fall 2007 - Seton Hall University

Photo by Louisa Choochee
S E T O N H A L L M A G A Z I N E | F A L L 2 0 0 7
mercial gold in the mid-1990s with a popular abdominal Gennaro faced a twofold challenge: First, he had to reach
exerciser, Gennaro was inspired by the success of the Curves his target customers and persuade them to try out the gym;
franchise of gyms for women, and he felt confident a market then he had to keep them coming back. “People buy a product
for a men’s version existed. The hard part — and this is on the shelf, and that’s it,” he says. “In fitness, you have to
where the risk came in — was getting his message to the sell the product every day. Our product, which is wellness,
people he needed to hear it. In trying to reach a prospective is a wonderful product, but it takes a commitment, a lot
clientele who had gotten out of the habit of exercising of effort, even pain at times. And it’s hard to sell pain.”
regularly or who had never had a habit of working out,
The key, Gennaro decided, was to focus on making gym
members feel welcome and comfortable. So on a
first visit to a Cuts franchise, the customer will
sit down with the franchise owner or an employee
to talk about his wellness goals. Then he’ll be
introduced to the gym itself, walked through the
simple circuit of cardiovascular and strengthtraining
exercises. “A franchise of fitness is much
different than a Subway or a Quizno’s,” Gennaro
says of his company’s philosophy. “There, the
product is a sandwich — simple. Here, it’s the
relationships between the owners and the clients.”
Gennaro has sought to spread his fitness-foreveryone
gospel not just through advertising for
Cuts but through a wider range of initiatives
aimed to educate men about how to get and stay
fit and healthy. His new book, Cuts Fitness for
Men, combines an at-home workout with information
on subjects from eating well to the
importance of the annual physical.
“The problem is, you hear the word ‘fitness’
HE WANTS YOU BACK: today,” Gennaro says, “and you think of a Men’s
Gennaro works hard, not Health magazine cover and a 26-year-old kid with
just when exercising —
abs.” Gennaro himself first started exercising in
but also when building
client relationships.
his mid-twenties with an eye toward getting those
six-pack abs, and he still begins every morning
with a workout. But his reasons for staying fit
have evolved. “Today, it’s all about wellness —
staying healthier, living longer — and that’s what
I’m trying to preach,” he says. “But like any church,
like any faith, it takes time for people to believe
it. So I keep preaching.”
Tricia Brick is a freelance writer based in New York.
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