Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)

Fit For Free and SportCity keep their members – young and old – fit and healthy. The gyms currently operate about 120 fitness clubs. With the support of a professional PE investor, the company is planning a digital revolution in fitness and rapid international expansion.

Olympus Investment (owner of Fit For Free and SportCity) strives to become a leading digital fitness & health  platform  covering all aspects of a healthy lifestyle, inside and outside the gym.

After the recent acquisiton by Bencis Capital Partners, a new management team has been appointed. This  includes  the  hiring of a new CEO, CFO, COO (who manages the gym operations), CPO (develops a stellar product and user experience), CHRO (builds tomorrow’s organisation).

The final addition will be a new Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) that runs the commercial   operation.

“Ever felt bored in the gym, fed up with your usual routine? We will fix that, and the rest.” – Jan-Willem Dockheer, CEO

About Olympus Investment

Olympus Investment is putting together a new organization to build a state-of-the-art digital fitness & health platform, combining physical gyms with a digital journey. With its labels Fit For Free and SportCity the company currently has about 400,000 members and 100 million euros in revenue. In September 2018 Bencis Capital Partners took a majority interest in Olympus and plans to accelerate its international growth.

Leading Digital Health Platform

Olympus is building the capabilities and organization to lead the wave of digital fitness. The mission of the company is to help its members adopt a sustainable healthy lifestyle. Olympus works towards an integrated fitness journey that spans well beyond the walls of the gym.

The company is transforming into an integrated, personalized health platform that keeps people in motion. If your goal is to have three workouts a week, the app will find slots in your calendar, usher you to leave work on time, recommend exercises, provide real time insights in your personal fitness metrics, suggest what to eat before and after your workout to maximize impact, and much more. All tailored to your individual preferences and physical needs.

Key to the expansion strategy is the acquisition of fitness chains. The company connects new clubs to their digital platform which allows them to offer their members a top quality personalized digital fitness experience. In return Olympus increases its footprint and uses the increased customer base to further strengthen the data driven propositions.

“We invest in Olympus because we are convinced we can build an amazing health platform. We will bring the ultimate personalized fitness and health experience which will create lifelong customers.” – Bencis Capital Partners

Vacancy: Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)

The Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) has the direct commercial responsibility of the 120 Fit for Free and SportCity gyms in The Netherlands as well as indirectly (via local country managers) for the gyms that are about to be acquired in Germany, France and after that other markets in Europe.

This commercial leadership position is a strategic centerpiece of the management team. Developing the brands will be a key value creator and has a long term horizon. But equally important is winning on a day-to-day basis in a highly competitive market, tweaking and tuning pricing & packaging.

Therefore, the CCO has to combine a keen eye for detail and a bias-towards-action on one hand with strategic and visionairy capabilities on the other.

There is a team of 8 professionals to start with, but the CCO has a mandate to reorganize, rebuild and expand the organisation to raise the bar and meet the ambitious objectives.

The position can be broken down in five key areas:

1.  BRANDING

To retain memberships it is vital that a club develops an identity that their members can relate to. Building brands has so far not been a focus point in low-cost gyms like Fit for Free, but it needs to be in the nearby future.

2.  (ONLINE) MARKETING

Most memberships are acquired online. The typical customer journey: a middle-aged woman sets her ambitions into motion in January. With her New Year’s resolution in mind she does a quick Google searchs to scan the map of her neighbourhood for gyms. She compares offerings and signs up for a free day pass with one of them. This path-to-purchase, from reach to conversion needs to be perfect.

3.  SALES

Although most memberships are sold online, a lot of up-selling is done in the club. Premiumisation of the core service is a relevant up-sell, bot there is also a lot of potential in food & beverages and apparel sales.

4.  CONCEPT MANAGEMENT

Translating the brand book to the physical appearance of the clubs. Crafting the story that is shared to the members in the clubs. Cultivation of the channels available for member comunication. Managing a holistic approach to choosing vendors, materials, range of equipment, group lessons. It all has to come fit together perfectly.

5.  PRICING

Competition is fierce. Revenue management for all formulas in The Netherlands and abroad will be crucial in pivoting towards absolute market share.

Candidate profile

• 10+ years of experience in a commercial management position
• strong focus on marketing and brand building as seen in trFMCG
• has hands-on practicality and location-awareness as seen in Retail
• has pricing and proposition savvyness as seen in Telco
• Fitness enthusiast

Fit for Free works with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.
Contact Janko Klaeijsen at janko@topofminds.com for more information.