The Health and Well-Being Services by a New Gym in Nigeria - Essay Example

?Business Introduction Today, the business world has become very complex and competitive with the rise in specific demands s. The s are regarded as the authority whose demand is fulfilled by the companies. In reality, the customers have multiple alternatives and are dependent on them in terms of selection. So, they exercise a high level of influence on market relating to the size of the product and also, its price and quality. This makes it very important for the manufacturers or companies to fulfil the expectations of customers and give them the exact product/services that they need in order to stay stable in the competitive market. The most important marketing communication tool that is used by companies in order to attract the customers’ attention is the sales techniques (Anglia Ruskin University, n.d.). The sales tools and techniques are used to build customer loyalty and spread product awareness. The main aim of the essay is to evaluate the usefulness of various sales tools and techniques for devising sales strategies related to the health and welfare services. The selected health and well-being services described in the essay are the services that are provided by a new gym which plans to open in Nigeria. The innovative criterion of the gym is that the gym equipments are able to generate reusable electricity during workout. Another important reason for opening the gym in Nigeria is that the people are not conscious about their health and thus, bear the risk of obesity and harmful diseases. The life expectancy is also low relative to other countries. Hence, it will be a huge challenge for the gym to educate the mass about improving their health condition and also, give them the knowledge of the services that will be provided by the gym. Nigeria Nigeria happens to be the largest country in Africa, with the huge population of 158 million people residing in the urban and rural parts (The World Bank Group, 2013). In Nigeria, about 70% of the population are poverty-stricken and has the poorest health indicator in the world. The health indicators are detailed below: Figure 1: Health Indicators of Nigeria (Source: The Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars Environmental Change and Security Program, Global Health Initiative and Africa Program, 2012) In Africa, during the earlier days, the forefathers used to consume food which is rich in carbohydrates and thus, diabetes was not prevalent then. However, with the passage of time and spread of urbanisation and western education, the carbohydrate rich foods were replaced by sugary drinks, bad fats and animal proteins, which are harmful to health. The mass hardly had any time to exercise, which ensured the accumulation of fat. These led to obesity. The epidemic of obesity had spread rigorously in Nigeria and the urban mass is becoming obese due to overconsumption of soft drinks, cow milk and other fatty products. Another chronic disease that is prevalent in Nigeria is the Type 2 diabetes that reduces the life expectancy by 15-20 years. The worst part is that the disease is not only prevalent among the adults, but the school kids are also fatally affected by it. Therefore, it can be inferred that the future of the country is threatened and the mass has become endangered (Punch Nigeria Limited, 2013). Figure 2: Obesity among Women in Nigeria (Source: Heatlthinternet.com, 2012) The figure above indicates the obesity percentage among Nigerian women. The highest obesity level is among the wealthiest women in Nigeria. From the above literature of Nigeria, it is evident that there is a need for spreading awareness for health improvement and also, to make the mass of Nigeria fit to sustain in the long run. Thus, opening a gym in such a place is a challenge, but if the objective is achieved, the gym will prosper in future. The main objective of the gym is to educate the mass to take care of their health and join their gym, so that they can remain fit for the rest of the life. About 70% of the population in Nigeria is suffering due to poverty. So the innovative idea of the gym which is to employ equipments, that can generate reusable electricity during workout, will be successful, as free electricity would hugely benefit the poor. Comfort Gym Comfort Gym is a luxurious and affordable health gym in Nigeria that aims at providing its members with healthy environment. It offers its members equipments with the ability of generating reusable electricity during workout. The health gym also aims at supplying those equipments to big offices, hospitals, hotels and to individuals. Such services are provided in order to reduce carbon footprint and save the money which is spent on electricity bills. The gym not only focuses on giving their members the best fitness solutions, but also provides them with right diet chart and advices on ways to protect themselves from harmful diseases (Time Inc, 2013). The vision of the gym is to make the mass of Nigeria aware of the facilities that will be provided by them. In Nigeria, more than 90% of the mass die due to fatal heart disease that is caused by physical inactivity that happens to be the second main reason, after obesity and diabetes (World Health Ranking, 2013). This could have made the people in Nigeria more