Get intimate with your assets

Orbit4’s technology is generating significant savings and streamlining operations for premium operator Gymbox.

An exciting partnership between fit-tech specialist Orbit4 and Gymbox, has created impressive results in the form of streamlined operations and substantial savings. It’s also been optimising and simplifying the legal due diligence process.

CEO of Gymbox, Marc Diaper, said: “Before using Orbit4 we believed we made good financial decisions. Now we know that using data should be part of the process when considering a refurbishment.

“Orbit4 technology is simple and highly effective and because managing operations and the sustainability of our business is paramount to our continued success, we take its functionality very seriously.”

Optimising assets
“We now have full visibility of our assets, what they’re currently worth and whether we’ve overspent on servicing costs,” says Diaper. “In addition, we can utilise Orbit4 data to have a meaningful conversation with our suppliers so we’re getting the best possible service standards. This is essential to maximising our customer experience and operational excellence.”

Early in 2022, the Orbit4 team ‘asset-registered’ the entire Gymbox estate, onboarding every machine and piece of equipment into its system to record the manufacturer brand, make and Orbit4’s technology is generating significant savings and streamlining operations for premium operator Gymbox Get intimate with your assets model, as well as uploading serial numbers, photos, service contract status and valuations.

The inclusion of the Orbit4 STM module (service ticket manager) instantly connects Gymbox to service providers digitally through a mobile app and online platform, meaning repairs and fixes are completed efficiently, and Gymbox can review real-time data versus agreed SLAs (service level agreements).

Marc Diaper said: “The team at Orbit4 have been superb to work with. The asset management, service ticketing solution and purchasing ecosystem is a game-changer for us and the industry.

“The connected ecosystem gives us access to the wider market for trade-outs and purchasing tailored service contracts and equipment. We were able to maximise the return on our old equipment recently and got a higher buy-back price than the predicted figure we saw in our Orbit4 Control Panel dashboard".

You can download a copy of this case study by - CLICKING HERE.

Rob Cunningham, director of leisure at BH Live, explains the positive impact Orbit4 is having on the organisation.

What challenges were you facing before partnering with Orbit4?
The fitness equipment across our estate was a mix of ages and sourced from a variety of manufacturers, while some of the warranties were expiring. We were experiencing long lead times for equipment parts, resulting in equipment being out of order for extended periods of time. In addition, we didn’t have accurate information about the value of our assets or our likely maintenance costs going forward.

What were the key drivers for engaging Orbit4?
We wanted to get a clearer picture of these values and costs, so we could make smarter, evidence-based investment decisions. Furthermore, we wanted to improve our maintenance schedule so fewer pieces of equipment were out of action at any one time. How was the onboarding process?

Following a tender process, managed by Orbit4 on our behalf to assess the market for service providers, we appointed our preferred provider under a new contract and SLA. Orbit4 onboarded the assets in our sites onto its digital platform quickly and efficiently and the new service provider started servicing equipment immediately. Our service provide has been great to deal with, easily contactable and with efficient responsetimes when contacted by our operational team using the Orbit4 mobile app.

The rapid onboarding and collaborative working enabled BH Live to see the value of working with Orbit4 in less than three months from the initial meeting.

What impact you have experienced?
Our net promotor score has vastly improved across several of our sites and our membership attrition has significantly reduced since our partnership with Orbit4, due to the improved service we’re able to offer our customers.

Only a handful of equipment is ever out of order across the estate and repairs rarely take longer than 72 hours to complete.

What difference has Orbit4 made day-to-day?
The ability to remotely look at equipment value, check the condition of equipment and manage our assets enables BH Live to make informed decisions about investment.

The Orbit4 platform also allows us to monitor all relevant KPIs relating to our assets on a day-to-day basis and to ensure we’re delivering a better customer experience.

Would you say to other operators who are considering Orbit4?
The impact Orbit4 has had on our organisation has been fantastic, as making evidence-based decisions in regards to your gym floor assets is key to improving your customer experience.

It’s also been great to work with the platform and the team to streamline our asset management processes.

What’s the most important benefit?
The servicing element of the contract has been a remarkable success – the immediate impact of this on our customer feedback and attrition rates has shown the powerful benefits of not having equipment out of order for lengthy periods of time.

You can download a copy of this case study by - CLICKING HERE.

High performance asset management team Orbit4 have just announced their latest partnership with Stronger Wellness.

The data-driven software from Orbit4 empowers gym operators to optimise the value of their most expensive assets and provides an instant connection to Stronger Wellness’s team to ensure equipment experiences minimal downtime.

Daniel Jones, CEO of Orbit4, said: “We’re very excited about this partnership.Stronger Wellness are a forward-thinking brand. Elena, Steve and the team are designing fantastic gyms, supplying awesome products and striving to offer the best services post installation”.

“With Orbit4, they will be able to reduce product downtime via better communication with customers. Plus, the added bonus of offering a bespoke asset management and planned preventative maintenance solution so customers can improve product governance, own asset data and have full visibility of products in their facility”.

