best practices and to train new PF hires on how to launch their own corporate membership program . The council is made up of 22 franchises and more than 1,350 clubs in 41 states .
Without a national corporate membership program , large or medium-sized companies may hesitate to partner with a franchisee on a corporate membership because their employees live and work in multiple cities and states . “ Larger employers may have trouble when offering the corporate membership program when not all PF locations participate in the same discount and parts of their employee base fall outside of our footprint . We currently have about 1,400 PF locations offering the same corporate discount via online promo code joins , which has helped a lot but doesn ’ t solve for all and opportunities can be missed because of it ,” explained Cox .
However , a corporate membership option is a great way for franchisees to boost their revenue in their respective territories . “ This is an amazing program to offer small , medium or large businesses as a benefit for managing company turnover , mental health and wellness ,” Samples said .
Planet Fitness has many competitors who offer corporate memberships to their customers . Anytime Fitness , 24 Hour Fitness , Crunch Fitness and LA Fitness are just a few fitness brands providing corporate memberships , so when franchisees offer alternative choices , this gives Planet Fitness a leg up on the competition .
“ It ’ s exciting to consider how a robust , national program could reach more new members and capture every opportunity ,” said Bennett .
Franchisees like United Fitness Partners have seen success with offering a corporate membership program . “ We currently have nearly 18,000 members in our corporate program , contributing more than $ 340,000 in EFT monthly ,” said Cox .
Running an Alternative Membership Program
Over time , more and more franchisees have begun offering alternative membership programs . Ohana Growth Partners has offered options in all its clubs since 2016 . The franchise group requires at least 10 memberships to keep a corporate account active . The group also accepts all businesses that are looking to provide health benefits for their employees .
Samples outlined the program ’ s structure for Ohana Growth Partners . “ Our franchise created a QR code that can be scanned in clubs with a smartphone . The QR code will direct the member to a landing page that provides information about our corporate rates and contact information to set up an account ,” he said .
Samples also shared how the program works operationally . “ We market our corporate memberships in clubs or by word of mouth . If a business is interested in corporate membership rates , we will set up a call and obtain specific information about the business ( how many employees , locations and billing ),” he explained . “ Once a membership plan is selected , we will email ABC to create a corporate agreement payment plan with a specific promo code . Once ABC creates the payment plan , we will send the point of contact a MICO link and the promo code for all the employees to sign up and receive discounts .”
National Fitness Partners has offered corporate memberships to local businesses and organizations since 2020 . The franchise group , which has 121 clubs in eight states , runs their corporate membership program a little differently . The group allows companies to choose from two plan types : employee-paid or company-paid . The employee-paid plan is free and at no cost to organizations . The organizations receive a corporate membership
discount flyer for their employees . Then , interested employees can join online using corporate promo codes . The company-paid option is a direct cost to organizations . Organizations receive corporate promo codes and can enroll employees online using their company banking and credit card information .
“ Our program is designed for scalability by offering simple plans and rates . This creates efficiency in our sales outreach processes and reduces the sales cycle ,” said NFP ’ s Bennett .
National Fitness Partners mainly looks to target companies and organizations with a big employee base for corporate memberships . “ Due to our sales outreach criteria , our three most common types of organizations are hospitals , school districts and local government offices . These organizations are ideal because they employ 50-500 people , and their employees live and work near our clubs ,” said Bennett .
United Fitness Partners started a corporate memberships program in January 2017 and has seen the greatest traction with municipalities , schools and hospitals / healthcare . UFP has also received a good response from small to medium-sized businesses . The group does a lot inside and outside the club to market the corporate membership program .
“ It starts with either an inbound inquiry or my outreach to businesses near our locations . We have a counter sign in each club with a QR code that can be used to get additional information about our corporate membership program ,” Cox said . “ We also run the same information on the Rockbot TV behind the front desk . We get a good number of inbound inquiries from the club signage . We also work closely with the chamber of commerce and attend corporate health fairs to promote the corporate membership wellness benefit to their employees .”
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GearedUp | 2023 Issue 3
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