Software Solutions

The right club management software can help your business run smoother and more efficiently. With so many company options and a wide variety of features a club has many possibilities as to what they can accomplish with club management software. Talking with several companies can give clubs the best perspective on all of their options.

Using your software to only handle the basic needs of the club business is putting yourself at a disadvantage. “Many clubs use their club management software systems for basic member sign up, record keeping and scheduling. There is a great deal of functionality being underutilized that can assist club operators in the areas of marketing, sales, and member satisfaction and retention,” explained Mark Hutts, the vice president of sales and marketing for Fiserv. “Most of the full feature applications have functionality specific to these and other underutilized areas. For example, in the Fiserv application the Sales Prospecting module allows sales representatives to track all information related to prospective members, including the number of times contacted and notes relating to the conversation to help them make more effective use of their time and sign up new members. Managers can track sales activity, assign and distribute leads and track metrics, such as cycle time from prospect introduction to joining, sales pipeline and the number of calls to help better manage and coach the sales team.”

Carole Oat, the national sales manager for Twin Oaks Software, said clubs need to take advantage of integrated Online Joining and Member Portal for payments and updates, as well as other features like gift certificate usage, and reports that are available to manage and improve their billing results.

Not only can software help your sales staff keep better track, it can also be utilized by other departments including personal training, cafés and tanning. “One of the biggest issues is not using the software to its full potential. I see that most clubs do not collect member specific information for group events,” said Steve Ayers, the senior vice president of sales and marketing at ABC Financial. “This prevents them from properly analyzing and adjusting their schedules to maximize revenue. Also, many clubs do not take full advantage of the robust reporting modules that are now available in more advanced CMS. Whether from lack of training, or perhaps a lack of confidence in the information supplied in the reports, clubs often do not utilize the critical information that can be supplied through properly designed reports. Monitoring key metrics that are critical to the health of the club, through reports and dashboards, can allow clubs to react quickly to important trends in their business.”

Mike Minton, the owner of Minton’s Sportsplex Family Fitness in Texarkana, Texas, utilizes most of his software’s features. He has been told he uses about 95 percent of his software’s capabilities. Minton and his staff utilize the reports from the software on a day-to-day basis — helping all operations run smoothly and to help the different departments ensure goals are on track to be met every month. “Say this month our goal is 110 new memberships, the software can break sales down for the sales and marketing to know exactly where we are. If it’s the 14th of the month and we are behind, we can plan strategic marketing moves. We can set up some e-mail blasts, run a two or three day special on enrollment fees to get us back on track.”

Titan Fitness, which recently acquired Fitness Connection, integrates its club management software with ClubIQ — a web based business intelligence tool that pulls revenue data from their CMS and displays it as actual month-to-date and projection versus goal reports. “We are able to quickly see where our revenue is relative to monthly goals,” said Josh Harwood, the senior vice president of Titan Fitness.

The data Titan Fitness collects shows where members are coming from, what they are buying and if they are in good financial status. “That information allows us to target our internal and external marketing to drive both internal and external sales, as well as track the effectiveness of those programs and the marketing,” explained Harwood. The reports they generate also help execute payroll and provide financial reporting packages to the executive team, private equity firm and banks. They also help Titan Fitness recruit new members, design and market new programs and effectively manage their recurring dues base.

Reports from software allow owners and operators the ability to make adjustments daily. “It allows us to know exactly where we are and be able to act quickly instead of at the end of the month when time is already up,” said Minton.

Setting Up For Success
“The biggest difficulty we see clubs have with CMS is in the early stages of use. Whenever a club changes to a new system there will be a learning curve and often some processes can be changed to make more effective use of the system. The way a vendor consults with their client to manage this change is a key ingredient in a successful implementation,” said Hutts. “The clubs that have the least problems with this are the ones that allocate the time and seriously engage in the training offered by vendors. This training and support offered by vendors is extremely helpful in getting customers over the initial unfamiliarity and on their way. If they take advantage of the training and support, we find that they usually become comfortable in a relatively short period of time.”

ABC Financial offers their customers unlimited phone training and online training videos, but have realized the most effective training is face-to-face. “We send trained technicians to each location to ensure the system is set up properly, the software is configured to meet the club’s needs, and the team members are well trained to use the software,” said Ayers. “Clubs should give their team members time to work with the software prior to, but not too far in advance of, going live. If they can be given time not only to observe what needs to be done via training videos or webinars but also get hands-on experience actually doing each process, the learning experience is typically more effective.”

Minton’s biggest complaint for years, prior to switching to his current software company, was the customer service with his club management software. “When you call that vendor, is there someone there to take your call and can they answer your question? That’s the most important thing. I would say our software is extremely easy for our staff to use. They all have the numbers for customer service and will be walked through any problems immediately.”

Billing and Collections

“One of the biggest problems with EFT is gathering and maintaining accurate billing information. ABC offers both the ABC update program and the VISA/MasterCard updater program that automatically updates information from participating financial institutions. There are also automated alerts in the CMS that proactively encourage staff members to get updated info before expiration,” said Ayers. “The use of EFT was a critical step in the evolution of the fitness industry to its current level. It is the payment tool that is the foundation of most modern clubs’ financial systems. But, switching from a paid-in-full model to an EFT model introduced the challenge of collections to the fitness industry. Continuously working to keep delinquency rates low and monthly dues coming in can become a challenging, time-consuming task for the club staff.”
Affiliated Acceptance Corporation stays on top of returns by not only trying to reclear them, but also by calling the member and/or pursuing collections if necessary, explained Todd Kelley, the marketing manager for Affiliated Acceptance Corporation. “Gyms have full discretion and this can be an extension of their customer service. The advantage is two-fold,” said Kelley. “One, it saves time for the staff, and two it allows some separation for the club. We are enforcing the contracts and the clubs just get to have the personal connection.”

Oat sees clubs’ biggest problems with EFT is overpaying for the service. “Whenever you pay a percentage of the billing, it’s too much. Being in control and managing the billing in-house, if appropriate staff is available, is usually the most efficient, and cost effective. We help clubs understand how to manage their credit card merchant rates and keep returns under control.”
Getting the hang of your club management software, while possibly difficult at first, will ultimately help the success of your club.

“Our hearts are in fitness, not using software,” Minton said. “Unfortunately managers and owners tend to get overwhelmed with computers. If you’re not intimidated by your software it can give you an array of data. If you can train yourself to look at it even once a week, it will tell you everything you need to run your business better.” -CS

By Ali Cicerchi