Why Barrie Johnston chose TeamUp to help him improve his booking experience

It’s difficult to grow your business when you have software that works against you rather than for you. When Barrie Johnston, owner of Great in 8, began experiencing major issues with his software that affected his customer experience he knew it was time to make a change. He wanted a solution that was flexible, easy to use, cost-effective and provided a seamless booking experience for his customers. Which is why at the end of 2021 Barrie joined the TeamUp community.

Barrie was so kind to share some of the reasons he made the switch to TeamUp and what his growth strategies for 2022 are. He provides insight as to why management software helps customers stay accountable for their fitness and how business owners can grow their numbers. Follow along with our interview below to see what he had to say and what Barrie’s goals for Great in 8 are this year.

Why did you switch from another booking software to TeamUp?

I was previously with another software and to be honest the first thing I was looking at was price point and a simple way for clients to book in.

The previous system had poor support and was not user-friendly

My previous gym management software was very difficult to use technically and the support was terrible and it would keep crashing. We arranged a weekend retreat for our customers and the clients would book the sessions that they wanted to attend, and the day before, our software crashed and it wiped everyone’s files.

I contacted them and got an email back, no phone call or chat, and they asked if I could send a screengrab back from my clients and ask what they were doing. And I went wait a minute, this is your problem, you need to fix this, my clients shouldn’t have to do it. That was the nail in the coffin and the fact that it frustrated clients, that’s a no-no.

All the features I need for a fairer price

As a fitness business, you’re looking to not overspend and cut costs where you can. I was using Stripe for monthly memberships and our website had a Stripe plug-in so it worked fine. But I was relying on Stripe to track everything, and I realized if I combine the client booking, the retention, the membership, Stripe and finance all in one place it would be better.

Higher confidence, comfort, and unconditional support

Justin from TeamUp was very helpful, especially in the beginning and I had a lot of confidence that if I was stuck I would have help. The system was robust and the team seemed to know what they were doing. I had no confidence in the other service and that was the thing about TeamUp, the amount of comfort and confidence I felt.

What are some of the challenges that TeamUp has solved for you?

With a fitness business, something that’s really valuable is accountability from the client perspective. So when they book a session, even though they can cancel it, knowing that to cancel it they’d have to go in and do it, makes them turn up a lot more. That extra nudge of committing to something in the fitness industry is a big deal.

Because we can embed TeamUp’s booking software into our website, we wanted clients to be able to go in and book themselves in seamlessly. We offer trials and people can go in and book themselves in. We’re revamping our website now and it allows people to click and see the TeamUp schedule and membership options to buy.

Then they seamlessly go through the membership options, filling out their health questionnaire, and then their membership begins. It’s a very seamless customer journey. Previously I would have to do a lot of emails and messaging back and forth. It saves a lot of time for me and that is a big benefit.

How do you ensure the best customer experience for your clients?

I run early morning sessions at 6:15 am, 7:15 am, 9:30 am, so what I’m doing is looking through the list to see who has booked on. I have a lot of members with preexisting conditions, injuries, and all that sort of stuff. You need to know how to prepare for a session.

Creating a good customer experience is about being aware of how to plan sessions and seeing what flags up. For example, if someone has a birthday coming up I can see that status, or if someone hasn’t booked in a while. It’s hard to keep track of 150 people, but if something flashes up you know when to check in and make sure everything is ok.

What are some of the strategies that helped you grow and then maintain your business size?

For someone like me who went from fitness training to being a business owner, it’s more about organisation and being able to see one page on your computer of what the business looks like, the members, the finances, and things like that. Retention is a massive one and accountability that I mentioned when clients book in for their own sessions, they’re committing. That’s the biggest thing, high retention.

There are so many fitness businesses, but it elevates you professionally when you have a gym management system like TeamUp in place. It’s not just a turn up when you want. You’re committing to a session and membership, and that way I know when you’re coming and when you’re not. It brings the level of service up.

When did you start noticing your major growth spurt towards 150 members?

That’s been fairly recent. I started 10 years ago but I was doing other stuff as well. We did some online stuff, but then COVID changed a lot. Personally, I realised after COVID, I’m really built to be customer-facing and in-person. We were always doing really well with 70, 80 clients, but then because of COVID instead of everyone wanting to lose weight, get fit, and tone up which is sort of the Holy Trinity of the fitness industry, people started saying I need to go outside, I need to connect with other people.

I’ve been in the area for a while so I think I just got the dividend of being well-known. So when people wanted to get outside and be in the park I came to mind. We grew so quickly to 150 members and that’s when I started using Acuity. Then I thought, wait I’m just putting a band-aid on stuff, I need a much more robust gym management system that I can use to run the business.

Instagram adverts really helped us as well locally as well as word of mouth. We’re seasonal as well, so in spring we’ll get another burst of memberships in March. This year is going to be a really big year for us which is why I made sure we had TeamUp in place by the end of last year.

What are your goals for your business in 2022?

We started a second business which is a retreat business. We do weekends away and we will be adding a running club and boxing sessions and that’s the thing we want to grow the most. We want to grow the community more for the actual sessions in the park where we do things such as open water swimming and want to offer skiing holidays.

The goal for 2022 is for client retention to grow. About 180 to 200 members is where we want to be. We really want to focus on selling weekend retreats and holidays to those members and building the travel side of it as well.

We did our first retreat in September and we had 40 people go. We have this community and we’re always thinking about what we can create for them, what do they want? What can we offer them? That’s what saves us.

What advice would you give to a fitness business to increase its client base?

I’d focus on community first. I always think fitness and getting fitter is a bit like going to a restaurant, you go and you expect food. So with any fitness business, you’re going to expect to get fitter. But it’s also about the surroundings and the atmosphere. We have a Facebook group, so when a new member comes in for a free trial, we put them in the Facebook group. We focus on making it very accessible, very friendly, and we do events, open water, swimming, introductions to trail running, and really focus on making the group feel like a community and non-cliquey.

I think the biggest area in fitness is people who are not fit already, but people who want to get fit and feel intimidated or scared. Present yourself on their side. Also, be visible on Instagram and in the community. The demographic of my clients are women mainly 40 up into the 50s so they are into Instagram, and word of mouth is important. Make the experience fun for people and very welcome. To get more new clients, make people to feel like they’re going to have a good time.

As a newer TeamUp customer, what are some areas you are looking forward to exploring in your software to grow your business?

I like the automated emails and also I need to play around with the branding to match our colours. I am looking forward to making it more seamless for my clients to book in their sessions. We’re redoing our website so I like the integration. It makes the business look more professional and gives customers confidence as well. I’ve just dipped my toes into the water but by the end of the year, I plan a TeamUp whiz.

Why Barrie chose TeamUp for his outdoor Bootcamp

Thanks for sharing, Barrie!

Find out how TeamUp's gym management software has helped other fitness business owners to solve their admin needs, here.

Thanks for reading!