Tennis coaches often find themselves struggling to book more clients or keep their clients booking consistently. If you’re working with a club or private group you’re lucky, for everyone else they have to manage not only their time effectively but also worry about boosting their exposure.
How can you book more practice sessions, bring in more clients, and be sure you’re giving the best quality of coaching you can? Well, proper time management with a time booking app is the start and we have some great techniques for you to make a part of your day!
Accelerate Your Players Rate of Learning
Often we see players, or people who are newly interested in the sport, take a few lessons and then play on their own. Why do we see this more in tennis than other sports? Well, tennis is deceptively not simple. But it appears to be which makes many new players feel that as soon as they get the basics they don’t need a coach.
By accelerating your player’s rate of learning and introducing them to more complex areas of the game quickly you can bring more consistent bookings into your schedule. The object is to avoid new players feeling like they’ve learned “enough” to get by. This should ensure that you have more repeat clients booking practice sessions!
Turn Tasks into Habits
It’s easy for any practice session to begin with a few warm-ups and then head off into the most difficult area to improve development. However, this formula makes the warm-ups a habit only for the first few minutes of practice.
Turning tasks into habits can accomplish a few things:
- Increases player confidence in fundamentals
- Provides a break between difficult swing and footing work that can become frustrating.
- Allows the player to feel more accomplished between tasks, as these can be accomplished without much focus.
- Gives you talk time without stopping the practice. You can discuss key points of improvement and areas to work on while doing basic warm-up drills in the middle of practice.
Make Time for Questions Before You Start!
Players want a coach that they know will be able to answer any question. So, you as a coach have probably spent years trying to determine how to answer questions quickly and stay on task. It is a struggle unique to coaches alone!
Here are a few ideas to minimize the number of questions you experience during practice:
- Offer specific office hours
- Host a “Frequently Asked Questions” board (either physical or digital) and respond at a time that is convenient for you.
- Open the practice to any questions your player might have for a few minutes before, and after practice.
Allowing your player to ask you questions before and/or after practice doesn’t just let you make sure they leave without questions. It gives you time to build your relationship with your client and instills a sense that they are more important than running off to your next practice. The only word of caution here is to schedule a ten or fifteen-minute buffer between clients so you don’t accidentally overlap!
Apps to Make Time More Manageable
Technology has made so much more of our time accessible, we can literally accomplish things in our sleep! But, it can also seem like managing the many programs, apps and software options can be a huge time waste in and of itself!
What is worth your time to use? Check out this quick list for some ideas:
- Buffer – Allows you to schedule and post on many social media outlets at once. Use this app to boost your exposure, and reach new clients!
- Toggl – An app that manually tracks time. Useful in practice but also while you are attending to your players between practice. Identify which of your clients demand more time for questions or interaction and you can cater to them from there.
- Time Slot Pro – The TimeSlotPro app helps your clients and your business. Use your TSP calendar link to boost your client’s use of the app.
Time Slot Pro allows clients to book practice sessions and pay! Two administrative duties off your plate means more time with your clients.