CenterEdge Software Blog

Set the right goals for your FEC with these tips and resources.

You’ve taken the first steps by beginning your year-end analysis and deciding how to streamline your system so that you can work more efficiently. Now it’s time to make the plan for 2021 by setting meaningful goals. American historian and poet, Bill Copeland said, “The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score.” Read on for three tips and many additional resource links to help you get well on your way to planning for, and more importantly, scoring success in the new year.

Topics: Reporting & Analytics, Sales, CenterEdge Team, Facility Operations, Birthday Party & Groups, CenterEdge Client Success, Online Sales & Ticketing, Goal Setting

While we are counting down the end of 2020 so we can move into the new year, use these tools to prepare for a profitable 2021.

Throughout this year, we have all had to continuously adapt to navigate each new challenge, and it’s likely that we’ll have to continue to do so in the days to come. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't make a solid plan for the future. It's time to reflect on everything you’ve learned in 2020 so that you can use those insights to set new goals and initiatives to help your business recover and thrive.

As you begin your year-end review, be sure to check out these key data points from your CenterEdge Business Intelligence dashboard to help you understand your business' health in some new ways.

Topics: Reporting & Analytics, Sales, Facility Operations, Birthday Party & Groups, Online Sales & Ticketing

We're sharing new data to help you drive marketing email response.  

I had the recent opportunity to attend Inbound 2020, a marketing conference that joined the many others in going virtual.  I was excited to see that Jay Schwedelson, founder of Worldata, had returned to speak. Worldata is responsible for sending and tracking the effectiveness of 40,000 email campaigns and over 6 billion individual emails every year. For much of this year, Worldata has been tracking the email marketing trends as they’ve changed during COVID. Read on for some of their latest data-driven tactics that you can implement today to improve your marketing email results.

Topics: FEC, Waterparks, Zoos & Aquariums, Marketing, Amusement Parks, Reporting & Analytics, Sales, Facility Operations

Get ready for a more successful holiday gift card sales season this year. 

Today’s CenterEdge Pro Tip offers five steps to help you implement a better gift card sales season. Follow these quick tips to get started today.

Topics: FEC, Point of Sale, Trampoline Parks, Museums, Waterparks, Zoos & Aquariums, Sales, CenterEdge News, CenterEdge Advantage POS, Facility Operations, Cashless, CenterEdge Client Success, Online Sales & Ticketing

Use CenterEdge’s Advantage Consignment module to allow third party vendors to sell admissions, packages and other offerings. 

I had the opportunity over the weekend to chat with a friend who has been in hotel revenue management for the last 20 years. We exchanged our industries’ COVID-19 experiences over these last months. The travel and tourism industry, like family entertainment, has faced closures, partial openings, and low occupancies.

If this experience has taught me anything, it’s how important it is for local businesses to band together. I started thinking about how local family entertainment centers, hotels, tourism offices, and restaurants could help each other thrive during this difficult time. One way to raise the tide within the community is through partner voucher programs using the CenterEdge Advantage Consignment Module. Read on for how a voucher program could work for you.

Topics: Memberships, Sales, CenterEdge Advantage POS, Facility Operations

Even though you may not be ready to holding events in your FEC, your sales staff need to stay sharp at managing birthday booking calls. 

Birthday parties and events have no doubt been a huge part of your business. Even if you’re not open or not currently holding events, your phone staff still need to be sales-ready.

In my experience secret shopping and training many family entertainment centers over the years, I’ve found that a lot of sales people fall short of winning the business. But that can change with your next phone call! Practice a few of these 10 do’s and don’ts and watch the shift from “I’ll call you back” to “I’ll book now.” 

Topics: Sales, CenterEdge Advantage POS, Facility Operations, Birthday Party & Groups, Online Sales & Ticketing

Learn how CenterEdge Classes can help you build more compelling and easy-to-purchase offerings for your guests. 

Today’s CenterEdge Pro Tip offers your facility more flexbility when creating and selling your offerings. 

Topics: FEC, Point of Sale, Trampoline Parks, Museums, Waterparks, Sales, Facility Operations, Online Sales & Ticketing

Just as they have been a vital part of your pre-COVID-19 overall revenue strategy, group events and birthday parties will likely be a critical component of your recovery strategy.

While you may not be able to recoup all that your facility lost during your time closed, these seven tips can help you set up, manage, market, and sell your events once you’re ready to offer them. 

Topics: FEC, Zoos & Aquariums, Marketing, Amusement Parks, Sales, Facility Operations, Birthday Party & Groups, Food & Beverage

Strengthen your processes, get in tune with your customer base, and smooth out your guest experience - now is the time.

No doubt right now you’re working through all the government assistance resources and trying to take care of your business and staff in the present and that’s probably taking up a big portion of your time and energy! It would be easy right now to let this uncertainty overwhelm us, but it’s in large part how we handle our fears that will help determine our future success. 

Topics: Reporting & Analytics, Memberships, Sales, Employee Management, Facility Operations, Goal Setting

In advance of our upcoming client user conference Edge 2020, we’ve been hard at work planning sessions and logistics. While ordering event lanyards and badges, I received one of the best marketing messages from a vendor, which made me think of different ways to effectively reach your audience.

In a world where we are inundated with text, email and push notification marketing, it pays to be unique. Here are three of the the most unique message types that could hit big with your audience.

Topics: Marketing, Sales, Facility Operations