The Hindu Business Line : Survival of the fittest

Corporate deals have moved onto a new turf: The gym or those spiffy health spas. And here's why: On the corporate battleground where hawks rule, only the fittest will survive.

Want to build business contacts? Want to clinch megabuck deals? Then go pump some iron! Strange as it may sound, upmarket health clubs are fast becoming the best hangouts for corporate honchos who want to network. Power lunches and hazy evenings at pubs and bars are passé. A potential business opportunity may be sweating it out on the adjoining treadmill or even sitting in a lotus position next to you. After all, being asna-aspirational gives you a leg up on the corporate ladder.

The reason for this new corporate mantra is this: Clients who are health conscious are generally more relaxed and far more open minded to business deals. Since fitness centres are small places with a limited number of members and everyone knows everyone else, it's pretty easy to start and build contacts.

Striking a conversation with someone who's peddling on a stationary bicycle next to you is a simple task. The conversation generally starts with the fat around the midriff, then moves on to the need to shun an indulgent lifestyle and finally reaches shoptalk. Most professionals believe that regular exercise keeps the body running smoothly and the trade benefits accruing.

The bond of fitness is such that executives are becoming more and more disenchanted with archaic wining and dining. For an increasing number of corporates, the venue is shifting either to the multi-gym or the spa or over a drink of soy milk and basil in a `bar' stacked with juices and nibbles such as oat bran, lemon grass and assorted sprouts.

Says V.V. Giri, General Manager of The Park in Chennai that has opened the poolside Aqua that serves health foods, "We have top executives who come to discuss business and indulge in our health food."

Executives frequenting health clubs have the added advantage of timing. They can meet the potential client without appointments. Those who go in the evenings usually find their clients more relaxed and approachable than in the daytime bustle of business.

The plus points

"Discussing business in a health club definitely has its advantages. For one, the mind is fresh and alert, the mood generally bright and cheerful and optimism is high," says Vinit Kapoor, General Manager of Hotel Intercontinental at the Marine Drive in Mumbai. The 24-hour Exercise Studio in his hotel has become one of the most happening places in the city frequented by the high and the powerful. "People coming here are top corporates. Thus networking is both natural and inevitable," he says.

Adds Dr Varsha Thiwani, director, Fit Deals, a new health club in Delhi, "I first saw this trend in Japan and the US where it is mandatory for many business executives to have a membership in at least one upmarket health club."

According to her, in the West, it is not uncommon to see executives in Bermudas with towels dangling from their necks discussing business at these health spas. "It is here that many international deals are struck and strategies planned. Now the trend is coming to India as well. A growing number of young executives are finding health clubs an economical and ideal place for meeting clients."

Several professionals are making financial killings at the gym. Take the case of tour operator Mahesh Verma who frequents the upmarket spa and health club at Delhi's India Habitat Centre. He spends his mornings doing workouts and making business contacts. Last month he met a garment exporter who wanted to get his global buyers to visit India. He entrusted the entire responsibility to Mahesh, signing a fat amount as start-up money.

"It was a business deal struck in 10 minutes when we were working out on the Cross. In the normal course it would have taken me over a month to clinch the deal." The business made Mahesh's company richer almost by Rs 25 lakh.

"A spa or a fitness centre is probably the only place now where executives are usually most relaxed. It is in this conducive environment that they are more receptive to new ideas and business deals," says Abhijit Verma, Sales and Marketing Manager, Angsana Resorts and Spa in Bangalore that invites executives to treat themselves to a body holiday `specially designed to harmonise the mind, body and soul.'

Though some of these spas and clubs may be costly by Indian standards, many corporate houses are realising that even one business deal struck in a year could be worth the investment many times over.

Senior-level executives from advertising agencies frequent health clubs to establish contacts with corporate bigwigs. "One may not strike a business deal while exercising, but it definitely helps establish the initial contact which is so vital for the service sector as contacts at gyms are on a more personal level," says an ad executive.

Interestingly, a number of MNCs in India are setting up gyms in the workplace where it is becoming mandatory for employees to go through a basic fitness regimen.

Though golf clubs and five-star hotel bars are still the preferred places to strike deals, a new and growing tribe of executives are stepping into the brave new havens and mixing business with fitness. Leading organisations are going out of their way to promote health and fitness among their employees.

HRD managers of progressive companies are fast realising that if the company is to be in good financial health, first and foremost, its employees have to be in good shape both mentally and physically. So, apart from sending them off to sabbaticals and offering them free lunches and other entertainment options, they are giving them memberships of spas, health clubs and gyms. They have nothing to lose except extra calories, excessive weight and everything to gain if a deal comes through.

If the former US President Bill Clinton could take policy decisions while heaving on a treadmill or Bill Gates could dictate his book business@speed of thought while working out on a multi-gym, so can the Indian executive.

The philosophy is simple: On the coporate battleground where the hawks reign, no one can afford to retreat. Only the fittest will survive.

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