Developing a wellness program takes diligence and research in order to see how the specific business in mind can be serviced. How many employees do they have? How far is the business from your club? Who is the right person to talk to? What can you offer? How can you offer it?
All of these questions need to be answered before a pitch is made. This will ensure you get the most out of your time outside of the club. Also, getting involved with businesses in your area will show that you value being a member of your community. In addition, it will make you the “go-to guy” around town for fitness. Making the effort to form a corporate wellness program will allow your club to reach a larger volume of people to provide unique services and keep a consistent number of people coming through the door.
Personally I have a passion for developing corporate wellness programs. I do not simply want to drop off a flyer with a discount to the person at the front desk. In most cases a few minutes on Google does wonders in terms of finding the right person’s information from the desired business. Then I can get the most out of the experience for both the employees of the business and for my club as well.
When meeting with somebody to pitch a program I always ensure what I am offering is as convenient as possible, while showing first and foremost I am an ambassador for fitness. We set up a health and wellness seminar where all employees (sometimes upwards of 100) attend. We speak on the value of health and wellness and provide some healthy snacks, along with recipes. We get personal and do push-up and wall sit contests and hand out swag to the winners.
From there, pitching the program is simple. We provide the opportunity to sign people up on-site at their job and create a sense of urgency by making them come into the facility to pick up their key.
Again, I want this to be a program and a service, not just a discount. In addition to the special rate and enrollment fee offered, we also offer on-site personal training to the business. We do this because in some cases people live far from where they work and our facility may not be convenient for them to have a membership at. We still establish goals and offer to send a trainer twice per week to the place of business to train five to eight employees in a small group setting, usually during a lunch break or immediately after business hours. This is of course a separate fee from what our base membership would be. Currently our facility is providing on-site personal training to two schools in our community.
I want to stress — don’t get discouraged if all of the people you meet with do not sign up. The beauty in this is that the program is ongoing. Consistency is key. Results will speak for themselves and as people around the office start talking you up, more and more people will trickle in. You can renew on-site training year round, and will be able to use each company you service as a testimonial for the next one.
Your facility will now have a new outlet of revenue that will show you are willing to give answers to those who previously thought they were too busy to invest in their health.
Ethan Smoorenburg is a personal trainer and manager of Anytime Fitness in Upper Lafayette, New Orleans. For questions and comments he can be reached at Ethan.Smoorenburg@anytimefitness.com.
