The Hypothesis Part 2

Outside of the boundary:  Commercial or Franchise gyms, very small gyms, Personal trainers/coaches.

The first person I interviewed used to be a manager at Orange Theory Fitness, who have gyms all around the nation. She mentioned that they already have an established sales and marketing program and that it is very successful. She actually gave me a lot of great advice as far as how they do things, but she told me that there really isn’t much of a secret they just have a lot of people whose sole purpose is to follow up with customers and get them to join. Many of these small gyms don’t have that staff and that focus on following up and sales. Orange Theory has the franchise money to back those endeavors and they would be a very hard sell if there is any sell at all. 

The second person I interviewed owns a small gym, but he also has a career on the side. He mostly is doing it for the hobby and having a place to train and for his friends to join. He charges them a small fee, but they mostly get new members through word of mouth and they don’t accept anyone and everyone into their “club”. He said he wouldn’t be interested in my service but did agree that he didn’t really have a process in place for newcomers as far as advertising and sales and if he wanted to grow it then it would be something he’d have to figure out. 

Another person I interviewed is a personal trainer and he trains people at a gym nearby. He talked about how he struggles to get new customers and he has used Groupon but has not received much interest from it. He pays a small gym a fee to train people there but everything else he does on his own. The need is there for him, but I don’t think my opportunity is a great fit for him. It would have to be a more established gym that has their own location and is looking to increase their members by a substantial amount. 

The people I interviewed that are out of the boundary are either not necessarily looking for more clients or already have a process for attaining new clients that they like and has produced results. Their needs also are a little more different. For example the small business owner looks at his gym as a club and so he does not want just anybody to join he wants specific people and because it is his hobby he does not rely on his business as his main source of income. The orange theory gym has the time and staff to devote to sales and they are just looking to sign up as many people as possible regardless if they come in or not. And the personal trainer that is working on his own would like more clients but because it is only him he can only do so much so our services would be really limited or short lived.

Inside the boundary: small local gyms or gyms providing some kind of fitness training that have a location and can hold upwards of 100 customers.

One of the people I interviewed is a CrossFit gym owner and he agreed it is a need in the CrossFit community and many gyms struggle with sales and marketing. However he has a process that he likes and has had success so he is happy with what he has going on but he admits he does most of the work and needs more people to help him. 

I also was able to interview a personal friend that does boxing and mixed martial arts and said there are local establishments that would be very interested in these services.