A gym gets employers as clients by pitching one person, usually the HR or benefits manager or the office manager, at a company a short drive away, with an offer that costs the employer nothing to try: a discounted membership that employees pay for themselves, and a four-week pilot of two lunchtime or after-work classes. Email or call that person with a short paragraph, then book a 15-minute walk-through. Below is who to pitch, three shapes the offer can take, a pitch email, the questions HR will ask about tax and insurance, how to run the pilot, and what to measure before you decide whether it is worth continuing.

Which employers, and who to ask for

The best employers are within 10 to 15 minutes of your gym, have somewhere between 50 and 500 people on one site, and are office-based or run shifts, since those workers have a lunch hour or a predictable end of day. Insurance offices, banks, call centers, clinics, schools, and distribution centers all fit. Companies much larger than that often already have a wellness vendor and a procurement process, so start with the middle. Your local chamber of commerce member list, the county business directory, and a map search for "offices near" your address will give you names.

The right contact is the person who runs employee benefits, or in a smaller company the office manager. Look for the titles HR manager, benefits manager, people operations or employee experience. Finding that name takes five minutes on the company's website or a professional network, and how to find the decision maker at a company shows where else to look. Write the name down before you reach out. A message to "info@" goes nowhere.

Three shapes the offer can take

1. An employee discount. Employees of the company get a lower rate on membership, and they pay you directly. The employer pays nothing, signs nothing and takes on no risk. Say your regular unlimited membership is $79 a month. You might offer $59 to employees of one company. The employer's only job is to tell people. This is the easiest yes, and the best place to start.

2. An employer subsidy. The employer pays part of the cost for each employee who joins. It's a stronger benefit but a harder sale, because it takes a budget line and a decision. It also has a tax side. The IRS explains in its fringe benefits guide (Publication 15-B) that the value of a gym the employer runs on its own premises can be excluded from an employee's income, but an outside membership generally cannot. So HR may treat a subsidy as taxable pay, and they will ask. Say you are not a tax advisor, and suggest they check with their accountant.

3. Classes at or near the workplace. You send a coach to the office for a lunchtime session, or you host a company group at your gym after work. It takes a room, a start time and insurance. It works well as a pilot because employees try it without joining anything.

The pitch email

Lena Okoro is the HR manager at a made-up company called Brightwater Insurance, 140 people, nine minutes from a made-up gym called Harbor Street Strength Club. The owner, Cass, writes:

Subject: lunchtime class for Brightwater, no cost to the company

Hi Lena, I own Harbor Street Strength Club, nine minutes from your office on Mill Road. A lot of the people who join us work nearby, and I'd like to offer your team two things at no cost to Brightwater: a discounted membership rate for any employee ($59 instead of $79), and a four-week pilot of two 40-minute classes a week, one at lunchtime and one at 5:15.

You wouldn't sign a contract or pay anything. I'd send a one-page flyer to share. Could I come by for 15 minutes next week and show you what it looks like?

Cass Rowland, 555-0117
If this isn't relevant to Brightwater, a one-word "no" is a fine reply and I'll leave it there.

It states the distance, the two offers, the price, the time commitment and the cost to the company. A reader like Lena can say yes in one sentence. If you prefer to call, the same paragraph works as an opener: say the distance, the offer and the ask, and then stop. The follow-up that gets meetings with busy decision makers is covered in how to get meetings with decision makers.

What HR will ask, and how to answer

  • "Who pays?" "Employees pay you directly at the discounted rate. The company pays nothing."
  • "Is there a contract with us?" "No. You're sharing information. There's nothing to sign."
  • "How do employees prove they work here?" A company email address at sign-up, a badge, or a code HR hands out. Pick the simplest one the company already has.
  • "What if someone gets hurt?" Employees sign your standard waiver. For classes at the workplace, ask the company what they require, and offer a certificate of insurance showing your liability coverage.
  • "Will you send our people marketing?" "Only if they sign up, and we do not share the list."
  • "When does this make sense for us?" Ask when benefits are planned. Budgets are often set months ahead, so a no today can be a yes at planning time.

Running the four-week pilot

Week one is the launch: HR sends the flyer to staff, with a link to a sign-up form and the class times. Hold the first class at a time most employees can attend. During weeks two to four, take attendance, learn names and ask one question after each class: "What would make this easier to fit in?" Offer each attendee a membership at the employee rate before they leave the room, not in a follow-up that will go unread. At the end of the four weeks, send HR a one-page summary: how many people came, how many joined, and what they said. HR then has something to show their boss.

What to measure

Three numbers, from your own records: employees who came to at least one class, employees who joined, and how many are still members after three months. Compare the discount you gave to what those members pay you over a year. A $20 monthly discount on a member who stays for 12 months costs $240, but if they would never have paid $79, you gave up revenue you were never going to get. If the pilot produced two joins out of 20 attendees, you know your next company needs a better class time or a better flyer, not a lower price. The gap between trial and membership is the same one explained in the trial class was never the hard part.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Discounting so deeply that employees cost more to serve than they pay.
  • Signing an exclusive agreement with one employer that you cannot leave.
  • Skipping the insurance question for on-site classes.
  • Pitching to the CEO because the title looks impressive. Benefits live with HR.
  • Treating the pilot as a free promotion with no follow-up. The membership offer at the end is the point.

If your gym's employer outreach also serves a clinic or a physical therapy practice, see occupational health marketing for the same decision makers from another angle.

Instead of guessing which companies near you to approach, tell Rocketship who you sell to and it lists the matching people with their titles and companies, so you can see the market before you spend anything. Then it can email each one from your own Gmail and follow up. A 7-day free trial shows the list first; a card is required to start.