inclined towards joining gym in order to remain fit, but due to lack of time and concern, they miss out on physical activities. Comfort Gym aims to acquire 50% of the total number of mass in the next three years of operation in Nigeria. For achieving the abovementioned goal, the gym has decided to introduce more equipment for generating reusable electricity, which will help the poor country to get free electricity. In future, the gym aims to obtain the largest sales of these equipments in Nigeria (News Corp Copyright, 2013). Objective Comfort Gym has a target of capturing about 50% of the Nigerian health industry. Since about 70% of the population are poor and are not interested in gym and physical activity, it will be difficult for the gym to operate in such a region. However, recognisable effort will promise success for the gym. The gym will operate in the area with few assumptions which are mainly the target set by the gym for themselves for the next three years: Assumptions 1) It aims at educating 90% of the mass regarding the health issues and makes them aware of the need for physical activity. They also target to spread the awareness of their gym so that they can rapidly increase their members. 2) It aims at providing their members with the best services and benefits. The members will be provided with lifetime membership. 2) It aims at promoting the information of the gym through advertisements and pamphlets. The advertisement is given in radio, television, social networking sites and also, through outdoor hoardings. The pamphlets are to be distributed along with the newspapers, so that every households, offices, hospitals and hotels are covered. 3) The gym aims at conducting demographic research to get the taste and preferences of the people it will be targeting. A thorough research is done by visiting door to door and collecting data about each individual. The research will give the gym an idea about the health condition of the mass, which will help them to devise strategies to target the leads. Therefore, the owners of the gym aim to make it the best gym in Nigeria and also, target to open its branches in other parts of Africa. It will provide a number of benefits to the members of the gym and also, the customers who are trading with them. The following are the sales strategies that will be formulated by the management in order to attract members or customers: 1) A membership card will be provided to every member during enrolment which is valid for lifetime. The customers have to only pay for the packages which they are going they take. 2) The members will be provided with the opportunity to produce as much reusable electricity as they can, during their workout. If the members are able to generate 10 watt /hour, then they will be offered various discounts on the packages that they are availing. They are also given free health checkups and delicious free meal, worth $125. The opportunity to consult with the star trainers of the gym, without any fees, is also an attractive package for the members. 3) The members enrolling in the gym are provided with free diet plans and health magazines (IEEE Spectrum, 2013). 4) The electricity, generated by the members during their workouts, will be used in different tasks. The electricity will be provided to the households who cannot afford to pay the high electricity charges. Thus, the gym will focus on the underdeveloped areas and give them the knowledge to save electricity. Apart from the benefits to the members of gym, the following offers are provided to the customers trading with them: 1) The customers will be offered discounts on the equipments that they purchase, along with gifts based on its price (Inhabitat.com., 2013). 2) They will give free installation of equipments to the customers. They will also educate the customers about the equipments in case of first time use. 3) They also aim at providing free repair services for three years from the date of purchase (Goodlife, 2013). Sales Tools and Techniques The vital ingredient for achieving success in a competitive market is to know how to sell products/services. It is very important to execute effective sales and negotiation process so as to sell the products/services to the right people as per their need. Once the sales strategies are formulated, there are mutual benefits for both sides. The tools and technique of sales are used basically to follow up the leads. It is also associated with the effective promotion of products/services. The sales techniques are specialized according to the types of industries. Companies belonging to a particular industry use related selling techniques. Thus, it is important for Comfort Gym to follow the industry norms and strategise their sales techniques. The sales techniques will mainly be focused on the requirements of the customers and members of the gym. Sales Process A sales process becomes successful when it starts with looking for customers and their needs and not just concentrating on selling. The sales process, thus, presents a clear way to tailor the services according to the needs of customers. The sales process includes several steps which are followed by different companies in order to target their prospects and fulfil their needs. In this section, the sales process is described with respect to Comfort Gym (Ferrell and Hartline, 