There are countless opportunities to develop additional programs within your soccer club outside of the regular team options. With the creativity to spot an opportunity, a well thought out curriculum and some good marketing, you could be running six weeks of Spectacular Goalscoring Clinics across your club tomorrow.
Ideas tend not to be the hardest part. With any new idea comes a lot of enthusiasm. We are desperate to come up with the name of the program, maybe experimenting with a logo. Facilities have been called and we have done our basic math to determine that if we get 20 attending we are covering costs and making some profit too. We are so obsessed with developing our shiny new product that we forget to analyze whether it will actually be successful.
These seven questions will help guide your decision making and avoid the perils of confirmation bias before you commit resources to a new program.
Have you done this in previous years? In different facilities? Is another organization doing it? Proof of concept is a significant indicator of whether your program will work or not. It also gives you a good indication that if you are failing, it might not be the idea that is the issue.
It is easy to blame external factors when something does not work, but perhaps it is the sales, marketing, or positioning of the program that needs improving.
This is a double-edged sword. A "yes" may mean there is a gap in the market you can exploit and provide something for players outside your membership that they cannot get in their own organization. On the flip side, a "no" could also be a positive, given that if other clubs are successfully operating a similar program, you should be able to get in on the action too.
The "yes" answer needs to be evaluated thoroughly in the event the answer to question one is a "no." Ask yourself why no one else has done or is doing this.
It is easier to sell more to an existing customer than doing the work to find new ones. If you can layer your program to provide supplemental opportunities to those already converted to your brand, chances are this will be a winner.
The key thing to note is that you provide value to the families and not just another excuse for them to write a check. For example, offering a third session a week on technique or speed and agility for those who want more than the regular amount is a good example of providing something that folks might want that you cannot regularly put in your existing registration fees.
There is no such thing as a free lunch, but sometimes there is a free half or quarter of a field. If this is already bought and paid for then you are effectively only paying coaching expenses. Additionally, if the program is run with a town association or recreation department, your expenses will be significantly reduced.
Some programs require prime field real estate. Technical training might need a turf field. A striker clinic needs a goal and enough space to shoot into it. Factor these requirements into your planning.
Start by looking at your existing schedules and see if there is a gap anywhere. Maybe Coach A runs practice from 6:15 to 7:30 but Coach B and his team are on the fields at 5:00. Can you use that spare quarter of a field? This might be an opportunity to give Coach B some extra hours.
Then consider the opportunity cost. What else could your staff be doing? This may not even be related to coaching. Someone may be required to chase up delinquent registrations, get pass cards ready for the weekend, take marketing photos or video, or run a guest session at a local recreation program.
What will it take to figure out the answer to the previous question? You need to run the numbers. Calculate your total costs - coaching, facilities, equipment, marketing - and determine how many registrations you need to break even and then turn a profit.
Be conservative with your enrollment estimates. It is better to plan for 12 players and be pleasantly surprised at 20 than to budget for 20 and scramble when only eight show up.
Put yourself into the future. Six weeks down the line, you have got no registrations. How did this happen? Get the group together and come up with some reasons why. At this stage you are dealing with absolutes, so it is not even a situation where you consider what might go wrong. You have to get creative and figure out how it did go wrong.
A lot of failures come from figuring out what really was the hard part. It is not always ideas, or presentation, or even marketing copy. It also might not be related to coaching consistency or facilities. For many clubs, the issue is a small database and lack of sales culture - sending emails out, posting photos online, and just hoping people show up.
A pre-mortem allows you to consider failure at a time when enthusiasm and excitement tend to cloud judgment. It should be a major part of all your planning processes.
These seven questions will not guarantee success, but they will help you avoid the most common pitfalls. If you are in a position where you are struggling to fill programs, focus on the fundamentals: partnerships, direct sales calls, and delivering the best possible experience for your existing customers so they spread the message via word of mouth. That should always be your number one consideration.