September 7th, 2010
It takes many people to pull off a season of sports successfully.
It is ironic that, often in my observation, the better the contribution to that successful sports season the less recognition that contribution gets.
For example; the first four years my son was in soccer all of the soccer fields he played on were mud pits by the last half of the season because we live in the rainy pacific northwest. At some point the fields mostly seems to stay relatively mud free through most or all of each season. The value of this to all concerned was huge. Despite this value the contribution was not noticed at a conscious level and it certainly got no recognition or thanks.
The point is that while we may “get away” with not giving recognition for contributions, both the team spirit and the likelihood that the contribution will continue are much less without recognition in my experience.
At Bonzi we know our role and our contribution in most of the sports organizations we serve and only need one kind of recognition; that our teams continue to use our software every year. Sure, we like and want other forms of recognition but we really only need and hope for continued use of the software. Continued use really says it all to us.
Consider taking a look around at all that it takes to run a successful sports season and making that extra effort if you don’t already to acknowledge and recognize the wide variety of contributions that made the season possible. I have been impressed by some of the coaches and parents at the season end pizza parties that lightly but thoroughly cover many and maybe even most of the contributions, large and small, that made a season possible. I’ve also notices the smiles and glow coming from people who thought that their minor contribution had not been seen when to their delight they got a bit of recognition.
Tags: accomplishment, Bonzi sports software, Communication, youth sports software
Posted in Acknowlegement, Coaching, Communication, Developing Kids, Volunteers | No Comments »
July 16th, 2010
New League Software; bet you haven’t heard those words said of late… possibly never.
Here is how the league software or sports software business works for most players involved:
- Decide you want to get into the sports software or league software business; how hard could it be?
- Buy or build a platform that covers the basics of sports registration, sports scheduling, team websites and email communications.
- Begin to discover that this business is not nearly as easy nor as lucrative as you thought… but you’re now committed.
- Begin to discover that your sports software or league software coding has some major problems in terms of it’s design or architecture; it’s really hard to enhance while keeping both the speed and ease-of-use high.
- Realize that even the modest level of growth you are seeing is consuming all your cash and you can’t cover the support your users expect, keeping the software current and doing the marketing you must do to grow with the capital you have and the super skinny profits the business produces.
- Buff up your balance sheet and seek an investment.
- Get the investment.
- Discover that your investors DEMAND both growth and profits
- Spend most of the money they gave you on various forms of expensive marketing, like huge trade show booths and banner ads that don’t turn out to produce new enrollments – don’t spend any of it producing new league software like you had intended.
- Raise the registration fees north of $5 per registration, up your credit card fees, hold on to the club’s money as long as you can to cover your cash flow issues, and start running ads on your users web sites and emails.
- Only do the upgrades to the sports software or league software that you absolutely must to keep it running because you simply don’t have the cash to do anything else.
- Begin to lose clubs, leagues and sports organizations because they don’t like your high registration cost, high credit card fees, you holding onto their money too long and the fact that your software is slowing down, is getting harder to use and they never get the upgrades you keep promising… and that it is nearly impossible to get support unless you pay a stiff fee.
- You start requiring multi-year contracts with automatic renewals because you know that once users get past your marketing hoo haw and get a nose full of the reality of your real offer that they will leave at the first chance.
- Your investors are really pushing you now so you have to raise your rates again, cut your investment in support and just keep the software limping along.
- By now it might have been years since you were able to communicate to your users that you really did have “New League Software” to help them do their job easier, faster, smarter and with less cost.
- By now you as the end user of the software provided by all this nonsense are at your peak of frustration.
- By now the idea of getting into the league software or sports software business seems like a very bad idea for all concerned.
I think you get the picture; the sports software or league software business is TOUGH unless you do it just right.
Bonzi took a very different approach:
- No debt to anyone
- Lowest overall cost in the sports software or league software business
- Famous for fast, free, friendly and unlimited support; even one-on-one training to get you going and keep you going
- The software is being constantly upgraded and improved; the latest addition is a best-in-class content management system to allow anyone to build and maintain a website just like the professionals do
- No contracts, no surprises, no gotchas
- Your money goes directly into your bank account and Bonzi never holds on to it
- Client requests for upgrades and new capabilities are understood and scheduled… and completed rapidly – we listen to our users
- Our software design is state-of-the art so it is easy and economical to keep upgrading without losing speed or compromising capability and ease-of-use
- Clients stay – we have never had a customer willingly leave
New league software is something you could hear every day at Bonzi and it would be true; the software is improved by a large staff of dedicated developers daily. We aren’t sure, but we doubt that any other sports software or league software company can say that today.
