‘Zee Talk’ with Anne McNamara, Pure Barre

Anne McNamara — Multi-Unit Club Pilates and Pure Barre Franchisee

1. How long have you been in franchising? What locations do you currently own?

I have been in franchising for about five years now. I started as a Pure Barre franchisee, before expanding to soon-to-be 6 locations. 

Below is a list of my businesses: 

• Club Pilates Portsmouth NH (opening this week!!)
• Club Pilates Bedford NH (coming soon)
• Club Pilates Portland ME (coming soon)
• Pure Barre Portsmouth NH (4 years old)
• Pure Barre Newburyport MA (2 years old) 
• Opening a fast casual restaurant in Portsmouth NH this spring, too 🙂 

2. How long have you been a Franchise Ramp client? 

This is my first year with Franchise Ramp. We used FR for the opening of Club Pilates Portsmouth NH. It has been an incredible pre-sale tool, and the FR team delivered on their promises, even in a pandemic. 

3. What results did you achieve with your location, and what do you think was the biggest contributors to that success? 

We have sold more than 200 memberships prior to our Soft Opening this week. This was a big win for us because we live in the Northeast, where COVID is still a serious concern due to the number of cases, and many people are fearful to leave their homes. 

The biggest contributor to our success was our sales process…a combination of Franchise Ramp producing a strong number of leads, the staff calling within two minutes of receiving the lead, and ultimately converting the leads into members, and hopefully, lifelong members. 

4. What do you think is a core differentiator that allows you to reach the next level of success? 

Our team. These are not my studios — they are OUR studios. When a team takes ownership of a location, you can feel it in the pre-sale. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. We have a unique situation where our staff members, both instructors and sales, work full-time at all 3 of our open locations. They are good at what they do, and they take pride in our mission. Many have been with me since day one.

This time around, I am most proud of how they put the fear of a pandemic aside, put their heads down and worked hard to achieve the opening goal together. I will never forget how they shut the rest of the world out and believed we could be successful. For example, we had Pure Barre teachers asking managers how they could help take the load off other teachers during Club Pilates training days. Every single person makes a difference, and we acknowledge those contributions, big and small. 

5. Any advice for other Owners in your industry?

Stay positive. When you have a negative thought, change it. These are wild times and it is so easy to get sucked into the negative vortex in conversations, on social media, in your own head. What you think about, you will get. We preach positivity on our team. You will not hear us saying “what if” or “we can’t.” We police each others words. 

We focus only on what we can control. I like to use the analogy that we are steering a sinking ship (because of COVID). We do not expect the staff to turn the ship around in a pandemic, but we do expect them to help us make the sinking last as long as possible. This means showing up with a smile and pouring into the members and each other. 

6.  What are your goals going into 2021?

To open another studio before the end of the year! Like most fitness franchisees, I have some financial goals I would like to re-establish in our locations, if the pandemic allows. Our Massachusetts store has taken quite the hit, because of its proximity to Boston, so I want to get her back to healthy this year.