July 6th, 2010
How would you feel if your sports software provider told you one or more of the following things?
- We don’t know anything about software but we hear this sports software is one way you can make some money.
- We are in debt up to our eye balls so we’ve got to find every way possible to move money from your bank account to ours
- Support is for wimps – if people need support they can search our FAQ pages
- Registration fees of $5, $6, $7 or more are industry standard, you can’t find anything better.
- Credit card fee’s are just a fact of life at 3.5% and way beyond
- It’s you club, league or sports organization but we still get to advertise on your sites, registration pages and so on
- Sure, we’ve got scheduling software… as long as you don’t have more than 8 – 16 team in your organization we’ll all be just fine
- Upgrades are over rated, we upgrade every 3-5 years because the sports software business just doesn’t change that often
- Mac doesn’t matter; everyone knows that most of the sports world uses PC’s don’t they?
- Everybody requires a contract of 2-5 years
- We hold your money for two weeks or longer because we’re not sure if you’ll have charge-backs
- If you find the software hard to use it’s because you just are trying hard enough…
Would you believe it if I told you that this list is actually fairly short?
Bonzi sports software is NOTHING like the list above in fact we are generally the exact opposite;
- Bonzi is a software development organization that ONLY develops sports software; those who know software well love the way we do it for our customers.
- Bonzi has never had any debt so we can always do the right thing for our customers firs and be the lowest overall cost in the sports software industry
- Our customers who previously used our competitors software tell us loudly that Bonzi has the best and most diverse support in the entire industry
- Our registration fees are the lowest that we know of given what we offer
- Bonzi has the lowest credit card fee’s of any sports software provider; we are fairly certain you can’t find any fees lower
- It’s your sports software and we let you do your own fund raising and advertising on it
- Our scheduling software can handle any combination of teams and venues – it really has no limits
- Bonzi sports software is continually updated – one of our most recent upgrades was the addition of a fully featured “content management” system
- Bonzi is compatible with Mac, iPhone and most browsers
- Bonzi requires no contract
- Bonzi puts your money in your bank account as soon as the transaction clears the bank; usually the next day.
- Bonzi is very, very easy for anyone to use
We think that the devil is in the details when it comes to sports software – we invite you to ask us any and all of the hard questions; we are confident you’ll like the answers.
Tags: Bonzi sports software, contracts, making decisions, online registration, sports registration, Sports software
Posted in Cost of Free, Costs, How to Choose, Parents Win | No Comments »
July 3rd, 2010
Bonzi is nothing like my old sports registration and website company; at Bonzi sports software we’ve heard this a million times… or so it seems.
Sure people love the support, the fact that it’s the lowest overall cost, that its so amazingly easy to use and still powerful, that there are no contract and that Bonzi puts your money in your bank account FAST.
The funny thing is that while they love all of that there is still just something that they can’t quite put their fingers on or so they say. We think we know what it is.
Many companies tout “its our people”; I’m sure some are sincere and some are just posturing because it’s the “right thing to say”. At Bonzi it’s a bit different because we have a highly refined process that lets the right people in the right job with the right tools excel for our customers. Here’s how…
At the level of the organization:
- We make sure that everyone knows the company values, what’s expected and what the consequences are if the expectations are not met.
- We provide the right tools and the right resources i.e. fast computers with the right software tools or headsets for the support staff.
- Everyone is clear on what they are accountable for and what the incentives are for meeting those accountabilities
At the level of the individual:
- We go to great lengths including using well validated survey tools to make sure we hire people who are both fairly natural and skilled at doing what they job requires.
- We benchmark the job and profile the individual’s behavioral capabilities and interview for the detail to assure that those capabilities have been demonstrated prior to joining the Bonzi team.
- Finally we survey and interview to be sure that our team members have the right level of motivation, willingness and urgency to work in a highly customer oriented business
When our customers describe the difference this makes at Bonzi they usually have a hard time putting it into words… but they know things are different at Bonzi no matter which sports registration, scheduling and website company they used to use. My favorite comment was when someone simply said: I get exactly what I need in the way I need it from Bonzi in a way that feels so effortless that its easy to take them for granted. This same individual also said that he’d changed organizations and the new organization used a different sports registration, scheduling and website provider which led him to make this comment “For me Bonzi sports software was a bit like air, I didn’t appreciate it until it was gone… and then when I didn’t have it I desperately wanted and needed it back”.
