The Fitness Guild: From Going Virtual to Reopening, WellnessLiving Is Incredible!

Do you run a gym or fitness studio? With the pandemic hitting the fitness industry hard, there have been multiple times where gyms have been forced to close their physical locations.

While a lot of gyms were fighting to stay in business, The Fitness Guild was not one of them! With quick action, creative thinking, and expert tools from WellnessLiving, they went virtual, boosted their online memberships, and adapted to a new ‘business as usual.’

Since opening in 2018, The Fitness Guild—located in downtown Belleville, Ontario, Canada—has built a loyal following of regular gym members. The boutique gym also offers personal training sessions, outdoor bootcamps, and group fitness classes.

When COVID-19 hit, The Fitness Guild pivoted to an online model, so they could keep the business afloat. In the middle of the pandemic, The Fitness Guild even saw a change of ownership with Rob Deline taking over business operations in the summer.

Throughout all the changes, WellnessLiving has been right there, helping The Fitness Guild remain open, whether members visit in person or virtually. Rob says, “As soon as I could, I implemented the Zoom integration!”

Read on to learn more about The Fitness Guild and their going virtual experience with our Zoom integration.

The Fitness Guild’s experience going virtual with Zoom

Before COVID-19, The Fitness Guild and their eight coaches offered indoor bootcamps and combination group classes that included weightlifting, rowing, and cycling. As soon as they were forced to close, The Fitness Guild got busy turning their business into an online experience as they hosted up to three classes daily through the Zoom video conferencing platform. With the shift to a virtual gym, online classes included circuit training with weightlifting.

“Zoom made the transition online so much easier,” says Rob. “We were pretty much business as usual!”

For The Fitness Guild, the transition was quick and seamless, and many of their members gladly converted to the virtual gym. The Fitness Guild started communicating through Facebook and created social media challenges like Ab Attack April and Cardio May to keep their audience interaction up.

The team also hustled to get corporate sponsorships, offering a promotion for 50 members for their virtual classes. Right from the start, they had more than 25 people in each online class!

How has the Zoom integration helped your gym?

At the beginning of the pandemic, The Fitness Guild hosted classes on Zoom, but hadn’t yet integrated with Zoom. Now, Rob absolutely loves everything about the Zoom integration!

“It’s the best thing WellnessLiving has ever done,” Rob says. “When I found out you could make everything so much easier, I couldn’t understand why we weren’t using it sooner.”

Rob scheduled a training session with WellnessLiving’s expert Support Team, and the Zoom integration helped The Fitness Guild overnight. Here are some of the ways the Zoom integration made Rob’s life much easier:

• His Zoom account conveniently connected with his WellnessLiving account.
• It’s simple for Rob to set-up and manage his virtual classes.
• He can send out automatic notifications and reminders when clients sign up for class.
• He can restrict access to his exclusive content with automatic client verification.
• Instead of emails full of Zoom links, clients now receive direct booking links to fill their classes or the option to join classes right from the software in the Client Web App or Achieve Client App.

The Fitness Guild continued to grow thanks to our Zoom integration!

What was your reopening process like?

Like many gyms, The Fitness Guild has been anxious to reopen and see everyone in person. Rob says, “It’s a big community here, and anytime we get together, it just feels like we’re hanging out with family!”

The Fitness Guild was able to reopen at the beginning of Phase 3 in July and used WellnessLiving’s Achieve Client App and Elevate Staff App to make the process as easy as possible.

• Clients could easily book and pay for classes and gym sessions.
• Staff members can manage their schedules, book and check clients in, cancel classes, and make substitutions.

Rob also took advantage of WellnessLiving’s automated marketing suite to simplify the reopening process. He’s been able to easily reach The Fitness Guild community with emails, texts, and push notifications, so they are updated on important details about the gym, such as health and safety protocols, sanitation guidelines, social distancing rules, and more!

What changes have you made since reopening?

The Fitness Guild reorganized their gym and implemented new procedures for in-person visits. Here is what they did:

• They separated the equipment to keep people apart (to follow the six-foot social distancing rule). Gym members would also need to wear a mask when entering and exiting the facility.
• With a maximum of six people in the gym at a time, WellnessLiving’s booking system makes it easy to manage capacity.
• They also increased their cleaning practices and provided each client with their own spray bottle and roll of paper towels to keep their station clean.
• Guests were also limited to one hour per visit at the gym.

And it’s working! Since they reopened, the gym reactivated many of its members, while also adding about 30 new members as well. The addition of new outdoor bootcamp classes helped attract attention, too!

What are your outdoor classes like?

In the midst of rethinking their business model, The Fitness Guild added an outdoor bootcamp to their roster. The benefits?

• Everyone is safe since there’s a lot of room to keep people apart.
• With the classes being held outside, others notice! In other words, it’s free advertising, attracting attention and generating interest in the gym.

This addition has made it feel “almost like normal,” says Rob.

How else has WellnessLiving helped?

The Fitness Guild switched to WellnessLiving about a year ago, and Rob couldn’t be happier! Here are some of the other features that have made getting through the pandemic possible:

• Booking: Clients could book without contacting Rob directly. Rob’s team can also easily track when someone has booked and be there to supervise.
• Automated marketing: It’s easy to send out messages to large groups of people, or Rob can also target specific clients like those who hadn’t visited his gym since the pandemic began. This feature also came in handy to let people know when they reopened.
• Advanced reporting: With mobile access, Rob can use WellnessLiving’s dynamic reporting system to track sales and view all the data he needs to manage his business.

For shifting online and reopening, WellnessLiving is there!

With the pandemic affecting the entire fitness industry, survival meant reacting quickly and pivoting to a virtual business model. When the gym is closed, The Fitness Guild remains open by offering online memberships and unlimited access to their livestreaming classes seven days a week!

Business is going great for The Fitness Guild and WellnessLiving is a big reason why! By offering Zoom integration, automated marketing feature, staff and client apps, and so much more, WellnessLiving provides the expert tools to help Rob and his team succeed!

“There’s so much I love about the software,” says Rob. “It’s very reliable, simple to track sales, and easy for clients to book sessions. WellnessLiving does everything—there is no way I will ever leave!”

Don’t take Rob’s word for it though. Book a free, no-commitment demo and learn how WellnessLiving can help you manage your business today!