Tag: Industries

The Top 5 Advantages of Gun Range Management Software

The Top 5 Advantages of Gun Range Management Software

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So you own a gun range facility and are considering management software. You’ve probably come across several names. Have you found a support system hub of guides to read? Instructional videos to digest at your time and live monthly webinars to engage with about questions regarding your shooting range facility? We welcome you to learn all that and more.

illustration of desktop computer and mobile phone

5. Access Control and A Secure Processing System:

What that means:

You have software that is simultaneously optimized to your needs and operations and runs securely for both you and your clients.

An efficient gun range facility requires resourceful range scheduling software. By turning your management strategy into a streamlined model of operations, you consolidate all your objectives into one accessible hub of control. Of course, good, organized control doesn’t happen without solid safety measures enforced. Safety is both an imperative and undervalued aspect to a successful facility. Without it, EZFacility wouldn’t be here writing this very article. Our commitment to safety and security is important. That’s why we teamed up with the merchant processing company CSI -CC Secure and facility access control business Brivo, to provide the best security and safety for your business. Some of these features include the following.

With CSI-CC Secure: Merchant Processing:

  • Ensured client data safety and a seamless purchasing experience.
  • Schedules automatic credit card, ACH (Automated Clearing House) and EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) payments for memberships, rentals and more.
  • Accepts Major Credit Cards

We highly recommend evaluating your current processing rates at least once a year. You may choose to speak to our experts for a complimentary consultation.

With Brivo-Facility Access Control:

  • Built-in Card-Fraud Guard ensures one entry per swipe
  •  Alerts indicating invalid facility access attempts
  • Assigned resource specific controls to differentiate access for staff
  • Stay in Control. Read Our Guide that covers security of Access Control

Staying PCI compliant is important! You can always learn more about the standards of computer safety from our blog team.

4. All-Out Objective Aptitude:

What that means:

A business management solution that’s better organized and more tailored to your strategy of operation guarantees task proficiency.

A better-organized business means daily tasks made simple. Integrate your staff plan with a schedule that’s both easy to access, digest and change quickly. Features such as creating customized categories, drag and drop operations, and a built-in conflict resolution capability system that eliminates the chance of double bookings are pivotal for any shooting range management system.

Recently, we debuted our updated Package Plans feature to help clients save huge amounts of time when it comes to selling packages to their members. We invite you to watch our webinar detailing this new feature update at our Resource Guide To Package Plans blog

green and black bullseye

3. Ever Expanding Resource Pool

What That Means:

Conveniently accessible growing support

You own a gun range facility and are considering management software. You’ve probably come across several names. Have you found a support system hub of guides to read? Instructional videos to digest at your time and live monthly webinars to engage with about questions regarding your shooting range facility? Seamless means consistent. So, it would be rather silly for a seamless management software to not have a seamless support system at your access. We welcome you to learn all that you may wish to indulge at our support center.

The seamless process of any management software keeps on elevating, evolving into a better format for their users. We abide to that philosophy of an ever-growing business model. EZFacility never stops growing and neither will its resource pool.

2. A Flourishing Community

simplified illustration of two people

What that means:

Independent clients who can personalize their experience by your standards are satisfied clients.

Here’s an example of a fictional Fire Arm range doing membership management software right. Nathan is the owner of Purple Elk Gun Club. He wants to bring more independence into his client community so he switches to a software that includes Member Self-Service. Nathan’s clients can now book shooting range classes, lessons, pay bills and update their contact info, from the convenience of their own computer, tablet, or phone. Member Self-Service is just one of the many features that build up a community. Some other benefits include:

Some other benefits include:

  • Automated e-mail and text alerts to trainers and instructors of bookings and cancellations
  • Ability For Clients To Book Directly From Your Website
  • Prevent members with outstanding balances from utilizing self-service features

Nathan knows the benefits of management software shouldn’t just make it easier for himself but for his clients and staff as well. For more insight on our Member Self-Service, we invite you to watch our webinar: Redesigned Self Service.

1. More Time For YOU!

What that means:

More time for you.

Selecting a streamlined shooting range management software cuts away excess time that paper and pen can conjure up on a daily basis. Our clients notice the difference. Take a look at what our clients have to say.

Keep Your Content Viral

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A couple weeks ago, Forbes ran an interesting article about getting online content noticed. “Want to make your content go viral?” the article asked. “Take a lesson,” it advised, “from”—and here’s the interesting part—“the fitness industry.”

