How UFC Gym Deployed AI to Guarantee 'Speed to Lead' and Scale Member Experience

Executive Summary - UFC Gym AI Customer Service and Sales Case Study

UFC Gym, one of the largest international fitness chains , faced a critical operational challenge common to multi-unit fitness operators: General Managers (GMs) and Operations Managers were spending too much time on administrative tasks, like answering high volumes of phone calls, rather than engaging with members on the front lines. This compromised the experiential fitness model on which the brand is built.

To solve this, UFC Gym partnered with Replify to deploy an AI agent to handle member inquiries and lead follow-up. The core objective was twofold: automate repetitive communication tasks and guarantee "speed to lead" in an immediate digital society.

Within the first 30 days of a full launch, Replify achieved immediate, measurable results:

• 142 staff hours were saved.
• Over 4,000 calls were handled by the AI.

By offloading these high-volume tasks, UFC Gym successfully reframed its labor strategy. The AI now serves as a reliable, always-available workforce, freeing up human GMs and staff to focus on selling memberships and providing the essential human interaction that drives retention. This strategic deployment of AI has not only increased efficiency and online sales but has also positioned UFC Gym for continued robust franchise growth.

Key Results from Adopting Replify AI

The deployment delivered both quantitative and qualitative impacts, immediately addressing labor efficiency, staff stress, and sales speed.

Qualitative Key Takeaways

• Enhanced In-Club Member Experience: The AI automates administrative tasks, ensuring General Managers and Operations Managers are on the front lines, providing the crucial human interaction members crave, instead of being stuck on the phone
• Guaranteed "Speed to Lead": The AI provides instant, 24/7 responses via text, which is the preferred communication method for leads, helping maximize conversion rates
• Staff Stress Reduction: Club teams provided positive feedback, noting they were happier and less stressed because the AI handles repetitive questions and constant phone calls, allowing them to focus on high-value tasks.
• Risk-Free Labor Solution: The AI agent acts as a reliable, always-available workforce without the labor costs, HR issues, or need for overtime pay—a key consideration for multi-location owners.
• Operational Integration: Replify was selected over competitors due to its "speed to product" and quick response to changes on the back end, making the setup easy to integrate into the complex business model.
• A Mindset for Growth: The key message to franchisees is to embrace AI, not fear it. It increases sales by making the existing human team more successful and better equipped to provide quality service.

Ready to explore results like these? Schedule a Replify demo.

About UFC Gym

UFC Gym is one of the largest international fitness chains, built on the philosophy of bringing a fighter’s training style to the masses. Founded in 2010 in Concord, California, the company quickly scaled by launching a franchise division in 2015.

Today, the brand hosts about a million workouts a month across its network. It currently operates around 70 domestic locations, with well over a thousand additional locations in international development.

Competitive Advantage: The Ultimate Family Center

UFC Gym distinguishes itself from standard fitness chains by taking a holistic approach to fitness for both individuals and families. Veronica Stranc, Vice President of Marketing, refers to it as the "ultimate family center".

Key competitive advantages under a single roof include:

• Youth Programming: Allows children to work out and learn discipline from activities like MMA or jiu-jitsu.
• Family Training: Enables parents and children to train together.
• Complete Wellness: Provides nutrition, recovery, sports training, jiu-jitsu, and MMA all under one roof.

The Sales and Customer Service Challenge at Class Focused Fitness Brands

Due to its unique, promo-based, and experiential model, UFC Gym's marketing strategy is complex. The constant influx of inquiries related to varied amenities, regional pricing structures, and rotating promotional updates creates a significant administrative burden on club staff.

With an active membership base and constant outreach, the company needed a reliable, high-speed solution to address the overwhelming volume of customer inquiries without pulling General Managers (GMs) away from the front desk—the critical point for sales and member retention.

Why UFC Gym Identified AI as a Major Growth Lever

The decision to adopt an AI solution was driven by two core needs: an immediate, tactical need to improve staff efficiency, and a long-term, strategic need to maintain a superior experiential advantage in a competitive market.

