How to stop your club taking over your life

Ask any club owner why they started, and they’ll talk about the teaching: the choreography, the classes, watching a shy child come out of their shell. That’s the fun part, and nobody wants less of it.

It’s everything around it that takes over. The parent messaging at 10pm to ask what time class starts. Following up the family who enquired last week. Chasing the trial who said they’d join. Scrolling your bank app to work out who’s paid. Posting the same notice in four places and still hearing “I didn’t know”.

None of that has to be you. Here’s where the time goes, and how to get it back.

1. Finding new families

Posting on social media and hoping takes hours and brings in a trickle. Local Facebook and Instagram ads that advertise a free trial reach parents near you who have never heard of you, and keep running while you teach. We’ve shared exactly what ours cost and what they brought in.

Send those parents to a page where they can book a trial straight away, so a new family never has to message you to get started.

2. Answering the same questions

Most messages from new parents ask the same things: what time, what age, what to wear, how much, where to park. If your website answers every one of them before they book, they don’t need to ask. Fewer questions, fewer late-night messages. Here’s what a club website needs.

3. Following up with every lead

Every family who shows an interest is a lead, and each one needs something different. The one who booked a trial needs reminding. The one who didn’t turn up needs asking what happened and offering another date. The one who loved it needs asking to join. Doing that by hand, for every family, every week, is where evenings disappear.

It doesn’t have to be done by hand. When trials check in with a QR code at the door, or the coach ticks them off on the register, the system knows exactly who came. Families who didn’t come are asked what got in the way and offered another date. Families who did are sent the link to join. Nobody has to remember.

4. Forms and paperwork before the first class

Chasing consent forms, medical details and emergency contacts is one of the most tiresome jobs in any club. So don’t chase them.

At our club, new members register themselves before their first class. They accept the terms and conditions, give photo consent, pay, add emergency contacts, and anything else we need. Only then does their class pass unlock.

That means every child who walks through the door has everything sorted. You can rest easy, and you never chase a form again.

5. Knowing who’s paid

Card payments taken automatically mean you can see who has paid at a glance. Missed payments are chased for you, and show up in red on the member’s pass at the door. Here’s how we stopped chasing payments.

6. Telling everyone everything

A class is cancelled. You post it on Instagram, then Facebook, then the WhatsApp group, then send an email, then text the families you think might have missed it. Someone still turns up.

With your own app, you post it once and it lands on every family’s lock screen as a notification. You can be certain every member got the message. Parents message the club through the app too, instead of your personal number, so you can answer in your own time.

A quick checklist

1. Let ads and a booking page find your new families.
2. Answer every common question on your website.
3. Check trials in, so follow-ups go to the right people automatically.
4. Have members register and pay before their first class.
5. Take payments automatically, and let the system chase.
6. Post once in your own app, instead of everywhere.

Questions