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January - February 1997: Volume 8, Number 1


AmPRO CLUB RACQUET

News for Professionals in the Business of Racquetball

[Special to RACQUETBALL Magazine]


MINING FOR RACQUETBALL PROFITS IN THE 90'S

By Michelle Gould
AmPRO Executive Director

Would you like to find out how to make money from the racquetball courts in your facility? Are your courts empty and you can't figure out how to get people interested in playing racquetball? Have other clubs in your area converted their courts into weight equipment or aerobics rooms? Would it just be easier for you to forget about racquetball, or would you rather figure out how to make a profit using the resources you already own?

What if you could "mine" substantial profits by digging for hidden treasures within your facility? Would it matter whether these additional profits resulted from cost reductions or new revenues? Since many AmPRO affiliated clubs face these issues every day, we've been working to answer these questions – and more.

We tackled this topic by looking to our member clubs for a successful racquetball program to model – and found the West Allis Athletic Club in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Their racquetball membership base has remained steady through the sport's boom in the 80's, slump of the early 90's, and comeback of the mid 90's. With twelve courts and approximately 875 regular league positions, this facility has maintained a constant stream of racquetball players over the past decade.

West Allis has 2,500 total members – 1,000 of them racquetball players. The big question everyone wants to know is how they have continued to enjoy success in a sport that has showed decline in recent years. Their answer is CUSTOMER SERVICE and PROGRAMMING!! That answer brings a larger profit to their facility – and could for yours, too.

Quite simply, the club gives their members what they ask for. Their customers wanted a quick, effective workout, with a little stress-relief fun at the same time. The answer was racquetball. To make things even easier, the club developed a unique program that allows members to call the front desk and alert them when they will get a break to come and get a workout. The front desk staff then searches the racquetball member database to find someone of the same ability level – available at the desired time – and calls both parties to finalize the arrangements. They only ask for a couple of hours advance notice to provide the service – which ends the hassle of pre-planning matches, plus gives the member a chance to meet new people. What a great concept!

The West Allis Athletic Club program is possible because they have several employees who handle different areas of racquetball. The key is that they always have at least one person on duty who is responsible for racquetball only. The front desk staff is also very informed about and highly involved with the club's racquetball programs and any special events that members might be interested in attending.

The ideal racquetball staff member must know how to run several different, fun programs along with leagues and must be customer service oriented (if your facility doesn't have a programmer for racquetball, you can send one of your employees to an AmPRO clinic to become a certified programmer). After all, if your customers aren't aware of your programs, they won't take part in them. The West Allis Athletic Club offers free lesson packages to new members to get them started in the sport that they believe brings them the largest return for their investment. They offer leagues (morning, noon, and night) for all skill levels, male and female. They are pro-active in calling members to get them involved in leagues instead of waiting for sign-ups.

Why go to the extra effort of specialized customer service to get your members to play racquetball? The answer is money. We all know that membership turnover is a major concern in the health club industry. IHRSA data indicates that racquetball (sports) members have the highest retention rate – 39% among all club member groups. Want to make an educated guess about what it costs to attract one new member to your facility? Add up last year's total expenditures for advertising, promotion, membership sales, incentives, and other costs associated with attracting new members, and divide that amount by the number of new members actually realized from those efforts. That per-member cost will be an eye-opener! Industry leaders know that it is far more cost-effective to retain members than to constantly replace them.

Several other "hidden profit" factors can be directly linked to racquetball participation. Since many clubs now utilize computer based check-in systems, you can track your own member patterns to see if yours follow this trend. Many strength and aerobic participants simply rocket through your front doors, attend their class or grind through their workout, and blow back out of the club without spending an extra minute -– or dollar –- in your facility. In contrast, racquetball members are more involved in group and social activities, and tend to have longer visits to the club which, in turn, impacts other profit centers like restaurant / lounge / refreshment areas or the pro shop for accessories.

It's a little-known fact that the average profitability of a club with racquetball courts is $33.00 per square foot versus $29.00 per square foot without racquetball courts. On average, it costs $10,000 for upkeep in the fitness area of a facility every year versus $100.00 annually per court for racquetball upkeep. What activity would be more profitable for you to promote in your facility? Racquetball also burns up to 800+ calories an hour, works most major muscle groups, and is a lot of fun!!

We've only mentioned a few areas where racquetball can impact your profitability: [1] reduced membership turnover from higher member satisfaction; [2] additional sales to member groups that visit your facilities for longer periods of time; and [3] reduced maintenance costs that are directly related to keeping existing racquetball facilities intact.

So, the next time you hear a club manager / owner say that racquetball is dead, have them look at some facilities that are having great success and ask themselves how they can do the same. No health club facility wants to leave money on the table, so follow the West Allis Athletic Club's lead and let racquetball, customer service, and programming provide your treasure map to mining for profitability in the 90's!! Your customers and your bottom line are worth it!'

For additional information, or to schedule your own clinic, please call Michelle Gould, AmPRO Executive Director at (208) 362-3844.

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