As the new year is fast approaching I'd like to go over another way to help you make money this coming year.  It starts with an upgrade to your member management system.  Looking into how you manage your members via a system will help you maximize your understanding of your business.  Membership software and cloud-based systems while pricey can on average generate 30-50% more per member than paper and cash-register alone.  Recently I had a conversation with Hossein Noshirvani at Motionsoft, a company specializing in membership software.  We talked about the potential of membership software as it relates to skateparks and he really understands how you all can be benefitted by technology.  While most all of us agree that maintaining a website and facebook page and even a twitter feed are good for our business, some of us balk at the cost and complexity of membership software.  Lets all agree to a few things, having a membership and visitor database that can track and offer reminders and deals to every visitor is possible for most of us no matter how big or small we are.  Lets also agree that for our legal liability issues, having quick access to emergency info and contacts is invaluable for the prosperity of the business, but also for the peace-of -mind of the parents.  So beyond these aspects that could be obtained through other means, lets look at how membership programs, particularly ones that are cloud-based can help your business.

Financially the membership program can really help you maximize your business income.  These types of software can generate lists of visits, frequency, and track purchases.  Even without a membership, say you decide to issue cards like loyalty cards at the supermarket, the membership software can generate notices for you to send reminders and discounts to people to come back to the park, to purchase a new helmet, or offer a special on a new deck because it has been a long time since purchasing one.  With the membership and a card, the child can be offered a declining balance at the park allowing for the participant to buy stuff at the park without carrying money.

As far as memberships go, membership software could help you create different classes of memberships where certain times are off limits such as they do with health clubs during off-peak hour members.  You could offer a $100 anytime membership and a $50 membership off peak or no Fridays or Saturdays. Those that have the $50 membership would have to pay a fee to visit these other times.  Or you could offer a membership with a number of uses like a punchcard where coming into the park costs say $20 and you get 3 sessions and you have to buy 3 sessions at a time.  At the same time, the membership software will track visits, allow you mail or email reminders to "re-up" or you can have them automatically re-up with a credit card on file.  The system will create peak times based on visitors and so you can accurately predict typical numbers for tracking as well as allowing for "maximum capacity" warnings.  With professional and accurate information, you can make the best decisions regarding your park.

As we have mentioned the tracking of purchasing and targeting of advertisements, membership software can also be tied into promotions and membership lead generation.  Getting member referrals can be offered through the system so that members get benefits for bringing in their friends.  You can offer discounts for liking on Facebook which will help spread the word.  Amazon offers this now when you purchase stuff from them they offer a quick way of posting your purchase to facebook.  What great and almost free advertisement that would be.

In many ways membership software in needed in your park to keep you generating leads and helping with promotions.  It formalizes a relationship, creates professionalism, and helps you organize your business.  Of all the tools you have, by far membership software is the way to go.  While Noshirvani at Motionsoft states that his company might not be right for your business, he said he would be happy to talk to you about your needs, and if he can't help you he'd show you some others who could.  Good luck and set your sights high for 2013!

More Business Models for Skateparks

Some skateparks try to work like Golds Gym but they often don't go all the way.  Patrons pay a monthly fee, a membership, and skate when they want.  Unfortunately this model is not very successful for skateparks because of the high cost often asked for up front.  With a 12$ session fee versus a $50 monthly fee (I've seen more), kids, teens, adults and their parents are wary about how much they will use this service.  Unlike Golds Gym where anyone with a pulse can sign up, skateparks are in a smaller market to attract people to their service.  Because Golds Gym can get so many people in, and the industry has accepted their 25$ or so cost, they are able to make money with lower monthly premiums.  But in many ways, skateparks can operate like this too, it just takes someone to start.  First a park would have to eliminate sessions, and thus also eliminate $12 fees.  The only way you can get in the gym is pay the monthly fee, with a credit card.  If the market can support this idea, then the skatepark can run like a gym.  But since no parks are doing this now, an owner would take some risk to pull it off. Why?  Basically gym style pricing schemes would offer the skatepark more financial security because it collects money on a monthly recurring basis.  These memberships are tied to credit cards that are automatically charged each month.  So say that 500 members all pay $50 a month to skate for as much as they want, the skatepark is looking at a $25,000 revenue stream per month.  This revenue can be taxed differently too as it is not "entrance" fees which often are taxed like concert tickets.  Within this scenerio, planning becomes easier because revenues are relatively constant.  Added emphasis and efforts are given to keeping the membership going and happy.  I am sure a few parks out there would like to know that this sort of money was coming in monthly.  Even without food or other sales, revenue of $300k per year would be welcome in many parks.  So Golds Gym is not the worst way of looking at your business structure, but you should see what your market can take before you change your current park's finances.

Promote Skatepark Memberships by adding value, events!

Often we look at membership as either an exclusive way of dealing with people, such as in gym memberships, or as a price break mechanism like in grocery stores.  In the gym membership model, people are necessarily excluded because of spacing issues and the rest are roped into constant fees.  In the more often thought of structure for memberships skateparks offer discounts for members.  Like loyalty cards at the grocery store, there is one cost for members, and another cost for others.  Many of these programs offer rewards, which I have not seen offered by skateparks.  Often the memberships allows the skatepark to send mail, email or other stuff to the members (don't forget the opt out option), and this is often in keeping with other loyalty programs.  But if this is the model, then rewarding people for loyalty should also be in the making.  Tracking visits, purchases, and the like should be a routine system designed into the memberships.  Adding these tracking systems is likely part of most membership software reports and can be monitored through non-digital means with a punch card.  This would be easy enough for visits and could be duplicated with skateshop purchases and justified at the end of the month by an employee relatively quickly.  These incentives give the member a feeling of worth, identity, and "loyalty".  Future purchases might not be made at the park because of personal circumstances, but when someone gets close to a "goal", this could be a decisive issue in a purchase decision.  Similarly, a program like this allows the owner to keep memberships real, constant, and worthwhile.  This topic reflects a desire to make the most of "member services" so that the additional costs of a membership provides real value beyond just cheaper entrance rates.  Having so many benefits that you would need a brochure to list them makes a membership more valuable.

Adding events that are geared toward members really adds value to these memberships as well.  These events can be as simple as member discount day, to more elaborate as member only contests or parties.  While many of us would ask why a business would want to offer such a money losing event such as a free party at the park, I would suggest that there are more than one way to pay for these events such as exclusive product sponsorships, or the like.  None the less, think of a member party as a way of invigorating your membership, promoting membership sales, and creating a good feeling about your park.  A similar way to get members to feel like they matter to your business would be to invite them to an all member meeting.  This meeting could be a way for members to add their ideas on the business, or a way for you to see if a new pricing for memberships could work.  Those of you who read the last posting on memberships would know that if you are in business already, changing park policy could be tricky.  Calling a meeting and seeing what the members could do, or would pay for such a privilege would help in selling the idea, getting feedback, and/or testing the waters.  Don't forget that the way to most people's hearts is through their stomachs, so feed them.

Obviously there are many things that can be done with memberships that can help create good feelings with your members and their parks.  Think of ways to make your memberships special.  And as I have said always, if you have memberships, get your staff on board to selling them every visit and checking them every visit.  Show that theses are important.  Good Luck!

As a note, the spa-usa.org offers an insurance program for skateparks that involves personally insuring individual skaters.  Memberships can offer this as part of their pricing.  More on this at a later date.