Given enough time and budget and it is possible to build reasonably good software. We know that our enduring differentiation has as it’s foundation both the people process we use and the people it attracts to our very closely knit team of committed sports software professionals.
So when you hear someone say that they just can’t put their finger on what’s different about Bonzi sports software, now you’ll know why.
Posted in Communication, Costs, How to Choose, Parents Win, Performance, Reporting, Scheduling, Support, Wins for Parents | No Comments »
June 21st, 2010
Have you ever wished you could find just one place that brought all of a specific sports rules, drills, history, videos, etc. together in just one, easy to access spot?
If you have then you’ll want to drop by www.bonzicentral.com every so often during the rest of 2010 and watch how we slowly but steadily add new content about your favorite sports to the www.bonzicentral.com website.
If you have suggestions for us, think we’ve missed something, or just like what you see, we’d like to hear about it in your comments in this blog. If it’s a legitimate comment or suggestion we’ll respond and we’ll likely act on it. After all, that’s how we and our customers build what our customers tell us is the best sports software available on the market today.
We’ll still cover sports registration, sport team websites, great reporting, Email communication for leagues, clubs and teams, sports scheduling and how to make it all easy and fast to do… and we won’t forget all of that friendly unlimited personal support you’ve come to expect. The only thing that will change is that you’ll be able to find more interesting information on www.bonzicentral.com
Yikes, I forgot to mention the new Bonzi Content Manager; it’s just getting rolled out now with Beta testers… but WOW, is it ever cool according to the folks who have gotten a sneak peek. Just imagine, most of the web site work that required a programmer in the past can now be done by anyone who can type. So what’s in it for you and your organization? Well, first of all you’ll be able to have that website you’ve always dreamed of without all the cost and complexity of using a web designer. You’ll also be able to get it in place fast and make the changes you want fast. Above all it will be fun and save you money.
So please check back with us… good things are coming your way soon.
Tags: Bonzi sports software, league software, online registration, software sports, Sports software, youth sports software
Posted in Coaching, Communication, How to Choose, Parents Win, Reporting, Scheduling, Support, Upgrades, Wins for Parents | No Comments »
June 16th, 2010
Sports Software, league software, youth sports software… whatever you call it doesn’t matter as much as what your perspective is when you think of it. What do I mean?
Sports software (or whatever you wish to call it) and it’s impact on your life differs by the job or role you have when you encounter it. Your role gives you certain experiences and experiences give you a unique set of distinctions… meaning you can see things that others can’t. No kidding.
For example, a referee see’s a sports activity with one set of eyes while a participant see’s it with another set of eyes and an observer/fan see’s it with yet another set of eyes. No perspective is wrong… they’re just different.
If you have never used sports software then at first glance they all look about the same… therein lies some danger that you might make a choice based upon limited distinctions and your development of distinctions might come from having a lousy first experience using sports software, league software and youth sports software. This can be especially painful if you get signed up for a multi-year contract that locks you in because you were told that “everybody” requires a multi-year contract.
If you have used sports software then you have developed some distinctions related to how you interacted with that software and the comments you heard from others. The painful thing is that it is all to easy to either have your contract with your current provider “auto” extend for a year or two… the details around this are usually in the fine print of your contract, or jump from a bad experience with your current provider to another equally difficult experience with a new provider.
Finally, it often happens that the sports software you are using may be OK for a volunteer who just does rostering or registration but a nightmare for your coaches, the person who manages the team web site or the person who is responsible for generating reports each week. The bottom line is that it is very difficult to gain enough sports software distinctions fast enough for any one person to understand all of the questions to ask to make sure that you and your organization get the best sports software for the unique needs of your club, league or organization.
Bonzi sports software knows this oh so well because our friendly team of sports software support experts speak with both Bonzi sports software users and people who are frustrated with other brands of sports software not just daily but hourly. From that experience has come something called the Bonzi sports software “Best Choice Tool Kit” and the “Bonzi Challenge”. Essentially Bonzi sports software knows that if you ask all the right questions that you’ll be in a great position to make the best choice for your and your organization. Bonzi also has good reason to believe that if you do ask all the right questions that you’ll quickly see that Bonzi, according to our customers, has what most clubs, leagues and organizations feel is the best sports software for most them.
