CenterEdge Software Blog

Offer your guests a better sales experience online with a cohesive online store. 

Your online store is a critical component of your sales team. But there is a lot more to effective online sales than simply adding your inventory to an online store. Today’s blog features insights first published in our CenterEdge Help Center by Technical Writer and client eCommerce theming expert Lena Plaut. 

Though she’s been a member of the training team for nearly five years, she also has a wealth of knowledge in this area, with 15 years’ worth of experience in digital media. Read on for Lena’s top tips to help you deliver a better online experience, and be sure to check out other training team blog posts and documentation in the CenterEdge Help Center.

Use these steps to help you manage tense situations with angry guests in a way that you can be proud of. 

A year into the pandemic, we're seeing a lot of positive movement towards getting back to normal. However, recently in online forum threads, we have begun to notice that an increasing number of business owners are facing unusually negative reviews and more angry customers than ever.

I think it's safe to say that the last year has left us all more stressed than ever and that stress is making its mark. But even though we might be facing more challenging situations, we need to respond in a way that resolves a problem quickly and positively. That's why we're bringing back these tips to help your team win every tense situation they face. 

New resources for FEC managers to learn more about personnel, inventory management, Advantage Groups, point of sale, web store, and reporting functionality in your CenterEdge system. 

As you hire or promote new managers to lead your FEC or amusement park, they will need a deeper understanding of your facility management tools to help you operate more effectively. 

That’s why CenterEdge is rolling out a new, four-part manager training series to give new managers comprehensive training of the key software functionality. Each session will last for one hour. 

The series is free for all CenterEdge clients with an active Licensing and Service Agreement (LSA) or a current support agreement. Read on for an overview of what the sessions will cover, and then register for our upcoming event series.

Thoughtful program planning and strategic rollout can make all the difference. 

Now that you’ve heard about some of the key benefits, new CenterEdge tools, and a success story, you’re probably ready to think about setting up a membership program for yourself. 

Today’s interview with CenterEdge client, Zach Johnson of Rev’d Up Fun, will give you terrific insights to help you decide if building a membership program is right for you. 

As we discussed in Part One of this blog series, membership programs could have the potential to bring in a brand new revenue stream for your facility. But do they actually work?

We decided the best way to illustrate program benefits would be to let a CenterEdge operator like you share his results. 

Rev’d Up Fun is a 30,000 square foot state-of-the-art family entertainment center in Woodhaven, Michigan. This family-owned and operated venue features multiple attraction offerings, including Ballocity, axe throwing, laser tag, a ropes course, an XD Dark Ride, bumper cars, and a game zone, as well as a full-service food and beverage offering. 

We sat down with Zach Johnson, Owner, and asked him to share his experience with membership programs and his plans to make memberships a key component of Rev’d Up Fun’s offering.

The new Advantage Memberships provides new ways to implement meaningful membership programs for your guests and your business.  

Membership programs can be a terrific way to differentiate your business from your competition, which is more important than ever during our industry’s recovery.

Our CenterEdge team has been hard at work reimagining our current Memberships and Recurring Billing offerings to give you brand new tools to help you develop, manage, and maximize your membership programs. In this three-part blog series, we’ll share these tools, a real-world client case study, and tips to help you implement your program successfully. 

First up, let’s take a look at the new Advantage Memberships.

Develop these qualities and habits to help build an effective management program.  

The best leaders make managing people look easy, but in reality, it’s a whole lot harder than it appears. When you spend so much time and energy keeping the doors open and the lights on, it can be challenging to find time to work on your own professional leadership growth. But letting healthy management habits slip when you’re busy can diminish engagement and morale, which ultimately leads to employee turnover. 

The good news is that leadership, like any other skill, can be improved. Read on for five qualities and habits that the most successful leaders possess and how you can cultivate them yourself.

Before you offer your next birthday party or group event, set your team up for success with these best practices.

We are all hoping to resume normal operations one day soon, and that definitely included being able to offer exciting group events and birthday parties. 

To help you do that, we're expanding on this popular topic from our last user conference, Edge 2020, where attendees learned best practices for managing group events more effectively. 

Having the right questions to ask a prospective credit card processor can help you choose a vendor with your best interests in mind. 

Credit cards likely represent a considerable part of your operating expenses. And just like your facility management system touches every guest and every dollar that enters your facility, your merchant services program can significantly impact your operational efficiency, profitability, and even your guest experience. However, many operators dread searching for a merchant services provider. Why? Because we all know a merchant (or have been one!) who has been duped and taken advantage of by slick salespeople and companies who don’t have their clients’ best interests at heart.

But your credit card processing program is too important to your business to avoid taking the time to consider your options. Knowing the right questions to ask can help you make an informed decision and find a partner you can trust. Here are seven questions to help you make the best decision for your business. 

Consider whether the time is right to dig in to your current merchant services program. 

As a savvy operator, you have a lot of vendor relationships to manage. You have to work with food service, party supply, merchandise, and redemption vendors to analyze inventory usage routinely, forecast future needs, test new products, and examine how well they, and your attractions and programs, are working. Those urgent and important needs don’t leave time for much else. But, it makes sense to review other relationships from time to time, such as making sure that you maximize your CenterEdge partnership by keeping up with the many tools* and training resources available to you. 

Your credit card processing program is another critical partnership that should be reviewed periodically. Read on for five reasons that evaluating this program should be much higher on your to-do list.