Life Cycle Asset Management:Technogym’s key to a total wellness future

Kenrick Briffa (left) and Flavio Garuti (right), both of Technogym

In a competitive fitness market, the Italian company Technogym is rapidly expanding its global footprint with its unique Total Wellness Solution approach. They launched Technogym Forever in 2016, in collaboration with DLL, which embraces Life Cycle Asset Management as a key to a total wellness future.

Technogym is an ambitious player in an ambitious market. For starters, the Cesena-based company views fitness as only one component of the much larger wellness industry. Secondly, leading a contingent of local government agencies, restaurants and industries, the company rebranded its home region as Wellness Valley. Thirdly, with operations in 18 countries across three continents and a portfolio surpassing €100 million, Technogym is one of DLL’s most global partners.

“Our competition focuses purely on fitness, but we are much more than that. We are all about movement, nutrition and positive mental approach,” says Kenrick Briffa, Technogym’s Services Director. “Hardware, software, biometrics, technology, specific programs – all our solutions actively support and promote our wellness philosophy.”

Technogym envisions a significant growth of sales in the next 2-3 years. To achieve this, however, requires a strategic shift away from new sales alone and towards equipment replacement driven by a specific solution selling approach. For this reason the company recently launched Technogym Forever in close collaboration with its financial solutions partner DLL. As the name suggests, the program focuses on Life Cycle Asset Management and retaining customers for life.

Technogym Forever
Financial services play a key strategic role in the Technogym Forever program - from structuring and training to helping define the right moments in the lifecycle for equipment replacement.

“Our job is to pinpoint the most appropriate time to propose an upgrade,” says Jeroen van Beeck, DLL’s Vice President of Program Management, Sales Healthcare and Clean Technology Europe. “This means defining the value of assets today but also knowing what the equipment will be worth five years down the road.”

The financing arm of Technogym Forever has its own name: Valore Technogym, or Technogym Value. Basically, 46-60 month equipment finance leases that include hardware, software and special services and components.

“Innovations occur every few years and our customers want the latest equipment," says Flavio Garuti, Technogym’s Financial Services and Remarketing Manager. “Technogym Value ensures they always have state-of-the-art equipment at their disposal. It is a whole new way of selling equipment, services and financing before our customers’ lease ends.”

True partnership
Financed equipment currently accounts for 25-30% of Technogym’s total equipment sales turnover in the countries where Technogym and DLL have a partnership agreement in place. As Technogym continues to penetrate existing markets like Australia and Europe and expand into new ones like the US, India and Brazil, DLL’s financial services will become more important still.
 

“We challenge each other and continually bring in people with different views,” says DLL’s Van Beeck. “It helps that everyone involved knows the leasing industry very well – we come from industries where leasing is everyday practice. We’re not afraid to introduce new layers to our relationship.”

“The quality of our partnership moves beyond just people,” adds Briffa. “People are absolutely fundamental, of course, but this partnership is based on solid contracts that have stood the test of time. Even if the people change, our partnership won’t waver. This is what true partnerships should be like.”