If you've been in business for any length of time, you've probably noticed that other people don't seem to care about your business as much you do. Not a massive surprise, right?But the question is, how should you react to it? In this episode I propose 3 ideas to help you navigate this issue. HINT: the solution isn't to try and force other people to care.You can read the transcript for this episode here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/no-one-cares-about-your-business-as-much-as-you-doAnd you can check out the Academy here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/academy

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard coaches and club managers say something along the lines of “word-of-mouth is the only marketing we need”.Well, I think they’re wrong. In fact, unless they’re in the 1% of clubs and coaches in the world, they should definitely be proactive with their marketing and not rely on word-of-mouth alone.In this episode I explain exactly why word-of-mouth isn’t enough and what you should be doing instead.You can read the transcript for this episode here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/word-of-mouth-isnt-enoughAnd you can check out the Academy here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/academy

What you do on-court is crucial to the success of your tennis club or business. No doubt about it. But there are also a million other things that you need to do off-court in order to make your tennis business or club successful.In this episode I cover 31 of these off-courts tasks that are important to get done to ensure the success and longevity of your tennis venture.You can read the transcript for this episode here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/31-things-you-need-to-do-offcourt-to-create-a-successful-tennis-businessAnd you can check out the Academy here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/academy

How much is each player worth to you and your tennis coaching programme or club?And I don't mean from a sentimental or subjective point of view. I mean from an objective $ or £ perspective. Building strong, longstanding relationships with players is key for the success of any tennis club or coaching business. And the best objective measure of how successful you are at building these types of relationships is customer lifetime value. In this episode I explain what customer lifetime value is, why it's important to track it and how to actually calculate it.You can read the transcript for this episode here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/player-lifetime-valueAnd you can check out the Academy here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/academy

In our industry, player retention is key. We all know this and work towards keeping people in the sport for life and ideally at our clubs and coaching programmes for years or even decades.But from my experience, even though we know that player retention is important, most of us don't measure it consistently. So, in this episode I address this. I will show you how easy it is to measure customer retention by measuring two simple metrics: customer churn and average customer lifespan.You can read the transcript for this episode here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/measuring-player-retentionAnd you can check out the Academy here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/academy

Email marketing can be a very powerful tool to help build better customer journeys while at the same time bringing people closer to your world and help them develop a sense of community and loyalty towards you and your tennis coaching business or club.In this episode I go through a step-by-step guide that covers everything you need to know to get the email marketing system for your tennis coaching business or club set up.You can read the transcript for this episode here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/email-marketing-part-3-the-step-by-step-guideAnd you can check out the Academy here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/academy

Email marketing can be a very powerful tool to help build better customer journeys while at the same time bringing people closer to your world and help them develop a sense of community and loyalty towards you and your tennis coaching business or club.In this episode I answer cover the 6 basic components that you'll need to set up in order to be able to use email marketing effectively for your coaching programme and/or club.You can read the transcript for this episode here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/email-marketing-part-2-the-6-basic-components-you-need-to-know-aboutAnd you can check out the Academy here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/academy

Here in England we're counting down the days to go back on-court. So, now is the last chance to finish off the last few important tasks before we get extremely busy throughout the summer.With that in mind I thought it was appropriate to re-run the most popular episode of the podcast which covers 21 things that we could all be doing to move our coaching programmes and clubs forward while we not as busy on-court!This episode was originally recorded in November of 2020.You can read the transcript for this episode here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/21-things-you-could-be-doing-during-the-lockdown-re-releaseAnd you can check out the Academy here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/academy

Email marketing can be a very powerful tool to help build better customer journeys while at the same time bringing people closer to your world and help them develop a sense of community and loyalty towards you and your tennis coaching business or club.In this episode I answer some of the most common questions that I get about email marketing, like for example: "What email marketing tool should I use?" and "What types of emails should I send to players and when?"You can read the transcript for this episode here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/email-marketing-basics-for-tennis-coaches-and-clubsAnd you can check out the Academy here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/academy

A big part of why I enjoy discussing and talking about business is because I've always seen it as a game, just like tennis. But I appreciate that a lot of people don't see it that way.In this episode I make the case that business is indeed a lot like tennis and I cover 19 different ways that show this is true. If you've never felt like business was your 'thing', I hope that after listening to this episode you'll pause and consider that maybe business can be interesting and fun, as long as you look at it from the right perspective.You can read the transcript for this episode here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/19-ways-running-a-business-is-just-like-playing-tennisAnd you can check out the Academy here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/academy