Steve Shaw, CO-founder at Stronger, said: “Founders turn partners as a natural transition from the shared pursuit of creating and supporting gyms with a difference and after years of being cheerleaders and supporters of each other businesses in the background.

"Our goal is not just to provide spaces, but to forge lasting partnerships with customers, ensuring the longevity of their investments and Orbit4 allows our service team to do exactly that”.

Two decades ago Steve and Daniel were slinging gym memberships at Holmes Place, making it happen with ninja bandanas and a phone at month end!

Today, as they venture from operators to suppliers and now proud founders of S7RONGER and ORBIT4, their paths reconnect, yet again.

With the price of just about everything going up, we all need to look again at how we best spend the allocated budget.

Is your business doing everything to get ahead or still trying to fit around outdated solutions?

Here are five simple ways gym operators can save thousands:

1. Compare the market

It’s estimated that the average-size gym could save more than £9,500 per year just by using industry disruptor ​​Orbit4.

There are no hidden catches and the concept is simple. Each part of the platform enables gym operators to closely manage their fitness assets, monitor service costs and track commercial value.

Orbit4 owns industry brands WeServiceGymEquipment, WeBuyGymEquipment, FitnessCompared and FitnessFinanced – each platform provides immediate access to the wider market. This guarantees the best value when purchasing, servicing and financing existing assets and the trade-in of unwanted assets.

CEO of Orbit4, Daniel Jones, said: “Orbit4 is the only system that allows you to track the entire fitness journey of your equipment.

“You can access all the latest data you need for daily management from servicing to buying and selling – even finance. The data neatly links to any existing system or software. It really is the ultimate smart solution.”

2. Listen to fit-tech experts

Industry expert, Steve Ruffell, said: “New fitness industry-based tendering and bidding platforms like WeServiceGymEquipment and WeBuyGymEquipment create a much healthier marketplace that few gyms can’t afford not to use.

“As consumers, we’re already scoping out the market for things like insurance, credit cards and mortgages using platforms like GoCompare and CompareTheMarket. Now, the fitness industry has this technology so operators can test the wider market for each stage of the asset journey. The amount of time and money you save is critical for businesses.”

3. Find out how much your assets are worth and how much they’re costing you right now

This sounds harder than it actually is! Using Orbit4, operators can become ultra-efficient operationally using easy asset management capabilities. The data that’s collated automatically triggers alerts to tell operators when it’s the best time to sell equipment, due to the assets reaching optimum levels of cost of ownership.

4. Get the best price for EVERYTHING

Back to Orbit4 here – its smart tech gives gym operators quotations from leading suppliers for new equipment, competitive leasing figures and the best buyback price the industry can offer. This will make you more money and save you time.

5. Check the warranty

The chances are your equipment will be out of warranty before it ever breaks down. But when it finally does give up, you want it fixed fast. Nothing annoys your members more than equipment that stands out of order for weeks on end. Engage with WeServiceGymEquipment to access the wider market and let them find you your ideal service provider and perfect contract!

Your most expensive purchase is gym equipment, so if you aren’t getting real value out of it then your business could be one of the hundreds predicted to fail this year. In order to support gyms and health clubs in this difficult economic climate, Orbit4 is helping operators by telling them the best time to trade in and buy new based on its intelligence-led data and tech.

Daniel Jones, CEO of Orbit4, said: “There are gym operators ignoring vital equipment data which just isn’t viable at a time when we all need to make every penny count.

“We’re proud of how much Orbit4 is supporting our industry but this year it’s gone from being just a great idea to a life-saver.”

Orbit4 won’t just tell you the best time to trade in and buy, it’s also the world’s first digital ecosystem that fully automates the entire commercial fitness equipment journey. For the first time ever, gym operators can use a bespoke asset management system that also automates procurement processes for the future – all data-driven via historic asset behaviour and cost of ownership.

What is total cost of ownership?

The total cost of ownership is the purchase price plus the amount you spend to maintain and service that commodity. In many industries, we track the cost of ownership via digital systems so we can make the right decision to maximise the residual value and replace it for new at the right time. In the automotive sector, this process has been sophisticated for many years.

Most gym owners don’t have a digital focus on asset management. Considering fitness equipment is one of the largest capital expenses, due diligence has been poor across our sector. With Orbit4, operators will have their own asset management portal and can make prescriptive decisions for future equipment and service contract purchases.

Don’t go over budget!

Owners and management can allocate a ‘cap spend’ for each product category – for example, treadmills' spend cap could be £1,750. When service and repair tickets are generated and completed over the lifespan of the assets, the cost is attributed to each asset and eats into the ‘cap spend’ and products eventually hit ‘maturity’. At this point, operators are alerted and presented with automated fitness equipment quotes, finance options and instant trade-in valuation via the Orbit4 connected procurement system.

Find out for yourself how much you can save at Orbit4’s official website.

According to our poll, the first thing 80 per cent of operators and gym owners think about when it’s time to sell gym equipment is how much your equipment is worth. But really we should already know exactly how much our assets are worth and when’s the best time to sell them.

