3 Ways to Promote Your Tennis Programs to Existing Club Members

In today's blog post we will talk about a few ways to promote a tennis program to one specific marketing group - your existing clients. Customer acquisition is more expensive than retaining existing tennis customers. According to data from Forrest Research, it is actually 5 times more expensive than keeping the current customers as clients! 

Engaging with existing tennis customers is not only cheaper, but it is also easier to promote to them - they already know you and have first-hand experience with your tennis programs. So, you can skip the step where you educate them about your brand, try to convince them to go with you instead of competition. 

So how do you convince your existing tennis clients to keep buying from you? Try the following 3 steps to get more repeat customers.  

Step 1. Be proactive and always exceed expectations

This sounds pretty self-explanatory, but it is much easier said than done. Every task or situation should be viewed as an opportunity to go above and beyond what is expected by your tennis customer. This is the attitude that will help you bring new people to your club. 

As a tennis coach, it is easy to step on the court, teach a forehand, run basket drills, and have the student play at the end. But exceeding expectations could mean knowing the student’s goal, to begin with (e.g. they came to your group lesson because they want to learn to hit a topspin forehand) and then personally following up a few lessons later to see whether they are happy with the progress and what adjustments are needed. 

Another way to exceed clients’ expectations could be providing additional resources for them - e.g. a reading material or a video to watch outside of lesson time or helping a client find a hitting partner. If what you do gives your client the “wow” factor, it means you are exceeding the expectations. If you have this step down, promoting a tennis program to your existing clients should be a breeze. 

Step 2. Start loyalty and referral programs

How to use tennis customer loyalty to grow

There are a few loyalty marketing strategies you can use to keep your tennis customers sticking around for as long as possible.

• Solicit feedback 

When your clients try your tennis programs they will surely have an opinion about it and that information is very helpful to you. Listening to customers' feedback is the best way to figure out how to improve your program and potential reasons for clients leaving.

Typically people provide feedback when things are going wrong, so it is best to not get defensive, but listen carefully instead. If you have no immediate solution, you can also tell them you will get an answer and follow up with them in a day or two. 

To get the feedback you could use surveys or ask for a review. Before you do so, make sure you give them enough time to get to know you and your program. Also, do not ask when they are in a rush or the middle of something important. 

• Celebrate your most loyal customers and ambassadors 

When you get great feedback from a customer (e.g. if they write a nice social media review or post a picture and tag your business in it), find a way to make them feel special. If publicly supporting you gives them something nice in return, they will do it again and gladly tell their friends about it and your brand!

• Incentivize repeat business with a tennis reward program

A reward program gives customers a sense of exclusivity. You could offer a free stringing service after they have given you their racket to string 10 times, a free 30-minute lesson if they purchase a lesson package, a cute tennis gift or birthday promotion. This will keep them connected to your business.  

How to use tennis customer referrals to grow

A business can rarely survive on just its existing customers, so a referral program is a great way to add new clients to your tennis program.  

When a potential client is looking for tennis lessons, who do you think they ask for a recommendation? Most likely a friend or family. They would also look online for reviews. 

A referral is when one person recommends a business, product, or service to another. This word-of-mouth can be a steady stream of new customers and income for your tennis business. 

Referral programs reward those who bring new members to your tennis club. It is an incredible way to get more people through the door and build your membership. Believe it or not, but many tennis coaches get 95% of their clients through referrals. 

How to get referrals or great reviews from your clients:

1. For you to receive referrals, you must offer exceptional products and services. 
2. You must remind them to do so because even the happiest clients will not always remember to mention your name or tennis business. 
3. Create an official referral program with a catchy headline to grab your tennis customers’ attention (e.g. “Refer a friend & get $15”).  
4. Offer clear and attractive rewards or incentives. Explain the benefits clearly and give your customers a clear call to action. Referral incentives could be gifts, discounts, or even cash. Consider who your clients are and what reward they would enjoy most. 
5. Figure out how to tell people about it. Is it in person on the tennis court in the last 2 minutes of the lesson? Will you send out an email? Either way, you must tell people if you want them to know about it and start referring people to you. You should start with your best customers first. 
6. Make it easy for people to refer. If your customers have to jump through hoops to send a referral to you, this marketing effort will not work. Using software to track referrals is ideal - for example, Affiliatly (affiliate link). Affiliatly is most convenient for an online store or website where payments are processed, but it can be used for tracking referrals manually too. You will simply give your customers a link or a coupon code that they can share with their friends and family. There are also some low-tech methods of referral sharing - print referral flyers or business cards. 
7. Track your referrals, analyze results, and give your customers what you owe. A referral program software is the most automated and easiest way to do so. https://www.affiliatly.com?aff=984 

Step 3. Run a contest or promotion

This is a very common way to reach and engage with tennis customers. Why? Because people love winning prizes! 

Some may think that running contests cost a lot, but that is not always the case. You do not have to spend a lot of money to effectively engage consumers with a contest. Below we will list a few fun ideas for competitions you can create for your tennis business to build customer engagement and reach more new clients. 

• Social media quizzes and puzzles 

If you have been following our previous blogs, you will know to make posts that are beyond your products and service - for example, tennis industry trends, news, and events. Those types of posts will keep your social media followers interested and entertained. 

You can give vouchers that can be used for lessons, products you sell, or membership fees. Make those quizzes or puzzles fun and people will share them. 

For example, you can ask people to share their favorite tennis photos with and use a specific hashtag, or tag your tennis business on social media when they bring their non-member friend to one of your tennis club’s events. 

• Organize a company-relates challenge 

Create a club challenge that allows your existing customers to participate. For example, when running a new event, provide your customers with an idea for format or flyer design and ask them to pick their favorite one.  

• Run a contest that is tied to one of your club events

To begin and build anticipation, ask your followers on social media what they want as a prize (you can make a poll and list a few options). You can do the same on your website or in an email newsletter by using Google Forms. 

Conclusion

Promoting a tennis program to existing clients is easier and cheaper than trying to reach a new crowd. Try these 3 steps listed above and see how your existing clients will start supporting you even more!