South Downs Leisure Expands Partnership with HireBOB to Deploy New AI Skillsets

After more than 12 months of successful collaboration, South Downs Leisure has officially extended its partnership with HireBOB by a further 3 years, expanding the use of AI employees across multiple departments.

The decision follows a year of measurable operational impact, improved service delivery, and outstanding customer satisfaction results.

According to Katie McFarlane, Business Development Director at South Downs Leisure, the partnership has exceeded expectations, both commercially and operationally, with the first 12 Months transforming Customer Service & Retention.

CUSTOMER SERVICE AGENT

- 932 conversations in January 2026
- Customer satisfaction rating of 4.7 out of 5

“Without the support of the HireBob agent, this level of responsiveness would have been impossible for the team to deliver manually without significant additional resource. BOB was answering enquiries 24/7 during our busiest period, so that even during a time of pressure for the team, we were able to deliver a high quality and personalised service level.”

CANCELLATION RECOVERY AGENT

- Cancellation prevention improved from 30% to 60%
- The sale of ‘at home’ subscriptions went from 14 to 365 in 3 months
- Customer satisfaction rating 5 out of 5

“We experienced an instant improvement in our cancellation prevention rates generating an additional £3,500 monthly revenue generation and a customer satisfaction rating of 5 out of 5 in cancellation interactions.”

Expanding the Partnership: New AI Skillsets Across the Business

Following such strong results, South Downs Leisure has expanded its partnership with HireBOB to introduce four new AI employee skillsets to support the team and make efficiency and process improvements.

HR Support

The introduction of the new HR skillset will:

  • Manage the HR inbox
  • Provide instant responses on holiday entitlement
  • Answer sick leave policy questions
  • Support general HR administrative queries

The agent will also be accessible via a staff section of MyFitApp, ensuring colleagues can receive immediate answers without waiting for manual email responses.

This will significantly reduce administrative workload for the HR team.

Sales Support

The introductions of the Sales AI skillset will:

  • Respond to website and email membership enquiries
  • Answer pricing and product questions
  • Support the online joining processes

This ensures no sales enquiry goes unanswered, even outside working hours, helping maximise conversion opportunities.

Swim School Enrolment

The introduction of the Swim School skillset will:

  • Support online joining for swim lessons
  • Classify enrolees into appropriate lesson levels
  • Reduce administrative workload

By automating classification and enrolment support, the swim school team can spend more time teaching and less time managing paperwork.

Exercise Referral Support

The introduction of the new Exercise Referral skillset will:

  • Support the joining process
  • Assist with ongoing client communication
  • Manage surveys and programme measurement
  • Help streamline administrative tracking

This enables the exercise referral team to focus on participant outcomes rather than repetitive administrative tasks.

By deploying AI employees strategically across departments, South Downs Leisure is strengthening service delivery while empowering its people to focus on what they do best, delivering exceptional member experiences.

A Partnership Built on Results

What began as a customer service and retention initiative has evolved into a business-wide AI transformation that looks to enhance the delivery of multiple business functions.

South Downs Leisure’s decision to extend its partnership reflects confidence not only in the technology, but in the measurable business impact HireBOB delivers.

“This expanded AI implementation is not about replacing people, instead it is about reducing repetitive administrative workload, providing instant and consistent responses, supporting teams to work more efficiently…giving staff more time for meaningful face-to-face engagement”

Katie McFarlane,

Business Development Director, South Downs Leisure