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Carole Oat
Sales Manager
With Twin Oaks Since 1999
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"As a former club owner/operator for 15 years and longtime user of the Twin Oaks program, I've found that it is by far the easiest to use in the industry. It's backed up with numerous built-in management tools to generate revenue, manage cash flow, and forecast results. Here on the vendor side, the company founders have created an excellent work environment for all staff which allows us to provide clients with the utmost in service and deliver a superior product for clubs." |
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Articles |
Many of the members of the Twin Oaks management team have years of hands-on club operations experience, and our field staff are in clubs, working with clients, every day of the week. We have written articles about our industry, and would like to share some of those with you:
Feature Articles by Category |
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Assessing Solutions/Providers
Choosing a Solutions Provider by Carole Oat
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Club management software and billing solutions today are numerous with many viable vendors that will contend for your business. Today’s technology provides the most reliable software needed to run a club business easily, effectively and profitably. SQL databases using .NET framework are the most prevalent and reliable platforms to utilize. These allow for a synchronization vehicle to be built into the software for both in-club usage and remote access. |
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Is Your Club Software the Most Affordable? Easy to Use? Flexible? Reliable? by Carole Oat
| Your business is growing, your facilities and equipment are first-rate, your club staff is excellent and the services you provide are top quality. In fact, everything you’re doing on the delivery side is running well, your customers are happy and membership is expanding. You couldn’t be happier, except for one thing: The business side of your business is making you crazy, and you’re not sure if your current service provider is right for you anymore. |
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Selecting a Collection Agency for Delinquent Monthly Billing by Carole Oat
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The typical club averages three to seven percent returns on their monthly EFT and credit card billing file. This means they’re really receiving 93 to 97 percent of the projected gross billing. Thus, if the projected billing is $50,000 per month and billing actually received is 95 percent, that’s $47,500. That leaves $2500 of revenue uncollected for the month, which adds up to $30,000 annually. Let’s see now, I’d say that’s equivalent to about seven brand new treadmills. |
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Upgrade Your Club Management Software by Carole Oat
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If you haven’t had your club management software upgraded in the last three years, it’s time. In fact, you’re overdue. Ideally, you should be receiving upgrades, free upgrades, from your software provider at least once a year. Make sure you’re getting them. Don’t let the provider charge you thousands of dollars to upgrade. A lot of new features have come out on the market lately; many of them are very valuable and all are designed to make the management job easier and more effective. This is your investment and some of these new perks can provide great tools for member communication and overall functionality. |
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Business Process / Efficiency
Build Your Business by Unlocking Your Software's Potential by Len Bell
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Regardless of your business model, the two most important factors to a successful fitness facility are selling new memberships and retaining current members. There is no easier way to accomplish these tasks than to have a simple and efficient contact management system in place to help you track leads, build your database, and easily communicate with your prospects and members, as well as provide inspection tools so you can track the sales process. |
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Efficient & Successful Employee Launching by Kate Dumas
A successful club business begins with the right
facilities, programs and equipment. Layer great employees onto
that, and you’ll have the right combination to retain members and
continue the growth of your dues line.
