Why do we want every coach to learn and share the Beachbody Coach story? Because it helps any curious prospective coach to connect with the reason we started coaching and the vision we have for our coach community. When you know that story, you will have greater success in building your team.
So what is the story behind how the Coach Community was born?
Beachbody was founded in 1998 by Carl Daikeler and John Congdon, two friends who had great success in the infomercial marketing world. They were smart at bringing products to people through television. Mid-way into their career they had an idea to bring fitness programs to people who struggled to lose weight, and didn’t have the time, money or comfort level of going to a gym or trainer. The infomercial company they worked for laughed at them so they went out and created one on their own. That’s how Beachbody started. Two guys with an idea that nobody else believed in.
CEO, CARL DAIKELER
CO-FOUNDER, JOHN CONGDON
Like any new company, they struggled at first but they learned every step of the way. In fact, when P90X was first launched, it was a total flop so they listened to their customers and tweaked it over and over again until it became the highest ranking infomercial program of all time. Better yet, the people who bought P90X got amazing results so when Beachbody started talking to their customers, they discovered two important facts that changed the company forever:
Discovery #1:
The majority of people who wanted to try a Beachbody program (39 out of 40) needed more information and a better way to make a purchase than calling an 800 number from an infomercial. Beachbody needed a way to reach people that was much more trustworthy and personal.
Discovery #2:
After interviewing their customers, Beachbody discovered that the one thing in common with the 3 out of 10 people who got great results was that they had a buddy! There was a huge grassroots community of Beachbody customers that had found each other through word of mouth - and that's before social media!
Fact #1:
Only one in forty people who saw their infomercials actually bought a program. The other thirty-nine watched the program, but didn’t buy it because they didn’t like buying from an infomercial, or they weren’t sure if the program was a fit for them. The company needed and wanted more information.
Fact #2:
Out of the ten people who did buy a Beachbody program, three got results. Worse yet, five of the ten who bought a program never opened the box, and two started and stopped within 14 days. As far as Beachbody was concerned, that wasn’t okay. So they set out to discover more and find a solution.
TWO IMPORTANT FACTS, TWO IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES
Beachbody knew that if it could find a way to connect their customers to a Coach or “buddy” to help them pick the best program AND also connect them with an online community that supports them through their program, then they would have more people getting even better results. The more people that talked about how they lost weight, the more people there were validating that Beachbody products work. Beachbody knew that the key to their success was to build a trusted brand one story at a time.
The other important factor in the building of our coach community was the decision of how Beachbody would best compensate a coach for being loyal healthy living promoters. The answer was to adopt the most proven business model for compensating coaches and that was Network Marketing. But, they wanted to do it differently, so they set out to build something that had never been built before: a "network helping" company. A business built by coaches helping people get results and getting paid to be brand ambassadors, community activists, and most of all living proof that people can live healthy and fulfilling lives
This customer driven idea of launching a Coach community took Beachbody from a 250 million dollar infomercial marketing company, to the fastest growing health and fitness company in the world today, with over 1 Billion dollars in sales this year.
That’s how Beachbody Coaching was born. Our hope is that you learn this story and share it with people who want to know more about the history, purpose, and reason we are so passionate about building this community together.
Here is an older video with a powerful message from our CEO, Carl Daikeler:
TODAY'S TASK: Find a few key points in the Beachbody story that spoke to you and practice putting it into your own words so that you feel comfortable sharing it the next time you talk to someone about your business.