Karaté Sportif Kicks Revenue into High Gear with WellnessLiving

Founded in 1992, Karaté Sportif is a martial arts school with 42 going on 44 locations, headquartered in Laval, Quebec. They teach karate, boxing, and kickboxing and cater to all ages. However, there is much more to Karaté Sportif than self-defense and belt rankings.

“We don’t only teach karate. We offer a self-development program,” says co-founder Martin Giroux. Through these programs, they help students develop self-confidence, discipline, humility, and more.

Karaté Sportif also offers instructor training, with 54 new instructors ready to teach this year.

WellnessLiving co-founder Len Fridman visited their headquarters in Laval, Quebec, as part of his CEO Tour. There, he connected with two of the founders and explored the impressive 10,000-square-foot facility, which includes a boxing ring and jiu-jitsu floor. He also participated in one of their unique classes.

Read on to learn how Karaté Sportif uses WellnessLiving to increase revenue and streamline transactions, and discover how WellnessLiving can support your studio’s growth while providing an elevated client experience.

Karaté Sportif at a Glance

📍Location: Laval, Quebec
📍Business Name: Karaté Sportif Ste-Rose, Fabreville
📍Business Owners & Co-Founders: Martin Giroux and Martin Cantin
📍Website: https://karatesportif.com/ ; https://karatesportif.com/en/
📍Business Size: Very Large
📍Established: 1992
📍Joined WellnessLiving Date: May 18, 2023
📍Switched From: PerfectMind (ChampionsWay)
📍Active Subscriptions: Professional Plan; Achieve Client App – White Label  

Meet Martin Giroux, co-founders of Karaté Sportif

Martin Giroux began his journey with Karaté Sportif as a student. “I started martial arts late. Martin Cantin, one of the co-founders, was my teacher when I was 14 and he was 18. I did a lot of competitions and really liked it, so I started to teach,” Giroux recalls.

He pursued teaching at university and developed a passion for boxing, kickboxing, and martial arts. In 2001, Martin Giroux and Martin Cantin expanded the ownership group, joining forces with Marcelin Cantin and Carl Gauthier.

Over the years, Karaté Sportif grew their classes and revenue while learning to run a business. With dedication, Karaté Sportif began franchising, eventually expanding to 42 locations.

“Now we have bigger goals—maybe 50-100 schools. But things are moving at the right pace. Hopefully, we’ll keep progressing like this,” says Giroux.

What does Karaté Sportif offer?

Karaté Sportif teaches all ages, emphasizing mental health and stress management. They reward perseverance over athleticism and advance students through new classes, longer sessions, and different uniforms as they progress. Their class offerings include:

• Instructor Training
• Super-Hero Program (for ages 22-44 months)
• Ninja (for ages 3-5)
• Apprentice (for ages 6-12)
• Parent-Child
• Teen-Adult
• Special Strengths
• Development
• Black Belt Club
• Masters Club
• Boxing
• Kickboxing GKS
• Day Camp
• Children’s Parties
• After School Program

Karaté Sportif retains students with a unique blend of martial arts and personal development

Karaté Sportif’s focus on personal development, emphasizing values like respect and humility, sets them apart. Once known for world championships, their new approach has helped them retain more students and increase revenue.

“At the beginning, we were strong in competition circuits, but we were stuck around 300 students,” says Giroux. They shifted focus to support all students, not just athletes, by prioritizing personal growth over competition.

“We wanted to make it so everybody could do it, so we shifted to self-development rather than only focusing on competitions,” Giroux confirms. This change allowed them to grow their student base and revenue. Karaté Sportif now values and rewards improvement, commitment, and perseverance, helping students develop life skills both inside and outside the dojo.

How Karaté Sportif contributes to the community

Helping out the community is another important part of Karaté Sportif’s values. “All our programs are built around respect for ourselves, respect for others, and respect for the community,” says Giroux.

With so many locations, they can invest in new spaces and ideas, including their I Am The Hero of My Life Foundation, founded in 2013, while providing the high-quality programs and equipment students need to progress. Through their foundation, Karaté Sportif brings free classes for preschool and school-age children to various communities.

Giroux sees his school’s approach to personal development as an effective way to help children in the community build the skills they need to be their best and help others. “The black belt attitude is about going into the community, being ready to help, and being a good person. It’s not about being someone who wants to fight,” Giroux explains.

In class, Karaté Sportif also reinforces being your best in three places: school, the dojo, and home for kids, and work, the dojo, and home for adults.

“We even work with a psychologist to help students with stress and managing emotions,” says Giroux. Karaté Sportif uses various workbooks so kids and parents can talk and learn about self-development. “We promote self-confidence, discipline, honesty, humility, control of emotions, open-mindedness, and gratitude,” Giroux continues.

Why Karaté Sportif switched to WellnessLiving

In their early days, Karaté Sportif used basic contracts to manage memberships and didn’t immediately need computers. Eventually, they graduated to a software solution for martial arts schools called PerfectMind.

“We were with PerfectMind for a long time. Maybe 15 years,” Giroux confirms. “But in the last 2-3 years, we’ve seen a big shift in applications and businesses using online services.” PerfectMind wasn’t quite there yet and didn’t seem to be developing that way.

However, Karaté Sportif currently has nearly 10,000 students and over 200 instructors across 42 locations. So, it’s easy to see why they needed a modern and convenient way to manage their business.

Giroux searched online and compared different software solutions to find one that could help them with more online and app-based features.