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Increase Profits by Increasing Efficiency by Len Bell
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A common concern I hear from business owners is the ever increasing demands on their time. I had the same issue when I managed facilities and realized the pressures on a facility manager can be overwhelming at times. Now that the “New Year’s Rush” is slowing down, it may be time to take a fresh look at your business to see if you can be more efficient. It takes time to implement new procedures and train staff, but it will be worth it when you begin to save on payroll; lessen “busy work,” and free-up time to do those things you have wanted to do to increase your profitability. |
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Is Your Club Ready for the New Year? by Kate Dumas
| The beginning of a new year is a great time to conduct an annual audit of your club procedures. In these economic times, it is particularly important to maximize revenue potential and increase customer service levels. A scrubbing of your database as well as a review of employees and daily practices are important steps to effectively managing your club in 2009. |
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Managing Delinquent Dues in a Tough Economy by Susanne Nauseda
| With the unemployment rate increasing nationally and credit card debt still on the rise, it is getting harder and harder to collect delinquent dues. If you aren’t in the habit of tracking how much your members owe you or have been forgiving members who haven’t paid, you could easily find yourself behind the 8-ball. Now is the time to get systems in place to
start recovering what is owed to you. |
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Understanding the "Simple Terms" of Revenue Management by Carole Oat
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Being in clubs all the time, talking with owners and general managers, it’s quite often that the discussion leads to questions when the subject comes to revenue tracking and receivables. It’s amazing how infrequently a club is aware of its outstanding balances, deferred revenue, held deposits, or even gross/net billing per month. |
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Upgrade Your Front Desk Operations by Len Bell
| One of the keys to a successful fitness center is
the quality of service and productivity provided by the front
desk staff. A concerted effort to increase the responsibilities and
service levels of the front desk staff can positively affect sales,
retention and revenue. Here are some things that can be done
to raise the level of service provided by the front desk: |
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Generating Increased Revenues/Profits
Create New Revenue Streams for Your Club by Susanne Nauseda
| Clubs are always looking for ways to make more
money. You can create and manage non-dues revenues with the
help of club management software. Before deciding to take the
plunge and offer a variety of goods and services, find out what your
members’ and prospects’ interests are. Once you know what they
might spend their money on, find the right instructors, create a
schedule with the right pricing, and develop a marketing plan. |
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Increase Your Bottom Line with Minimal Investment by Susanne Nauseda
| In this economy, everyone is trying to find a way
to hang on to the business they have and generate more – without
spending more. |
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Increase Your Revenues through a More Efficient Front Desk by Kate Dumas
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Your front desk is a profit center — help make it more organized; provide faster service to your members, and make more money with some easy-to-implement changes. |
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Increasing Personal Training Revenues by Len Bell
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Personal training is a great member service for clubs to provide. Maximizing your profits in this area can have a big impact on your bottom line: personal training is typically the second highest revenue generator — second only to memberships. Are you doing everything you can to ensure the best results? There are a few areas where a little effort goes a long way. |
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Making Money Using Your Computer Software by Carole Oat
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Cash in now by using a tool that’s right at your fingertips — your computer software. You have the technology, now put it to work. Begin with the big thing, managing your dues line. The most successful clubs put 70 percent or more of their members on monthly billing because, in most markets, and providing your EFT processor is reliable, you will make 20 - 30 percent more per member for no more effort. Doing this ensures your monthly recurring revenue covers expenses, grows the value of the business and provides you with a track record of income. This is important to show banks if and when you need it for resale value or for new capital financing. It’s also been proven that only about 40 percent of paid in full members actually renew each year. |
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Real Club Strategies to Boost Your Bottom Line by Carole Oat
| Billing, Software, Receivables Management. These are the “Big 3” when it comes to generating revenue in the Club Business. Have you recently looked at how you are managing these three issues? Did you realize that money can be saved/earned by doing business differently? At Twin oaks, we not only help you run your business; we help you run it more profitably. Here are some suggestions for strengthening your bottom line. |
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Revenue Generators by Carole Oat
| Begin with the big thing, managing the dues line. The most successful clubs put 70% or more of their members monthly billing because, in most markets, and providing that your EFT processor reliable, you will make 20- 30% more per member for no more effort. Doing this ensures your monthly recurring revenue to cover expenses, grows the value of the business, and provides you with a track record of income. This is important show banks for resale value or for new capital financing. It’s also been proven that only about 40% of paid-in-full members actually renew each year. |
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The Value of Building Your Dues Line by Carole Oat