This can be done easily by using the industry’s favourite secret weapon – Orbit4. It’s a money-saving platform, similar to smart energy-saving websites but instead focuses on gym equipment/servicing/buying/selling.

So, why are gym operators so excited about this platform?

Orbit4 digital tech leader Daniel Jones explained: “Orbit4 is an amazing present to the industry and a genuine win-win for any company involved in the fitness industry. It allows gym operators to go digital when it comes to purchasing, financing, maintaining and disposing of fitness equipment.

“More importantly, the sooner operators use the platform, the sooner they can start to understand the true cost of ownership of their assets”.

What if we told you, you could get a free valuation just by signing up as a seller in WeBuyGymEquipment (WBGE)? Sounds too good to be true, but it’s not!

The only people who will tell you not to compare prices are the people taking you for a ride. We know times have been tough and gym owners need to make as much profit from selling their used gym equipment as possible so, here are our top selling tips…

1. Find out how much your used gym kit is really worth. Auction platform WBGE is used by many leading gym operators, not just to sell equipment but to get early-stage valuations so they know what equity is left in their assets to act as a deposit for the next equipment purchase.

2. Don’t sell as individual items, but as a job lot. Selling used gym items off individually is a huge mistake. Time-wise alone it will be like taking on a second job. Arranging collection and payments is a painfully time consuming and complicated process. It’s safe to say you’ll end up losing big overall.

3. How much is your time worth?. Selling second-hand commercial gym equipment piece by piece is both time consuming and hard work. On paper, it might look like you’ll make more for the high-value items, but you’ll likely be left with a lot of undesirable equipment which you’ll not know what to do with.

4. Don’t end up getting sued in a costly legal battle. It’s a big risk letting consumers and multiple uninsured people take heavy commercial equipment from your club. If someone gets hurt, even at home, they’ll hold you legally liable for any damages. Traders on WBGE must be fully insured so you don’t have to even think about it.

5. Don’t sell off your best pieces of kit and be left with the less attractive items gathering dust or going to the dump. In most cases, it will cost you more to have your unsold items removed and taken away than the real value of the equipment.

6. Get paid before your gym equipment even leaves the building. Guaranteed payment before extraction is worth its weight in gold. Go with a company that gets you the cash right now, when you need it. No messing around chasing or losing money.

7. Read reviews before you deal with anyone.

8. Be honest about the state of what you’re selling to avoid delays and confrontation later. The more tests you do and the more photos you take, the more confident you can feel about getting the right money.

9. Get it done fast. You don’t want to run out of time trying to sell items or waiting for people to turn up and collect. In a worst-case scenario, you could end up having your items repossessed by the landowner if your tenancy is up.

Jo Weelen, WBGE UK/EU sales manager, said: “Over the last seven years, our platform has collated accurate residual values of over 2,500 commercial gym equipment assets. In turn, we can offer speedy valuations of gym operators' assets.

“Alternatively, register on our platform and upload your equipment via our easy three-step process. Within three days, you’ve hit our 60+ traders in one swoop and secured the best buyback price under no obligation.”

Contact us for more information at [email protected].

Social distancing, and all that encompasses the new normal, appears to be here to stay … for a while at least.

Luckily consumer demand remains high and will return post-pandemic. According to a study by RunRepeat there’s been an 88 per cent average increase in exercise for people who normally exercise once to twice a week.

But, due to social distancing, gyms across the world now have less space for equipment or members. With this in mind, they definitely can’t afford to be hoarding unused equipment that is depreciating in value all the time.

Sadly many operators are still feeling the repercussions of the pandemic in their workplace and barely have time to manage their gym, never mind selling equipment.

The pandemic saw them launch into survival mode – understandably – but things have changed, and it’s now time for a new approach. Luckily for us, we live in a digital age.

Global gym equipment asset management and procurement ecosystem Orbit4 uses advanced digital software to ensure gyms are aware of exactly how much their assets are worth and when is best to sell.

Paul McCormick, of WBGE Europe, said: “Cost-efficiency remains of paramount importance in managing your business, especially in these uncertain times. Digital solutions feature heavily in the top industry trends for 2022 for obvious reasons – they’re undoubtedly more profitable.

“With high numbers of absenteeism, due to enforced isolation periods, there’s also huge pressure on clubs and other staff. This can ultimately reflect badly on a business if there aren’t people on the floor.

“Using a digital gym equipment management system like Orbit4 to handle buying, selling and servicing gym equipment frees up staff to handle urgent day-to-day issues.

“WeBuyGymEquipment, FitnessCompared and WeServiceGymEquipment are all part of the Orbit4 digital ecosystem that both frees up your time and increases gym efficacy, efficiency and profitability.”

Despite all the horrors brought about by a global pandemic, there are some positive repercussions.

Remote working brought about the realisation that some of the less than obvious issues contained within the way we conduct business processes must change. Some of these challenges – usually the seemingly small and insignificant ones – have come to the surface and must now be solved.

Luckily, business owners are resilient and will do what they must to continue trading.
If you’re ready for change but don’t know where to begin, get in touch, we can give you great advice on which platforms to use and digitally transform your business for free. Contact [email protected] for more information.