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Fitness-Skills-Evaluation-Memberships

Use Fitness and Skills Evaluations to Sell Memberships

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You may be asking, won’t an upfront fee scare away new business? The answer – it won’t if you provide something of value in return. If you properly utilize the fitness evaluations in your sales pitch, potential clients will understand that the assessment is essential to their success. Then, they will pay for it. It’s for the same reason they choose to pay for the classes and training. Some other things you can include with onboarding new members would be facility branded T-shirts, a bag to carry fitness gear, a printed manual going over the programs offered at your facility, and more. The potential member is happy with the free gear. In addition, you can send out marketing materials. Then, they will be seen by friends, classmates, and teammates.

Pricing for this upfront fee can vary based on your membership pricing, how much you pay your staff, and more. In my past experience owning DNA Sports Center, I charged $69 (not including tax) for the enrollment fee. This cost allowed me to pay for the staff’s pay for the assessment, the onboarding member materials, and the equipment used for the evaluation. It even covered the commission for the staff member that sold the membership.

Once laid out in front of them, clients will now understand the benefits. For a small fee to get started, they will walk away with a private assessment that uses industry-leading fitness evaluations technology, plenty of merchandise, and a written in-depth report to guide them through their membership program.

Make it a Sales Tool

Additionally, use the assessment as a great incentivized sales tool when a client is stuck on the overall cost of the membership. Waive or discount it as a strategy to confirm the sale. Another way I allowed the staff at DNA Sports Center to utilize this tactic is waiving the enrollment fee with the purchase of a longer membership package. Waiving this small, but often intimidating, fee is typically more cost-effective than discounting other services that come with the membership.

Learn More About eSOFT PLANNER

eSOFT PLANNER is flexible, affordable, simple, and perfect for small business owners.  Request your free demo today. See how we can help you consolidate effort, save time, increase revenue, and grow your business.

Sports Facility Employee Managing Cancellations

Scheduling Tips for Managing Cancellations

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Scheduling Tips for Managing Fall Sports Cancellations

As the summer months fade away, you may be realizing that the good intentions of your clients may be just that — good intentions. COVID-19 has led to questions about fall outdoor sports, and indoor recreation is certainly precarious. While schools have been careful in their reopening processes, the fact is that fall sports and fall and winter indoor activities could face modifications, delays, or even complete cancellations. It is important to know best practices to managing cancellations.

You need to be more prepared than ever before to rearrange your schedules on an almost daily basis. Facilities that can do this effectively are the ones that will survive in the new norm.

Here are some planning tips to make sure your facility remains as profitable as possible in the coming months.

Double Bookings and Uneven Scheduling

With sports facilities already limited in their capacities due to social distancing measures, the last thing they need is to lose out on cash because of a double-booking mishap.

Conflicts might arise from two teams or athletes being scheduled in the same space, or from being scheduled in two different spaces at the same time.

But an even timelier issue — especially in the face of COVID-19 — is having uneven schedules. If most of your teams, coaches or athletes are using the space on one particular day of the week, that leaves little time for required maintenance and cleaning between uses.

Free software claims to help you manage these things, but these tools don’t often let you set any custom parameters to manage this new normal. Additionally, updates to a schedule may not happen in real-time, leading to complaints from clients who think that they are due preferential treatment.

Last-minute Registrations, Refunds, and Cancellations

Last-minute scheduling changes due to COVID-19 have increased the need to find a flexible organizational tool. If your facility still relies on spreadsheets or pen and paper, last-minute registrations, refunds, and cancellations can become a cumbersome challenge.

The fear of getting sick is much higher on your client’s radars, so refunds might take up a much larger chunk of your staff’s time. Most scheduling software makes it easy to offer refunds to your customers. Some even provide a customer-facing portal — allowing your clients to self-service and initiate cancellations and automatic refunds on their own.

Other facilities have opted not to allow cancellations, instead only allowing clients the option to reschedule. For teams to be rescheduled, everything — from participants to coaches/instructors to staff — must realign to fit a particular time slot. Powerful scheduling software with the right features can optimize your schedule with just a few clicks.

Support Where You Need It

While scheduling and registration software should be a priority for effective facility management, what a lot of facilities look for — specifically during the new normal of COVID-19 — is an experienced support network.

At eSoft Planner, we understand the pain you’re experiencing and the true challenges of scheduling because we’ve been there. We built the software out of necessity to manage a sports facility. When you join eSoft Planner, you’re getting a team of dedicated experts who specialize in your specific industry to help you navigate these unprecedented times.

eSoft Planner’s team of client implementation specialists have had years of experience in a range of sports industries, and our CEO owned a sports facility for years. Our automated software offers safeguards that protect against double-bookings by providing clear visibility of class and lesson registrations — allowing you and your clients to make the most of your facility hours of operation.

If you’re tired of cumbersome scheduling software — or worse, pen and paper — eSoft Planner is a robust solution for the cost-conscious sports facility. Contact us for a demo of eSoft Planner today to see how you can spend less time and hassle on administration and more time supporting your club and your members.

Team Management for Volleyball Team

Improve Team Management With Player Perks

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Make the Most of Your Team Relationships: Give Players Perks

A great way for sports facilities to generate business is by building relationships with local teams through team management. Whether the teams rent your facility space or are hosted by your facility directly, giving players special perks is part of developing those quality relationships.

Giving team members special benefits at your facility can increase team retention and provide a revenue stability for your facility. Particularly if the membership benefits extend throughout slower seasons.

Case Study: DNA Sports Center

DNA Sports Center is home to the Midwest Prospects, a nonprofit, elite baseball program whose goal is to expose players to college coaches. Midwest Prospects players get exclusive access to a specially tailored speed, agility, strength and hitting membership at DNA Sports Center.

Players are encouraged to take advantage of this membership to improve their skills. It’s simple for coaches to collect the cost of the membership along with monthly team payments. Also, players have year-round access to member benefits.

If your facility doesn’t directly sponsor sports teams, it’s still worth creating a membership named after each team that you offer these perks to. These package deals can be great marketing tools that advertise your special relationship with a team. It encourages other teams to develop a similar relationship with you. eSoft Planner makes it easy to set up these added perks. With flexible membership management tools to build the packages around your business.

You may also choose to keep a partnership and its details private. Limit the purchase of the membership to in-store only. This way, you can ensure that only the appropriate team members purchase the membership.

Regardless, you should meet with team coaches to discuss what offerings would benefit them the most before you create the membership. If the coaches feel that the perks will truly meet their team’s needs, they will encourage their players to get involved.

With eSoft Planner, you can automatically apply discounts on lessons, camps, classes and rentals. In particular, add to special client groups, such as teams. If you would like to discuss how eSoft Planner works, we would love to talk with you. Click here and fill out the form to request a free demo.