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Sculpt

Having Ashbourne in your corner before opening gives you real support and peace of mind.

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Success Stories

Sculpt

Having Ashbourne in your corner before opening gives you real support and peace of mind.

Request a Demo

From Day One to a Sustainable Gym Business in Northumberland…

Adam Collard, founder and owner of Sculpt Gym, had a clear idea of what Sculpt Gym could be for Ashington, and he wanted the right systems and infrastructure to be in place before either a single member walked through the door.

To that end, our case study starts with a phone call to Ashbourne before a Sculpt Gym membership had ever been sold. The decision to secure a membership management partner at the outset, rather than approaching one after launch, shaped the successful launch of Sculpt Gym as a fitness business. From pre-sale strategy to the member journey, and from their data capability to the day-to-day operational confidence that have all come to define Sculpt’s successful first years, nothing was left untouched by Sculpt’s partnership with Ashbourne.

Opening A Gym With A Safety Net

“People think open a gym and they will come. And that is not the case. It is a massive reality check when people do that. Whether it be sales, whether it be marketing, whether it be the whole experience and the coaching. You have to learn a bit of everything. You don't have to be an expert in everything, you can learn from the experts.”

- Adam Collard, Founder, Sculpt Gym

Most independent gym owners underestimate what the business requires of them. The equipment, the layout, the class timetable, those are the things that spring to mind immediately. But setting up membership management systems, turnstiles, access methods and balancing the books? Those don’t live quite as large in most people’s minds.  

Adam recognised early on that the scale of his latest gym project would require a level of competence across many disciplines, some of which he had little to no prior experience or expertise. The answer was not to acquire those all those skills alone, but to structure the systems of Sculpt in such a way to ensure that all those skills didn’t need to belong to one person.

One of those systems that was a high priority for Adam was access control. He knew he wanted fingerprint scanners at the point of entry. It was a non-negotiable requirement for his vision of how Sculpt should operate, and it was one of driving forces behind his decision to reach out to Ashbourne.  

“We were with Ashbourne from the start of this site. We did a pre-sale, we set everything up. I initially reached out because I was adamant on getting fingerprint scanners, which are amazing because it allows freedom with staffing. That was a massive selling point from the off, them coming in and Ashbourne guiding us through how to do that.”

- Adam Collard, Founder, Sculpt Gym

Our access control hardware and software solved a specific staffing concern he wanted to avoid. With fingerprint-controlled access, a member’s status is visible at the door without any conversation required. He could ensure that even if someone called in sick, those left ‘manning the fort’ wouldn’t feel all the stress of that absence and business-as-usual operations could therefore continue as normal.  

Those initial conversations with Ashbourne quickly expanded beyond hardware into how the whole of Sculpt Gym should function. 

Sculpt’s site included a lobby and lounge area, which Adam had not operated before. The question of how to design a customer journey through a space with a reception function and automated access controls, rather than a direct floor-access model, was new territory. 

“We had no experience with having a lounge or lobby, it is a different customer journey.”

- Adam Collard, Founder, Sculpt Gym

We are keen to show, not tell, where possible and so we arranged to show Adam through a working example of our hardware, software, and systems at The Fit Club Redditch, an Ashbourne–operated gym, to demonstrate how our  systems function in a live environment. 

“Ashbourne showed me how it worked inside another gym, which was Ashbourne's gym, and gave it as an example. This is what works here. And here is how we can replicate that same customer journey, but with your gym.”

- Adam Collard, Founder, Sculpt Gym

Securing Cash Flow Before The Doors Are Open

The financial risk of opening a gym is front-loaded, from buying or financing equipment, lease commitments, and staffing, costs start arriving before a single membership is sold. A pre-sale strategy can help convert some of that pressure into an assured revenue stream, but only if the infrastructure to run it is in place. 
 
As Adam had come to Ashbourne before Sculpt Gym had opened, pre-sale was a service we were more than happy to provide and one that made a massive difference to the maths behind Sculpt Gym’s opening. 

Ashbourne provided the tools to run a structured pre-sale, this included tiered pricing, landing pages, and marketing systems designed to convert any word of mouth and local awareness of Sculpt into locked-in memberships before the gym even opened. Not only does this approach help a gym owner gauge demand and anticipation, it also vitally eased some of the financial anxiety that defines the early months of any new site. 

“People have no idea what the break-even point and the stress of when you initially open, like paying off equipment. What Ashbourne allowed us to do was say ‘how can we give you as much safety as possible opening this gym from pre-sale’. We will lock in 100 members at X price, and the next 100–200 members at slightly more but still enough of a benefit that they want to come on day one through the doors.” 

– Adam Collard, Founder, Sculpt Gym 

The pre-sale delivered two outcomes at once. Not only did start building the membership base before launch, it structured the pricing in a way that incentivised early commitment while still ensuring that Sculpt’s revenue was protected as the gym grew.  

“The question was, in a positive way, how can we manipulate the local area into thinking this is the place, and the hub, and the home for fitness in Ashington Northumberland. With the day pass, landing pages, active campaigns, the marketing systems. Trying to make enough noise so that the local people found out about us before we were even opening the doors. And from a financial point of view that was a massive benefit.”

- Adam Collard, Founder, Sculpt Gym

“We rolled the dice with this place and it paid off. Ashbourne helped bridge the gaps between that stressful start period.

If ever do this again, a pre-sale will be something that I will do”

- Adam Collard, Founder, Sculpt Gym

Support That Functions Like An In-House Team

But the value of having a gym membership management partner is not limited to a gym’s launch period of course, and in our catch-up with Adam we moved past the launch and onto Sculpt Gym’s day-to-day operations.  
 