Are you curious? Is your sports software contract going to expire soon? Are you doing it all with Excel and sheer determination? If so then you might want to check out our free, fair, and easy to use tools to help you and your organization make the best sports software choice for you and your club, league or organization by going here: http://www.bonzicentral.com/bonzichallenge
Tags: Bonzi sports software, league software, making decisions, online registration, software sports, sports registration, sports schedule software, Sports software, youth sports software
Posted in Coaching, Communication, Costs, How to Choose, Parents Win, Scheduling, Support, Volunteers | No Comments »
June 7th, 2010
Knowing or discovering what your market wants and then providing it is an obvious key to business and life success. But, like so many things in life, it’s far easier said than done. At Bonzi we know you want the following basics from a sports software provider because our clients tell us or otherwise confirm these things every hour of every day:
- Friendly, unlimited, free support… even one-on-one training from people you know, like and trust to have your best interests at heart.
- Lowest overall cost
- Easy to use but with all the features and functions you need to do it your way
- Your money in your bank account within 24 hours of a transaction
- No surprises, no hidden costs and no contracts
- The best registration, website, scheduling and email communications software available that will run with almost any browser
- Speed; all of the above needs to happen fast no mater how many other people might be online
While those are all great things we’ve also realized that there are a few other elements that are also critical but at times hard to pin down:
- Reliable; we do what we say we will do when we say we’ll do it
- Good relationships; you treat me like a person, are appropriately warm and friendly and are willing to speak frankly when things need to be addressed
- Well run business; Bonzi sports software runs a tight ship business wise so that you can count on us being both efficient and around for the long haul
- Fit; you understand and give me what I need and beyond to run my club, league or organization
- Listen; we ask questions and don’t assume – we get to know you and your situation by asking good questions and listening well to the answer
- Research and innovation; you know best practices in sports software and are constantly working to keep the gap narrow
- Caution; we’ve done our homework so that our suggestions and direction are valid and reliable
- Available; you can reach us when you need us and we’ll respond
- Education; you’ll help us understand how things work and give us the tips that come from over a decade of working with organizations and the sports software that supports them
- Alignment; we have the features and functions you need to do your business – if we don’t have what you need we won’t hesitate to tell you so you can find a better alternative – we won’t waste your time if we aren’t aligned
- Deadline oriented; let’s face it, play starts on a certain date, standings must be posted by a certain date and your email has to get delivered so your plans stay on track – at Bonzi sports software your deadlines are our deadlines
All these may seem like subtle distinctions in a sports software provider… but they are distinctions that our customers tell us make all the difference in the world to their lives using sports software.
What do you think? Did we miss anything?
Tags: Bonzi sports software, Communication, contracts, league software reporting, making decisions, online registration, software sports, sports schedule software, Sports software, youth sports software
Posted in Coaching, Communication, Costs, How to Choose, Parents Win, Volunteers, Wins for Parents | No Comments »
June 3rd, 2010
Major league vs. minor league; they do all the same things they just do them a bit differently.
A friend is an amazing golfer. Some of his well healed friends not only encouraged him to turn pro but offered to give him the money so he could attend the PGA “school” to qualify for the PGA Tour. Despite routinely playing par or better golf 98% of the time he said, he didn’t feel that he was good enough for the PGA. I asked him why and his answer surprised me. He said it came down to one word: consistency. From his point of view the worst guy on the PGA tour who was making a good living was much more consistent over time than my friend thought he could be. During his off hours he had worked at improving his consistency but had hit a ceiling that he could not get beyond in his opinion.
If you look closely at the elite vs. the average in any endeavor there are many differences and most of them come from consistent dedication to doing the work necessary to achieve the goal in my observation. Now you probably think I’m going to talk about Bonzi sports software or how kids can go from rec to traveling or some other high minded encouragement to go beyond. I could do that and I’d love to do that but it won’t be so today.
Today I’m going to just talk about the dedication to the magic of having fun with sports. The wrinkle here is that it does take dedication and focus to get the most fun out of sports in my experience. So what do I mean?
First, relax. If any of this were that serious you would have been notified by official correspondence. Second focus on the bright sports; what’s working well? Do more of that and magically it seems so many of the other things get better on their own. Third, just have the goal of having the most fun possible – a key to this is simply asking out loud and asking often… what could we do better next time to make this more fun. If you listen and ask often enough I suspect you’ll be pleased with the answers your brain gives you. Consider going above and beyond in the area of basic fitness. And finally whatever you decide to do and however you decide to do it consider taking a bit of extra effort to be consistent i.e. set a productive and effective pattern in how you approach the sport and stay with it for the whole season.