2010). The following figure elaborates the sales process in brief, with respect to the selling process that will be executed by Comfort Gym: Figure 3: Sales Process (Source: Author’s Creation) Step 1 - The initial stage of sales process is target and contact the leads generated. At this stage, the marketing plan is implemented and targets are contacted through different options like, appointments and telephonic interactions. Thorough research about the current situation and market is much needed at this stage in order to elevate the product/services in the market among the others and Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is stated in order to differentiate them from others (Lodato, 2006). The most important work for Comfort Gym is to survey the fitness market in Nigeria so as to get the idea of the customer base and their needs. The prospect customers are targeted and are contacted through different mediums such as, sending emails, telephonic interactions or visiting the households, to make them aware of the services. For implementing the marketing plan, sales team is to be formed who will be responsible for all the activities. Step 2 – Whenever a lead is generated, it is the work of the sales team to give their best effort to convert the lead in to a prospect. Building a good rapport among the customers and services provided is the main aim of the sales team. The needs of customers are then explored in order to give them their exact requirement. At this stage, it is very important for the sales personnel to make the lead comfortable enough to express their need properly, so that the sales personnel can tap it and get vital information that is essential for converting the lead into their customers. Comfort Gym will concentrate on generating lead for creating a strong customer base for future prospect. The customers, attending the gym for information, are provided with the right type of information that they seek for. The sales personnel present in the gym will have the responsibility to give the information to them by recognizing their exact need. Step 3 – After gathering information from the leads about their need, the sales personnel will now design different solutions in order to cater to the same. At this stage, trust is the main platform which will drive the lead to make a decision to buy. Comfort Gym promises to provide the best services to the members and customers and thus, trust is the most important platform for them. The sales personnel will have the responsibility to frame different solutions to cater the customers’ needs, those visiting the gym. Step 4 – At this stage, the customers are provided with more than one option to fulfil their needs. The option is held before the customers in form of proposals which are designed by the sales personnel. At these stages, mistakes are common since the sales personnel often try to push their product/services to the customers. The customers are often worried regarding the price and thus, it becomes the main motivator for not making a purchase. However, at this stage, it is the responsibility and skill of the sales personnel that lead to the purchase and satisfy the customer with the information that he/she receives. Commitment is required from the customer’s side to encourage the sales personnel to make the deal successful (Flamholtz and Randle, 2012). Comfort Gym will attend to their leads in a way that provides all the information about their innovative services that are offered to the members. The information is thus provided to them in form of proposals whose acceptance are dependent on its presentation to the customers. The information about the reusable electricity is the main USP for the gym which have to be put forward in such a way that prospects are motivated to join the gym. Step 5 – At this stage, it is very important to show the customers that their needs are heard minutely and thus, the sales personnel repeat the information that they have got from the prospect. The sales personnel will provide with different available options, which will cater the need of customers. Comfort Gym will provide with the exact comfort that is needed by the members. Along with the right type of environment, equipments and the exact service they require in order to cater to their need. The fitness trainers will give the customers free consultation and recommend them the exact equipments fit for their health (Green Living Enterprise Lining Inc., 2013). Step 6 – At this stage, the sales is closed and the implementation begins. Implementation here refers to delivery of the services. It is very important to adhere to the promises that the sales person had made to the customers. The details of customers’ needs are to be considered very important for their satisfaction. So, the services provided to the customer will depend on how he/she will react in future, i.e. whether he/she will recommend it to others or not or even make repeat purchase. Comfort Gym, at this stage, will provide the members with the services that will meet their needs. The offers and discounts that are promised by the gym initially are to be provided to the members in order to win their trust (Yahoo Inc., 2013). Step 7 – At this stage, follow up is the important act that should be taken care of. Communicating with the customers, even after the