Re-Starting Your Tennis Coaching Programmes After Lockdown

The time to prepare your business for the end of lockdown is as soon as lockdown begins. So if you haven’t been preparing, let’s start NOW.

Review your business

We’ve had lots of calls and messages about whether self-employment or limited company is best. Now may be a good time to review and read up on the pros and cons of your business set up.

Consider how you charge and collect your coaching fees and to review your pricing. Now could be the right time to move to direct debits or standing orders in preparation for the start of the summer term after Easter. It’s a quick and simple process with the banks, but you will need to plan your communication to customers and give them a chance to adapt to a new system
Do you have a budget? It’s hard to plan with all the uncertainty, but do you know how much money you need to make this year? Are your finances in order, with contingencies for tax and other business and personal

Tidy your customer database

When was the last time you did a database spring clean? Irrespective of how you keep track of your customer information – paper files or a tool like Mail Chimp – your data can become “messy”. You can even end up with customer records in paper format and in a database tool.

Lockdown is a great time to contact everyone to check you have the correct contact details for your customers. When people change their email address they often forget to tell you. You could do this by sending a short survey to everyone (there are many free survey packages available) asking everyone to confirm their key contact details including mobile number and email address. You are OK to contact customers that you coach to confirm their details but remember that GDPR regulations stipulate that you must not send customers marketing or salesy emails unless you have their permission to do so.
If you use a database tool like Mail Chimp, check that your customer tags, customer fields are appropriate and relevant. Ensure that you haven’t duplicated or confused any information. First names should all be in the first name field, surnames should all be in the last name field, you shouldn’t have a field for surnames and last names!

Update your website and social media account information

There’s nothing worse than an out-of-date website with information from 2 years ago! When was the last time your website had a spring clean? Check that every page has new and up to date content.

People expect to be fed a regular stream of social media content. Do you have a plan for updating your social media pages regularly? Now could be a great time to write a few of your posts in advance, possibly using a package such as Hootsuite, Buffer or MeetEdgar which allow you to post your content in advance on a specified date or time.
Can you create a countdown to being back on court in the month before lockdown ends? One month before, announce that you will soon be restarting. Include a weekly message with 3 weeks to go and 2 weeks to go, then with one week to go, places selling fast; last chance to book.
Take a look at your Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account details and profile to make sure that they are still correct and represent your business.

Check your professional accreditations

The last thing you want when you’re ready to go back and busy again is to discover that you didn’t renew your accreditations when you had the time.

When does your LTA Accreditation expire? Do you know? What about DBS, First Aid and Safeguarding? Now is the time to check everything is in date and that you have everything you need for renewal
Do you have the credits you need to renew your Accreditation. Have you read up on the new LTA Independent Learning as a way of earning some of your credits from your own independent study and reflection? If you are likely to be short of credits in the run-up to the renewal date, what’s your plan to get the credits you need?

Review the successes, challenges and plans for your programme

How successful was your programme in 2019 and the small parts of 2020 when you were able to get on court? Now is a great time to review the structure, format, content and pricing of your sessions, and to plan any changes you want to implement.

Do you have a marketing plan for the new term? Now could be a good time to design a new logo or some new marketing materials
Which sessions made a profit and which ones didn’t? Which ones need attention, more marketing or a review to make them achieve the objectives you have for the session? Are you tracking occupancy levels for each class, and do you know where there is spare capacity?
Which families could be persuaded to play twice a week? Arrange a call with each family and talk to them about playing more often. It’s far cheaper than trying to get new families in
What does your Easter and summer programme look like? What will you offer and how will it work?
Depending on how you organise your programme, you may have catch-up or refund sessions to do. You need to watch your income during this period, so plan carefully for the first few weeks otherwise you will be working hard but making little money
Have you kept in touch with your key schools? You may not have been able to go in to school for a while but make sure you are part of their plans for the summer term if you are allowed to visit

Keep staff engaged and ready for the get-go

If you have assistants or other coaches working for you, are they ready? Are they Accredited and do they have everything in place for a return to work?

When did you last meet with your team? If you haven’t already done so, plan some work and social activities online to get them re-engaged
Can you do any internal training with them to ensure they are upskilling during lockdown?

Customers

You will want to hit the ground running after lockdown, and many of your customers will be keen to start tennis again. Your customers need time to plan too, so help them to understand when and how you will be back helping them to play.

Ensure your retention levels are as close to 100% when you return by engaging with your customers now. You should have been in regular contact already, but if not, start now. Make a personal call to every customer to see how they are. Send them all an email announcing your plans for the return. Start engaging on social media and sending information and content to get them re-engaged.
If your customers are on a direct debit, you will need to restart or re-instate them. Did anyone cancel their direct debit at the start of lockdown? If so, make them your priority.

Your club venue

Don’t forget to ensure that your coaching venue is ready too! You need to be sure that the courts, clubhouse and facilities be available when you are ready to re-start?

Are you and your club committee communicating on the plans for a return to tennis? Have you been in regular contact during lockdown?
Have you agreed the new programme with them and the likely court allocations as you enter the busy summer term?
Have there been any changes to the committee during the break? If so, get to know new committee members and take time to develop a working relationship for when you restart.

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