Re-assessment of Business Viability
In pitching to potential investors, we have found a number of new aspects that we should consider in order to be a successful business. The following are some concerns that our investors had on our business as well as our comments on their thoughts.
Providing more perks and discounts to customers (such as loyalty cards and free sessions)
We have considered this option and feel as though this would be a great addition to our business. This will allow us to keep track of our loyal customers to then provide them with tokens of our appreciation such as free sessions. However, we do recognize this as large cost to our initial budget.
Free session for pregnant women
Although this would be great to be able to provide, we feel that it may be damaging to our business. Instead we would like to offer a complimentary trial class to ensure that the class is well suited for their needs.
Incorporating cardio classes and weight classes
Even though this would expand our business, we feel as though this does not suit our business ideals as we are aiming for a calm and relaxing atmosphere to our customers to aid them in recovery. We also believe that these classes are highly populated in local gyms around us such as the Arena and would not be required in our business.
Increasing radio advertising (3 times a week)
We agree that it would be best to increase our radio advertising as it would make more of an impact on our market and have decided to incorporate it into our marketing campaign. We will aim to schedule these advertisements in relatively the same time slots to reinforce our message.
Difficulty of finding skilled employees
We agree that this may arise as an issue for our business and have decided on a course of action to combat this. Instead of relying on an entire base of skilled employees, we aim for the majority of staff to be skilled or with experience to build up the foundation of our lesson plans. In conjunction with this we will search for enthusiastic employees who are willing to be trained up to our standards.
Competitors
We have thoroughly considered the location of our competitors and believe that in having the mix of Pilates, Yoga and Physical Therapy within our business, we will be able to overcome our competitors.
Incorporating contracts with Work Safe WA for extra influx of customers
We have looked into the incorporation of this into our business however; we feel the criteria are too difficult to meet. We would like to consider this as a future aspiration and will strive to have this as one of our services.
Working with schools to increase interest and knowledge into exercise and injury care
This would be a good addition to the list of seminars that we provide. This will not only increase the awareness of our business to the surrounding suburbs but also educate future generations in being aware the importance of health, fitness and injury prevention.
Difficulty of mother and child sessions
We understand that children can be unpredictable and sometimes easily upset. In considering this, we will incorporate a policy allowing mothers to leave the class within 5-10 minutes of the session if they find their child is at all uncomfortable, with refund.
In home options being considered unsafe
We have found that during the presentation to our investors, some misunderstood the purpose of us mentioning at home options, believing that it would be a service that we provided. However, this is not the case as we mentioned it as a threat. In marketing the social aspect of Yoga and Pilates we will be able to encourage more customers to our business, allowing them to exercise in a safe and supervised environment instead of the at home alternatives.
Our small number of staff compromising our quality of service
Although we may only have a small number of staff working at a time, this will not compromise the quality of our services as we plan to hire qualified people in each area of the business.