A Life Time of Lessons

Founded in 1992 by Bahram Akradi—who still serves as CEO—the luxury brand Life Time is on a remarkable growth trajectory. With nearly 200 locations already open, 30 more are planned in the next 24 months. Even more impressive, the company holds the number-one spot in HFA’s rankings of the world’s top 25 health and fitness companies, with $2,995,000 in revenue.

In a recent HFA Pod episode, "The Secret Behind Life Time’s Staying Power,” HFA interim president and CEO Greta Wagner discussed this growth—and much more—with Efonda Sproles, Life Time’s senior vice president, chief scout, and career brand ambassador. (HFA Pod is sponsored by Hapana.)

The stated mission of Life Time is to provide entertaining, educational, friendly, and inviting experiences of uncompromising quality that empower everyone to live a healthy and happy life. It’s a lofty mission statement that’s aspirational, Sproles says. “You keep chasing it every day.”

Knowing and living that mission is a non-negotiable for the company’s 52,000+ team members. “You don't have to memorize our mission statement, you get to memorize it,” he says. Part of his job is to “inspect what we expect,” meaning that he and other leaders visit each location to be sure that any “cracks” that could “turn into potholes” are addressed and corrected.

The Mindset of a Global Powerhouse

Sproles says that Life Time’s biggest competitor isn’t any other company in the fitness industry. Instead, it’s companies like the Ritz-Carlton and Disney—marquee brands recognized and revered around the world. Like them, Life Time is all about creating memorable experiences.

In fact, Life Time recently opened a club in Winter Park, Florida, located just north of Walt Disney World. Many of that Life Time club’s employees have also worked at Disney. Because of the jobs they came from, the alignment is already intuitively there, explains Sproles.

Like those global corporations, Life Time seeks to utilize the latest advances to gain a competitive edge. That includes AI. Life Time uses AI to handle many of its customer-facing interactions, including phone inquiries. In addition, the complimentary and comprehensive Life Time app features L•AI•C, an AI-powered health companion.

Sproles understands AI’s sometimes precarious place in the market, warning that consumers should “use AI before it uses you. Give it some tasks to do, and as it becomes more familiar with you, you will also get better at asking questions.”

L•AI•C can perform multiple functions for the user, such as building a workout program. For example, if someone is traveling to Chile and won’t have access to a gym, they can say, “Create a workout for me where I can do X, Y, or Z on a beach,” and L•AI•C will do just that.

A Singular Calling

Working at Life Time isn’t for everyone, as Sproles tells people when he is scouting and recruiting. As he travels the country, he looks to hire people who care as much as he does about the members and the brand.

Sproles urges other club operators to chase the experience, and the metrics will follow. If you chase the numbers, it doesn’t feel good to the customer, because they don’t feel that it’s about them. Chase the experience and people will come—and they will stay.