The article noted that, while there is a lot of miracle-diet and exercise-fad gimmickry out there, the fitness industry offers up some genuinely rich and helpful Internet content, including workout videos, guidelines for better ways to work out, and tips for metabolism-boosting diets. In order to get the good information noticed, the article says, new types of fitness experts have emerged: “individuals who exist across the online and physical worlds and operate as equal parts trainer, writer, and social media guru.”

The article cites Jonathan Goodman, a Toronto-based trainer and founder of an online portal for trainers to share advice. “Fitness sells on emotion,” Goodman told Forbes, “and sharing content on social media relies on eliciting emotional responses. There’s a lot of carry-over there. How can you give people the opportunity to selectively self-represent through sharing your material?”

First, pat yourself on the back for belonging to an industry Forbes says other industries can learn from. Then, reinforce for yourself the lesson you’re teaching others, the one Goodman so succinctly sums up: The way to get people to share your material is to keep in mind that anyone spreading your content is telling his or her entire social media network something about him or herself—reposting it becomes a self-representation. Therefore, the way to ensure your content is widely shared is to forge content that is going to make people proud of themselves. Before you tweet about a new workout regimen or put up a Facebook post highlighting the routine of one of your star trainers, ask yourself whether the material is something others might identify with. You might want to imagine various people you know. Would your brother share it? Your aunt? Your next door neighbor’s girlfriend? Her physician? Her physician’s office manager?

The point is, if you’re visualizing who might share your stuff, you’ll get closer to your intended audience—and you might strike just the right note so that your stuff actually does get shared. This is really the best thing social media can do for you: make your content viral. Once it’s out there to hundreds or thousands or who-knows-how-many people, your brand acquires a unique sort of force; you become a voice of authority.

Having one of those new types of fitness experts in your corner helps. You want someone who, like Goodman, is a writer and social media wiz, with the knowledge and experience to back-up what he’s writing about. If you don’t currently have a person like this on staff at your gym or fitness facility, consider creating a position for one. Once he or she starts getting the right kind of content up on your website and social media channels, you’ll become exactly one of those fitness industry entities Forbes considers a successful model.  And remember – keep your content viral!

Outdoor Fitness Classes

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One thing I love about summer in New York City is the outdoor yoga classes everywhere. When the weather gets warm, in every small patch of green you can find, there’s a yoga studio or fitness facility or health advocacy group that has set up shop in the great outdoors, and you can breathe deeply (though maybe you don’t want to breathe too deeply) while the everyday noise and pollution and excitement and chaos swirl all around you. And it’s not just yoga, and not just in New York: Outdoor fitness classes are a trend all around the country.

In some places, this is becoming a problem. Cities with large numbers of organized outdoor exercise classes have found that ordinary citizens who use city parks for strolling around or relaxing in some other way often dislike these classes. City council and staff members hear complaints about noise, about private instructors profiting from public land, about damage to turf and amenities — the list goes on and on.

As a result, some cities are putting in place policies to regulate commercial use of park space by fitness groups. Last year in Austin, Texas, for example, the Parks and Recreation Department instituted regulations that require fitness groups to purchase six-month permits for $50 if they want to convene a class in the park. Instructors who serve more than four clients per month in the park are required to pay 45 cents per day, per client. The permits limit classes to 34 of the city’s 250 parks. They prohibit participants from attaching exercise equipment to trees, handrails, and other park fixtures, and also from bringing heavy-duty exercise equipment, like tractor tires, ropes, or cables into the park.

As permits go, there’s no norm. What costs $50 in Austin costs $500 in Henderson, Nevada. In Los Angeles, the fee is $60 per hour. Santa Monica’s city council has been considering instituting a permit system as well, after receiving many complaints from non-exercisers wanting to keep the park class-free. Right now, the city is considering an annual fee of about $100, plus a 10 to 15 percent cut of gross receipts (which is similar to what private surf or tennis instructors pay when they use city-owned beaches or courts).

Some fitness instructors feel the fees are unfair—that all taxpayers, including small-business owners, should have a right to use the park space as they like, as long as they’re doing it respectfully. City councils argue that, no matter how respectful an exercise class is, its wear and tear on a park exceeds that of a dog-walker or strolling couple. Others in the fitness industry feel the permits are beneficial—they give classes held in regular places at regular times priority over other activities and protect them from interruption.

So are permits for outdoor fitness classes in public spaces a good idea or a bad idea? I know I want to keep doing my yoga under the sky either way—and I might even pay a little extra for the class if I knew the instructor had a permit fee to cover.

If you are a yoga company that offers outdoor yoga classes, make sure to check out our yoga studio software to schedule instructor times and membership check-in.

