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

ABC AI Agents Case Study

Executive summary

Every missed call at UFC Gym was a General Manager pulled off the floor, and a member or lead left waiting. UFC Gym put ABC AI Agents on every phone line, text, and email inquiry across its network, so GMs stay on the front lines while every lead still gets an instant response. In the first 30 days of full launch: 4,000+ calls automated, 142 staff hours saved, and a measurable increase in online sales.

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 deployed ABC AI Agents 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. 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 ABC AI Agents

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

Qualitative 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: ABC AI Agents matched the pace of UFC Gym’s fast-changing back end, adapting quickly whenever pricing, promotions, or amenities changed
• 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

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.

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 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: General Managers 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: as a leading fitness brand, UFC Gym understands that leads today prefer text-based communication over phone calls, and 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.

Why ABC AI Agents was the right fit

UFC Gym’s business model involves varied amenities and pricing structures across different locations, which made integration a real test of any AI platform’s flexibility.
ABC AI Agents distinguished itself in speed and responsiveness: Veronica Stranc noted that the team would see requested changes and “work on them quickly for you on the back end.”

Onboarding AI across the UFC Gym network

While UFC Gym’s business is complex, the integration of ABC AI Agents 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 ABC AI Agents 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.” The ABC AI Agents 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 ABC AI Agents. For a brand operating across dozens of markets, this dedicated support was non-negotiable.

Gathering field intelligence: to ensure success at the club level, Veronica Stranc connected the ABC AI Agents team with James, an on-site advocate for the platform who offers valuable feedback from the General Manager’s perspective.

Prioritizing product improvements: Veronica Stranc provided specific feedback regarding the need for an easier way to program promotional updates, since their business is highly promo-based, and an improved feedback loop for conversation review. That feedback was escalated directly to the product team.

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. The AI agent’s initial success was in handling the volume of inbound calls and inquiries that were previously overwhelming staff. The full launch then expanded to outbound campaigns for appointment booking, ensuring no lead is left behind and providing the immediate response needed to convert prospects in a fast-moving market. For potential franchisees, this deployment across the network proves AI is a viable, reliable, and cost-saving workforce as UFC Gym continues to scale.

How AI positioned UFC Gym for continued franchise growth

For a brand with hundreds of international locations in development, the adoption of ABC AI Agents 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 ABC AI Agents 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 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, and 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. ABC AI Agents 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 Gym’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 see results like these?

If your multi-location team is buried under administrative calls and struggling to guarantee speed to lead, it’s time to see what ABC AI Agents can do for your gyms, studios, or health clubs.

Book an ABC AI Agents demo