One of the things I love about our staff at the club is the opportunity to collaborate with them. They are hard workers and deep thinkers and I love picking their brains (and I often do!). I love our team and can honestly say that I feel like we have the most cohesive team of employees we have ever had. Our team members are creative, witty and smart. I call them the Dream Team. And I encourage them to do just that: DREAM.

We've recently had a lot of "dream" talks about possibilities at the club. As you know, if you've been following my newsletter, we've been dreaming about a remodel and possible expansion. And while it's super exciting to think about new carpet and updating our club's aesthetics, the thing that really gets me pumped up is exploring what we can DO better.

Our goals are simple:

And as we put into place action steps to upgrade your experience, we've had to examine what obstacles are in our way. This is where our surveys came in.

Last week I invited all of our Tennis Members to take a survey about the quality of service that we offer here at the club. The number of members who participated in the survey was astounding! 122 members took the time to share their thoughts. Wowza!

Thank you so much to everyone who participated.  Previous to that, we asked ALL of our Members to participate in a Fitness survey. I thank you for all of your ideas and thoughts as to how we can serve you better.

Most of the survey answers pointed to what we already knew: we are meeting your needs.



It also shed (an indirect) light on the thing we feared: our software might be holding us back from offering you the World-Class service we are striving for.

That truth makes me cringe. We don't want to just "meet your needs." We strive to exceed your expectations.

All I can say for sure is that improvements are on the horizon. Big ones.

Over the course of the next week, we will be taking a deeper look at our survey responses and peeling back the layers. My management team will be reaching out to members who shared comments and concerns to further research. 

Overall, I'm very pleased with the warm responses you shared with us.

But there's one question I didn't ask that I wish I had:

Will you take a moment to reply to this email with your response to this question? I'd love to hear from you. And I'm always listening.

Back to the software...I have been investigating options to our current software for about 6 years. There are problems that we have tried to resolve with our two software vendors, Gametime for court management and MindBody Online for club management. Some issues were resolved, others got bigger and bigger to where we are now - where - on the backend it sometimes feels like we have an elephant and a walrus sitting on our desks. I apologize for not delivering a better experience because of that elephant and walrus, but we are about to make a change.

I wish our walrus & elephant were this cute.

Thanks to your comments on the surveys, I felt finally compelled to dive in and commit to changing our software. Behind the scenes, this is no small task. There was no one software out there that was the perfect fit, but we found one that we think will be a great fit. It's called Club Automation and will run both our tennis court scheduling and our club management.



It was developed by people who own tennis clubs and have been in the business for decades. We hope to roll it out "live" in October and we'll be working swiftly behind the scenes to get it all set up. We will throw a few "Learning Parties" to show you hands-on how to use the new system when we get closer to the launch. WHEW - that was a lot on my mind. A software change is never to be taken lightly.

 

We are moving ahead with plans to remodel the lobby. I am SO EXCITED about this! We are hoping to start in August and complete by October. Here is what is happening:

Future Plans (possibly next summer)

OK, that's a lot! Please keep your ideas coming and remember to reply to this email to tell me What one thing could we do for you at the club that would give you a first-class experience?

 

Thank you so much, you are the best members anywhere.



~ Robin