051 Garrett Marshall: Leveraging The Consumer Fitness Groundswell

For Episode 51 we are joined by Garrett Marshall, Divisional CEO of Fitness On Demand, to discover how digital video programming is helping facilities enhance personalization, take advantage of underutilized space, and provide a greater variety of exercise formats to the consumer.

We're also exploring how to leverage the consumer fitness groundswell in our space. Fitness On Demand™ is a market-leading delivery platform of virtual fitness. Since 2010, their services have allowed facilities around the world to economically deliver premium fitness programs to their users. With programming and services designed to optimize space, streamline operations, and offer unparalleled variety, their services are a perfect addition to fitness facilities, apartment complexes, hotels, and more.

It's been shown that on average, functional training and studio rooms inside of clubs remain vacant 60-70% of the time. These new technologies are allowing facilities to capitalize on this space and provide a new digital experience to their members. Aside from the traditional gym setting, we also see this feature becoming a powerful amenity at resorts, hotels, and health facilities who want to provide their customers with an effective and engaging workout experience 24 hours a day.

With the groundswell of consumer health and fitness awareness on the rise, how can we leverage these cloud hosted technologies to take advantage of underutilized space, reduce operating costs, and provide members with unique and engaging workouts?

The answer to that question and much more takeaways for club owners, operators, and fitness pros in this episode with Garrett Marshall.

About Garrett Marshall

Garrett Marshall is the Divisional CEO of Fitness On Demand™, a market-leading developer of fitness delivery products for media and programming. Garrett combines a breadth of experience with an industry-specific, laser-focused, career path. Investing himself fully in each opportunity along the way, Garrett has been fortunate to play a role in several successful fitness businesses. His achievements span a variety of employment positions in small and large organizational settings.

In the past, he served as a consultant to the commercial division of Snap Fitness, the Chanhassen, Minnesota-based franchisor of compact, state-of-the-art, 24/7 fitness centers, and as the manager of business development for Fitness on Request, based in North Maple Grove, Minnesota, which also markets video-based group fitness workouts. His first foray into the industry was as a membership sales associate with Life Time Fitness, Inc., a chain of large, full-service clubs based in Chanhassen, Minnesota.

Listen To Episode 051 As Garrett Uncovers

• How on demand fitness programming will apply to the commercial fitness space
• Ways that commercial brands can take advantage of the rising consumer health awareness
• How clubs can utilize technology to minimize the "dead" times in studio and functional training rooms
• The frequency and format preferences that members desire from on-demand fitness training
• Garrett's insights from 15+ years in the fitness & technology space
• His recipe for success when implementing video training into the group exercise setting
• The need for commercial operators to have a digital and mobile strategy
• Fostering connection and the "tribe effect" using digital platforms
• The 28-day on-boarding process that customers receive when implementing Fitness On Demand
• How clubs can reduce costs by using on-demand fitness to replace the live classes and formats they have simply carried over to satiate member demand
• The Fitness On Demand mobile application that gives club members access to their routines and regimens when they can't make it to the gym.
• Knowing when to schedule virtual programming to meet medium-interest times in the day, or when to leave the product open for on-demand to use
• How Fitness On Demand integrates with the Health Kits on Google play and iOS to capture key pieces of vital work out activity when members engage through their mobile application
• Task management systems Garrett recommends for busy professionals
• How Fitness On Demand plugs into non-traditional facilities like resorts and hotels
• Garrett's conviction and purpose that fuels his leadership in the fitness industry
• The top factors that currently appeal to the consumer:
  • Experience, Convenience, Personalization, and Education

Top 3 Takeaways From The Show

• Garrett believes that although it's one of the most engaging amenities, group fitness has also traditionally been one of the largest operating expenses for facilities. To address this issue, Fitness On Demand is uniquely positioned to help the customer add more value with digital video programming by offering added frequency, availability, and a variety of training formats, while at the same time reducing labor costs. Clubs can seek out technologies like Fitness On Demand to offset the expenses of underutilized space and for a digital replacement to live group classes.
• Personalization is one of the top appealing factors we see over and over when researching the behaviors of fitness consumers. In order to personalize products and services, you need to intimately know your target demographic. This requires we understand our customer's behaviors, whether it be a current member or a new prospect. Achieving this comes down to the value of data we collect as club owners and operators, and how we act and execute based on that information.
• In order to effectively integrate and utilize new technologies in the club, there needs to be continuous education for fitness professionals and staff members. It's imperative to take a top-down leadership approach and ensure every level of employee within the club, from management to the trainers and sales staff, knows what the integration of any new technology will achieve, has a complete understanding of why they are doing it, and can easily communicate that to members and new prospects.

Power Quotes From Garrett

"In order to personalize your products and services, you have to intimately know the behaviors and preferences of the target consumer." - Garrett Marshall on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"Data collection needs to be at the forefront for all aspects of how the member interacts with the facility." - Garrett Marshall on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"As much as our product is designed to be an on-demand and self-service tool, it's a feature that really requires ongoing implementation; not just installation." - Garrett Marshall on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

Resources Mentioned From Garrett Marshall

• Garrett on Linkedin
• Fitness On Demand
• Fitness On Demand Classes
• Fitness On Demand Facebook
• Garrett Marshall: Leveraging the Consumer Fitness Groundswell
• IHRSA Live 2017 - Garrett Marshall
• IDEA World Fitness Convention
• IHRSA
• CES
• 24 Hour Fitness
• Lifetime Fitness
• Wellby®
• Daily Burn
• 039 Shannon Fable: Demystifying Group X With Technology
• Toodledo Productivity App
• Siri

Thanks To Our Outstanding Sponsors

• Bryan O'Rourke and his family of companies including Vedere Ventures, Integerus Advisors, and many more. If you are looking for unmatched guidance, capital, insights or a great speaker or facilitator, Bryan and his partners are the go to resource for your organization. To learn more visit bryankorourke.com
• The Fitness Industry Technology Council, your non-profit resource for reliable technology information supported by forward looking brands who are seeking to drive increased technology adoption in the fitness industry. Make a difference and join FIT-C at fittechcouncil.org today
• Check out Bryan and his partner Robert Dyer's recent book "9 Partnership Principles: A Story of Life Lessons" which is available now on Amazon.com

Become A FIT-C Podcast Sponsor

• Contact the Fitness Industry Technology Council to become a Podcast Sponsor
• Review our various options for Sponsorship
• Send us a Facebook Message