Fitness Business University Podcast · Vince Gabriele

Why I sold my marketing agency…and to Who!

October 27, 2025·1 hr 3 min·5 clips

Vince Gabriele sold his multimillion-dollar marketing agency to his former ad manager, GR Hoff.

Vince Gabriel, host of the Fitness Business University Podcast, announces he sold his marketing agency, KISS Marketing, to his guest, GR Hoff of Gym Member Machine. This episode details their long professional history and the reasoning behind the sale. Vince recounts a period around 2015-2016 when his focus strayed from his gym, Gabriel Fitness & Performance, leading to financial strain. He credits a client named Neil for the idea to run a membership sweepstakes to revive the business. Vince hired GR Hoff, a gym owner and Dan Kennedy-trained marketer, to execute Facebook ads for this first major promotion. That campaign added roughly $200,000 in revenue to GFP, which was already doing over $1 million annually. GR helped create a successful book co-written with a client, Kathy, who lost 83 pounds from winning the sweepstakes. Vince sold KISS Marketing to GR a couple of months prior to this recording after a five-year plan for the agency. He chose GR over a better financial offer from another buyer for several specific reasons. Vince had direct, positive experience with GR's marketing skill from their early work together. He recalls a personal story of GR carrying a larger teammate during a Spartan-style race, which demonstrated a resilient "gear" Vince values. Several clients from Vince's mastermind who left KISS Marketing for service issues later worked with GMM and reported success. GR agreed to retain all of KISS Marketing's employees, which was important to Vince. GMM's client churn rate of 2-3% was a significant factor, which Vince calls "ridiculous" for an agency. GR explains his agency now works with over 350 gyms globally, offering paid ads, website design, and sales automation using GoHighLevel. GMM provides four hours of weekly group coaching and specifically coaches clients' sales teams on closing leads. GR states they do not use long-term contracts, operating on a 30-day cancel-anytime basis. He argues the fitness marketing landscape suffers from decreased consumer trust due to widespread "bait and switch" free challenge offers. Every gym market is different, making it impossible to guarantee specific lead costs or volumes. GR advises gyms to set realistic expectations, like being financially healthy with a 10% lead-to-close rate. He emphasizes that show-to-close rates for consultations should be a minimum of 66-70%. The fundamental advice for rebuilding trust is to stop using deceptive offers and instead build an "overwhelming abundance of proof" like reviews and referrals. The tone is a conversational and nostalgic story swap between two practitioners with deep mutual respect. The style blends personal anecdote with direct, philosophical business advice, avoiding overly technical jargon. Gym owners curious about agency partnerships, mergers, or navigating paid advertising in a skeptical market would find this highly relevant. Listeners seeking a purely tactical, step-by-step marketing tutorial might find the extensive backstory less immediately useful.

As heard by us

A blunt look at how fast focus slips, and why gym marketing math matters more than hype.

This episode follows a founder who lets a consulting opportunity pull him away from the gym, and the fallout lands plainly. He starts out energized by the work, then looks back and sees the gym slipping, with the balance sheet, profit and loss statement, and cash balance all…

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Why you'd press play

If your lead costs keep swinging, this episode will feel painfully familiar.

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