Boost Pro Shop Revenue With Effective Sales Programs

A racquet club pro shop’s goal is maximizing its revenue per customer. There are several different tactics managers can apply to increase their profitability and take advantage of players who are looking for a deal.

Court-fee play, memberships, food and beverage, and pro shop sales are income streams that can lead to an increase in revenue. Within each revenue stream many specific opportunities exist for racquet clubs to produce more revenue.

Take a look at these strategies and envision how you can put them into practice at your facility.

Sell packages

Food vouchers are popular if you have a restaurant. They get customers in the door and often lead to a player spending more than the voucher. The cost of giving away that food item will yield a good return as you get someone to book a lesson and also potentially spend more on drinks or more food.

Custom memberships

This new trend, primarily in private and semi-private clubs, empowers existing members to personalize their memberships according to their lifestyles and needs. Create a list of member services your facility offers, price them in your booking POS software, and allow your members to pick and choose the services they want. This option offers the most flexibility to prospective members and ensures they are only paying for what they want and nothing more.

Loyalty rewards program

Have you heard of the 80/20 rule? It states on average 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customers. Unfortunately, identifying your VIPs can be difficult. Thankfully, you can make your POS software do the work for you. Start a loyalty program for your members by setting up simple milestones based on their activity at the club. A well-thought-out loyalty program will create stronger bonds within your member base.

On average, a returning customer spends 67% more than a new one. This, coupled with the fact that gaining a new customer is 5 to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one, means that your primary focus should be increasing loyalty. Implementing a well-designed rewards program will encourage higher spending and give players a greater incentive to buy exclusively from your pro shop. You can do this by giving out points for purchases, which can then be redeemed for court time or a lesson or anything else you can think of.

Text-message marketing

Text message marketing is a powerful tool made to improve the racquet club experience and generate more revenue. While emailing might be king, text messages on average receive a 90% open rate as opposed to 20% for emails and response rates are 7.5 times higher for text messages. In addition, with SMS marketing, you can reach players directly in their pockets while they’re on a break between games. Imagine how much success you can have by promoting a 20% discount at your restaurant through SMS marketing. However, keep in mind that text messages can be used for much more than promotions. You can also use them to welcome players, solicit feedback or invite them to an event. The idea here is to be timely and convey a clear message.

Whether your facility is private, semi-private, public, municipal, or resort, you have to rely on multiple streams to generate revenue. The key is to use all these streams in tandem, don’t focus solely on one. When choosing your strategies, try to combine different departments of your facility as much as possible. This way, your customers get a seamless experience, which leads to happier players and a happier bottom line.

Mike Manzella, founder of Racquet-Pros.com, has experience as both an employer and a coach, and as noted currently serves as Executive Director of Racquets of South Towns Tennis Club, in Orchard Park, New York.