We have heard from hundreds of independent gyms and fitness clubs that they are unsatisfied with the support they receive from their service providers. No matter how good the system, a positive and effective relationship with support services determines whether a gym owner can extract full utility from the system they have invested in, or whether they will have to get used to enduring long queues and ineffectual ticketing systems.  

Adam also noted a specific benefit that independent gym owners can often lack, access to industry knowledge and wisdom and the advantage of having a sounding board for these questions. Adam was keen to reinforce what a benefit having the support team fielding these questions had been to Sculpt Gym.  

“Connecting with the support team at Ashbourne was like ‘how do we make this work’. From a customer journey, someone walks from the car park into the door, how does that work? We’ve never had to think about that and it was a good improvement in my knowledge of gym ownership.” 

– Adam Collard, Founder, Sculpt Gym 

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“I've got to sing the praises of Ashbourne with this, having the ability to have a team that isn't really your team, they are doing it in Birmingham but you can always ask advice. What are other gyms doing? What can we do, what can we try, can you help us see this? Who comes to what classes, who comes at what time, what demographic are we missing, who should we target. All that is something their system helps you understand more.”

- Adam Collard, Founder, Sculpt Gym

One of the many benefits of an in-house support team is building a working relationship with members of the team, and, in turn, them getting to know your facility. Unlike some outsourced call desk half a world away, Adam has had the pleasure of getting to know and coming to rely upon our support team here at Ashbourne by name and credits consistent access as a significant part of the value. 

“One of the biggest benefits of Ashbourne is the team, the support you get from the team. I’m biased but Evie has been on-hand pretty much within 24 hours since I started with Ashbourne.” 

– Adam Collard, Founder, Sculpt Gym 

That back and forth relationship has been vital for making sure Sculpt gets the most out their systems and their situation. 
 
One thing Adam was keen to focus on was how Ashbourne’s system has allowed Sculpt to still operate as a compassionate, local business that values their member base and recognises loyalty in situations that would otherwise require manual workarounds. 

“If someone leaves and it is under circumstances where it might’ve been a Christmas period or an injury, can we knock the joining fee off for them specifically and honour it. We are always trying to look at how we can use the system effectively and that is one of the benefits.” 

– Adam Collard, Founder, Sculpt Gym 

The ability to act on these individual cases is something that unifies Sculpt and Ashbourne, providing a professional service without it being a faceless, uncaring business.

Using Data to Retain Members and Reduce Churn

“The best tools for us are being able to filter through customers, being able to filter through each part of the customers and when they signed up. And from that, try and promote referrals through it, try and promote other offers, try and promote discounts when members fall off.”

- Adam Collard, Founder, Sculpt Gym

They have been able to put it to great use, whether it is segmenting members by behaviour, identifying those who are disengaging, or deploying a targeted offer before they cancel. The same logic applies to referrals, where identifying the most engaged members and timing a referral prompt to their membership cycle produces a higher return than a generic campaign. 

Adam also notes that the support relationship accelerated how quickly Sculpt adopted features it had not initially used. The prospect management system, for example, was new to him and required active guidance to implement. 

“We’ve tried to get as involved as we can with anything Evie recommends in terms of systems, the prospect management system was new to me. The guys really worked with the prospect management system for me to understand it. From a gym owner, you start a gym because you are passionate about fitness. You start a gym probably because you’ve been a personal trainer at one point, your forte is not tech. 

I don’t know all the stuff going on in the background but I don’t need to, I want to know the basics and what I need to do to make the gym as effective as possible.” 

– Adam Collard, Founder, Sculpt Gym 

Hardware For All Seasons

The fingerprint scanner requirement that prompted Adam’s initial contact with us here at Ashbourne has proved to be one of the most consistently useful elements of the setup. Its primary value is not security. 

Access control that communicates membership status at the point of entry removes an uncomfortable responsibility from floor staff. Both Sculpt’s staff and members sees the direct benefit, there is no need for a staff member to intervene, explain, or negotiate. For a gym that doesn’t want to be reliant on a front-desk team, this is almost a necessity. 

“After setup there was a moment where I was like, we could be using this system more. There are almost waves on your journey with Ashbourne.” 

— Adam Collard, Founder, Sculpt Gym 

Once again, this is where the value of Ashbourne’s support team came in. Once Adam and his team were up to speed after the initial setup, they were able to consult support and find out how to gradually extract more and more out of the system. Our support model is structured to assist with that progression, having conversations with each gym about the features they are not yet using and introducing them as the business develops.  

But just as importantly, parts of our setup have endured from day 1 to present.  

“Some of the stuff I’ve not had to touch since day 1, which is awesome.” 

— Adam Collard, Founder, Sculpt Gym 

And to conclude, we decided to ask Adam if he would recommend Ashbourne Membership Management to anyone who is thinking about starting a gym and to anyone currently running an independent gym or fitness club.  
 
We will let his responses speak for themselves. 

“The biggest benefit of the fingerprint scanners is the clarity. No awkward conversations, if they aren't getting in, the member knows something is wrong. It makes it a process. It makes the coach less stressed, they don't have to have an awkward conversation. It tidies everything up.”

— Adam Collard, Founder, Sculpt Gym

“I'd definitely recommend Ashbourne, if you want to put your mind at rest before opening your site. Especially if it is a commercial gym, especially if it's a high volume. I think they are awesome, I think they will teach you some things along the way, I think they will support you even more along the way. You probably want to have them in your corner before you open the gym.”

— Adam Collard, Founder, Sculpt Gym

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