Starting a Sports Business with eSoft Planner
Compound Sports: How One of Our Clients Started His Sports Business from Scratch with eSoft Planner
Back in 2015, Jeff Stamler had some big ambitions. He wanted to open his own baseball, softball and fitness training sports facility, but he wanted it to have more. A Compound Sports implementation team member recommended a Parisi Speed School that would develop the whole athlete, from strength training to core metrics. All the moving parts in a sports business require a superhuman level of organization. Jeff tasked Team Compound member Alan Stamler to find and recommend a top notch online scheduling and planning software provider. Alan realized early on that he needed to learn how other sports facilities balanced multiple instruction paths and clientele.
That’s when he began his research. He started Googling, and his search led him to the website of another sports facility with a great scheduler and planner. Alan liked the look and feel of the website, so he scrolled to the bottom of the page to find more detail about who created it.
It turned out that the team at eSoft Planner created the site.
Alan had been working with a different provider for his facility management needs, but he wasn’t satisfied with the software. Everything felt disjointed — especially the customer service experience.
“I requested a demo from eSoft Planner. To me, the interface was more comprehensive and easier to work with than the other software I had been testing up until that point,” Alan said. “Everything I needed — from scheduling to communication tools — was all in one place.”
During his initial conversations with eSoft Planner, it became apparent to Alan that Mike Meszaros, the Sports Facility Expert and president of eSoft Planner, and his team were experts in more than just the software solution. They had the know-how to manage a sports facility.
More Than Just Software
From beginning to end, the process of opening Compound Sports in Tampa, Fla. took a little over a year. But the process didn’t come without its challenges. Early on, Alan and his team experienced some delays due to zoning changes and architectural issues, but Team Compound overcame those hurdles. With the help and guidance of Mike and the eSoft Planner team, Alan and Team Compound developed a first class eSoft Planner scheduling and online booking/payment process which should result in many satisfied customers.
“Within the next few days, we’ll complete our final inspection, so hopefully we’ll have our grand opening in the next few weeks,” Alan said.
Compound Sports has divided their facility into a baseball/softball area with four oversized tunnels, a pair of long cages with ALL STAR ACE 5000 video pitcher simulators and available HitTrax Technology training and gaming options and a fitness training area.
For Alan, one of eSoft Planner’s most beneficial features is the ability to track everything. When Compound Sports opens its doors in a few weeks, every athlete and/or parent, instructor and staff member that walks into the facility will have their own login. eSoft Planner will allow staff and trainers to monitor the number of people using the facility at any time, so they’re using the space as efficiently as possible. Without the software, Alan’s team couldn’t manage the connections between availability of the space and the instructor for each segment of the building.
“We basically have two businesses within one — a Parisi Speed School (our fitness training side), and our baseball or softball side,” Alan said. “Without eSoft Planner’s scheduling capabilities, our business would require much more additional staff and added expense to manage.”
Managing Compound Sports’ Diverse Demographics
Whether a client is signed up for a fitness class, taking a lesson, or renting a cage with the ALLSTAR ACE 5000 and HitTrax Technology metrics tracking system, Alan and his team know where all his clients are in real-time. This consistency of data also benefits his clients. They each have their own login so they can easily access their class rosters, schedules and space availability.
Compound Sports also benefits from eSoft Planner’s ability to manage online booking/scheduling and payment in advance. And everyone on Team Compound loves the communication features, enabling easily triggered reminder and update emails and texts to staff, instructors and parents.
“We’ll have many parents who will sign-up their children to use our facility. Most of them will value eSoft’s ability to accept online payment,” Alan said. “The software also acts as a CRM, allowing us to send emails to parents. On any given day, if the electricity goes out, we can send out one mass communication — we don’t have to get on the phone and call individuals to inform them that a class or lesson has been canceled.”
Conclusion
eSoft Planner and Mike Meszaros gave Alan and his team at Compound Sports not only the facility management tools necessary to ensure smooth operation, but also a wealth of knowledge in the intricacies of facility ownership.
“The peace of mind that Mike and his team provided throughout the process of opening our facility was invaluable,” Alan said. “I would recommend eSoft Planner to anyone that offers services to a broad clientele base within a sports or recreation environment.”
If you want to discuss how eSoft Planner can help you start your own sports or recreation facility, contact us for a demo today! Also, book a consultation with our experts to learn how to improve your business.