For some reason being consistent adds remarkable value for all sports in my experience.
To say more would just complicate things; try being a pro at having fun with sports no matter your level… and see what magic being consistent can do for your fun when it comes to sport and life.
OK… I did have to mention that when it comes to sports software that Bonzi is amazingly consistent at many things but probably nothing more than the fact that our support is consistently rated as wonderful and that we put your money directly into your bank account every day. Those are points of consistency that our customers say they LOVE.
Tags: accomplishment, Sports software
Posted in Developing Kids, How to Choose, Motivation, Parents Win, Wins for Parents | No Comments »
June 2nd, 2010
Doesn’t it seem reasonable that you’d be able to enter a team member’s name once sports team software and have the system remember it every year that member still played? Amazingly though that just isn’t the case with many and possible most of the online sports team software options with the exception of Bonzi sports team software (www.bonzicentral.com or 503-620-6661 X224 and ask for Ricky Aker).
Maybe you’ve been through a painful sports season, but vowed that next year’s going to be better, right? Well choosing the right sports team software for your sports organization can make all the difference. Do you sigh and shake your head at the thought of getting ready for next year? Do you want the sports team software process to be turn-key and easy?
If you want sports team software that, with just a few clicks, gets you up and running fast next season and you want friendly, unlimited free customer support where the staff actually remembers who you are and how you were setup the previous year… so they can help when you’ve forgotten.
After hearing from clients, Bonzi realized that there needed to be a faster way to get clients transitioned into their next season. Bonzi also noticed that many of our sports organizations kept their team rosters the same or nearly the same year after year. To respond to this requirement Bonzi sports team software created a new feature in the software that allowed our clients too easily to “roll teams forward” to the next age group in the next season with a few clicks. In addition we added a feature that would automatically roster returning players to the same team they were on the previous year when their registration was approved. This feature saved our customers a time and effort making this one of our most popular and heavily used features in the system.
So ask any once sports team software provider you’re talking to, how they prepare for the next season. Can you simply move your teams forward, or do you have to create them over again? How do players roster the next season?
Just another example of how Bonzi once sports team software listens to its customers and pitches in to help. If you’re interested in working with a company who’ll be on your team, give us a call today.
Tags: Bonzi sports software, league software, sports registration, Sports software, sports team software, team sports software
Posted in How to Choose, Parents Win, Volunteers | No Comments »
May 27th, 2010
To me reporting is like air; you don’t miss it or some might say understand it, until you don’t have it. Reporting is just not a big deal in most people’s lives so it’s hard to know what you really need from your league software or sports software… until you realize you don’t have what you need. You went to all the trouble to setup a sports software system for your organization. The data is in there. But how on earth do you get it out? When you need that report few things are more frustrating than finding you can’t get to the information you need through the system reports or need to” jump through hoops to get to it”. You call your league software or sports software provider and ask for the information but it never shows up . . . ever.
This is so frustrating!
You want to print reports, but need to choose the data and information that appears on the reports so that the reports will accomplish your objectives. It would probably also help if once you got a report the way you wanted it… you could save it to use over and over again! Once you’ve generated your report, you of course want to be able to view it, print it, email it or download the report to your computer so you can store it for later if need b.
TRUE STORY
Roxanne was delighted by the number of reports and the report wizards he found in her Bonzi league software. In the her old league software it would take her hours now took a few clicks of the mouse. Roxanne liked the report wizard in the system too, but she also wanted to make her own fully customized reports, so she used the download feature to save his information to Excel where she customized the reports to her exact needs.
Most league software providers don’t want to tell you about their reporting. A solid league software product will let you make your own reports ; you should be able to download your data too. Finally Roxanne found that where her old league software provider was never available to help her when she needed help with special reports that Bonzi league software picked up the phone on the second or third ring and instantly gave her the help she sought. No wonder Bonzi league software doesn’t need a contract to keep their customers coming back year after year.
What has your experience been with league software and data reporting capabilities?
Tags: free league software, league software reporting, making decisions, online registration, sports team software, Support
Posted in How to Choose, Parents Win, Reporting | No Comments »
May 25th, 2010
Coaches and volunteer and obviously critical to your programs success; that’s why it is so frustrating when it’s hard to get them to raise their hands and volunteer. Who can blame them for hesitating given how much work is really involved.
