At a glance: Marcus Wilkinson runs Iron Body, a results-focused fitness business in Melbourne. The LeadsNow team — working under its fitness-vertical brand More Gym Members — built him a targeted Facebook and Instagram lead-generation campaign with automated follow-up. The result, in his words: “They flooded in 140 new clients within 64 days of marketing.” All figures on this page come straight from the filmed interview, as told by Marcus Wilkinson on camera.
The numbers, as stated in the filmed interview
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| New clients signed | 140 in 64 days |
| Leads in the first week | About 50 |
| Leads in the first month (first location) | About 200 |
| Recurring revenue added | $9,600 a week — almost $40,000 a month — in two months |
| Ads used across the campaign | 50 (including retargeting, refreshing and optimising) |
Watch Marcus tell it himself
A note on the era: this campaign was delivered by the LeadsNow team under its fitness brand, More Gym Members, and the video was filmed in 2018. It predates the AI sales agents LeadsNow runs today — what you see here is the team’s earlier work: targeted advertising, conversion funnels and automated follow-up systems, exactly as described on camera.
Where Iron Body was before
Marcus wasn’t struggling. His business was built on results — his clients had racked up over 250 top-three placings, 143 first placings, 14 who turned professional and four Miss Universe champions. A lot of his business came through referrals off the back of those results.
The problem was growth. Referrals were steady, but they weren’t enough fuel for where he wanted to take the business.
“The business is going really well and, to be honest with you, I came to a point where I needed help and I wanted to focus on bringing in new paying business… our referral system’s great, but with the growth that I want I really needed a professional to come in and really take the reins and produce me with an unlimited amount of leads.”
— Marcus Wilkinson, Iron Body
He shopped around first. Several agencies pitched him, and most sounded the same.
“I felt like a lot of people were doing the same type of thing, almost seemed to be copying each other. When I spoke with yourself, you cared more about the business and what it offered and what angles and what niches I had and what our service was about, not just being the same as everyone else… your confidence and being able to produce a result, that got me across the line.”
— Marcus Wilkinson, Iron Body
What was actually done
No magic, and no shortcuts — the campaign followed the same process the team still uses for high-ticket coaching and fitness client acquisition today:
- Nail the ideal client first. Most fitness ads speak to everyone and land with no one. For Iron Body, the ideal client was women aged 25–49 — weight loss, muscle gain and toning — and every piece of copy, every image and every funnel step spoke specifically to her.
- Build the funnel on Facebook and Instagram. Traffic from both platforms was pushed through a funnel built around that one niche.
- Retarget the people who didn’t convert. Plenty of people leave without handing over their details. Retargeting kept Iron Body top of mind and pushed them back through the funnel.
- Follow up fast and automatically. Once a lead came in, consultations were booked by phone or self-scheduled, with automated SMS and email follow-up pushing people into the gym so as few leads as possible slipped away.
- Keep optimising. This wasn’t a set-and-forget campaign — 50 ads were used across the whole campaign, including all the retargeting and constant refreshing and optimising.
What happened next
The leads didn’t taper off the way Marcus expected.
“I thought the leads would die down a little bit… I think we got something like 50 new leads in the first week, I still remember that, and then first location there was about 200 leads in the first month… the results have been amazing.”
— Marcus Wilkinson, Iron Body
On camera, Marcus confirms the campaign brought in about 140 new clients — adding $9,600 a week in recurring revenue to the business, almost $40,000 a month, within two months. In an industry where most operators fight for a handful of new members a week, 140 clients in 64 days is the kind of result worth filming.
His closing advice to anyone weighing it up was short:
“If you’re thinking about working with Riley and the team… just do it.”
— Marcus Wilkinson, Iron Body
Frequently asked questions
Are these results typical?
No — and anyone who tells you a specific result is guaranteed is being loose with the truth. Iron Body already had a strong offer, a genuine track record and an owner willing to get on the phone. What the campaign shows is that the fundamentals compound: a tightly targeted niche, constant optimisation and fast follow-up. Speed matters more than most businesses realise — the Lead Response Management Study found a 21-fold decrease in the odds of qualifying a prospect when response time stretched from 5 minutes to 30 minutes. That’s why automated, immediate follow-up was built into this campaign from day one.
Does LeadsNow still work with fitness businesses?
Yes. This campaign ran in 2018 under LeadsNow’s fitness brand More Gym Members, before today’s AI sales agents existed. The same team now works with high-ticket coaching and fitness businesses across Australia under LeadsNow, with 1M+ leads generated and 50,769+ AI-booked sales appointments since 2017. If you run a high-ticket coaching or fitness business, start with the client acquisition page for coaches.
What exactly did the campaign involve?
As described in the filmed interview: defining one ideal client (women 25–49 wanting weight loss, muscle gain and toning), building a Facebook and Instagram funnel that spoke only to her, retargeting non-converters, booking consultations by phone and self-scheduling, and automated SMS and email follow-up — with 50 ads used across the campaign to keep it fresh and optimised. It was marketing and sales systems work, not AI; LeadsNow’s AI sales agents came later.
Want to see how other clients have gone? See all client stories.