How FIT4MOM helps moms become franchise owners

One thing mothers know better than anyone else: time is a precious commodity. Whether it’s grabbing a nap while her newborn naps or fitting in fitness betweenplay dates, most new mothers quickly become experts at managing their time.

FIT4MOM’s VP of Operations Susan King Glosby (and longtime Pike13 customer) recently visited the Seattle headquarters of Pike13 to tell us more about their business (that's her with Pike13 CEO Jon Zimmerman and manager of Customer Success Todd Hager). Glosby described FIT4MOM as being built on the concept of the fluidity of time. “Ours is a life-stage opportunity,” she explains. “We provide a business model that is supportive of motherhood. There’s a lot of flexibility within our franchise model—the owner decides what they want to do and how much time you want to spend doing it.”

As Glosby mentioned, new mothers are often looking for something to help them both mentally and physically as they transition into the new role of motherhood. For many of these moms, FIT4MOM proves to be just that—a good fit.

Another reason the company has been successful with the franchise model is the relatively low cost to get a franchise up and running. $5K allows a client to become a franchisee, giving women who may be taking a break from another paid position or looking to otherwise supplement income the chance to get something started for relatively low cost of entry.

FIT4MOM’s secret to SaaS success
While the low cost of the franchise has been an asset for customer acquisition, it also presented some challenges. With such a lean startup cost, FIT4MOM was looking to roll out inexpensive, mobile-friendly, and reliable solutions to help keep all of their businesses running smoothly.

They found the solution they were looking for in the form of a curated suite of SaaS products. Here’s how they do it:

• Zendesk—customer service and ticketing system. “We actually use it like our intranet— it’s been amazing.”
• Google Apps—email and documents
• SpaceCraft—website creation
• Emma—email marketing. “We’ve been with Emma for ten years. Love them.”
• Pike13—(hey, that’s us!) business management. “Both Emma and Pike13 are such great companies to work with. They’re always innovating their products.”

Glosby says that this setup has been so easy for franchisees to manage and run that it’s encouraged people to renew their FIT4MOM contracts, which helps reduce churn in their business.

Nine months until an exciting event...
An innovative way FIT4MOM is using Pike13 is by creating payment plans that let franchisees make payments toward FIT4MOM’s upcoming annual training conference. “We originally chose a nine-month payment plan because we’re all about moms and babies!” says Glosby. ”As the event gets closer, we’ve added six- and three-month payment plans.” Offering payment plan options softens the financial hit on franchise owners and has resulted in the highest registration for the conference ever.

Wanna visit?
We love talking with our customers to hear how Pike13 helps them run their businesses and appreciate Susan coming by. Let us know if you’re ever in town—we’d love to show you around Pike13 headquarters and maybe even join you downstairs for a pint at Seattle’s famous Elysian Brewery!