Picture this.
Your youth sports training academy has taken off. Every day, you get to develop young athletes to excel in their favorite sports. Each week, more and more athletes are starting to call or email you to book a time to train. Exciting, right?
But, as the weeks go by, you start to notice a few things: managing your schedule has become cumbersome and overwhelming. It’s hard to keep track of who’s training when, and in which spaces. And wait, did that athlete pay you for last week’s lesson?
All of the manual administrative tasks that come from running a sports facility ultimately take away from what you love – developing young athletes. But, it doesn’t have to be this way.
While managing your business manually is possible, it doesn’t come without its challenges. First, trying to manage a schedule can be time-consuming. Not to mention, back and forth communications to schedule a lesson or get registered for a camp make it difficult for your clients to do business with you. Oftentimes, you may find that you don’t have accurate records of clients and event rosters. Plus, it can be hard to get your programs in front of the right people to ultimately grow your brand.
Once clients are scheduled, manually managing your money – from collecting payments to tracking down outstanding balances can lead to lost revenue. This makes it hard for you to see how your business is doing financially.
Luckily, these problems can be remedied through using a youth sports registration software like Upper Hand. Here’s how.
Without using a youth sports scheduling software, it can be extremely cumbersome to manage and coordinate each of your programs, trainers, and athletes. Between playing phone tag with clients to get a time on the calendar and updating a company white board with who’s where at what time, you could be wasting as many as 10 hours each week on tedious administrative tasks like scheduling.
That’s 10 hours you could be spending with your athletes or on your programming.
If you operate a sports facility, you also have an added layer of complexity – resource allocation. Lack of a sports facility management software can lead to double-booked resources or leave valuable spaces unused.
Upper Hand’s sports scheduling software empowers you to efficiently schedule and manage your sports facility or training academy in one view. With Upper Hand’s calendar, you can see who, what, where and when training is taking place.
When it comes to adding clients to your schedule, you’re able to get them on your schedule in just a few clicks. Or, you have the option to empower your clients to manage their schedules within your set availability. This gives you time back in your day to spend with your athletes, grow your clientele, and continue to add value through your programming.
If you’re not using a youth sports registration software, you may also find that it’s difficult for parents to get their athletes registered for your camps or schedule a private lesson. Trading emails, texts, or phone calls for days just to schedule a session is not only inefficient for you, but it is also frustrating for your athletes.
And, at the end of the day, the more barriers to entry (a.k.a. the more frustrating the scheduling process), the more likely your clients are to take their business elsewhere.
Upper Hand increases member satisfaction by making it easy for your clients to schedule private lessons or register for camps and clinics. This eliminates the need for back-and-forth communication, and puts scheduling into the hands of your athletes. Additionally, athletes can log in to the Upper Hand app and easily manage all aspects of their account – including scheduling new sessions, paying down outstanding balances, updating credit card information, and more. By giving clients a centralized place to manage their account, as well as book at their convenience, you will improve their experience with your brand, which drives repeat business (and increases revenue).
You work hard to provide valuable training to your athletes. You invest in their goals. Teach them new skills. You’re more than a coach – you’re a mentor and leader. But, if you’re not using a sports software, you may find yourself engaging in transactional conversations with parents as opposed to athlete-centered ones. Or, you may find yourself trying to track down missing payments. And conversations about money are just awkward and uncomfortable.
Upper Hand allows you to not be a “money collector” at your training sessions by allowing you to process payments online. I mean, after all, you want to ensure you are prioritizing your athletes’ development – not just collecting a check. When clients register for a training session, sports camp, or clinic, they can securely check out via credit card, both securing their spot on your schedule and paying for the session in advance. Upper Hand also offers detailed reports and data that help you stay on top of outstanding balances and even help you forecast your revenue.
If any of these issues sound like something you’ve experienced, we’re here to help! Schedule a call with a member of our team, and get back to doing what you love!
With Upper Hand’s Balances Report you can manage client balances with ease. At first glance, the default filter on the Balances report will reveal any balances greater than zero (i.e. any outstanding balances that you need to collect) on that given day. Here, you can pay down or waive these balances. But, removing the default filter opens a host of additional ways to utilize this report and we’re here to show you how to do just that.
The challenge of attracting new members is not merely aesthetic; it’s a financial hurdle that can jeopardize your training center’s longevity and profitability. Regardless of your business’s focus, mastering the art of attracting, converting, and retaining members for your training facility is paramount for long term success.