Which description above sounds like your league software provider? If you are ready to see just how good it can be give Bonzi’s Ricky Aker a call at 503-620-6661 X224 and ask for a demo; you’ll be amazed by what you see and hear about what you’ve been missing with your current league software.
Tags: Communication, contracts, league software, making decisions, online registration, software sports, sports registration, sports schedule software, Sports software, team websites, Upgrades
Posted in Costs, Performance, Scheduling, Support, Upgrades | No Comments »
July 13th, 2010
Team is a term that is thrown around so loosely that you’d think all you have to do to get a team together is to just say the word “team” and voila, you’d have a team… whatever that is.
When you search “team” on the www.amazon.com website in the books category you get approximately 172,000 results returned; obviously the world struggles with “team” otherwise why all the darn books?
So just what does put the team into sports team software? In my observation it’s when two conditions are met: 1) everyone has a shared goal that excites each and every person and 2) all proposed members of the team believe, to some degree, that achievement of that goal is possible … even if it’s not precisely probable.
What we’ve found is that if you got those two things going for you, you can skip all 172,000+ of the books, the seminars, and all the other whoo-haa about teams… because you will have a team. See, what we’ve found, and your mileage may vary, is that when you have a goal that everyone shares, is excited about it and believes that it is possible to achieve even if it might be hard work… then a team naturally and easily forms; that’s what puts the team in sports team software.
There is, of course, a bit more to the software part of the story. The one major threat to a team is a lack of communication. The Bonzi sports team software makes it a breeze to communicate with one or many teams, one or many team members and allows you to do so impromptu, automatically or both.
The bottom line is that as a leader it’s really you that put’s the “team” in sports team software. Yeah, Bonzi is here to help you keep the “team” in sports team software but only you can get it there to start.
Tags: Bonzi sports software, Communication, Sports software, sports team software, Youth Soccer Coaching
Posted in Acknowlegement, Coaching, Communication, Developing Kids, How to Choose, Motivation, Parents Win, Performance | No Comments »
July 9th, 2010
I’ve done it, maybe you’ve done it too; searched for something free on the internet. After all, isn’t that one of the foundations of the internet ethic, that good things can be had for free?
The puzzle is that there are some very good things on the internet that are truly free, such as sites like Wikipedia. But while there are some “free” things of value on the internet, in my observation, there are many, many cases where free turns out to be a sucker punch.
For example take the search term “free soccer software”, it’s searched for over 1,300 times per month on average last time I looked.
Let’s take the cotton candy metaphor for example, and let’s consider that sugar is to cotton candy as free is to soccer software. Cotton candy is almost pure sugar with a bit of color tossed in for interest. Free soccer software might be nominally free but actually offer little else of use and like cotton candy, after the initial thrill is gone you are left with at best little nutrition and possibly cavities. Here’s why…
Free does not get you these important things if you have a real need for soccer software… or any other kind of real sports software for that matter:
- Live, available, skilled and dedicated support; when you get into a ditch, you are truly stuck and may have just wasted a huge amount of time because you can’t get any help.
- Ease of use may be lacking because there is no team of dedicated developers keeping the soccer software code up-to-date and compatible to say nothing of easy to use from a non technical person’s point of view.
- Rich and necessary features – lousy features can usually only be tolerated by soccer software users who only have very, very limited needs. Even the smallest club… maybe particularly the smallest club needs the features they need because they can’t make up the difference with manpower.
- Registration; when money is involved and things go south you’ll need help… that is if free soccer software even have a real and reliable registration feature.
- Scheduling; I suspect that there are some free soccer software scheduling applications out there but when most of the paid soccer scheduling applications have serious limitation it seems to be a stretch of the imagination that a free application would reliably return a satisfactory result for the critical task of scheduling teams, venues, coaches and so on.
- Email; free soccer software without an automated email notification system is, in my opinion, practically worthless as you miss half the point of any sports software and that is to be able to efficiently communicate with the right sub-set of parents, coaches and team members about a specific issue, event or situation.
- Web pages; this seems to be what many really mean when they say free soccer software. The price you pay here is that first they’ll charge you if you need anything beyond a stupid set of minimums and you’ll have to pay if you don’t want them to advertise as they see fit to your visitors.
I’ll stop here but the list goes on and on and on. You get the idea. Free soccer software can easily end up wasting precious time, money and give you a major league case of indigestion and embarrassment if you are the one who innocently recommended going down this problem strewn path with the simple and honorable intent of saving a few bucks.