When the Boss Does the Dirty Work

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Did you hear about Eric Casaburi? He’s the CEO and founder of New Jersey-based Retro Fitness, and on Friday night he appeared on CBS’s Emmy award-winning reality TV show, Undercover Boss. The show features senior executives working undercover in their own companies to investigate on-the-ground operations in their firms.
In the episode, Casaburi poses as Barry Goshe, an employee being trailed by a film crew because he’s trying to land a spot on a game show. Casaburi grew a beard, dyed it for the role, and donned a wig. He also wore padding under his shirt so he wouldn’t look suspiciously in shape.

Disguised as an employee, Casaburi did everything, including hanging heavy bags, cleaning dumbbell racks, leading sales tours, and making prospecting phone calls. He faced a few challenging situations: a failed sales attempt, a disaster at the juice bar, the need to keep his mouth shut when a fellow employee told him that sometimes she wants to punch customers in the face. (Happily, to make up for that, he also met an employee who credits Retro Fitness with having changed his life.)

Casaburi told the online fitness industry news outlet Club Industry that appearing on the show was his own life-changing experience. “No one is going to try to let the ball drop when they’re juggling when you’re there. But when you go in as an undercover guy…everybody is themselves, and you learn more,” he said.

Those are the words that caught my attention. Obviously, not every health club CEO can go undercover in his or her own facility, but thinking about Casaburi’s experience made me wonder what would happen if every boss took more time out to be on the ground. It’s true, you might see everybody on their best behavior, without getting to witness who they are when you’re not around, but you’d probably still garner a sense of how things work day-to-day, what needs improving, which employees need some encouragement, and which ones deserve recognition for hard work.

What if you put on an apron and got behind your own juice bar? What if you took over front-desk duties for a day? Maybe you’d set an example for your employees; seeing you getting your hands dirty with the nitty-gritty work might inspire them to work harder. Or what if you gave tours to prospective clients for a day? How impressed might they be, knowing that you care enough about what you do to meet with them face-to-face? Or, what if you actually could go undercover in your facility for a day? What kind of knowledge might you gain to help you improve your business?

Casaburi’s experience was something of a spectacle (and fun to watch). Yours might be quieter, less sensational, more like reality than reality TV — but it could still be extremely effective. Give it a try. Let us know how it goes.

Finding Inspiration to Achieve Your Goals

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I recently set a goal for myself: an hour of yoga everyday. It sounds achievable enough, but with work, child-rearing, and millions of other demands on my time (okay, maybe only thousands. Hundreds? Dozens? I don’t know, but it all seems like too much), I’ve failed miserably. I always seem to find some convincing excuse not to do it.

Then I heard about Augie Nieto. Of course, Nieto is a big name in this industry, well known as the chairman of the board of Octane Fitness and the founder of the fitness equipment company Life Fitness — and as a man who, eight years ago, at the age of 47, was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Lou Gehrig’s is a devastating illness. Causing damage to motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord, it shrinks muscles and renders them weak, gradually leading to total, or near total, paralysis. About half of people with the illness die within three years of being diagnosed; 20 percent die within five years. It’s worth noting, though, that Stephen Hawking, the most prominent sufferer of the disease, has lived with it for fifty years.

It looks like Nieto is following in Hawking’s footsteps. He set a goal to last for a long time. And not only to last, but also to help find a cure for Lou Gehrig’s disease — and to keep himself as fit as possible. Thus, even though he uses a wheelchair, relies on a breathing machine, and is unable to speak, Nieto regularly works out. (This in addition to making appearances at events like the IHRSA International Convention and Trade Show, where a benefit event drew 700 people and raised money for Augie’s Quest, the nonprofit research foundation Nieto founded with the Muscular Dystrophy Association.)

How does he work out? Last year, he began training on a custom-made Life Fitness leg press machine. Now, every other day, he performs three sets of 20 reps at 120 pounds on the machine. He also uses a custom xRide bike from Octane Fitness. With it, a motor moves leg and arm pedals to get him started, but he eventually overpowers the motor and pushes the pedals himself. (At the IHRSA convention, he did so in front of a large crowd at Octane’s exhibit booth — for twenty minutes!)

Did I mention that Nieto’s foundation has raised $37 million dollars for research into cures for Lou Gehrig’s disease? And that, since his diagnosis, he’s written two books? Suffice it to say that Nieto is an inspiration, and not only for those of us who are lucky enough to have relatively good health and yet still find excuses not to do yoga everyday, or not to meet other goals we might set for ourselves. He is a man whose determination to achieve his goals never ceases, and who therefore, simply put, achieves them.

So what are your goals, personally or for your gym or fitness facility? What are your excuses for not achieving them? I’ll leave you ponder the answers to those questions while I go unroll my yoga mat….