tables in the dining room for themselves and their guests . Because the cards recognise the different categories , a Gold member ’ s table booking privileges can automatically be tracked and recorded through the system , instead of each booking requiring a book of 15 tickets for each Gold member to tear off and hand over .
As Martin ’ s keen to explain , “ That led to another way in which MHS Group tailored our software for our particular set of requirements . Our bar and catering supplier wanted to keep their business separate from ours , so MHS Group set us up with shared diaries and separate booking systems to facilitate that degree of commercial separation .”
Online top up via a member ’ s smartphone
Martin ’ s particularly pleased with this new membership service , as he reflects : “ Topping up a bar card is a great example of the way we can now exploit the latest in online technology to make things much easier for our members . Because our members can now use their cards to load money into their account , all they need to bring to the club is literally their Henley RUFC card . And if they need to put more money into it , no problem .”
“ This capability also means they can pay their annual subscriptions online , or simply top up whenever they need to add more money to their account to pay for that table booking , an event or function , or the next round . They use their smartphone to go to our web-based membership portal , go into their account , use the online payment feature ( Stripe ) to pay another amount into their Henley RUFC account , and that ’ s it .”
Streamlining the admin side of the club
Making it easy to pay in and top up means more money is being spent at the club by more members . And on the administrative side , things are equally switched on .
With all the regulatory and RFU pressure on clubs to ensure that every relevant detail of their playing members is documented and auditable , the club ’ s new membership database software is proving ideal at capturing all the details required .
“ It ’ s now a pretty simple matter for me to see all sorts of things : who ’ s joined recently , how much members are spending , what bar products are the most popular , or how effective a promotion has been . It means we can now make sure we ’ ve got every detail we are required to hold about every one of our playing members , and comply 100 % with the RFU ’ s own very comprehensive and onerous database requirements .”
What ’ s next for Henley RUFC ’ s members ?
Martin ’ s very excited by the new possibilities that having the latest MHS Group technology affords the club , as he outlines : “ With MHS Group , we ’ re able to almost future-proof the club . We ’ ve completed the first stage of development in terms of our new technology , and have plans for another EPoS till as well . With the newly refurbished clubhouse there are all sorts of other ideas bubbling away .
“ We want to have stewards using tablets at the point of gate access so they can check the validity of anyone coming to our club on match days , whatever their category of membership – or not ! Wifi proximity could give us the ability to send members welcome messages when they arrive with their guests for pre-match lunches at their prebooked tables . Simple , but it makes Henley RUFC look very switched on .”
Martin summarises , “ Almost overnight our little club is as 21st century as anyone would want it to be , while retaining all the characteristics our members love : very friendly , sociable , human scale .”
As the club starts to find ways of both retaining and increasing its membership , the feedback from all the members that have started using all these new technologydriven capabilities has been terrific , and the bottom line ’ s improving as well . It is proof that Martin ’ s mantra of ‘ Work smarter , not harder !’ is really paying dividends for Henley RUFC , both now and well into the future .
Better still , all relevant details of the club ’ s 422 ( currently ) mini and Junior members are being passed on to all the team coaches for their own databases , teams and matches , making this aspect far less onerous and laborious , especially for Martin as the club ’ s membership secretary .
“ Using technology makes it far easier for crucial things like forms as PDF downloads for the coaches to provide to the ‘ responsible parents ’ to sign , and then be co-signed by the club . Now it ’ s significantly easier for us to manage complex administration requirements made increasingly detailed with additional ethnicity , medical and disability requirements .” www . sportip . biz 7