Bonzi sports software gives you everything you could ever want to support soccer and any other sport all on one ultra high quality and supported platform. The best thing is that Bonzi is the next best thing to free as it’s the lowest overall cost soccer software on the market and is viewed by its customers as far and away the best sports software available in the north american market today.
Tags: Bonzi sports software, Communication, league software reporting, making decisions, online registration, soccer software, Sports software, sports websites, Support
Posted in Communication, Cost of Free, Costs, Parents Win, Performance, Upgrades, Volunteers | No Comments »
June 29th, 2010
My 17 year old son is cleaning out his bedroom to prepare for a busy summer and to be ready to hit the ground running for his senior year in high school. This whole process reminded me of the new movie Toy Story 3 where the boy is getting ready to move away from home and go to college. My son and the Toy Story 3 boy were both at the beginning of transitions and both were packing up the remnants of the past in preparation for the future.
Having seen the Toy Story 3 movie tuned my awareness up for boxes marked “Store in Attic” and “Give Away”. I noticed my son too had a box marked “Store in Attic”… I just had to peak to see what prize had escaped the trip to Goodwill and was getting stored for a shot at another day. To my surprise a significant portion of those things being saved for the future was his collection of “participation” trophy’s from kindergarten on. Alas, my son has never been nor really wanted to be a competitor; he was just out to have fun and be part of the team. Still the recognition represented by the trophy must have meant something to him.
In the science of motivation we know that recognition is a powerful motivator for people to try harder, work harder and to have vastly more persistence than is likely without recognition. For many a kid the recognition that comes from a coach, other parents and a $2 trophy is all the recognition that they are likely to get in life. To my way of thinking this is one of the foundational values that make youth sports so very, very important in our culture regardless which game is played.
At Bonzi sports software we support the concept of recognition a couple of important ways. First we know that having your picture on a sports website or a video on your sports website is a powerful motivator. To support that Bonzi sports software allows for unlimited space so that coaches and volunteers can post all the pictures they want without being asked to pay more. We also make sure that we keep the cost of registration down without asking the sports club or league to compromise on what they get from the software. Finally, Bonzi sports software is unique in all sports software in that we have a content management system that makes it easy and fast for a volunteer or administrator to quickly post and title new photos or videos.
We know that appropriate recognition drives both effort and self-esteem in kids. When kids know how to go beyond their initial limits and the develop great self-esteem we know that our world will be a better place for everybody.
Tags: accomplishment, Communication, leadership, making decisions, Sports software, Youth Soccer Coaching
Posted in Acknowlegement, Coaching, Communication, Developing Kids, Motivation, Parents Win | No Comments »
June 8th, 2010
Blame just feels right in so many cases. The big question is does it get us anywhere in reality? I suggest it doesn’t usually move anyone towards the things they want on or off the field in sports.
Let’s take little league from the perspective of the coach for example. If the team loses more often than the coach thinks they should given what he or she knows of the teams average skill level who or what is to blame? Blame the kids for (fill in the blank) until the cows come home and what will really change; nothing in my experience. By contrast if the coach looks in the mirror and realizes that the practice sessions have not done enough to condition the kids and balls keep getting dropped then conditioning and drills may be in order.
So you say Duh… everyone knows that in little league sports! So if thats true… why so much noisy complaint and yelling at the kids?
The experts out there tell us that we complain anytime there is a gap between what we want and what we are getting. More specifically when we complain we usually do so in one or more of the following three ways:
- Complaints for recreation – it’s a social lubricant and a way of aligning on values
- Expressive complaints – we just have to get it off our chest but don’t want or expect that anything will be done about it
- Complaints for action – we want and expect that something will happen and happen soon
Discerning which complaint you are making is tough and figuring out what other people are doing seems almost impossible much of the time.
In my experience the key is to simply ask; what are the possibilities that you think we should consider looking at to address this concern? That statement usually pulls out which of the three types of complaints are occurring and what you might need to do about it. I go so far as to ask myself the question so I can get clarity… if I really think these kids can do better in their little league baseball game then what action(s) would most likely yield the needed results in the relevant time-frame?
Once I know that then I know it is up to me to take the action or shut up and put up…unless I am just complaining for recreation or to blow off steam… and even then I need to make sure that my complaining isn’t doing harm to those around me who can’t figure out what my intent is with all my noise.
Does this line up with your experience?
Tags: accomplishment, Communication, Little league baseball, little league sports software, Sports software, Youth Soccer Coaching, Youth sports coaching
Posted in Acknowlegement, Coaching, Communication, Developing Kids, Motivation, Parents Win | 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 »
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 »
