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Turn your ball machine into a money machine

When it comes to generating revenue for your business, your ball machine should be throwing money at you like an ATM. If it’s not, then you may need some help turning your ball machine into a money machine.

Chances are you probably have a ball machine and an existing hourly rental program. We call this a “pay-to-play” program, where customers pay to train with the ball machine on a time-incremental basis. The national average for pay-to-play programs is $8 a half-hour and $12 an hour, averaging about $1,000 to $1,200 a year in total income from rentals.

Play to Play

Pay-to-play requires the customer to spend money each time he or she trains with the ball machine, causing them to budget their usage with the machine. The result is that customers often don’t utilize the ball machine as much as they should be, and they fail to realize the benefits the machine can provide. (However, the pay-to-play program still works well at resorts where customers cannot always find a game. In this situation, the customer is usually on vacation and does not mind paying a fee to work out on the unit.)

Ball-Machine Club

When you decide to buy a new machine — whether it’s because the current one has seen better days or you just want a machine with a few more features — you have a great opportunity to create a new program around it as well. One of the most effective programs to generate revenue is creating a “ball-machine club,” where customers purchase a pass to use the machine on an unlimited basis.

A ball-machine club allows a customer to utilize your machine more frequently without having to pay a per-usage charge. Once customers purchase a pass, it is up to them to schedule time with the machine so that they can get the most from their investment. When organized and marketed properly, this method generates an average of $3,000 to $4,000 annually. (See the section below for some examples of ball-machine club memberships, which should be able to accommodate your customers’ various needs.)

Demo days

Many clubs purchase a new ball machine with updated features and begin renting it out immediately, with no change in programming. You need to market your new ball machine, and create hype about it, even before it arrives.

For instance, one of the best methods for marketing a ball-machine club is to run a demo day that showcases the value of the machine. Get the rep from the ball-machine company to run the demo day, as he’s been trained on how properly to showcase the unit. You need to market the demo day with a sign-up sheet, handouts, and telemarketing to ensure attendance, then use the demo day to sell Platinum Ball Machine Club passes.

One quick way to see if you’re doing all you can to promote the use of your ball machine is to check the list of “Ball-Machine Club Makers or Breakers” below. How many “breakers” exist at your club?

Create a ball-machine club at your facility and properly promote the unit to players and your ball machine will become a money machine in no time.

Create a Ball-Machine Club for Your Players

The ball-machine club program outlined here may appear quite easy to implement, but proper organization and ongoing marketing are important to keep the club going. For more on smoothing the way for members to enjoy the club, see the list of “Ball-Machine Club Makers or Breakers” below. (Pricing is based on $12 per hour and $8 a half hour in the pay-to-play program.)

Platinum Charter Membership Card

Suggested price: $200 for two-year pass

This is the most prestigious membership and represents a charter or original ball-machine club member. Limit the spaces for Platinum members to guarantee exclusivity. It’s best to sell Platinum memberships at a demo day introducing your new ball machine. You can give this person special perks such as 48-hour sign-up instead of 24-hour, and they can renew for $125 annually instead of $150.

Gold One-Year Membership Card

Suggested price: $150 per year single membership; $175 for families up to three people; additional family members are $25 each

Offer the one-year Gold membership once the Platinum charter membership has been filled.

Frequent-User Punch Card

Suggested price: 10 punches for $100

This card is for players who do not wish to purchase a ball-machine club membership. Also, this card fills the void for customers looking to use the machine a limited number of times who are also seeking a value. Many times a customer is focusing on a single aspect of his game or is only in town for a limited period of time and cannot reap the benefits of an annual membership. Each punch should represent a normal usage increment.

Complimentary Daily Pass

Use this pass as a vehicle for selling ball-machine club memberships to customers in the lesson program, or to those who have never trained on the machine. After a lesson or when someone inquires about the ball machine, offer them a complimentary pass to try it, and make sure you explain the benefits of joining the ball-machine club.

Ball machine club makers or breakers

• The extension cord must be on a reel. Staff members will not promote the ball machine if it takes them a long time to set up. Members will not use the machine if it takes 15 minutes to untangle the cord.
• The pro must share in the revenue. Approximately 80 percent of all commercial ball machines are owned by the club. It is rare to see a successful ball-machine program where the pro does not share in the revenue. It is recommended that the pro purchase the ball machine because it is the most overlooked source of revenue.
• Ball-machine prescriptions. Once a lesson has concluded, give the student a ball-machine prescription drill to perform before their next lesson. The prescription should have the drill diagrammed on the court with ball-machine settings, target area, as well as the objective. The prescription drill also should be on paper so you can place a copy in the student’s player profile for review at the next lesson. This will accelerate your student’s progress while producing revenue from the ball-machine club. Also, like a prescription from a doctor, if they don’t take their medicine — or in this case perform their drill for the specified amount of time — they will not progress at their desired rate. If the player does not perform the drill, it places the burden of the student’s success more on the student than the pro.
• Sign-in and sign-out procedure. It’s important to have a sign-in and sign-out procedure. This will ensure that the remote control is returned each time the ball machine is used. You can also use this to monitor and calculate total hourly use of the unit.
• Use a ball mower to pick-up balls. It’s simple: People get tired of picking up balls long before they get tired of hitting them.
• Semi-annual clinic for ball-machine club members. On-going marketing is a key to continued success of the club. Give members new ideas for creating drills and emphasize the use of target areas during their workouts.
• Keep fresh balls in the ball machine. If you do not get enough ball turnover through programs (i.e. men’s day, ladies day, and tournaments), then it becomes price prohibitive to keep fresh balls in the machine. In this case, you may want to use pressureless balls.

From the June 2004 issue
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