Over four centuries ago, Sir Francis Bacon is quoted as saying, "Things alter for the worse spontaneously, if they be not altered for the better designedly." The same holds true for each area of our tennis businesses. This article will address the tennis lesson segment of your activities.
Posting lesson rates and nothing else is the norm. The game plan at clubs like these is “wait and see.” Unfortunately, at least according to Sir Francis Bacon, “wait and see” precipitates a downturn in business.
On the other hand, some successful clubs gross over one million dollars a year in lesson revenue. How do the best ones do it? They are proactive in regularly offering a wide variety of new learning and practice opportunities. They also make sure club members and players know about them. Getting the word out is fairly easy. The most common approaches include:
1. Flyers on doors and in bathrooms
2. Bulletin boards
3. Bag stuffers
4. Newsletters (email and print)
5. Email a weekly schedule of activities
How to get the word out is clear. However, becoming highly successful year after year requires more. After studying successful programs, there are common threads seen among all of them. Use this as a checklist against your own recipe for success.
People are individuals
Since no two people are exactly alike, it makes sense that their hot buttons on a tennis court are unique as well. Age, playing level, work schedule, competitive goals, social desires, and whether they prefer singles or doubles are just a few of the variables that will affect the level of interest each person may have in a particular program.
Identify a need
When you offer a program that suits a player’s interest and schedule, you’re only halfway to getting them to sign up and participate. The other half of your offering has to include “identifying a need.” In simple terms, this means offering a program or clinic with a theme that reminds a person of a need that they have thought about before. Then, entice them to sign up by presenting how they will benefit from the experience.
Establish the benefit
We don’t normally think of tennis pros as salesmen, but when you identify a need and then show how someone will benefit, you are selling the idea. If you’re a purist, you may not like to think of yourself as selling anything. But selling is not a bad word. Think of it this way. How will you share your expertise unless you have people to share them to? Here’s an example:
Target audience: Male weekend warrior
Playing ability: 4.0
Playing style: Powerful but inconsistent
Need: Power with more consistency
Selling point: “Add control to your power game in one lesson.”
League team drilling
One of the mainstays of tennis teachers across the United States is running drills and workouts for league teams. In many places, working with these teams represents nearly 50% of the annual gross teaching revenue. It’s important enough that if you don’t have a local inter-club league, start one! It’s not that difficult. One way to get started is to invite all your local pros to a meeting and outline the costs and benefits of starting a league. Model your league after that of another community about the size of your own. How can you find out what’s out there? I just Googled “Community tennis leagues” on my computer and came up with over 4 million listings in one-tenth of a second!
Drop-in drills
One thing is certain in today’s world - people are so busy and pulled in so many directions that to commit to a regular weekly activity is difficult. This is the genius of the “Drop-in Drill.” The concept is simple. Set up a weekly time such as Saturday mornings from 11 am until 12:30 pm. This is a time when court bookings start slowing down, but people are still interested in getting out. Then create weekly themes so the players know what they are signing up for. Since there is no established ability level, have enough pros on hand to allow you to divide up the players on different courts according to their ability. Charge a reasonable amount to give good value for the 90-minute drill, a time frame that is neither too short not too long. With consistent effort in running these “drop-ins” you’ll probably find that interest and participation will build, and that players from this group will spill over and sign up for your other programs as well.