Making the Switch to Zen Planner: Q&A with MBS Fitness Studio

At Zen Planner, the goal of the Onboarding Team is to make you feel comfortable with the basics of your database so you can get it up and running as quickly as possible. We like to hear details about your business so we can focus on the functionality within Zen Planner that is most important to you.

Melissa is a customer of mine that went through onboarding and graduated after 2 of the 3 included sessions. The success of her transition was directly tied to her commitment and engagement throughout the onboarding process. She was responsive to emails, attentive to instructions and extremely prompt. I understand that transitioning to a new member management software can be stressful, so I reached out to Melissa and asked her a few questions about making the switch to Zen Planner.

Q: What triggered the transition from MBO to Zen Planner?

A: I received several emails and messages from the sales team at Zen Planner. I noticed MBO prices were going up and had negative experiences with their customer service team. The price and lack of tech support led to my decision.

Q: Why Zen Planner and not another software?

A: Zen planner selected me. Truthfully, I’m so busy and didn’t have time to research different companies. I truly enjoyed my conversation with the sales team member and felt like Zen Planner is trustworthy company.

Q: What expectations were set after signing up for Zen Planner? (Post Sales Call – Before Kickoff Call)

A: I received a series of emails explaining how to move forward; it was simple and easy. One email included directions for the import process, since I was switching to Zen Planner from MBO. Another email gave me insight into all topics that would be covered during my 3 onboarding sessions, giving me clear expectations of what was to come. Each email shared the customer support team’s contact information in case I had questions between sessions.

Q: Was the transition process and next steps (post signup) clearly outlined?

A: The transition was good; quick and easy. It was a bit foreign to me at first, as most things are, but I quickly got the hang of it. If you’ve used MBO software before, then you should be able to pick up Zen Planner easily. The support team was great with fielding my questions and sent help documents to supplement their answers.

Q: How did the data migration process feel?

A: The import process was super easy. The steps were clearly outlined in an email I received from Zen Planner’s Onboarding Coordinator shortly after signing up. Once all my data was imported into Zen Planner, I could easily modify it to work within the system.

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Q: Did you reach out to Zen Planner’s Customer Success Team during the transition?

A: I did receive proper support from Zen Planner. I’m a ‘do it yourself’ type person, so I only reached out to my Onboarding Coach and Onboarding Coordinator during the transition. The help documents and answers I received during my onboarding session were just what I needed to get my database up and running.

Q: How did the timeline feel after you signed up with Zen Planner?

A: We signed up for Zen Planner on January 16th 2018 and were up and running before my deadline of February 5th. We easily could’ve started using Zen Planner a week earlier, but waited until the 5th to launch in tandem with our new class schedule.

Q: When switching to Zen Planner, did you recognize any immediate benefits?

A: The reports are quick and easy to access; I love seeing everything lined up on my dashboard. It helps me to stay on top of my duties and get things done more efficiently than before. The automations are also fantastic. I Love that I can send text reminders to members before their classes.

Q: Do you have any recommendations for people switching from MBO to Zen Planner? OR any recommendations for people thinking about making the switch?

A: For people making the switch, I recommend announcing the change to members as soon as possible. I also recommend canceling all existing memberships in MBO after the switch over date to avoid duplicate charges. Zen Planner was great about walking me through this process.

“I love having the Zenplanner site embedded into our Facebook page and website. I’ve already gotten a lot of new people from that alone. I love the simplicity of Zen Planner vs MBO. MBO was so confusing and hard to figure out.”
– Melissa Rishel; MBS Fitness Studio

As a fitness business owner, there are certain things that your software must be able to do. Make sure that your software is capable of meeting all your needs.