What Gym Owners Need to Know About Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)

Gym owners are busy people. You juggle everything from managing finances to marketing to staff recruitment to customer service. With all these responsibilities on your shoulders, even the most passionate gym boss may feel overwhelmed. 

That’s where business process outsourcing (BPO) comes in handy. BPO providers take tiresome and time-consuming activities off your plate. With their help, you get more time to focus on what matters the most — helping people achieve their wellness goals and expanding your fitness empire.

What Is BPO and How Can It Benefit Your Gym? 

When you hire a service provider to handle operations such as accounting, customer support, and marketing, that's business process outsourcing. 

In a typical gym, the core business functions — activities that directly create value for customers — include giving fitness instruction and providing specialized services like nutrition coaching. BPO involves letting a third party oversee non-core processes essential to the gym but not your primary focus. 

But why exactly should you consider BPO in your workout facility?   

Saves Time 

With limited hours and multiple operations to manage in your gym, BPO can help you reclaim your valuable time. 

Business functions like payroll and human resources don't generate revenue because they aren't directly related to gym services. Outsourcing them frees up more time to focus exclusively on activities that can drive profits—think of increasing your gym memberships and improving customer retention. 

Provides Access to Top-Level Expertise

BPO companies, such as marketing agencies, are specialists in what they do. When you outsource a particular business function to them, like marketing, you take advantage of their expertise to carry out operations quickly, efficiently, and professionally. 

Minimize Overhead Costs

One of the main reasons businesses outsource is to cut down expenses, according to Deloitte's 2022 global survey. But how can BPO reduce costs in your gym?  

When you outsource, you don't have to hire and pay full-time workers to complete a particular task. You only pay your service provider for the work they do — not things like training, holiday leave, sick pay, pension, or other employee benefits.

Plus, BPO companies usually have the necessary tools for the operations you want them to handle. That means you won't need to buy technology to complete the tasks in-house. You also gain access to digital solutions you may not have the budget to implement internally. 

Front-Office BPO for Gyms

This type of outsourcing involves delegating tasks on the customer-facing side of your gym to a third party. Think of it as streamlining your front office operations, such as customer service, appointment scheduling, marketing your gym, and sales without recruiting staff. 

Front-office BPO focuses on processes that directly deal with customers. Choose a BPO partner with the right technology, required skills, and enough experience to offer the best service to your members.  

Front-Office Functions Your Gym Can Outsource

Looking to reduce the front-office tasks so you can focus on expanding your business? Consider outsourcing these processes.

Managing social media

Choosing which social platforms to use, posting on different social media outlets, and replying to comments can be time-consuming. That's especially true for small business owners who often have to take on various roles to run a successful gym facility. 

Outsourcing social media management to an agency specializing in this marketing channel can be a great choice. You let experts help you create social media marketing strategies while you attend to other critical business needs in your gym. Even better, working with an agency can be cheaper than hiring employees to run social media campaigns. 

Answering phone calls and emails

Your BPO partner can answer membership inquiries or schedule appointments when a caller wants to book a training session. As you focus on fitness operations that generate income, your sales support service provider can tackle basic questions about your brand when new customers discover your business.

Back-Office BPO for Gyms

Employee recruitment, accounting, human resources, and bookkeeping don't involve customer interactions. They make up the back-office functions in your workout facility that support the front office. These tasks are essential for keeping your business up and running. That said, there are more exciting parts of running a gym. 

If you are like most gym owners, you established your facility because you have a passion for fitness. Outsourcing back-office processes allows you to focus solely on what drives your business — transforming people's lives through your wellness services. 

What Back-Office Business Functions Can Your Gym Outsource? 

When seeking to hire a company to carry out business operations that don't involve customers, consider a few essential processes for them to take on.

Payroll

Determining your employees' net salary is probably a lot of work — to the point that you would rather have someone else perform the task. Tracking hours worked by part-time employees, calculating how much income tax to withhold, and Social Security deductions can quickly become complex or time-consuming. Fortunately, outsourcing this business function to a payroll service provider allows you to put more effort into fitness programs and less on complicated calculations. 

Bookkeeping

Keeping accurate records is a key item on your checklist, but it's tempting to let it slide, especially if you have many other vital day-to-day tasks you need to manage. Hiring a bookkeeping company is the perfect opportunity to let professionals prepare your financial statements while you concentrate on improving your gym services.

Is BPO Right for Your Gym? 

Business process outsourcing has many benefits, from providing reliable expertise that might be absent in-house to cutting down operational costs in a gym. Since businesses have different needs and preferences, however, BPO may not be suitable for all gym owners. It might be right for you if you meet one or several of the following conditions:

• You have repetitive, time-consuming tasks that someone outside your organization could perform.
• Your gym lacks sufficient resources to manage the recurring tasks in-house.
• The operations you want to outsource require specialized skills not present in your current staff.
• Hiring a service provider to carry out a specific business activity is cheaper (upfront and in the long run) than creating an internal team to perform the same task.
• Your staff is overwhelmed with administrative tasks like recordkeeping, responding to customer emails, and answering phone calls.

4 Factors That Matter When Choosing a BPO Partner

Once you're sure that BPO makes sense for your gym, select an outsourcing partner who can adequately satisfy your business needs. Consider the following factors when choosing a BPO company: 

• Experience in your industry: A BPO provider who has worked with other gyms is more likely to understand your specific needs than one with no experience in your business sector. 
• Affordability: Can your budget accommodate the service provider's fees? Also, make sure there are no hidden fees. You don't want to partner with a company thinking their services are budget-friendly, only to be later slapped with additional charges not revealed upfront. 
• Reviews: Check public forums like Google My Business and social media platforms. The goal is to evaluate the experiences of other businesses that have worked with a provider you are considering to handle your operations. 
• Accessibility and responsiveness: It's best to work with a company that is reachable whenever you need it and responds to inquiries quickly. That way, you won't be left in the dark when you experience issues after partnering with a provider. 

BPO Allows You to Focus on Growing Your Business

BPO allows you to outsource non-core activities like finance, customer service, and sales support, which can take time away from your goal of helping others. As a result, you free up more time to focus on revenue-generating activities that can fuel growth in your gym. Instead of getting caught up in recurring administrative tasks, you concentrate on gaining new customers. 

One way to achieve that is by increasing gym memberships by partnering with Wellhub. With over 14,000 corporate companies on our platform looking for employee wellness options, we can help you grow your gym subscriber base.

Interested in partnering with us? Join the Wellhub network today!

References

• Coronado, J., Stoler, M. (2022). Deloitte Global Outsourcing Survey 2022. Deloitte. Retrieved May 2, 2024, from https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/operations/articles/global-outsourcing-survey.html 
• Dollarhide, M. (2021, February 23). Front Office: Definition, Duties, Front Office vs. Back Office. Investopedia. Retrieved May 2, 2024, from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/frontoffice.asp 
• How Businesses Hire Agencies. Semrush. (2021). Retrieved May 2, 2024, from https://static.semrush.com/blog/uploads/files/eb/60/eb60952e892fa6bdbd09a4882aa87502/How%20Businesses%20Hire%20Agencies-final.pdf
• Rudder, A. (2023, November 22). What Is Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)?. Forbes. Retrieved May 2, 2024, from https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/business-process-outsourcing/ 
• When Does Business Process Outsourcing Make Sense?. Indeed. https://www.indeed.com/hire/c/info/business-process-outsourcing