Michael O’Byrne opened CrossFit Firepit in Greensboro, North Carolina in 2017. He and his partner built the gym up to about 100 members and in 2020 they decided it was time to expand. Michael and his partner purchased another gym about 15 minutes from the original location in March 2020, right before the gyms in the state were shut down because of the coronavirus.
Michael said he knows the timing wasn’t good, but he decided to use the shutdown as an opportunity to review his lead management systems.
“We were using some other systems and it was hodgepodge of stuff,” Michael said. “I had 20 things I had to do all the time and it was a challenge in itself. I’ve got two other businesses so this is like my free time,” he said, laughing.
Michael said he was looking for a software that could do it all, including manage the new flow of potential leads and keep in consistent contact with current members. He makes an effort to talk with his members whenever he can, but as most gym owners know, once your gym grows to a certain number of members, it’s impossible to see all of them in person every week.
“If you aren’t communicating with them at all they might stop coming in,” he said, “and having something that helped me do that was important.”
Even with his gym closed down, Michael saw the benefit of using UpLaunch. The software helped him continue to communicate with the leads who weren’t yet ready to come in the door for whatever reason.
“As much as I’d like to tell you I follow up on everything, I follow up for a week and then I lose interest,” Michael said. "But the system doesn’t lose any interest.”
Before using UpLaunch, Michael said leads would reach out, maybe have a conversation with a coach on the phone, and then not show up at the gym. Instead of letting that lead go without any further communication, UpLaunch helped CrossFit Firepit stay in touch with leads even if they missed an appointment.
“We continued to communicate with them and continued to nurture them,” Michael said.
Using UpLaunch, CrossFit Firepit signed up 12 new people while the gym was shut down.
Michael also updated his website and had all the forms push directly to UpLaunch, further automating the process.
“That has been a huge benefit to not have to do the same thing multiple times and get it in all the systems,” Michael said. He said automating his follow-up procedures improved communication and reduced confusion among his staff, who felt more organized and prepared.
Michael said another UpLaunch feature he appreciates is the ability to text within the platform.
“We were paying for a separate [texting] service,” Michael said. “So when we got a new member I had to enter them in my billing software and put them in my texting program, and then put them on a spreadsheet. I developed some systems using Zapier, but it was still a pain in the butt,” Michael said.
He said the transition to using UpLaunch was seamless. Whenever he had a question he used the online chat within the platform and got help immediately. Above all, Michael said he appreciates having a single solution for communicating with members and leads, especially at a time when everything changes so quickly.
“[UpLaunch] allowed us to communicate and make sure everybody got the same message at one time,” he said.
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