When owners and club staff hear the words “club management software” (CMS), it has been their brain’s initial instinct to hit the snooze button and zone out. However, CMS has become a necessary piece to every successful club. It can assist with marketing, retention and sales — the three major aspects of operating a club, in addition to making day-to-day operations more efficient, and easier.
Day-to-Day Operations
At Gainesville Health & Fitness (GHF), “Day-to-day operations are not only made easier, but are made possible because of [CMS],” said Amanda Purser, the front desk manager at Gainesville Health & Fitness.
Gainesville has been using its own in-house software developer since 1979, which has managed and tracked almost every aspect of GHF’s day-to-day operations. “There are many features that we use daily, including checking in members, accessing member accounts — including payment history, visit history, contact information, etc. — running reports, checking security photos, checking daily traffic and logging all guests that come into the club,” explained Purser.
However, the most used feature at GHF has been member check in. Although it has seemed basic, according to Purser, the feature does much more than simply provide members’ access to the club. “It’s used to check in members, but it also gives us access to account information,” explained Purser. “When a receptionist checks in a member, their account will either show up green or red, with red meaning there is a message on the account. Within that same screen we can see any issues that arise, such as balances, expired accounts, frozen memberships.” This allows GHF to address issues immediately.
At In Shape Fitness Center in Branford, Conn. one of the most used features of its CMS has been Twin Oaks’ booking feature. According to Rob Acquavella, the owner of In Shape, personal trainers and members have used it daily. The booking feature has allowed personal trainers and members to view and book appointments online, schedule appointments, edit schedules and more. In addition, members could redeem and print off their personal training sessions.
This has been just the tip of the iceberg for day-to-day operations, said Acquavella. “It’s so integrated. Our CMS has grown from a basic software to something that we really use for everything.”
Due to its important role in the functioning of day-to-day operations, training staff to use all of the components of the club’s software has been important. At In Shape, all staff members understand how to use its software. “Twin Oaks offers a class at their corporate headquarters, or they come down and train staff on how to use specific modules,” said Acquavella. “We train our staff as well. With Twin Oaks, they really go above and beyond when it comes to support.”
The staff at GHF has been trained in the use of its software as well. “We have a manual that outlines the FMS software, do a classroom training on it, and then have a 10-hour, hands-on training that our staff goes through to learn the software,” said Purser.
For Purser, her personal favorite day-to-day feature is a birthday pop-up component. “Whenever a member checks in, we have a pop-up screen that alerts our receptionists the day before, day of and day after their birthday,” she explained. “It allows us to wish them a happy birthday, even if it’s early or belated. It just adds an extra level of customer service to our front desk. It’s a simple feature that gets a lot of return.”
Reports
Along with assisting day-to-day operations, CMS can also help with the overall long-term management of your facility by computing specific reports on your club, including reports on retention, attrition, sales, point of sale and much more. “From a management standpoint, as an owner or manager, I can pull reports for attrition, sales, everything,” said Mike Minton, the owner of the Minton Sports Complex in Texarkana, Texas. “This helps you make important and quick decisions because you have access to that information when you want it. Years ago, you had to wait months for that type of data.”
For Minton, there is one CMS report, run by ABC Financial, that he finds the most valuable — the attrition report. “I personally pay a lot of attention to reports on attrition,” he said. “If you notice your attrition is higher than normal, the first thing you’d do is look at each member specifically and find out why they left. Data reports like that allow you to take action immediately.”
According to Purser, GHF’s software has provided them access to reports on age, gender, zip code, visits, length of membership, expiration date and referrals. But the most common report used by GHF has been guest reports. “This pulls our guest traffic as well as gives us data for different types of lead sources (i.e. what our most successful lead source is) as well as how many guests specific sales counselors are seeing. It also gives sales counselors access to their guests’ contact information,” said Purser.
This has been important, said Purser, for marketing purposes. “This is probably the most interpretable data that we obtain from [software]; it helps our marketing team know what is working and what isn’t working,” she said. “Using the guest report feature we can track what our most effective advertising/marketing tool is to get non-members into the club.”
These are just two examples of reports that can be useful to your club. For more, talk to your CMS service provider to see what reports you may be under-utilizing.
New Developments
According to Carole Oat, the national sales manager for Twin Oaks, new features and capabilities in CMS include mobile apps, management dashboards, the ability to perform in-house billing and higher security standards to prevent identity theft. “It has to continue to change and grow with the industry, adding new features on a regular basis such as online capabilities and access from anywhere someone can get on the Internet,” said Oat.
One of the newest additions to Minton Sports Complex made capable by the club’s software, has been a self-service kiosk and dashboard that has allowed members to complete a number of tasks, right in the lobby. The kiosk has featured ABC Financial’s membership management software. According to ABC Financial, the kiosk allowed fitness club owners to save valuable employee time, and has been an easy way for members to access their club management accounts.
“With the kiosks, members can purchase services for themselves, including fee-based Group X classes, personal training sessions, spa services, massages and can make payments,” explained Minton. “It’s really great.”
At In Shape Fitness Center, Acquavella’s staff loved the latest additions to Twin Oaks’ software, including a mail merge module, paperless contracts and the ability for credit and debit cards to be swiped right on the computer.
With the mail merge feature, staff could communicate with members and prospects via e-mail, create billing and collection letters, manage surveys and low-usage notices, as well as welcome new members to the club. In addition, staff can tailor those e-mails to specific lists. “With the mail merge feature, you can tailor your list to new members, prospects, former members and guests, for example,” said Acquavella.
One of Acquavella’s other favorite features has been the paperless contracts module, which has allowed for electronic signature captures, quick reference to documents and reduced storage fees. “For example, if [a member] comes up to the front desk and asks to see their contract, we can pull up their contract right there on the computer,” he said. “There’s no hassle with searching through paper. That’s been great.”
According to Steve Ayers, the chief revenue officer for ABC Financial, paperless options have become more commonplace. “[CMS] has become completely automated and paperless,” he said. “There is very little reason in the club world to ever have to use pen and paper. CMS has moved just about everything to the digital world.”
“25 years ago, basically all your CMS did was track your members,” said Minton. “Now, it’s fully integrated — it does your billing, point of sale, data collection, reports, accounting, etc. CMS has grown today to be fully faceted and be everything a club needs.”
By Rachel Zabonick
