Clubs are always looking for ways to make more money. You can create and manage non-dues revenues with the help of club management software. Before deciding to take the plunge and offer a variety of goods and services, find out what your members’ and prospects’ interests are. Once you know what they might spend their money on, find the right instructors, create a schedule with the right pricing, and develop a marketing plan.
Club management software is one of the key factors in tracking it all and ensuring profitability.
Here are some profit centers to consider:
• Spa services: including massage and tanning
• Personal training: one-on-one, group and specialized instruction or training
• Gift certificates: year ’round
• Club rentals: girl/boy scouts, after-graduation/prom safe-night events, business and civic group events
• Programs: court sports, aquatics, camps
• “Retail” selling: pro shop, juice bar
• Weight management, lifestyle and nutrition
• Group exercise
Here’s how software can help you with these profit centers:
Find Areas of Interest
Club management software often contains a contact management system to record the interest of both members and guests. Create a quick questionnaire and ask everyone who comes to the club to provide their “wish list.” Get that into contact manager, then tally the results.
Member Marketing
If your software has a mail- or email-merge program, you can couple this with questionnaire results and market to target audiences. The email-/mail-merge system allows you to customize a marketing message and send it when you want, the way you want, to the appropriate people. The contact manager not only records the interests of prospects and members, but allows staff to record their marketing efforts.
Benefits of Online Booking and Scheduling
For You: Set up times/dates for programs and appointments, manage the flow and create waiting lists. The scheduling program should yield reports that allow you to track the business and find areas of under- and over-utilization that you can address to maximize profits. Online booking also decreases the number of phone calls and registrations your staff has to manage at the club, freeing them up to service more members.
For Your Members: Online booking allows members to browse your offerings at their convenience, making it more likely that they will register for a class, training or program, and potentially purchase more than one item or service at a time.
For Your Trainers: Trainers need access to schedules to set up member scheduling remotely. This means that trainers can take calls from members and schedule appointments, keeping members on track with personal training and other scheduled services.
For All: A fully equipped booking program will automatically send reminders to the trainers and the purchaser when package visits are low encouraging them to buy more. These emails can be customized to contain additional marketing messages about other programs or events in which the member might be interested.
Sell/Track Gift Certificates
Gift certificates are a great way to encourage spending all year. Software systems that use an integrated point-of-sale system and are strong in accounting are usually your best bet. Make sure your system allows you to easily sell and redeem gift certificates. Gift certificate reports will identify members with gift certificate balances. You can call/email these members to encourage them to redeem the certificates for services that might lead to add-on sales.You can also contact previous gift card purchasers to market future sales.
Track Payroll/ Enforce Payment
Maintain your profit margin by carefully calculating payroll. This is often accomplished with a time clock or program/booking feature. You’ll need to ensure payment to prevent people attending programs they haven’t paid for. Many club management systems require payment before a full registration takes place.
Encourage Incremental Buying in the Club
Your POS system should let members “charge to their account” allowing them to register for classes, make purchases from the Pro Shop, juice bar or other “retail” areas, and buy gift certificates. You can either have the charge show up in the member’s next EFT, or with an integrated secure credit card system, members can simply have the transaction charged to a credit card on file.
With a good system for pre-planning, marketing, assessing viability and making adjustments for non-dues revenue streams, you’ll see an increase in club profits. Member input is key – keep giving them what they want, and you will get what you want: a profitable club with happy members!
Susanne Nauseda has an exercise science degree that she put to use in the industry for 10 years prior to joining Twin Oaks Software, where she has worked for the last 12 years. You can reach her at 866.278.6750 or at snauseda@tosd.com.