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Starting in the early 1980s, large multi-purpose health and racquet clubs developed and perfected the system of monthly dues billing for health clubs. Many of these clubs have dues receivables of $40-60,000 per month; a significant number are over $80,000; and a small elite are over $100,000 per month. |
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Marketing
Effective Mail and E-Mail Marketing Using Your Club Management Software by Kate Dumas
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Regular communication with your members builds brand loyalty, improves cash flow and increases revenue. But for that communication to be effective, it must be timely, focused and relevant. Fortunately, today’s sophisticated club management software can help you quickly and economically communicate with your members. And by using your software’s filtering options, you can target members to maximize your campaign’s effectiveness. |
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Make Your Web Site a Destination Members Want to Bookmark by Kate Dumas
| Your Web site is frequently the first impression
a prospect gets of your club, and is a key location for information,
schedules and services for your members. The front desk used to be
the first point of contact for a prospective or current member seeking
information about your club — the popularity of the Internet has
changed that. To keep up with the times, it’s good business practice
to provide visitors to your Web site with the same great impression
they would get in your club. Be sure your site is informative, easy to
navigate, timely and visually appealing. |
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Promotions for the Holidays and New Year by Carole Oat
| Happy Holidays everyone. It’s that time of year to make money and you have the tools to do it right at your fingertips. Ideally, you have three or more databases within your club management software to whom you can market. I’m referring to your existing member database, prospects and guest database, and your archived membership database — meaning all of your former members who are currently canceled or expired… Do whatever can be done to help in growing the monthly dues revenue line and generating revenue right now. |
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Using Your Computer Software for Referral Marketing by Carole Oat
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When it comes to generating high quality sales leads in the health club business, any industry consultant will still tell you “buddy referrals” are the best source. And getting the leads while they’re hot is key. Meaning, within one week to a month after a new member joins your facility, get a marketing piece out allowing them to easily bring in their friends. Most club management software has a marketing piece already established which you can send to all your new members, from the prior week or month, to offer those members a chance to bring in their friends for free. The piece typically has built-in “guest passes” for members’ friends. |
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Technology
Computer Talk for Running Your Club by Carole Oat
| Try to imagine your club without treadmills or strength training equipment. It wouldn’t function properly or sell many memberships. The same applies with the use of computers in the industry. If you really want to succeed, you must utilize the available database management systems and take advantage of the tools provided with them. |
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Desktop vs. Web Applications by Len Bell
| When purchasing club-management software,
deciding between a Desktop or a Web-hosted application can be vital to your business. Both Desktop applications
(software that resides on your server) and Web applications (where the software provider hosts your data)
have their advantages and disadvantages. Be aware of those
differences to find the best fit for your center. |
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Get Your Staff to Embrace and Maximize Available Technology by Susanne Nauseda
| We use technology every day to accomplish many
things, including running health and fitness clubs. The club management,
payroll or other computer software you are using
was probably a carefully thought out investment when
purchased. You probably chose your system with the expectation
that it would help run your business smoothly and efficiently;
creating productive employees and an efficient club.
Unfortunately, that expectation doesn’t always pan out, and
many clubs only use a fraction of their software’s capabilities. |
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Paperless Contracts and the Digital Filing Cabinet by Susanne (Marchese) Nauseda
| Do you have drawers, boxes and file cabinets full of paper? Are you tired of having to run across your club to access member files or repeatedly retrieve them from storage? A digital file cabinet may be the solution for you — why not create a paperless contract system? |
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Point of Sale... More Than Just a Cash Register by Kate Dumas
| If you are not taking advantage of the full benefits of today’s point-of-sale (POS) systems, you may be overlooking an easy way to increase your revenues and dramatically improve the efficiency of your club. A well-written POS system can also assist you with revenue tracking and create more effective, targeted marketing campaigns. |
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Promoting Online Joining by Carole Oat
| The world of selling has
changed. Internet technology has evolved
tremendously and club membership
prospects are now shopping online.
Successful clubs are implementing sales
strategies to get people to their Web
sites and engage prospects and members
throughout the buying cycle. You can
benefit from this knowledge by creating
an easy link for non-members, former
members, and prospects to easily join
your facility right from your Web site. |
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Safe & Sensible Computing by Carole Oat
| Keeping your computers running well and free
from viruses and malware is a must for every company. Following
the best practices outlined below will go a long way in keeping
club data and the private data of club members safe, along
with ensuring that your computers run at maximum efficiency
24/7, 365 days a year. The old adage, “an ounce of prevention is
worth a pound of cure,” has never been so true. |
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