OUR FRANCHISEES TESTIFY N°3 – GUILLAUME FLORES
GUILLAUME FLORES OPENED HIS GIGAFIT FRANCHISE IN THE NOUVELLE-AQUITAINE REGION AND MORE SPECIFICALLY IN BERGERAC, IN APRIL 2018. HIS VISION OF FITNESS? PLEASURE, WELL-BEING AND ABOVE ALL HEALTH! GUILLAUME DREAMED OF A CLUB WHERE THE PERSONALIZED FOLLOW-UP OFFERED TO MEMBERS IS OMNIPRESENT. TODAY, HE SHARES HIS FEEDBACK ON HIS CHOICES AND RESULTS WITH THE GIGAFIT FRANCHISE…
What did you do before opening a GIGAFIT club?
“Before opening a GIGAFIT, I was a trainer in a professional high school. After my STAPS university education, I wanted to teach. The professional high school allowed me to teach several subjects such as physical education, biology and even mathematics from the 4th grade to the Professional Bac.
Why did you want to open a fitness club?
“I come from a family of entrepreneurs: my parents had businesses, my brother has a business, I also wanted to take the plunge, undertake, invest and become my own boss. My favorite field being sports, I naturally turned to this field and therefore, due to the current economic situation, the creation of a fitness club seemed quite obvious to me.
Why did you choose GIGAFIT to help you in this venture?
“At the beginning of the project, I went to meet a certain number of franchises in order to make the choice that seemed to me the most coherent in relation to the image that I wanted for my club. I wanted above all a qualifying club with real follow-up, classes, real coaches and to develop an important health aspect. For these reasons, GIGAFIT seemed to me to be a suitable franchise and my visit to the head office also allowed me to feel a great dynamism in this franchise that I felt less in competing franchises. While some franchises seemed to me to be in perdition, I had the impression with GIGAFIT to be in a franchise of a promising future. Since then, GIGAFIT seems to continue to develop rapidly, which really confirms this choice
Today, where are you in your project?
“I have created a 900m² GIGAFIT in a commercial area in Bergerac. I have hired 2 full-time coaches and a few outside contributors for more specialized classes such as YOGA, Self Defense or Zumba. We currently have 1200 members for about thirty classes per week. For each member, we offer a fitness assessment based on impedence measurement with a coach appointment to establish a real adapted program. We have also developed a Wellness Center with the provision of an office for partner health professionals who provide a day of service each per week and who offer their services at reduced rates for our members. Our partners are an osteopath, a dietician, a sophrologist, a beautician, a shiatsu practitioner… The objective is always to give a health dimension to our club so that each person, whether a sportsman or not, can find his or her way.”
THE GIGAFIT BERGERAC CLUB TEAM
Have you found your growth to be rapid?
“We opened in mid-April 2018 and the center has been growing steadily since it opened. The pre-sales were not up to my expectations, but in the provinces, in a fairly competitive field in my geographic area, people were a little skittish about signing up before the opening. But for me, until September, the first few months were just a bonus and were mainly intended to allow us to get organized with the team and find our bearings. From the beginning of the school year in September 2018, it was a real start: we went from 400 members at the beginning of September to 1000 members at the end of December. Communication on social networks, internet referencing and the support of Gym Market (the communication agency attached to GIGAFIT) were the main factors in our development and we were also able to benefit from good “word to mouth”. Let’s hope it lasts!”
What do you like most about your job today ?
“What I like most about my job is working in the leisure sector. The people who come are there to have a good time, out of their work, out of their daily pressure. So the atmosphere is pretty cool, relaxed. Also, we meet very heterogeneous people, of very different ages, professions, origins, the relationship takes a big part of our job and it is always interesting and enriching.
What would you say to people who want to get started but are still hesitant to open a Gigafit club?
“I would tell them that my experience with GIGAFIT has been positive, so they can go ahead without worrying. These days, it’s very difficult to start your own center independently because franchises have a lot more power (network is strength), and again for having gone around franchises, GIGAFIT has real advantages over its competitors.”
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Would you have any advice for these people ?
“It’s complicated to give advice because my club is only one year old and I don’t consider my experience to be excessive. In any case, I would say that for me there are 2 points which seem essential: before the opening, the location of the club (to analyze the market study) and after the opening the e-reputation (to focus on the quality of our services).
What are your plans for the future ?
“To continue to develop the club, to make it more and more attractive and competent in the eyes of our members, but also to make the team more and more autonomous in order to consider, why not, the creation of a second center in the region. It’s a project that I didn’t necessarily envision at the opening of this one but which is starting to emerge little by little in my head.”
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