Club 51 Fitness has been a Jonas Fitness customer since April 2016. They are a
dedicated Compete® client and service over 600 members per day.
We recently sat down with Mike Brunett, Owner and General Manager at Club 51 Fitness, regarding his recent conversion and his overall experience with our software since becoming a part of the Jonas Fitness family. Here’s what he had to say.
Q: Thanks for spending some time with us, Mike! To begin, give us a quick run-through on what your role is at Club 51 Fitness.
A: I am the owner and general manager of Club 51. Before purchasing the gym, I managed it for over 7 years.
Now, I do a little of everything; I consider myself a very hands-on owner. From sales to staff management to group fitness, I have a good grasp on every operation within the club.
Q: You made the switch over to our software about a year ago – April 2016. What, originally, was the deciding factor in choosing Jonas as your software provider over the rest?
A: To be honest, Jonas just came off as a complete software provider in the market. As with any search, I did my research and got plenty of feedback from contacts within the industry.
Right off the bat, I was impressed by Compete’s layout, its modern look and understated simplicity; not to mention the plethora of integrations and professional services Jonas offers. The fact that the software was modern, user-friendly, easy to use and – most importantly – easily teachable for my employees was the reason we chose Jonas as our software provider.
Q: Along those lines, what would you say are the tools and applications you look for in your club management software in order to succeed in your business?
A: Reliable data. We were in business with a competitor for many years and, unfortunately, we had too many instances in which we couldn’t trust the information the software was providing.
We frequently had to deal with erroneous, unreliable data – causing our staff to be very weary of what was true and what was false as it pertained to member account statuses and standing. With Jonas, everything I need and would need is always readily available in real-time at a click of a button. My staff is able to stay on top of everyone that comes through the door, with the added trust of reliable data to back them up.
Q: Now that you’ve had some time with the software, what is your overall impression of its performance as it relates to the day to day tasks at your club?
A: I am extremely satisfied. At the end of the day, I can log into the back office from the comfort of my own home to see what the daily activity was and how the business fared for the day.
There are so many different accounting functions that help me in keeping my finger on the pulse of the business. As an owner, I want to stay on top of my business. If there are numbers that don’t make sense or money that seems out of place, I have the confidence of knowing that all the data is right there in my face ready for me to address it instantly.
Q: Do you feel like the software has improved your club’s operational efficiency? How so?
A: Absolutely. It’s helped me be better at MY job. Helped me keep track of every penny that comes through the door on the accounting side, as opposed to winging it.
Our previous software didn’t have detailed reports. They [software provider] couldn’t tell me where our money was going or coming from. It was as if they were speaking a foreign language. With Jonas, everything is there at my disposal without having to jump through any other hoops.
And, really, it’s in the details. Before having Jonas as our software provider, we’d have to manually write-up outgoing envelopes reminding members that their annual fees are due, but now, the software allows us to simply run a report, throw some label paper in our printer and print out labels that make our direct mail communications seem more professional – all while making a very tedious process more efficient.
Q: What would you say are some of your favorite features within the software?
A: That’s easy. Real-time transactions. That specific feature played a role just this past weekend. One of our stations froze up while in the middle of a credit card transaction with a member. So before just assuming it didn’t go through (as with our previous provider), we were able to run a real-time credit card transaction report to verify whether or not the sale was successful; as opposed to running the card twice and then later having to settle a credit card dispute or go through the headache of finding and voiding a duplicate transaction if it wasn’t.
Another feature that’s been nice to have is having our front-end staff be able to log on and view our personal trainers’ schedule without needing to have the trainer physically present to book a session.
Q: Do you have any closing thoughts you’d like to share?
A: All I’d say is that we average about 600 members through our doors every day. It’s a fairly busy place and, as such, it requires a software solution that can keep up with the demanding pace of our business. Jonas provides that.
