Pros
Great people, relaxed atmosphere, awesome boss, enjoyed building relationships and flexible scheduling each day.
Cons
I have 3 areas I think really need to be addressed because from experience, I have found these models to be ineffective and can create potential issues down the road. 1) Hiring appropriate staff and the onboarding process to get said staff up to speed. The qualifications to hire are too varied, non-specific, and if the company is to focus on the fitness demographic of individuals looking for work, the pay has to remain competitive, and onboarding should not take 2-3 months with combined online tests, interviews, demo videos, etc all at a "onboarding" pay rate or month-end stipend. The rate of investment of new employees and the nature of higher turnover in this market has to shrink this onboarding window down to under a month. As someone from a fitness background, I found the onboarding incredibly slow and drawn out. 2) Paying a trainer at a rate of $12 per hour is not acceptable in a fitness industry where highly reputable companies pay their trainers between $24-36 an hour. Anyone in the fitness industry will balk at that compensation for the time, energy, programming, and consultative/sales aspects of the job. For this reason, the income is too low for a FT trainer who will have significantly more responsibilities and buy-in than a part-time staff member combined with even more onboarding requirements than part-time. There is no benefits, no insurance, etc. make it not sustainable for long-term work or investment into this company because today in this age, EVERYONE needs insurance at a minimum for basic everyday life events such as having kids, going to the doctor, a broken bone, etc. 3) Consultation/Selling strategy is weak. I am not sure where they pull their data from to work to convert leads into sales but it is dated...from cold calling and following with leads, to convincing people on the product. I found the focus on trying to sell people on the equipment more so than focusing on their goals, interests, and building rapport in meaningful conversation scores higher combined with exercise prescription reigns paramount. I eventually began focusing more on these things mentioned, and had a closing sale rate of 80% or about 4/5 people that came through the door. I also do believe that there should be great focus placed on "Same service provider care" from the point of phone call, to the initial consult and the final appointment, to the ask of the sale mixed in.