The Problem: GMs Stuck in the Office

The primary problem UFC Gym sought to solve was administrative overload. General Managers (GMs) and Operations Managers were being pulled away from their most critical role—engaging with members—because they were "stuck at their computer" handling phone calls and other administrative tasks all day long.

• The Goal: Provide automation to get GMs out of their offices and onto the front lines, greeting members and providing crucial human interaction, which is highly valued in today's increasingly digital society.
• The Cost of Inefficiency: In an industry where a good GM can turn a club to anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 members, time spent on routine calls is time lost on sales, retention, and community building. The AI solution was intended to automate handling member concerns and booking appointments, freeing up staff time.

The Strategic Driver: Speed to Conversion

As a leading fitness brand, UFC Gym understands that leads today prefer text-based communication over phone calls. For the marketing team, the highest conversion rates are achieved when a lead gets an immediate response.

Veronica Stranc stressed that the business needed to achieve "speed to lead" or "speed to conversion". In a rapid digital society, if the business is not ready with an immediate response and a direct link to what the prospect is interested in, the sale is gone. Only an AI agent could guarantee the immediate, 24/7 response required to maximize conversion rates across a national network.

The Vendor Selection: Why Replify Stood Out

UFC Gym trialed two other AI vendors before selecting Replify. The previous vendors struggled to keep up with the complexity of UFC Gym's business model, which involves varied amenities and pricing structures across different locations. They often required UFC Gym to find workarounds or, essentially, teach the AI companies how to function.

Replify distinguished itself in two key areas:

• Speed and Responsiveness: Replify was deemed more advanced in the space of "speed to product" and quick response. Veronica Stranc noted that Replify's team would see requested changes and "work on them quickly for you on the back end".
• Adaptability: The Replify team was highly effective in finding a workaround to integrate with UFC Gym's existing CRM system, which Veronica Stranc noted "doesn't play well in the sandbox".

Onboarding AI Across the UFC Gym Network

While UFC Gym's business is complex, the integration of Replify needed to be fast and effective to keep up with the demands of their promo-based, experiential model. For the multi-location operator, the key to successful deployment is rapid setup, precise data ingestion, and seamless integration with existing technology—especially the CRM.

Integrating AI into a Complicated Business Model

UFC Gym operates with varied amenities and pricing structures across different locations, which often complicated the onboarding process for their AI. However, the Replify team focused on quick problem-solving, distinguishing themselves in their ability to adapt to this complexity.

• CRM Workaround: Veronica Stranc noted that UFC Gym's CRM "doesn't play well in the sandbox". Replify's team, specifically Tony and Abby, were able to quickly find a path to make the integration work, preventing the need for UFC Gym to find manual workarounds or teach the vendor how to function.
• Rapid Phone Line Switch: Integrating the AI with the phone system was smooth, utilizing the existing Voice-over-IP (VoIP) system for an easy switchover.
• Knowledge Base Challenge: The primary internal complexity was ensuring the AI knowledge base was accurate for every club, verifying amenities, and handling different regional pricing structures.

Dedicated Partnership and Strategic Support

The speed of the product launch and quick response time were central to UFC Gym selecting Replify. For a brand operating across dozens of markets, this dedicated support was non-negotiable.

• Prioritizing Product Improvements: Veronica Stranc provided specific feedback regarding the need for an easier way to program promotional updates (as their business is highly promo-based ) and an improved feedback loop for conversation review. Nate Corliss immediately escalated this feedback to the CTO and product manager.
• Gathering Field Intelligence: To ensure success at the club level, Veronica Stranc connected Replify with James, the "Hey Libby champion in the field" , who offers valuable feedback from the General Manager's perspective.

AI Growth and Scale Opportunities at UFC Gym

AI is integral to UFC Gym's communication strategy, particularly in addressing that leads prefer text-based communication over phone calls. This section outlines how Replify's AI is deployed as a growth lever beyond basic call answering.

High-Volume Inbound Coverage and Qualification

The AI agent's initial success was in handling the volume of inbound calls and inquiries that were previously overwhelming staff.

