August 2004 -- Many people are familiar with balance sheets. Using a program balance sheet can help make things a little easier and your programs more successful. It will help you and your staff sell the program by emphasizing the positives and finding answers or solutions for the negatives.
Let’s take a look at an example. It is for a Sunday afternoon tennis mixer. A balance sheet is set up for potential participants, i.e. we’re going to list all the positives and negatives that your members may have with regards to this program.
Sunday afternoon tennis mixer
Positives
- Meet new people
- Something to do with spouse
- Fun
- Exercise – beginners
- Can eat at the club afterward
- Guaranteed matches (I don’t have to call anyone)
- It’s outside (fresh air)
- Can try new racquets, shop, etc.
Negatives
- Miss TV sports
- Won’t get any exercise – advanced players
- Play with different abilities
- No baby sitter
Now let’s try to find some solutions to the “negatives.”
Miss TV sports – If you don’t have a TV at your tennis center you could possibly arrange to have one for that day. Of course, you could also tape the game and the winner of your mixer gets the tape first.
No exercise – You could offer
free or half-price ball machine use or drills before or after the mixer to those players attending the event. Or you could provide a warm-up clinic before the event.
Play with different abilities – You could use a team format with each team having different level abilities and have those levels play each other. Or, you could try to make sure that the players who are concerned with this would play most of their matches against similar abilities. So if your mixer is three rounds, they will play two rounds with competitive players. You could also handicap the better players.
No baby sitter – You could arrange for baby-sitting, set up movies, offer a Little Tennis
®
junior clinic, etc.
Now you and your staff have some solutions to the potential negatives for this program. It will become a lot easier for your staff to promote and to fill the event. Of course, you and your staff also want to emphasize the positives when promoting this or any program.