In 2023, they switched to WellnessLiving. Giroux was happy to find a Canadian software solution, and going by online reviews and other online resources, he believed WellnessLiving looked like the best and most convenient option, especially when it came to training his staff on a new software.

After an easy onboarding, Giroux says WellnessLiving has helped increase the school’s revenue. “Since we started using WellnessLiving, our revenue has grown. The same has happened for our other franchise locations that use WellnessLiving.,” he confirms. “The switch was easy. I’m pretty sure we make around $5,000 more than we did with our previous software.”

Karaté Sportif hopes to eventually switch all their locations to WellnessLiving for ease and convenience.

The WellnessLiving features Karate Sportif uses for revenue growth and client satisfaction

Giroux and his team use the white label app, advanced reports, rewards, email automation, and more to elevate the client experience and keep clients coming back for more.

Advanced Reporting

Through advanced reporting, businesses can leverage customized dashboards and specific reports to monitor performance and make more informed business decisions.

Giroux regularly pulls reports on sales, marketing performance, email open rates, and specific programs. For example, he can track how much revenue the school is earning from beginner-level programs.

He wasn’t able to do this with his previous software provider. “Before switching to WellnessLiving, there were always problems with the reports,” Giroux explains. “Now it’s super easy.” Giroux can track sales accurately and more closely and use filters to pinpoint bestsellers. He also hopes to gain visibility across Karaté Sportif’s locations once they’ve all migrated to WellnessLiving to support future business growth decisions.

The Elevate Staff App

The Elevate Staff App gives instructors an overview of upcoming classes. They can also access student information, call clients, and check students into classes.

“It’s easy to see what’s coming up, including classes and belt graduations,” Giroux says. “The app also makes it easy to bring in new students. The team can simply send links to interested clients so they can easily purchase the month-long Discovery Program online from a mobile device.”

Achieve White Label Client App

The White Label version of our Achieve Client App includes a range of basic features plus exclusive branding, event and workshop registration, key metric tracking, and more.

The app makes it easy for Karaté Sportif to offer a seamless client experience. Parents and adult students can buy monthly programs and create profiles. They can also sign contracts and waivers to start new programs and enter their financial details to buy programs and products all within the app.

“I really like that I can be at home watching TV, and people can sign up for classes and events or buy things on their own in the app. Everything goes directly to the right place,” Giroux says.

Automated Marketing Suite: Email, SMS, and Push Notifications

WellnessLiving’s automated marketing suite with email, SMS, and push marketing features allows businesses to offer customized client experiences while saving time.

Giroux uses email automation for marketing and personalized communications, like sending birthday wishes. Personalization, combined with the convenience of the mobile app, has helped increase sales and retention. Karaté Sportif also sends follow-up emails to check in on students who haven’t been active in a while.

Email automation is also a vital part of the new student journey. Clients quickly receive an email with a link to download the Achieve Client App, create their profile, and purchase Karaté Sportif’s Discovery Program.

Built-In Rewards Program

Karaté Sportif also leverages built-in rewards program, a feature designed to engage and retain clients. Their younger students love the rewards system because they can use their points to buy shirts, bags, and other fun merchandise and equipment from Karate Sportif’s store. Students get points for attending classes, confirming attendance, and belt graduations. They also earn bonus points for birthdays.

Belts and Rankings

The belts and rankings feature allows you to track the progress of individual students and keep curriculums organized. Karaté Sportif is unique in its treatment of belt rankings and focuses on rewarding perseverance.

“For us, it’s not a belt exam, it’s a belt graduation. So, it’s more of a celebration,” Giroux explains. When students are done, one of the program directors simply clicks “promote” to place them in the next level. They can also see the number of days until a student is scheduled to advance to the next rank.

Customer Support

WellnessLiving’s customer support team and resources are always here to help businesses optimize various features. If the Karaté Sportif team runs into trouble, they know they can rely on our Customer Solutions Team and Support Center through our AI chat, live human chat, email, or phone.

“When we have a problem, we usually just send an email or go to the Support Center. It’s really useful, and it’s easy to find ways to manage problems when there’s something we don’t understand,” Giroux says.

Knowledge Base

At WellnessLiving, we’re dedicated to improving our software to fit our customers’ needs as their businesses grow. Fin has also been trained to find the answers you need through our Knowledge Base is an expansive library of over 1,600 articles on frequently asked questions, troubleshooting, various features, and more. Giroux uses the Knowledge Base and watches our webinars to learn about new ways of leveraging WellnessLiving.

Increase your revenue and transform the client experience with WellnessLiving

At WellnessLiving, we’re committed to always improving our martial arts software to support your changing business needs. Giroux can attest to that.

“One thing that I like about WellnessLiving is they always want to improve and they’re open to new stuff. I think it’s going to continue moving forward,” he says.

In WellnessLiving, Giroux and his team have a solution that caters to Karaté Sportif’s unique needs. “We’re really happy to have made the switch. I see improvements already. We still have a lot to do because it’s a really powerful software,” Giroux shares.

Given the breadth of features he uses to fuel revenue through a seamless client experience, Giroux confidently recommends our solution to other business owners.

“With WellnessLiving, you’re going to increase your revenue and make it easier for your clients to complete transactions and upgrade their programs. It will also be easier for you to reach your customers,” he confirms.

Ready to discover how WellnessLiving can support your business growth by helping you increase revenue and transform your client experience? Book your free demo today.