sell, will build a sense of loyalty among them and they will come for repeat purchase or even recommend others about the services. Comfort Gym will communicate with their members in order to get their views or problems. These will create a caring attitude towards the members, who will bring in more customers and members for the gym, thereby helping to build its reputation in Nigeria (Witcher and Chau, 2010). Role of Sales personnel in customer value creation The main objective of sales personnel is to create customer value so that he/she becomes loyal to the respective brand of the customer. They can add value by augmenting the product through a series of services and also by finding solution for combining services and products. Thus the customer value does not lie in the products only. The most important notion of value creation among the customers is to concentrate on the increased benefits that the sales person can provide and on the decreased cost that will satisfy the customer to a great extent. This often leads to building a healthy relation between the sales person who represents the company and the customers which can even lead to repeat sales (Hohenschwert, 2012). Thus the salesperson concentrates on relationship selling which is elaborated in the next section. Relationship selling Relationship selling includes building long-term associations for mutual benefits between the company and customers. Association is created by encouraging regular communication for a prolonged period of time with the customers. It also involves identifying exact solutions to the needs of the customers by listening to their queries and problems, thereby gaining a detailed knowledge regarding those (Pride, 2010). Thus, the relationship selling behaviours have been characterised as the main focus on empathy and personalisation which is described by the intensity of interaction, intentions for cooperation and mutual disclosure. It also helps in conflict resolving, communication building, competence of demonstration and low pressure for selling. Apart from identifying opportunities for creation of monetary benefit, the selling value indicates value proposition, communication of the values and capturing it through the value based prices (Hohenschwert, 2012). Comfort Gym promises their members to create a long-term relationship by offering them with the best services in Nigeria. The innovative services, i.e. the reusable electricity bikes, are the main USP of the gym which will cater to the needs of customers as they will receive different offers and discounts. The discounts will be given on membership and also, on the type of package that the member selects. The customers who will purchase equipments from the gym are given discounts and gifts based on the price. They are also given free installation and free repair services for three years after the purchase. Through different offers, Comfort Gym will establish long-term relationship with their members and customers, so that they can become the best gym and equipment provider in Nigeria. Sales Channel The following are the decided sales channel for Comfort Gym: 1) The gym will organise Health Programs in order to attract attention of the Nigerians to improve their heath condition. They also aim at creating the need for regular exercise in the minds of Nigerians so that they remain fit for the entire life. The health programs will highlight the need of exercise in their life by showing the adverse effect of fatty and harmful foods in the presentations that are to be created by the sales personnel. At the end of the presentation the interested people are provided with application forms which contain the life time membership of the gym. 2) Pamphlets of the gym will be distributed along with the newspapers so that the information reaches every corner of the country. The interested people are requested to contact the gym authorities so that they can send their sales personnel to their residence and fill the application form. Conclusion Nigeria is the largest country in Africa with a population of 158 million. However, it is a very poor country, with 70% of the poor population. The Nigerians are not at all health conscious and do not get the time for physical activity, which will make them fit and save them from health disturbances. They consume unhealthy fatty foods which cause a lot of diseases such as, Type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart attacks and many more. These diseases are even fatal. Thus, it is noticed that life expectancy in Nigeria is very low. The chronic Type 2 diseases remove 15-20 years from a person’s life. So, physical activity or gym is very much needed in such a country where deaths occur due to physical inactivity. Comfort Gym in such a country will be a boon for the mass as it will help them to take care of their health and make the generation aware of different harmful diseases that occur from fatty foods. The gym not only operates to earn profit in that region, but also concentrates on helping the poor by providing them with reusable electricity, which will be generated by the members of the gym. Nigeria is a poor country, thus, the concept of reusable electricity will be a success among the poor, who cannot afford the huge charge for electricity. 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