Outbound Lead Nurturing for Conversion

Crucially, the full launch included outbound campaigns for appointment bookings. This capability ensures no lead is left behind and provides the immediate response (speed to lead) needed to convert prospects in a fast-moving market.

Preparing for System-Wide Scale

For potential franchisees, the deployment of Replify across the network proves AI is a viable, reliable, and cost-saving workforce.

Key Results of Replify AI at UFC Gym

The full launch of Replify delivered immediate, undeniable results in both operational efficiency and staff experience, proving the effectiveness of AI as a strategic workforce replacement for high-volume tasks.

Quantitative Results from Adopting AI at UFC Gym

The data from the first 30 days of deployment demonstrated a significant reduction in administrative burden across the network.

AI’s Qualitative Results at UFC Gym

The most significant impact was the shift in team focus, fulfilling the core objective of the AI deployment.

• Elevated In-Club Member Experience: The AI automates administrative tasks, ensuring General Managers (GMs) and Operations Managers are on the front lines, providing the crucial human interaction members crave, instead of being stuck on the phone.
• Guaranteed "Speed to Lead": The AI provides instant, 24/7 responses via text, which is the preferred communication method for leads, helping UFC Gym achieve "speed to lead" and maximizing conversion rates.
• Staff Stress Reduction: Club teams provided positive feedback, noting they were happier and less stressed because the AI handles repetitive questions and constant phone calls, allowing them to focus on high-value tasks like selling memberships and cleaning^12121212.
• Risk-Free Labor Solution: The AI agent acts as a reliable, always-available workforce without the labor costs, HR issues, or need for overtime pay—a key consideration for multi-location owners¹³.
• Operational Integration: Replify was selected over competitors due to its "speed to product" and quick response to changes on the back end, making the setup easy to integrate into the complex business model.

How AI Positioned UFC Gym for Continued Franchise Growth

For a brand with hundreds of international locations in development, the adoption of Replify's AI is a strategic move that addresses the long-term challenges of scale, labor management, and consistent customer experience.

• A Mindset for Growth: The key message for potential franchisees is clear: embrace AI, not fear it. As Vice President of Marketing, Veronica Stranc stated, "You should be afraid of the people who are using AI to be better than you.
• The Sales Multiplier: AI doesn't replace the necessary human element, but rather increases sales by preserving it. The AI makes the existing team more successful and better equipped to provide quality service, effectively boosting the performance of every GM and front-line staff member.
• A Scalable Standard: By offloading lead intake and basic inquiries to AI, UFC Gym ensures a consistent, high-speed customer service standard across every one of its domestic and international locations, reinforcing its commitment to its experiential brand promise.

Scaling the Fitness Experience: The Future of Multi-Location Operations

UFC Gym's deployment of Replify is a blueprint for multi-location fitness and wellness operators facing the universal challenge of scaling member experience without scaling labor costs. The transition to an AI-augmented workforce successfully achieved the core strategic goal: taking General Managers (GMs) out of the office and putting them back on the front lines to deliver the human interaction that drives sales and retention.

The results from the first 30 days are clear evidence of this strategy's success:

• 142 staff hours were saved from administrative tasks.
• Over 4,000 inquiries were handled by the AI.
• The AI guaranteed "speed to lead," resulting in an immediate uptick in online sales.

As Veronica Stranc stated, the key for franchisees is to embrace AI, not fear it. Replify positioned itself as a true partner by quickly integrating with UFC Gym’s complex, promo-based business model and adapting to their "sandbox" CRM. The AI solution functions as a reliable, always-available labor force, enabling UFC Gym to enforce a consistent, high-speed customer service standard across its expanding global network.

UFC’s innovative use of AI highlights how AI support systems can absorb operational load in high-intensity service environments, without disrupting the in-person experience that differentiates premium fitness brands.

Ready to Replicate UFC Gym's Success?

If your multi-location fitness or wellness brand is struggling to achieve "speed to lead," or if your GMs are buried under administrative phone calls, it's time to evaluate the strategic value of AI.

Book an AI consultation with a Replify expert today to learn how you can automate high-volume inquiries, save staff hours, and scale a world-class member experience across your entire footprint.