Any decent tennis player knows that winning a match isn’t about hitting fancy shots every once in a while. It’s about staying consistent throughout the whole match.And the same idea applies to running your business or club. Winning at business isn't about doing lots of things all at once. It's about finding a little bit of time to work on what matters every single week, so that you can incrementally improve the organisation and make it more successful.In this episode I cover this idea in detail and give examples of how it can be applied in real-life.You can read the transcript for this episode here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/finding-consistency-offcourtAnd you can check out the Academy here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/academy

Do you have lots of happy players playing in your coaching programme or club? I bet that you do. But do you have lots of customer testimonials that prove to other people that you do indeed have happy players? If you do, then you can skip this episode altogether. But if you don't, make sure to listen to it as I will explain why social proof is so important, how you can get good customer testimonials and where you should then showcase these for maximum effect. It's all very simple, but it has the potential to help you bring more people into your programme and/or club.You can read the transcript for this episode here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/the-importance-of-customer-testimonialsAnd you can check out the Academy here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/academy

What do you sell? If you're a coach or a club manager and answered that question by saying tennis lessons or club memberships then you're right and wrong at the same time.At the surface level that's definitely what you sell. But I'm sure that you'll agree that you provide much more than just 'tennis lessons' and 'club memberships'.In this episode I go through 72 different benefits of playing tennis and how you can use those to help you sell what you do. I also give you some real-life examples of how you can use these benefits in your coaching programme or club.You can read the transcript for this episode here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/72-different-ways-to-sell-tennisAnd you can check out the Academy here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/academy

Websites can and should play a crucial role in helping you sell what you do. But unfortunately, in the tennis industry there are many more terrible websites than there are effective ones. I know because I've spent the last few years looking through hundreds of them!In this episode I go through the 7 key sections that you must have on your tennis website if it's going to be effective in selling what you and your business or club do.You can read the transcript for this episode here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/the-7-sections-you-must-have-on-your-tennis-websiteAnd you can check out the Academy here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/academy

Websites can and should play a crucial role in helping you sell what you do. But unfortunately, in the tennis industry there are many more terrible websites than there are effective ones. I know because I've spent the last few years looking through hundreds of them!In this episode I cover the pages that you actually need to add to your coaching or club website to make it effective. HINT: You probably need fewer pages than you think you need.You can read the transcript for this episode here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/the-pages-you-need-on-your-tennis-websiteYou can download the Ultimate Business Checklist for Tennis Coaches and Clubs here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/business-checklistAnd you can check out the Academy here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/academy

Websites can and should play a crucial role in helping you sell what you do. But unfortunately, in the tennis industry there are many more terrible websites than there are effective ones. I know because I've spent the last few years looking through hundreds of them!In this episode I cover the number one thing that you need to get right if you're going to have any chance of building a website that will help you sell what you do effectively. It's something simple, but that gets overlooked on almost every tennis website that I've seen in my research.You can read the transcript for this episode here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/the-number-1-thing-you-must-get-right-with-your-tennis-websiteYou can download the Ultimate Business Checklist for Tennis Coaches and Clubs here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/business-checklistAnd you can check out the Academy here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/academy

Coaches play a key role in the success of any coaching programme. So, if you're in charge of the programme you should probably create a system that allows you to measure their performance so you know who is doing well and who might need more support.In this episode I cover 7 different metrics you should consider tracking to measure coach performance objectively.You can read the transcript for this episode here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/7-ways-to-measure-coach-performanceYou can download the Ultimate Business Checklist for Tennis Coaches and Clubs here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/business-checklistAnd you can check out the Academy here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/academy

Retaining customers for the long term is key for the success of any coaching programme.In this episode I explain why and provide 9 ideas that you can implement into your coaching programme to increase player retention.You can read the transcript for this episode here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/9-ways-to-increase-player-retention-in-your-coaching-programmeYou can download the Ultimate Business Checklist for Tennis Coaches and Clubs here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/business-checklistAnd you can check out the Academy here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/academy

There are 2 main payment models used in coaching programmes: the course by course model and the direct debit model.In this episode I break both of them down and explain why I think that the direct debit model is better.I also cover the 2 simple reasons why I couldn't imagine running my coaching programme any way other than through direct debits.You can read the transcript for this episode here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/5-reasons-why-direct-debit-is-a-better-payment-model-for-your-tennis-coaching-programmeYou can download the Ultimate Business Checklist for Tennis Coaches and Clubs here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/business-checklistAnd you can check out the Academy here: https://www.tennisbusinessacademy.com/academy

I get asked about the software I use on my coaching business a LOT! So I thought I'd record a podcast episode to answer this question for everyone at the same time.You can read the transcript for this episode by clicking here.And you can check out the Academy here.

