How to find the right leisure management solution

Thought Leadership

With the leisure industry changing at an incredibly fast pace, you need a robust, flexible leisure management solution to operate effectively. But where do you start when looking for the right solution?

A lady on a running machine

Whether you are a leisure trust or a local authority managing facilities in your area, you need a leisure management solution that will allow you to manage all aspects of your facilities while keeping local communities engaged, healthy, and active.

It’s vital to invest in the right solution for your individual requirements and allow you to adapt and grow.

The secret is to find a leisure management solution that delivers the right benefits without wasting resources and time. It should not only tick all the boxes during procurement but should deliver on promises and provide tangible benefits.

There are five key criteria you need to consider when choosing the perfect leisure management solution for you.

1. Time and money savings

Arguably, the top thing to look out for is a solution that saves you time and money, both of which are more valuable than ever right now.

Legend has now joined the Crown Commercial Service’s G-Cloud framework agreement. As a public sector body, the G-Cloud framework allows you to simplify your procurement process, easily assess vendors using services and prices listed, and award new business contracts based upon pre-set terms and conditions.

Leisure centres and gyms choosing to work with Legend will be able to save time on their procurement and achieve value for money.

2. Customer experience

Another of the most important things to look for in a leisure management solution is the experience delivered to your customers and members. If the solution makes the customer journey easier and improves satisfaction, then you will not only attract more customers but will retain more too.

For example, self-service platforms mean that customers can manage memberships, bookings, and payments in one place. Working with a partner who focuses on user experience makes it easier for customers to make bookings and interact with their facilities.

Mobile apps, such as Legend’s Native App solution, allow customers and members to engage with your leisure centre in a way that is convenient for them. Being able to book a class or pay a membership bill with a swipe on a phone is a lot easier than having to ring up, or, even worse, come into your facilities.

This convenience means that a member doesn’t have to go out of their way to engage with you, instead getting 24/7 access to all news, booking, and membership information they need. This is likely to reduce attrition as members are more connected and involved and can manage their visits themselves. Plus the ability to provide streamed and on-demand classes and activities allow you to reach customers who cannot visit your facilities.

3. Business intelligence

Being able to analyse data is incredibly important for any type of organisation, and nowhere is this more true than for public sector leisure operators.

Proper business intelligence and analysis will allow you to spot any members who might be at risk of cancelling, any payments that are likely to default, and so much more.

Look for a leisure management solution that will allow for regular, up-to-date reporting so that you can deep-dive into your performance. Not only will this save you time (as you can easily pull appropriate data), but could also save you money in the long run by allowing you to identify and address irregular data points across a range of key performance indicators.

For example, Legend’s Active Outcomes solution allows our clients to track progress and report on referrals customers have had from GPs and other healthcare providers as part of a treatment plan. Leisure operators can then use this data to measure success, improve applications for central funding, and better convert referral members to full-time members.

What’s more, you should be looking for an end-to-end solution which provides everything in one place. Working with one supplier for software, membership payments, and value-added services means that you have one single database. Removing reliance on integrations or uploads from other solutions or systems ensures your data is always up-to-date and creates a single-source of truth.

4. Easy technology migration

It’s likely you’ll already have a solution or solutions in place for managing your leisure facilities. The right provider will make migrating an easy and straightforward process.

Often, a new leisure management solution will be a real upgrade to your last. Your new provider will make switching stress-free, carefully managing all aspects of migration and implementation with no downtime, including:

  • Producing new front of house software for sites
  • Improving and migrating back end systems such as membership hubs
  • Moving infrastructure to a new IT platform and networks
  • Implementing a more modern technology solution

A smooth migration will save not only time, but also money. Substantial cost savings are a huge benefit to a modern, more reliable service.

5. Partnership

Finally, you need to look for a provider who will work in partnership with you. No organisation, leisure centre, or gym is the same, and so choosing a Leisure Management Solution that can be subtly adapted to your needs to key.

You should also look for a supplier that’s able to offer you 24/7 support, so that if the worst happens then you can get back to normal as quickly as possible, even outside of office hours. Central management is key for this; having everything in one place means that you don’t need to worry about contacting several suppliers and getting everything sorted at once. Take the stress away by choosing an LMS that manages everything for you through one core, central platform.

Legend is the leading software solution for leisure operators of all sizes and types. We’re committed to driving improvements in every area of your business, from designing effective leisure management software to delivering savings and revenue gains. It’s our job help make things as simple as possible for our clients to run their business.

Xplor Fitness & Wellbeing

We offer innovative and configurable software solutions for customers of all sizes, from personal trainers and coaches, to boutique fitness and wellbeing studios, gyms, health clubs, leisure centers, parks and recreation centers, fitness communities, clubs and federations.

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