Welcome to Sports Facility Expert – your one-stop shop for building, running and growing your sports facility
What Equipment do I Need for my Sports Facility Start-Up?
If finding and paying for a great location is the biggest issue facing new sports facility owners, the next biggest hurdle is finding and paying for the equipment for that facility. To figure out what you really need and how you should pay for it, start by reviewing your business plan. 1. Make a List of Equipment You’ll Need. Take a […]
Here’s How to Successfully Market your Sports Facility with Camps
The best sports facility owners do more than just market their services with mailers, online strategy and signs and flyers inside their facilities. They and their staff also physically go out into their communities — and beyond — to show future clients what professional services they can expect to receive at their sports facilities. Brad […]
How to Move Your Clients from “Should” to “Will” for Their Fitness Goals
Let’s face it: It’s really difficult to change eating habits and fitness habits. Even though we know that our health should be the top priority, even though we understand that even a little bit can go a long way, even though healthier habits could literally keep us from dying earlier — many of us still […]
An Unconventional Cure for Empty Daytime Hours: Preschool Programming
It’s not especially tough to fill our sports academies when kids are out of school. But during school hours, most of our facilities are sitting practically empty. I’ve already suggested various ways to monetize those slower hours, including: Programs for homeschoolers Fitness programs for adults who have nontraditional work hours or who want to work […]
Top Posts of 2017
As the year comes to a close, I always like to look back and reflect on the things we covered throughout the year on the blog. I look in Google Analytics to see which posts got the most visits, then list them again for anyone who may not have had a chance to read them […]
A New Real Estate Option for Your Sports Facility
There are plenty of factors that can make running a sports facility difficult. However, finding and paying for the right space is at the top of the list. The need for lots of room for our athletes to run, jump and play is essential to our businesses, but those big, open indoor spaces (like turf […]
Your Sports Facility’s Plan for Inclement Winter Weather
Have you ever driven through the cold and snow for an appointment, only to get there and realize that the appointment had been cancelled? It’s infuriating, right? Unfortunately, it tends to happen a few times every winter at sports facilities located in the snowier parts of the country. This type of miscommunication costs much more […]
Understanding Your Sports Facility’s Sales Funnel
The most valuable services at your sports facility usually require a big investment from your clients. And big investments aren’t made on a whim. People might sign up for a one-off camp or even a birthday party without much deliberation, but that’s not the case for long-term memberships and training packages. These bigger products are […]
Tips for Photography at Your Sports Facility
Images are a huge part of your sports facility’s marketing. They draw the reader in and project the energy of your brand in a way that words alone cannot. In the case of my facility, where families weren’t really sure what speed and agility training were, photos of athletes flipping tires and running through their […]
Seasonal Sports Marketing: Three Points for Your Facility
As your sports academy transitions from busy season to slow season and back again, your daily needs and to-do lists change a lot. Creating seasonal sports marketing and staying ahead of it will be a necessity. It’s tough enough to manage cash flow throughout those changes, and keeping up marketing efforts can be even harder– […]
Do You Need One-On-One Help with Your Sports Business?
For a while now, I’ve avoided offering consulting services. I’ve wanted to focus my time and mental energy on my sports facility scheduling software instead. When owners have come to me for advice on sports facility management, I typically direct them to this blog, where I’ve already covered most of the topics they ask about. […]
Planning a Parents’ Night Out at Your Sports Facility
You need to keep your space full for as many hours of the week as possible. That’s one of the pillars of running a profitable sports facility. And for many boutique-type sports academies, it’s easy enough to do during after-school hours and weekend days. What’s left is to fill in the gaps — such as […]
Before You Invest Money in a Sports Facility, Read This
Lots of aspiring sports facility owners lack the cash to get started. If they want their own space, they start out small, or seek funding from banks or partners. A second group of aspiring owners, however, already has the cash. These owners often don’t have experience training athletes. They’re just looking for a good financial […]
How to Create Sports Facility Sponsorship Packages
We sports facility owners are always looking for ways to boost our profits. So if local businesses partner with us by sponsoring our teams, players or programs, it can be a big win. There many ways to structure sponsorship packages successfully. However, there are also lots of ways to let sponsorships distract from your mission […]
Marketing Research Basics for Sports Facilities
Every potential business starts with a great idea — or at least what seems like one. Getting market data for your sports academy is one way to test whether your idea will hold up. Detailed market research is essential if you’re seeking investors or plan to purchase a big piece of physical property. However, it’s […]
To Fix Your Programming, Focus on Your Ideal Customer
When it comes to creating sports academy programming, we often get it backwards. First, we get excited about a new technique or idea to help our athletes. Then, we try to convince our customers how cool it is. We should start by focusing on our customers’ problems instead. When we package programs as tailored solutions […]
Managing a Sports Facility: Cash Flow Can Kill
There are lots of factors that go into opening and managing a sports facility. But just one truly determines your business fate. That factor is cash. If you have enough on any given day to cover your expenses, you can stay open. If not, you’ll shut down. Keeping enough cash on hand trips up a […]
The Top 3 Energy Killers at Sports Facilities
You can feel a sports facility’s energy as soon as you walk inside. Sports and fitness businesses like ours depend on projecting intensity, passion and top-tier competency. However, plenty of us fail to make sure our customers feel those things when they enter our space. Over years of working with sports facilities, I’ve noticed that […]
Unreasonable Team Parents? These Baseball Teams Don’t Have Any
One of the biggest headaches involved with running a sports academy that hosts teams? Unreasonable team parents. Confrontations with these parents are draining, persistent, and distract from important coaching work. That’s why I was so impressed when one of my eSoft Planner clients mentioned he doesn’t have these types of problems in his organization. Anthony […]
Your Sports Academy’s Approach to Overuse Injuries
We all know that families have been taking youth sports more and more seriously in recent years. This trend toward competitiveness tends to help our businesses. The most dedicated athletes are usually our best clients — they’re happy to spend on quality training for elite skills. But the pressure to perform younger and more frequently can […]
Get More Clients with Better Marketing Messages
5 Simple Things to Try at Your Sports Academy Many sports facilities stick to the basics when it comes to marketing. We’re often small businesses who handle marketing ourselves, and we have a lot of other work to do. However, even an extra 20 minutes improving your description of a camp, membership, or new instructor […]