Seven Habits of a Successful Tennis Operation Presented by Chuck Gill, USPTA 1 st Vice President Tom Daglis, USPTA Immediate Past President CMAA Webinar December 18, 2013, 2:00 pm EST One Size Does Not Fit All What are you looking for in a Tennis Director? Prioritize! Communication Skills Problem Solving Skills Tennis Playing Skills Budgeting Skills Programming Skills Habit One Hire The Right Tennis Professional What areas are in need of improvement? Juniors Adults Lesson programs Events Habit Two 1
Welcome Your Tennis Professional to Your Management Team Department Meetings BOD Meetings Membership Meetings Scheduled Reviews Meeting Site Rotations Habit Three Make Certain the Tennis Professional Understands Your Club s Culture? How do you define your club? Habit Four Education: Maintain Updates and Changes Within The Tennis Industry Tennis Alphabet Soup ITF, USTA, USPTA, PTR, TIA, ITA Governing Bodies USPTA Membership Categories Accredited Professional Coach (APC) Educational Opportunities Habit Five 2
Effective Budgeting: Ensure the Tennis Professional Understands the Bottom Line Where are you spending your $$? What is important to your operation? What do the members want? Staffing needs? Habit Six Measure Your Programming as a Characteristic of Success Your Revenue, Retention, and Member Satisfaction, are directly related to the number of people on your tennis courts! Is Your Instructional Program Complete? Four categories of lessons Private Group Clinics Camps 3
Private Lessons How do you provide for consistent weekly lesson takers? How do you provide for the one shot lesson taker? How do you provide for the student looking for an instructional sale? Group Lessons Generally more profitable than privates More popular due to lower individual costs Services a greater number of members Must have staff to accommodate Designed for purpose: stroke of the day, doubles strategy, drill sessions Clinics Teams may sign-up May be for an extended period of hours to accommodate teams Can be specialized for event add-ons Opportunity to introduce lesson programs to members Periodic free lesson clinics to increase base 4
Camps Designed to provide a concentrated group instructional program in a designated period of time. May have varied purposes: sport camps, day camps, overnight camps, tournament preparation camps, weekend camps Lesson Program Pricing What is the demand? How much do you want to teach? What other responsibilities do staff have? What hours are prime? What expertise does your staff have? What type of program? League Ladder Special event Interclub vs. Intraclub Club annual event Exhibition Instructional programs 5
What is your target market? Business Men Business Women Stay at Home Women Weekend Warriors Seniors Juniors Tiny Tots / 10 and Under program What is the level of competition? Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced A, B, C Club, Championship NTRP, TenCap Social, Competitive What type of event? Singles Doubles Mixed Doubles Age Levels Adult vs. Junior 6
What is your time commitment? 1,2,3 Days 1,2,3 Hours Weekend vs. Weekday Over a period of several weeks Over a season What will your format look like? Single elimination Round Robin First round consolation FMC, Feed-in consolation Compass draw What type of scoring will you use? 2 of 3 sets, regular 2 of 3 sets, no ad 2 of 3 sets, match TB 4 games + 9 point TB 8 game pro set Time limit 7
Food and/or entertainment? Alcohol vs. non-alcohol Healthy vs. fast food Snacks Breakfast, lunch or dinner DJ, band or karaoke How will you promote? Newsletter Phone tree Club signs Staff & key people word of mouth Social Media Separate mailers What is your profitability expectations? Breakeven X% net profit Subsidized loss Set dollar amount Profit percentage 8
Any special considerations? Favors Pictures Awards Recognition Maintenance/clean-up Decorations Coordination between departments Q & A Contact Information Chuck Gill Director of Tennis, Ibis Golf & Country Club 8100 Ibis Blvd. West Palm Beach, FL 33412 (o) 561-625-8500 ext. 5090 cgill@ibisgolf.com Tom Daglis Director of Professional Tennis Management, Methodist University 5400 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, NC 28311 (o) 910-630-7147 tdaglis@methodist.edu 9
References: Net Profit, Dave Siverston CMAA Panel Discussion, Tom Daglis, 2013 USPTA World Conference 10