Fitness Fears

Something I have learned at Weston Fitness was not about
advertising and marketing, but was about the idea of Corporate Wellness.
Interning at a gym, I quickly learned that health and wellness is at the
forefront above anything else. A corporate wellness program involves the
incorporation of health and wellness into the workplace in order to create a
more health conscious environment for the employees. It is beneficial to all
parties involved: the employees who now have the opportunity to adopt a
healthier lifestyle, the company that has these employees who are becoming more
productive at work, and the gym who provides the corporate wellness program.
Here’s where marketing sales come into play…

Philadelphia has plenty of gyms that corporations can choose
from. So why would they be inclined to sign with Weston Fitness? Twice this
semester I have had the opportunity to accompany the Membership Director on
business meetings with two different companies in which he pitched our wellness
program to the presidents and Human Resources directors. I have been working in
retail sales for the past few years, but trying to sell a product to a law firm
and an asset management company, well that is no joke. I learned a lot from
Mike, Weston’s membership director, in how he approached each meeting with the
attitude of “they are going to sign with us either now or never.”

Monday was the biggest day of my internship so far. I had to
sell corporate wellness to company X… yikes! Spending almost three months at
Weston Fitness I was confident in the information I knew about the gym and how I
could translate that into a solid argument as to why Company X’s
representatives should join. Even though I have been to business meetings, I have
never participated in one. I suddenly felt a rush of pressure that I rarely get
when speaking to a crowd or giving a presentation. I was confident in the
information I had ready to present, and overall I think I presented it well,
but it is the end of the presentation I was worried about, the “Are there any
questions?” part. This is when I realized the importance of really knowing your
product and every aspect about it- knowing the best benefits or features that
will really set it apart in the market. Knowing this is what is going to make
the sale in the end.