Tracking the right metrics for your coaching programme consistently is key to understanding exactly how your sessions are performing, as well as being able to make decisions that are based on facts, instead of just instinct.In this episode I delve into the 7 key metrics you need to be tracking for your tennis coaching programme.During this episode I mention episode number 9 which you can access by clicking here.You can read the transcript for this episode by clicking here.And you can check out the Academy here.

When used right customer surveys can be an invaluable tool for your coaching business and/or club.In my own tennis coaching business I run surveys every 6 months to ensure that we're staying on top of what customers are thinking. In this episode I will walk you through the 6 steps that we use to run customer surveys in our own business and explain exactly how and why we do it in the way that we do.After listening to this episode you'll have a simple blueprint for how to run an effective customer survey that you can apply directly to your business or club.

In this episode David explores the idea that of spending time thinking and working like a CEO vs spending time thinking and working like an employee. He explains the differences between CEO mode and employee mode, and why you should definitely do your best to carve out some time for CEO mode as this will allow you to take a step back from the business/club and think about the bigger picture.At the end of the day the employee mode is absolutely crucial for the day-to-day workings of the business/club, but without a CEO to set the direction for the organisation then the business will never be as successful as it can.

Copywriting is probably the most important thing you're doing for your coaching programme or club without being aware that you're doing it.Every time you write an email, a FB ad, a flyer, etc. with the purpose of trying to sell something, you're writing copy. Whether you're aware of it or not.And in this episode I cover why copywriting is so important and I share 3 simple things you can do to elevate your copy to the next level.

In this episode, David discusses 9 proven marketing channels you can use to attract new players to your coaching programme or club.None of these 9 channels are special. And they're also definitely not the only ways to attract new players. But they're the most common ones. And they're common, because they've been proven to work over and over again. Which is why we keep using them.So, this episode isn’t about giving you fantastic and ground breaking ideas that maybe will work or maybe won’t work. My goal was to curate a list of ideas that you can come back to whenever you want to set up your efforts to attract new players and be sure that if you implement initiatives using these channels, you're likely to get good results for your coaching programme or club.Hope it's useful to you!

An offer is what you put in front of people to try and persuade them to give tennis at your club or coaching programme a go. And having a great and compelling offer is paramount to getting new players on-court for 2 main reasons: 1 - it will help you stand-out in a very competitive market and 2 - it will knock people off the fence and get them to sign-up now rather than continuing delaying, potentially forever.In this episode of the podcast I discuss the 4 main ways in which you can go about designing a great offer for your club or coaching programme so that you too can attract new players. They're not fancy or complicated. But if used right they definitely work!

England has gone its second lockdown. And while that undoubtedly sucks, the last thing we should do is just sit around waiting for the lockdown to end. That’s just not the best use of time right now.Instead, we should find ways to move our businesses and clubs forward that will allow us to be in a better position when the lockdown ends than when we entered into it.With that in mind, and with the help of the Academy members, I’ve compiled a list of 21 things that you could be doing to move your tennis coaching business or club forward over the next few weeks, even while you’re not allowed on-court.

In the last instalment of the podcast I covered why I think Facebook Ads are really worth your time and money, but I didn't really explain how to go about creating a good Facebook Ad. This episode takes a care of that! In it I go through the 3 things that you must get right in order to create a successful Facebook Ad. Follow these 3 ideas and you'll be 80% of the way there to creating a Facebook Ad that works.

If you know me, you know that I believe Facebook Ads are one of the best marketing tools available to us. I've been speaking about them for years now! And that's because one, they work and two we are still not using them all that much in our industry. And I think that's a huge missed opportunity.In this episode I cover the 5 main reasons why you should definitely consider running Facebook Ads for your tennis coaching programme or club.

Often we focus solely on what happens on-court and while that's definitely important, it's not enough.If we want to remain competitive, and keep attracting people to our sport we need to think about business. We need to spend time and effort learning all these off-court skills that are paramount to make any organisation work well. Skills like customer service, marketing, sales, management, leadership, negotiation and many, many others.In this episode I explain why I believe this and what we can do about it.