More first-timers. More partner classrooms.
CrossFit Education is reaching beyond future coaches. That raises the stakes on every course a partner delivers, because a first course is often a first impression.
CrossFit pitched the Level 1 to everyday athletes and moved the test online, the week after the course.
Endorsed partner courses carry CrossFit’s badge and are held to its standards for content, professionalism and service.
About 11,000 affiliates and 100,000+ credentialed coaches. Every partner course reaches into that community.
Five plates. Load one at a time.
Tap a plate. Each stage, from negotiation through renewal or exit, has a job, a thing to watch and a place I’ve done it before.
Negotiate
Turn every term into an obligation someone can check: fees or revenue share, course delivery, cancellations, reporting, marketing and use of CrossFit marks.
- Watch
- Terms that sound clear but can’t be measured.
- Metric
- Obligations with an owner, a date and a source.
- Done it
- SWISSGEAR license terms and royalty reviews at Cities Market Studios.
Make the business review a decision.
One scorecard for every EDU partner, built with Finance and Analytics and read before each review. Tap a partner to see the next move. The partners and numbers below are invented for illustration.
| Sample partner | Registrations vs. plan | Courses delivered | NPS | Reports & fees | Marks review | Renewal call |
|---|
Three rounds, for quality.
Learn it, measure it, then act on it. Thirty days a round.
Learn
Read every agreement
- Build one central register of terms, dates and obligations.
- Meet each partner and each EDU team: Operations, Analytics, Product, Content, Marketing, Finance and Legal.
- Sit in on courses the way a participant would.
Measure
Ship scorecard v1
- Agree on definitions with Finance and Analytics.
- Set baselines for registrations, revenue, course volume, renewals and NPS.
- Review partner sites for use of CrossFit names and marks.
Act
Run the first reviews
- Hold business reviews built on the scorecard.
- Agree on corrective action plans where gaps show up.
- Publish a 12-month renewal calendar, so no term ends by surprise.
I’ve sat in the partner’s chair.
Most of my career has been on the partner side: delivering under someone else’s name, to someone else’s standards, and getting measured for it.
- Up With People
Advance team
Lined up local sponsors, venues, host families and media for tour stops across the US and Canada.
- Business Impact Group
Client programs, start to finish
Took client programs from onboarding to renewal or exit, including Polaris dealer and Snap Fitness franchise rollouts and Samsung virtual training.
- Syncada from Visa
Partner education
Taught partners through training webcasts for the U.S. Bank and Visa joint venture.
- Cities Market Studios
SWISSGEAR x Target
Managed license terms, royalty reviews and partner QBRs while growing the program from $0 to $21M+ in two years.
- JL Buchanan
Paid on performance
Our fees rode on shelf results. Tracked NPS, reviews and guest focus groups, and scaled the $20M Target + Yoobi joint venture.
- CyberPower Systems
Certification & adoption
Managed safety and regulatory certification and lab testing, and trained users on a new product-content platform.
- Sansico Group
Brand standards, monthly
Held LEGO and other licensed programs to Target brand and image-likeness rules, through amendments and renewals.
- Club Kokoro
Coach & program manager
Coached 720+ lessons, trained assistant coaches and hosted an on-site ETS Performance training partner.
- Next rep
CrossFit, Partner Programs Manager, EDU
Remote from Bloomington, Minnesota, and ready to work across time zones.
Let’s walk the scorecard together.
To be clear, I don’t hold a CrossFit Level 1, and I haven’t coached in an affiliate. I’d bring a partner manager’s eye and a new participant’s questions. I’d welcome 20 minutes.
My test for any partner course: would a first-timer sign up for the next one? If not, the scorecard should say so before the renewal does.