Success stories are an important part of CrossFit Central’s brand and culture. They are the pulse of our community. If you CrossFit, you know it’s a life changing experience – physically, emotionally, mentally, and even spiritually it seeps into all areas of our lives and improves them tenfold. We also know that it doesn’t just effect the client, it effects the client’s friends, family and coworkers to be better.

This is our 4th year to publish success stories and as the company has grown so have our success stories. This year a team of people put together over 25 stories for 3 companies (CrossFit Central, CrossFit Central RunTex & Relentless Boot Camp) We’ve given you tips and advice, now we want to share the entire step by step system we follow each year.

When to publish (crucial) —> we publish the stories twice a year to coincide with our society’s tide of ‘get fit’ momentum. When are the 2 times each year that people want to get fit? New Year’s resolutions  time & bikini season, keeping this in mind we publish the stories at the end of December right before the New Year & in May right before summer.

• Planning out the success stories (2 months before you publish the stories)
  1. Decide on the number of success stories you want to publish. Base this off of what is feasible for your gym and client base. Our first year we published 6 success stories.
  2. Get your coaches involved ask them to nominate clients they think would make for a great success story.
  *Be sure to balance your success stories so that potential clients can relate to the different stories (former athlete, stay at home Mom, entrepreneur, etc)
• Pick your people
  Ask the nominated clients to be apart of your success stories. Let them know there will be a photo shoot and their story will be published on your website and in your newsletter.
• Get a Professional
  Find a professional photographer to take their “after” photos. Find someone in your community or a friend of a client to take the photos. In exchange for their photography work offer them comped CrossFit classes. Share the time line with the photographer so they know the deadlines for picture.
• Set Up the Photo shoot
  The most effective way we’ve found is to schedule all of the photos on a Sunday. We plan out a 12-5pm day one month or more before the publish date as well as one make up photo shoot day. We also capture a flip cam interview after their pictures.
  
• Collect the story
  Send an email to collect each of their stories, and ask that they send in a before photo with their answers (below are the questions we send out)
  1.Why did you join Crossfit Central?
  2. What was your life like prior to CFCentral?
  -How did you feel emotionally? Physically? Mentally?
  3. What results have you seen since joining the CFCentral community?
  4. Has CrossFit Central helped you break through any mental barriers?
  5. How has pushing yourself and challenging yourself in your daily workouts translated to your career? Your family life and relationships?
• Tease the stories online
  Throughout the success story capture process send updates via twitter and facebook. Send out a picture while at the photo shoot or a tease someone’s results. This will peak interest and build momentum. Schedule a teaser post for your website 2 weeks prior to the publish date.
• Craft the stories
  Take the person’s responses and mold it into a success story that tells – where they were prior to CrossFit, what changed (results) and where they are going next (new goals). Be sure to highlight their results and quotes that capture their story. Click here for an example.
• Publish the success stories, market & promote
  Publish the success stories on a success story tab on your website, publish a front page post linking to the stories, and send out a newsletter specifically promoting the success stories. Be sure to integrate twitter and facebook and spark a conversation online. Then promote these stories heavily over the next month and throughout the year.

  Check out an example of our success story launch day post: