Keeping track of your membership and bottom line
One of the features of amateur or local rugby clubs is the difficulty they often have keeping track of their membership . Run by volunteers relying on paper-based administrative systems and the honesty of their members in paying their annual subscriptions , knowing precisely who ’ s paid , who hasn ’ t , and therefore who is entitled to discounted drinks , can be very challenging . And if you can ’ t keep track of your members , or what they ’ re paying in or buying at the bar , you can ’ t keep track of your club ’ s bottom line …
Which is precisely why Bradford Salem decided to purchase and install the market leading EPoS & Membership software and touch screen till hardware from MHS Group . As a result , the club officers of Bradford Salem now know exactly where this successful club ’ s going , on and off the field .
A major decision
The whole process started back in early 2015 , and as club officer Andrew Taylor put it , “ We were discussing this issue for most of 2015 ! Anyone who serves on a rugby club ’ s committee will understand that , unlike many other aspects of the club , something like technology is far from easy for the committee types to get their heads around .”
Taylor continued , “ It ’ s also a big decision . Replacing your tills and membership administration systems is a huge thing for any rugby club , and not one that ’ s undertaken lightly . Besides , at the end of the day , someone ’ s got to learn how to use it . Tills and bar staff are one thing , but a volunteer dealing with membership administration who has to re-learn how to go from paper to keyboard , that ’ s a big deal .”
Objectives ? Automate processes , track cost and income
Taylor explains , “ As a small club it was desperately important to make it easier to manage the club and know exactly where things stood in terms of membership , bar sales , costs and income . The EPoS & Membership software from MHS Group enabled us to automate our paper-based processes , and for once , really have control over our costs and income .”
By June 2015 , having looked at several comparable systems , and with some help from the MHS Group ’ s helpful salesman , Bradford Salem ’ s committee made the decision to go ahead , and the installation itself took place in October 2015 . Out went the club ’ s Samsung electronic cash register , and all the information about products , membership details etc . was uploaded to the new EPoS & Membership system .
Unusually , once the membership bar cards had arrived , the Bradford Salem members weren ’ t asked to load their cards with a minimum value , but instead were gently persuaded to start using them . “ We found to our surprise that the older members were much happier to start doing this ,” said Taylor , “ but once they saw this , the younger ones soon started to ‘ get it ’ and began to use their cards as well ! I ’ d say it ’ s now automatic for them , and being plastic , I think they ’ re also spending more as well . Plastic ’ s that much easier than finding enough cash in your pocket , once you get the hang of regularly putting money on your card first .”
He continued , “ We also found that once members started brandishing their new cards and using them , various people started coming forward to pay their annual subscriptions so that they could be seen to be using their cards as well ! The cards mean you ’ re a member , and if you don ’ t have one and aren ’ t using it at the bar , it ’ s fairly obvious what ’ s going on ! We ’ ve now increased our membership as a result …!”
Great way to fund the annual dinner event
“ There ’ s no doubt in our minds that the take up of their cards is widespread , but we ’ re also finding that our members are using the pre-pay system to save up for major events like our annual club dinner .” Taylor remarked , “ They ’ ll put £ 20 on each week or month long before the event in summer , as the thinking seems to be that come the event , with £ 100 + on their cards , the annual dinner dance is effectively a free night out , because they have enough money on their cards to pay for the tickets and all the drinks that ’ ll go with it . It ’ s a pity we can ’ t use the cards to pay for the taxis as well !”
Very helpful engineers , training and support from MHS Group
A crucial aspect of the new EPoS & Membership system was the efficiency of the installation , which only took a couple of days for the MHS Group engineers to transfer the old data onto the new software ’ s databases , and of course the training , as Taylor confirmed , “ The MHS Group engineers were – and still are – very helpful and accommodating . The installation itself was done in two phases , as the cards delivery had been delayed .”
“ I was concerned about our bar staff , as this was a big learning curve for them too , but in fact when they started using the new EPoS till , any concerns evaporated . They found the MHS Group touch screen till so easy and intuitive to use , it never occurred to them how restrictive the old Samsung cash register was .”
New promotional opportunities
One of the features in the new software is the ability to run special promotions , or to give bigger discounts to the bigger spenders . Taylor explains , “ Before , we never took advantage of the suppliers ’ special offers , but with the new software , now we can , and we ’ re making a point of asking them what ’ s coming up , so that we can plan for special promotions and tell our members that e . g . there ’ s going to be a special price on XX beer or whatever in a week or so ’ s time .”
He added , “ That adds to the perception of our members that the club ’ s working hard to do something special for them . What ’ s arguably even more important , is that now we will know exactly what we ’ re shifting , to the pint or bottle , so we will be able to see if a promotion ’ s actually successful or not .”
Great support , highly responsive
Once their new EPoS & Membership system was in operation , Taylor valued this aspect very highly , as he comments , “ MHS Group ’ s been very helpful . Both Stuart and Chris have responded to our every call , including out of hours and weekends . For a small club like ours that is a level of service that is highly valued - and rarely offered by most suppliers . We really admire that , and would not have fully appreciated how important this aspect is at the buying stages .”
He continues , “ Actually a key point for us was their pre-sales support . MHS Group never tried to push a sale onto us , rather they listened to our every question , concern and intended usage and guided us accordingly . We also wanted to use proximity cards rather than the standard mag swipe cards , and they helped us all the way with this .”
“ They also helped us avoid a potentially costly use of the system . We could have easily been pushed into buying another till for events , but they recommended we buy our own Windows-based Surface 2 touch screen lap top , which of course could carry the MHS Group EPoS software and so now we can use that as well on very busy occasions , and carry its Z reading across to the main EPoS till and software .”
Would you recommend this software to other rugby clubs ? “ Absolutely !”
Taylor ’ s comment was simple , “ Absolutely ! Any small club needs to make things as easy as possible to run itself efficiently , and that means knowing all your members have paid their subscriptions , and that all your bar sales are being accurately recorded and accounted for . That way , without too much trouble at all , you all know exactly where your club ’ s heading .” www . sportip . biz 5