Takeaways from REV - How to Grow Your Club in a Competitive Market
Sprocket Sports hosted REV: The Conference for Youth Sports in Chicago earlier this month with successful clubs from across the country sharing ideas and best practices. If you missed REV, be sure to check out the key takeaways and video recording below from our panel with three clubs in various stages of rapid growth.
Key Takeaways:
Identify your “Ideal Customer”
Identify your “Ideal Customer” and work to create the best experience for those players and families who buy into your mission and values – recognizing that you can’t be all things to all people and might lose some families who aren’t a good fit along the way. {Sprocket Tip: Leverage your public website – along with a steady stream of multi-channel communications and posts – to remind customers about your club’s mission and values.}
Invest in Coaches & Facilities
You can’t grow and expand without coaches you train and trust – this requires an investment in careful screening and mentoring. You also can’t expand without adding more capacity in facilities – and maximizing their usage. {Sprocket Tip: Check out Sprocket’s field/court/rink scheduling module to optimize the use of these scarce resources.}
Maintain Quality Programming
Maintain quality programming, even if you have to bring in extra coaches or cap class size and create a waitlist. Be better than your competitors in a competitive market. Give the kids an experience that inspires them and makes them want to play more. {Sprocket Tip: Use our Waitlist feature for managing full classes and maximizing demand.}
Develop Strategies for Player Retention
Use technology to track retention, conduct regular surveys, create mentoring programs where older players help train younger players, offer team/club trips to professional games to fuel camaraderie and a love of the game. {Sprocket Tip: benchmark your club’s Player Retention and Net Promoter Score by contacting Sprocket and Satori.}
Marketing Tips
Leverage SEO, social media, and other channels to increase traffic to your public website and build your email list. Get players and parents involved in reposting and linking to your club website. Enlist team coordinators to serve as ambassadors for your club and spread the good word. Encourage all teams do community service for local organizations such as Boys & Girls Clubs to promote your club and do good. {Sprocket Tip: maximize social media impact for all Ages and Teams within your club by sharing of photos on our team App which can then be posted by the club’s social media manager.}