With the right sports team software you can make their job easier. Coaches and volunteers need to communicate with their team, print off medical release forms, setup a team web site, send group emails and more without being a software guru or web wizard. Above all they need a sports team software that can be learned quickly so that they can be effective from day one.
TRUE STORY
Rich sets up up Bonzi’s sports software’s Coach Tools for every coach in her club with a single click of the mouse. Once set-up, coaches are automatically emailed a thank you letter thanking them for volunteering along with instructions for Coach Tools. When a coach logs onto their software, they have the ability to setup a team web site, post stories, announcements and pictures with simplicity and ease. Coaches can enter in their practice schedule, snack schedule and game schedule which all appear on the team calendar. Group email to the entire team is included and well as text messaging, a hot new feature in 2009. Her coaches, players, and parents have a place to go to find out the latest information about their team. An added bonus – Darlene can publish her own announcements or calendar events from the club on any of her team’s web sites. Communication is easy and everyone’s happy.
Currently there are no other sports team software providers that include these types of features with their software. Sometimes you can purchase it separately, but it’s not “linked” to the club or league’s “system” making for disjointed sports team software..
Bonzi is the only provider to include the Coach Tools feature in its sports team software at no extra charge. If offering software for your coaches and teams is important to you, make sure to call us for more information today! With the right sports team software you won’t have nearly as much difficulty getting coaches and volunteers to raise those hands with a smile on their faces.
Tags: background checks, Bonzi sports software, Communication, Group email, leadership, Sports software, sports team software, Support, Team Calendar, Volunteer
Posted in Coaching, How to Choose, Parents Win, Volunteers | No Comments »
May 24th, 2010
Sports Team Software; how do we see if a team is a fit?
When we interview a potential client for Bonzi sports software our first question is “When does the contract with your current sports team software provider expire”?
We ask because we know that some people are locked in to a contract with their current sports software provider and may not be able to change to Bonzi no matter how dissatisfied they may be.
We want to know for two reasons; 1) many and maybe most “contracts” used by Bonzi’s competition have a nasty little feature called “auto-renew” which means if you don’t notify them in writing before a certain date that the contract “auto-renews” for a specific period of time such as 1-3 years and 2) we want to begin providing you with appropriate information to help you make the best choice for you and your organization each month up to and through both your renewal window and the time by when you need to have made a decision so you can be ready for the next set of registrations using your new sports team software.
The next thing we’ll ask you is why you are not going to stay with what you have today – by the way, Bonzi has not had a customer leave in over 10 years and we don’t lock any team in with a contract. We want to know this because if we can’t do what they need done we want to let them know early. So far this has never happened but you never know when it comes to sports team software.
From there we ask what things they must have to meet their goals for the next sports team software program that they would adopt.
Once we know all that we do a bit of exploring to see what additional capabilities might be useful in their unique situation.
After all of that we simply follow-up with an email summarizing what your sports team software conversation with us had covered so that the person we spoke with at that organization can share the conversation detail with anyone else who is going to be part of the decision making process.
Finally, we ask you what you would like to do next. Here are the choices most people make:
- Some want to get started right away so we do just that, get them started. Usually they can be up and running with little effort within 24-72 hours.
- Some want a live demo so that they can see for themselves why the Bonzi sports team software is so famous for being the easiest sports team software on the market to use.
- Some want copies of the highly regarded Bonzi Best Choice Tool Kit so they can see all providers of sports team software in one place and see all the questions our research says organizations need to ask of sports team software providers to make the right choice.
- Some want to visit our online video demo so that they can watch, learn and listen when they want and at their own pace.
There is one common thread to all that is above and that is that Bonzi’s entire process of interacting with potential new customers is simple: we are here to do our best to align with your needs, wants and desires. If we can’t do what you need and want we’ll be the first to say so.
Our value proposition says that we’ll have the best support and totally free support, lowest overall cost, easiest to use sports team software, no contracts and we’ll put your money in your bank account everyday.
If you think we should do something different with our process we’d like to ask you to take a minute and tell us how.
Tags: Bonzi sports software, league software, making decisions, software sports, sports team software, sports websites, youth sports software
Posted in Communication, Costs, How to Choose, Parents Win, Support | No Comments »
