How to Collect Team Payments through Upper Hand

This article was written by Shawn Burcham, Account Manager at Upper Hand.

If you are an organization that not only offers sports training, but also finds yourself managing teams, it can be difficult to find a resource that is capable of handling multiple aspects of your business.

Oftentimes, we see sports organizations are not just managing a facility or training center but also are tasked concurrently with operating a teams component within their business as well. A significant piece of running a program of teams, whether it be travel, club or recreational, is collecting and managing your team payments.

This obstacle requires a robust payment solution. Luckily, Upper Hand has you covered. If you already utilize Upper Hand’s award-winning sports registration software, you can save yourself some time and money by incorporating your team payments inside your account as well. A great example of one of our customers already managing their business this way is Matchbox Recreation Center.

Why collect team payments through Upper Hand?

1. Payment flexibility & management

With features like custom payment plans, the ability for clients to keep track of payments and pay down balances, and collecting custom registration fields, we’ve prioritized offering a number of ways to manage payments. Combining your scheduling, membership, and team management components of your business allows you to properly manage and stay on top of your financial success all year long. It also allows your clients to not have to juggle multiple platforms and log-ins. And, as a result, they can easily keep track of their payment history all in one place.

2. Easy to use interface

With Upper Hand you don’t have to be a financial wizard or hire a professional to understand how to set up and track your team payments. An additional benefit you can take advantage of is the being able to input your team’s practice or game schedule into the Team Payment event. With your payment processing already set up through your Upper Hand account, your payments will be secured and included in your normal deposit schedule. You can run reports to see what balances are still owed or payment plan status and reduce manual time collecting cash or checks and tracking down people for their owed payments.

3. Mobile Friendly

Start thinking about ways you can track everything that happens at your sports facility in one place, especially a tool that also has a mobile app for on the go needs. Ultimately, that will lead to a better client experience and you both will be happier for it. Running a business is not always straightforward so make sure your process has a way to customize payment plans and options for special circumstances.

Here’s how you can manage team payments through Upper Hand:

Setting up team payments in Upper Hand is an easy, three-step process.

Step 1: Create a new Fixed Schedule Event. In the “Event Details” Tab, set the name to something recognizable, such as “[Team Name] Team Payment.”

Step 2: Navigate to the “Schedule” Tab. Set the timeframe that the payment will happen, for example, the due date. This date will be the charge date of the payment. (For example, if team payments are due on February 1, set the date of this event to February 1.)

Step 3: Set up your payment options. With Upper Hand, you have the option for clients to “Pay in Full” or set up a Payment Plan, where they will automatically be charged a set amount at set dates.

Note: You can choose to set this Team Payment “Event” to public or private. This means, you can choose to hide this “event” from your client view, and send a private invitation to your team.

Conclusion

Sports businesses can be complex ventures. But that doesn’t always mean you or your clients have to endure that complexity when running or engaging with your business. If you are currently running your team payments elsewhere or are looking for a solution that can fit your needs, schedule a conversation with our team to learn more.