Case Study: How CrossFit Dawn used TeamUp to grow their business

When Arend Wissing opened his gym back in 2015, for him it wasn't just about helping people achieve their fitness goals; it was about creating a welcoming and inspiring space for individuals of all ages and abilities.

His journey of turning CrossFit Dawn into a thriving business is a testament of how leveraging the right tools can enhance operations and elevate member experiences, turning challenges into opportunities for growth and connection.

We love sharing our customers' stories and recently, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Arend to discuss his journey, the challenges he overcame, and how TeamUp played a key role in his success. Here's what he had to say.

How has TeamUp been received by your users and trainers? 

For our members, the system is always smooth and operational, especially when booking into classes. This a real advantage as it removes that element of admin from us and gives our customers the freedom to manage their memberships, add payment details, and make and cancel reservations straight from their account. 

My team and I are always on the go, so having a good mobile platform is an absolute must. We're able to make quick adjustments on a mobile device and hardly ever need to use a desktop or laptop. We've got everything we need for the day-to-day running of our business at the touch of a button.

How have TeamUp's features helped you maintain your revenue? 

Over the years, we've learned that growth—and therefore revenue—often comes down to two factors: retaining current members and attracting new ones.

TeamUp's reporting capabilities in this sense have been invaluable. We can access detailed reports on lifetime membership engagement and lifetime value per member, as well as financial performance month-on-month, which give us insights that are essential for running a successful gym.  

There are also features that encourage us to be proactive in maintaining strong member retention. The "slipping away" tool, for example, helps us identify members who haven't been attending regularly, enabling us to re-engage members before they slip away indefinitely. We've also discovered that notifications are great not only for class reminders, but also for celebrating our members when they reach certain milestones—keeping our customers motivated is so important to us.

When it comes to enhancing the member experience, we've found personalized workouts, performance tracking, and in-app messaging to be great tools. As a CrossFit box, we chose to integrate our TeamUp account with the WOD tracking app BoxMate, but for other types of gyms and studios, there's also the Custom Branded App.

What were the biggest challenges when expanding your gym? How did you overcome them? 

After successfully establishing CrossFit Dawn in the UK, we were ready to expand to a second location in South Africa. We knew that replicating our success would depend on duplicating the systems that made our UK gym thrive. That's why selecting the right management software was critical, and TeamUp became the obvious choice. 

One of our biggest concerns was ensuring that the software we implemented would be easy for our South African team to adopt. We needed a platform that was straightforward and user-friendly, so we could quickly and efficiently train our new gym manager. Additionally, it was essential for the system to integrate seamlessly with the local banking systems and payment methods. 

TeamUp not only provided the simple and intuitive software we needed but also backed it up with exceptional local support. The South African TeamUp support team was instrumental in setting everything up before we opened and provided extensive training. Thanks to their expertise in local banking systems and payment integration, it was a smooth experience, which allowed us to focus on other critical operational tasks. 

After just two months of operation, we exceeded our initial membership target of 40 members, reaching 65 members. A significant factor in our success was our ability to presell membership, register members, and process payments before the new location officially launched. This seamless setup gave us a head start, allowing us to focus on member engagement from day one.

What advice would you give to other gym owners looking to grow their business?

Expanding CrossFit Dawn to a second location abroad was a significant challenge and we learned a lot along the way! 

1. Focus on systems early: One of the most valuable lessons from this expansion is that having your management and payment systems in place early can save time and energy, allowing you to concentrate on acquiring and retaining members.

2. Retention and growth: Loyal customers are the key to success, so your focus needs to be on enhancing the member experience and creating a space where everyone, regardless of their ability, feels they belong. Here's where technology can really help you, as it gives you the tools to foster deeper connections with your customers.

With the help of TeamUp’s intuitive management software and exceptional local support, we were able to replicate our UK success. By focusing on the right systems early, we not only surpassed our membership targets but also set a strong foundation for future growth.