footer links.
Don't have a web designer? If your site is on WordPress or Squarespace and you get stuck, send an email to your web person with the badge image attached and this instruction: "Please add this image to our site footer and link it to https://theboxexchange.co/Gym-Locations." That is all they need.
New Shirts For Every Member, Once A Year
This one is not for today. Once a year, around the CrossFit Open or your gym anniversary, hand out this year's gym shirts and ask everyone for an honest review the same week. The shirts are free for every member, review or no review. That's what keeps the ask clean with Google, and a new design each year keeps people wanting one.
The math on shirts: If giving a shirt to every member keeps even a handful of them for one extra month, it pays for every shirt in the batch. And every person wearing your gym name around town is a walking conversation starter for someone thinking about CrossFit.
When it is time to run it, the announcement is simple:
“Hey team, two things this week. First, this year’s [Gym Name] shirt is at the front desk, free for every member, so grab yours whether or not you do anything else I am about to say. Second, it’s feedback week. Tell us the truth about this gym on Google, good or bad. It helps the next person find us, and it helps us fix what we are getting wrong. Link’s in your inbox and on the board.”
Say it in class, put it in the group chat, send it in an email. Run it for one week. Order shirts after you have the sizes. Done.
Who Else Should Be In This?
Your members are uploaded, your new-member email is running, and your site says what your membership comes with now.
Now think of two gym owners you respect. Every gym that joins is one more city your members can train in and one more gym whose athletes might book a class with you. If you know an owner who runs a good gym, this is the moment to send them something, because the network only grows by owners vouching for owners.
Send them this. It takes thirty seconds:
"Hey [Name], we just put our gym in BoxEx, the network of CrossFit gyms that give each other's members a free class every year. Our members get a free class at 100+ boxes when they travel, it cost us nothing to join, and setup took me under an hour. Thought of your gym immediately: theboxexchange.co"
Questions? Email hello@theboxexchange.co anytime.
Download the badge image (in the section above), add it to your footer or About page at about 200px wide, and link it to https://theboxexchange.co/Gym-Locations.
No web person on staff? Forward this:
Hey - can you add this badge image to our site footer (or About page), linked to https://theboxexchange.co/Gym-Locations, about 200px wide? Image attached. Thanks.
The line (fuller options with copy buttons are in the sections above):
Your membership comes with a free class at 100+ CrossFit gyms across the country, every year.
And what to say on a tour:
"Your membership here comes with something extra. We're part of BoxEx, a network of 100+ CrossFit gyms, and every year you get a free class at every one of them. When you travel, you reserve a class from your phone and keep training, and the class is free. Only gyms in the network can offer that."
Download the poster (in the section above), print it 11x17 if you can, and letter size works too. By the whiteboard or the front desk.