You've nailed your outreach, prospecting, tracking, and closing out. You've done your very best email and SMS campaigning and you've finally got the member over the line and made a membership sale. Now it's time to set them on their journey path, guide them and make sure they have the best possible member experience. Whilst we all know sales are important, it's retention that ensures your club thrives on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

I like to think of sales and retention as a sand castle building contest, and you obviously want the tallest sand castle. Sales are piling more and more sand on to the top of the castle to gain height, whilst retention is supporting the lower part to ensure the castle doesn't start to crumble from the bottom and dissipate under the weight.

This is where ClubWise comes in. We understand that growing and maintaining a healthy membership base takes time and effort. In the previous "ClubWise Workout" blogs, we've covered the tools for making prospecting, selling and marketing easier and less time consuming. The other part of the ClubWise solution is of course ensuring your members have access to valuable key services to create a positive experience, and again, give you and your staff the time to focus on what's important - the members themselves.

Take booking for example. Many clubs book members into classes, courts, PT and studio sessions at the front desk. In a busy club, this can be a drain on both member and staff time. Whilst the ClubWise booking module certainly allows reception staff to book sessions, it also provides the facility for the member to do it themselves online or via the new mobile app, CW4Members (now available!) providing compelling benefits for both club and member...

1. Convenience

This is the main one. Bookings can be made and cancelled at anytime of day on any day of the year and with the addition of the new app, anywhere too! The automation of booking means no more phone calls and no more administrating paper-based diaries, so convenient for your club too.

2. Control

Members are 100% in control of managing their bookings. When a member books a class online or via the app, for example, he or she can instantly see all available activities, times, dates, and instructors and can make an informed decision based on these.

3. Cost

The elimination of personnel in the booking scenario means that current staff can focus their time on the member experience in the club, and the need to recruit more reception staff will be at a minimum - thus providing a long term cost saving to the club.

4. Communication

Booking, in conjunction with the active CRM module, provides a powerful comms automation tool that ensures those booked in are reminded of their class the day, the week or even the month before their class - maximising attendance. You can also send targeted communications to promote new classes and services to all those you think would be interested, for example, send an email to all attendees of Yoga, Pilates and Aerobics from the last 6 months.

5. Clarity

ClubWise booking allow clubs to see a running head count of confirmed attendees. ClubWise also provides full reporting on attendance figures, successful classes by time and instructor enabling measurability of class popularity and a deeper insight into the profile of those attending particular classes.

For more information on the booking facilities, the brand new member mobile applications and any other features within the ClubWise system, get in touch with our friendly team!

Stay tuned for the next "ClubWise Workout" to find out how we can help you to not only retain members, but increase sales at the same time with a simple, admin free solution!