You might know him as the Founding Director of Simply Gym. Before opening his own franchise, he grew the Simply Gym group from the ground up to 12 clubs. Today Andy Tee’s the Director of Rise Fitness with two live clubs in Skipton and Dunstable, and he’s getting ready for the grand opening of the next two facilities in Telford and Ibstock.
We spoke to Andy to understand how Membr has helped his team to grow brand loyalty over the years and expand into a successful franchise.
Tell us about Rise Fitness and your experience leading up to opening it?
The Simply Gym clubs were (and still are) big box budget clubs with up to 5,000 members each.
The Rise Fitness clubs have memberships between 1,000 and 2,000 with a range of facilities including gym, swimming pool, classes and spa.
For all of these clubs, of course, I’ve used Membr software and will continue to do so.
How has Membr helped your fitness club, your team and business operations?
Previously we used various different software providers, none of which had the all round appeal that Membr holds. We found the previous software clunky, hard to navigate, missing some functions and crucially support behind the scenes was sporadic.
That’s why we decided to take a good look at other options on the market and came to the conclusion that Membr best suited our needs. This was in 2014 and we haven’t looked back since.
Was there a particular moment that made you think “Yes, I made the right choice with Membr”?
I think more than anything it’s the behind the scenes support we’ve received – and continue to receive. On the rare occasion we have an issue or a question, it’s generally resolved on the same day. Our club managers would all say the same thing, it’s what sets Membr apart from other providers we’ve experienced.
For example, the night before we opened a club we had an issue with our access control. Someone from the Membr team was on the phone to that site well past 9pm and resolved the issue. You don’t find that level of service every day and it feels more like a partnership than a ‘customer / provider’ relationship.
What are the Membr features that your fitness club can’t live without?
My favourite features of the Membr software are probably the Dashboard screen which gives you an overview of the gym’s current performance as well as the Member Referral Code system which has bought us literally hundreds of new members. The referral codes mean that our members often do our selling for us!
Last one, what are your goals for the next few years?
We look to grow and expand Rise Fitness Clubs and we will proudly be using Membr for many years to come!
