In June of 2019, Jill Glasenapp -- the general manager of Cobra Command CrossFit in Basehor, Kansas -- got news no gym owner or manager wants to hear. 😩
A week before she was due to attend the Two-Brain Summit in Chicago, Glasenapp learned that three of Cobra Command CrossFit’s coaches were leaving to open their own gym.
Cobra Command CrossFit, which opened in 2015 and has about 200 members, was successful and growing, but this news hit Glasenapp hard. She not only had to replace the coaches, but she anticipated losing 25 to 30 members.
Glasenapp realized she had two options. She could continue business as usual and hope the gym didn’t lose too many members, or she could take action and try to get out ahead of the situation. 👍
She decided to take action.
“I needed to start growing to avoid losing members,” Glasenapp said, “so I put my focus on marketing.”
Glasenapp knew she needed a system for marketing and nurturing leads. When she heard about UpLaunch at the Two-Brain Summit she decided to give it a try.
The Plan
“We were in a pretty low place,” Glasenapp said about her mindset going into the summit.
After signing on with UpLaunch, Glasenapp started by updating Cobra Command’s website and integrating UpLaunch into the new site. The results were almost immediate -- she doubled the number of weekly “No Sweat” introductory sessions. 🎉
“We went from like three or four NoSweats a week to 8 to 10,” Glasenapp said.
Then in the first week of July, Cobra Command went live with Two-Brain marketing.
In two months they added 56 members. 😎
“I am the only person managing (the new leads), and we were able to do that because of UpLaunch,” Glasenapp said.
The automation made the process easy for Glasenapp. Her digital marketing went into a ClickFunnel, and at the end of the ClickFunnel the leads were directed to a landing page. UpLaunch allowed these leads to pick a NoSweat introductory session on their own, which then automatically synced with Glasenapp’s calendar (along with the three other coaches who help her run the introductory sessions).
Even if a lead didn’t schedule an NoSweat intro, their contact information went into the active lead category and they began receiving emails and SMS messages from Cobra Command. 📬
“We had a ton of people who didn’t sign up for the NoSweat session right away, but thanks to the lead nurture campaign (with UpLaunch), they came in down the road. We’ve had 212 total leads come in through UpLaunch and we’ve converted 56 of those into actual members,” Glasenapp said.
Member Communication
UpLaunch also helped Glasenapp communicate with her existing members -- even if the response was overwhelming at first.
“The first 24 hours you put everyone in as an established client and they all write reviews, and then … you have like five billion new reviews -- that’s worth it in and of itself,” she said.
Another unexpected benefit was an increase in Cobra Command CrossFit’s personal training business 💪 after joining UpLaunch, which she discussed in a recent blog post.
These were all wonderful results, but for Glasenapp the best outcome came as a result of the former client campaign -- the emails sent to the people who canceled their memberships.
Despite her fears, only 15 members followed her former coaches to the other another gym.
Instead of cutting ties with those 15 people, Glasenapp put them in UpLaunch’s former client campaign and they continued to receive friendly, informative content from Cobra Command CrossFit.
Of the 15 people who left, six returned.
“We kept that door open, like hey, it’s okay, things happen, we care about you -- and they came back and it’s awesome,” Glasenapp said.
Instead of losing 50 members, Glasenapp only lost nine -- and gained far more than she lost. 😊
“The big thing for me is how much (UpLaunch) has helped me manage my marketing content and the leads that come from marketing. (UpLaunch) has done a really good job of highlighting how great it is for gym management, but I don’t think people realize how much work comes from a really good marketing campaign,” said.
“It’s kinda everything you need to manage your client experience.”
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