CLOSE COMBAT & FITNESS CASE STUDY
BUSINESS PROFILE
Close Combat & Fitness is a gym in Metairie, LA that is owned and operated by Louis Charron. For the last five years, the Close Combat team has taught Les Mills Body Combat and Krav Maga and style self-defense, fitness and wellness classes. But most importantly, they’ve been instilling confidence and a desire for self-improvement in the students of their community.
CHALLENGE
As with most fitness businesses relying on a manual system that is usually a mix of spreadsheets and disparate systems to manage memberships, Close Combat had some challenges. Reporting was one of the biggest struggles because they were unable to generate accurate reports that showed where revenue was specifically coming from such as new members, classes, retail items and events.
These reporting challenges made it difficult to manage the business in a proactive way. Key business health indicators, like conversion and attrition rate, were just too hard to accurately nail down, so Close Combat was forced to make important decisions from guesses and intuition.
Likewise, Close Combat wasn’t able to do all the marketing they knew they needed to do. The process of capturing and following up on leads was time-consuming and super manual and rather haphazard, with a mix of voicemails and emails being exchanged each time a potential new member inquired about a class or membership “We were aware that some prospects were just falling off the map,” Louis Charron, Owner of Close Combat, explains.
All correspondence with current members was also done as one-off emails or phone calls. Besides being time-consuming, it was hard to stay on top of the job of managing a successful gym. In the end, Louis knew that he had to find a way to spend more time managing Close Combat’s growth, while also having more time with students. He decided to look at different software solutions to see if he could get some administrative tasks off his plate.
SOLUTION
Louis signed up for a Zen Planner free trial and was immediately impressed with the effortlessness of Zen Planner software. “It was so easy to set up and use. Within 45 minutes, our member and business information was imported into Zen Planner and ready to go,” says Louis.
Close Combat quickly went from not having the ability to produce accurate reports to having a customized dashboard that is accessible any time. The dashboard gives Close Combat an immediate snapshot of the metrics Louis wants to track, such as revenue per member and conversion rates of first-time visitors to paying members.
Louis and his team are now also able to communicate effortlessly with their members. With Zen Planner’s automations, Close Combat’s members get an email when their credit card is about to expire or when they haven’t been to class for a while. Louis can also set up automations to wish members a happy birthday or celebrate key milestones of their progress.
Marketing to prospects is also simple with Zen Planner in place. By embedding a customer contact form in the Close Combat website, Louis is able to capture data on leads and market to them using automated emails. This simple and effective process has put an end to lost leads and helped double Close Combat’s membership base. “I’m a big fan of Zen Planner,” Louis ads, “it drastically cuts my administrative time and saved me $2,500 in the first six months of using it.”
BENEFITS
- Reduces time spent on administrative tasks by 10 -15 hours a week
- Ends lost leads by providing marketing tools that grow the business
- Improved athlete check-in via Faceboard
- Provides a custom dashboard for a instant snapshot of the business
- Saves Close Combat $2,500 in administrative costs the first six months
