Beachbody On The Rise: Entrepreneur Magazine

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Beachbody on the Rise?

Beachbody would seem to be the perfect company in a country facing an obesity epidemic. With workout videos, workout gear, weight-loss supplements, and loads of support, Beachbody seems to have everything a chubby nation needs to go from fat to fit.

Indeed, the company started out rocking the world of fitness. After being started in 1998 by Carl Daikeler and Jon Congdon with an initial investment of $500,000, Beachbody in 2006 placed #69 on Entrepreneur Magazine’s Hot 500 list of the fastest-growing businesses.

And well they should have, with a sales growth of $106 million in only 4 years.

But today things look different for Beachbody. According to the business-rating site Hoover’s, Beachbody brought in annual sales of only $19.6 million at the end of 2009.

Granted the country was in a deep recession. But that’s also a huge drop from the $139 million that Beachbody made during 2006.

Why the change? Customer service could have something to do with it according to reviews posted on ResellerRatings.com. Of the 9 reviews on the site, only three were completely positive with 5 check marks. The rest were negative or mixed, with the majority of the people who wrote in citing poor customer service as their main complaint.

What could have happened is also the simple fact that, while most people say that they are willing and able to make major lifestyle changes to become more fit, most really aren’t. This possibility is summed up well by an analysis of Beachbody on the review site dietspotlight.com, which said that the Beachbody program may not be easy enough for some people.

So clearly, Beachbody is having some troubles. However, the company is still seeing some huge sales, and the current dip may mean that this is the perfect time to get involved.

Beachbody still features the products that made the company famous, like the P90X program created by famous fitness expert Tony Horton. And Beachbody products promise fantastic results if you stick with them. For example, the company claims its Insanity program will “transform your body in 60 days with the most intense workout program ever put on DVD.”

On the company’s main page alone, you can find sure-to-be-popular programs like Brazil Butt Lift, Hip Hop Abs, and Power 90, Tony Horton’s circuit-training workout program.

There is even a program for people who just want to slim down—Slim in 6—and a program for extremely busy people—10-Minute Trainer.

No fitness program would be complete without a proper diet, and Beachbody has customers covered there as well with multivitamins, meal-replacement shakes, and other supplements that are designed to build muscles or just help people lose weight.

However, it’s in the arena of supporting people in their weight loss and fitness goals where Beachbody is the most impressive, with a free newsletter with tips and suggestions to help people make the most of whatever fitness program they’re working with. In 2007, the company created Team Beachbody, an online support community. Given that most people do better with their fitness programs when they have the support of others, this is a very valuable feature of their program.

So while Beachbody may be having some problems of late, it’s possible that they are due mainly to the growing pains that can naturally occur when a company’s success goes through the roof in such a short amount of time.

While there is some evidence of problems with the company’s customer service and, in some cases, complaints about the price, there is no evidence of major complaints about the company’s products themselves.

The bottom line is that Americans are still mired in an obesity epidemic. At the same time, though, the government, media, and private industry are focusing huge amounts of attention on the problem and raising awareness of the horrible health consequences of carrying around all of the extra fat.

Beachbody and its Team Beachbody are perfectly positioned to offer their solutions to this epidemic. Once the growing pains are sorted out, and even before, this company has every chance of rising again to its former earnings glory.