Learn how The Apawamis Club is getting more thorough reporting on member activities, streamlining their back-end operations, and driving member engagement efforts with their Clubessential Website and Operations & POS suite.
Q: How does the Clubessential Website and Club Operations & POS product suite make your life easier?
Donna: For one, on the accounting side, I appreciate that I can post a payment and that the member can see it in real-time. Along with that, I really like the grid feature within Club Management software. It’s great that I can do a journal entry on the grid and see it in the ending balances. What’s also really useful is that I can post and un-post batches throughout the entire system. Neither feature was available in accounting software I’ve used before. In fact, I used to have to call our prior accounting vendor to post and un-post batches for us. Having this feature in the Clubessential system really saves a lot of time.
Additionally, I use the General Ledger module a lot. Between the General Ledger, Accounts Payable, and the membership module, I can stay in them all day long and never log out.
Shawn: Thanks to the seamless integration between the Clubessential Website and back-end accounting, we no longer manually update our member profile database records. Once a member makes a change on their website profile, our accounting system automatically updates with the new information. And, we can track changes made on both sides of the software: web and accounting. The information is no longer waiting in someone’s inbox to update; the system allows the staff and members to always have the most current contact information at their fingertips. Before, our accounting system pushed updates to the website once a day. Now the updates occur in real-time.
Q: How does the Clubessential Website and Club Operations & POS product suite make your life easier?
Donna: Event billing is now more efficient. The staff no longer has to spend hours after an event entering charges into the accounting software, because the charges are already in there.
Shawn: I’ve been able to create events within the various modules (tee times, events manager, dining, fitness, and courts) and apply the fee structure to the reservation. This allows the member to know the cost at the time of their booking, it appears in their email confirmation, and it is automatically attached to the ticket when an employee processes the charge. Listing the fees in the various areas lowered the number of inquiries by members and reduced the number of incorrect charges made by staff to the member’s account. “I’ve used Clubessential websites for years. It’s a very easy interface to use. And it’s clear that you put a lot of effort into developing and refining your products. We decided to move to Clubessential because everything we needed — from the website, to reservations, to back-end accounting — was under one roof with a vendor we trusted and liked.”
Q: How does your Clubessential Website make member engagement easier?
Shawn: Your website platform in and of itself is why I chose to go with Clubessential. It has all the bells and whistles you could need regarding member communications. The cross-marketing capabilities are second to none. For example, if a member makes a reservation (tee time, fitness, dining, courts, or an event) he/she will see marketing for other activities several times once the reservation is complete. Setting up the marketing is easy and is automated once completed. Thus, keeping the club at the forefront of our member’s attention in a non-intrusive manner.
Q: How is the Clubessential website platform different than what other vendors offer?
Shawn: I’m a graphic designer by heart, and I’ve used a lot of content management systems. I’ve even had staff at other clubs see my work for Apawamis, and I’ve consulted for them. So I’ve seen firsthand what else is available in the market, and no one comes close to Clubessential. With other website products from other vendors, you can’t even see what you’re editing — other platforms make you go back and forth between windows, which reduces efficiency. Customization can be performed by club staff to almost any aspect of the Clubessential website without contacting a Clubessential representative to complete the task. That ability speaks volumes as to how Clubessential, in my opinion, is the top provider of club website software. Other vendors simply cannot match the flexibility, customization, and customer service that Clubessential offers.
Q: What’s one thing we do that others don’t?
Donna: I attended one of the recent regional User Groups and got to meet Randy Eckels, your new CEO. I really appreciated that he was there and that he took the time to meet people and listen to us. Before using Clubessential, I used another accounting software vendor for almost two decades, and never once met their CEO. I could tell that Randy really cares about forging strong relationships with us.
Q: What’s one thing we do that you love?
Donna: Clubessential has always felt like a small company — like the corner store you can run to when you need something real quick. Even now that you have the funding of a big corporation, you also have Randy in charge. He’s very humble, and it doesn’t feel like you’re dealing with a big company.
Q: If you were to refer us, what would you say?
Donna: I’ve used Clubessential websites for years. It’s a very easy interface to use. And it’s clear that you put a lot of effort into developing and refining your products. We decided to move to Clubessential because everything we needed — from the website, to reservations, to back-end accounting – was under one roof with a vendor we trusted and liked.
This post is based on an interview conducted and originally published in 2017.