Personal Fitness Professional - March/April 2015 - 8

TREADMILL TALK
Greg Justice | www.aycﬁt.com

Meet them where they are
You've probably heard the phrase "Meet
them where they are" many times, but when it
comes to corporate ﬁtness I'm talking literally
about meeting them where they are - at work.
The industry has come a long way in the 30
years I've worked in corporate wellness. However, few personal trainers are talking to CEOs
or senior-level managers about starting an
on-site exercise program for their employees.
That leaves a huge opportunity for smart personal trainers or boot camp operators. Why not let that trainer be you?
Think about this... the members you don't have now are at work.
Many businesses offer gym memberships to their employees but,
the reality is that people who use those gym memberships are people
who would already be exercising regularly and would buy them anyway.
The purpose of a corporate wellness program is to attract people
who either have or are at risk for chronic illness to begin a program of
regular exercise. Those are the people who would never set foot in a
gym to begin with.
Taking an on-site ﬁtness program to the company, perhaps by starting with a corporate boot camp, nets you a larger participant base right
off the bat, little overhead (the cost of a trainer), and one monthly or
quarterly check. That's a ready-made small business. The best part is
that the people who need health beneﬁts that regular exercise provides may actually work out when they can do so at work.
On-site ﬁtness programs require a minimal investment when compared to overall health care costs and can create a base of employees
that are ﬁt and more engaged at work. Some of the other beneﬁts can
include heart attacks that never happen, the clarity and focus of that
key sales person who closes the impossible sale, and the employee
who smiles at the customer who was upset to diffuse a potential public
relations disaster. Even though some of these beneﬁts are hard to measure by scientiﬁc standards, they are real nonetheless.
Here are four tips for setting up a corporate ﬁtness program:
1. Learn everything you can about on-site corporate ﬁtness.
2. Polish your professional image to match the types of businesses
you want to call on.
3. Prepare a professional presentation of your ﬁtness product/service,
and have your ﬁrst month's ﬁtness program written and ready to roll.
4. Know your client.
These four things will help you establish credibility and expertise; and
that is exactly what the business owner wants from you.

Greg Justice, MA, CPT, is the founder of AYC Health & Fitness (www.aycﬁt.com) and
the Corporate Boot Camp System (www.corporatebootcampsystem.com). He has
been actively involved in the ﬁtness industry for more than a quarter of a century as
a club manager, owner, personal trainer and corporate wellness supervisor.

| WWW.FIT-PRO.COM | MARCH-APRIL 2015

Personal Fitness Professional - March/April 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Personal Fitness Professional - March/April 2015