TeamSport is one of the biggest karting venues in the UK. Because of their exponential growth, they needed to find a solution for their software to keep up. BMI Leisure helped them achieve their goals by providing an all-in-one solution to optimize operational efficiency, guest experience and revenue.
Dominating the karting industry
When opening their first track in 1992 in Guildford, Surrey, TeamSport had a clear goal of creating the best karting experience and providing new standards in the industry. Currently having 35 tracks in the UK, two in Germany, one in the Netherlands, over 1,000 employees in total and an average of 1.3 million visitors per year, TeamSport can rightfully call itself the number 1 indoor karting in the UK.
All 38 (and counting) tracks are complemented by food & beverage, with some tracks offering additional leisure activities as well. They are recognized as one of the Top 30 large companies to work for in the UK.
Embracing change with BMI Leisure
TeamSport’s outdated timing platform was no longer fit for their size and growth ambitions. A part of marketing consisted of exporting customer email addresses from the reservation software into a standalone marketing platform. But then if they wanted more information on a customer, they needed to tie a customer to a particular product or experience, and they could only tie them to memberships by merging files. It was all very time-consuming and cumbersome.
The online booking was not effective at all, resulting in long queues, loss of time and lots of employees needed to register guests. Calculating sales of the last month, making reports, changing products, updating email templates, or changing conditions across multiple sites, all had to be done manually and repeated 30 times for each venue. Another major issue was reporting and analytics. For example, it took half a month to calculate last month’s sales. A large and growing center such as TeamSport required an improvement in its operational efficiency.
With multiple venues across the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands, finding a software centralized for multi-location businesses was a must. Additionally, TeamSport wanted to improve customer expectations with digitization and offering online booking.
Reaching business milestones
BMI Leisure’s software platform provided a centralized solution, addressing every aspect of customer interaction from reservations and sales inquiries to inventory and stock control.
The software was a catalyst for TeamSport’s business growth, propelling them to new heights. The reporting and analytics capabilities allowed the business to generate monthly sales reports within seconds, enabling the team to make informed decisions quickly. Automation engines also simplified multi-venue management, making product changes and email template updates a breeze.
Tangible benefits
Operational efficiency
- Online booking
TeamSport is now able to place products online effectively, efficiently, and with fewer people working on it. Additionally, the possibility to register customers in advance has removed long queues and waiting times. Since the new software, more than 90% of bookings are placed online. That number rose from 35%. - Online office
A URL based platform that allows all offices to book using the same system. This was developed in partnership with us so that the platform is uncomplicated and provides only what is needed. - Automation
The removal of manual processes like auditing sales or calculating F&B margins are now all automated. Some whole departments no longer exist, TeamSport just redeployed the personnel. - Advanced reporting
The production of daily, weekly, and monthly reporting. Previously they would not know results for weeks after the end of the month, now it’s the very next day. A good example of this is the multi-site voucher redemption & liability reporting. This provides oversight to the finance team about how much TeamSport is holding as deposit liabilities, but also shows them what percentages are non redeemed. Mark describes functionality that just wasn’t possible before BMI Leisure: “The depth and speed of BMI Leisure’s analytics reporting allow us to do things we simply couldn’t before.” Reports that once took multiple groups a full day to generate have been automated under BMI Leisure, all but eliminating the tedious repetition required by software that’s not optimized for businesses with multiple locations. “Considering the size of our business, the analytical data insight we get is chalk and cheese (very different) compared to BMI Leisure’s competition”. - Headcount reduction
There was a direct effect on overhead, with an increased customer foot flow, and reduction of operational costs and people needed for service. The costs of their call center are drastically reducing thanks to online booking. Only half of the amount of people are needed anymore, they can place them in different departments and don’t have to hire extra people.
Guest experience
- Speed
Thanks to online booking and pre-registration, more than 80% of TeamSport’s drivers preregister. This results in no more queues, and our guests can immediately start their activities. This makes it much easier for both TeamSport staff and their guests. - Marketing
TeamSport’s previous platform had some marketing functionality, but it was at once time-consuming and cumbersome. The transition to BMI Leisure has helped considerably. Now, they’ve got numerous triggers set up based on activity: it could be the number of visits, type of product purchased, etc.
They can also do the inverse and track inactivity and send out auto-emails based on what customers don’t do. TeamSport used to have an army of people calling customers when it was time for them to renew, now they just automatically send two or three emails. - Mobile app
Prior to the BMI Leisure switch, TeamSport had no mobile presence whatsoever. Now, they can utilize the same automated triggers previously mentioned from the mobile app: “we replicate trigger-based communications to people in-app“, Mark says, homing in on a nuanced point regarding customer communications in general. “Customers’ privacy, and their acceptance of email has been questionable, so being able to communicate through a perceived safer channel like mobile push notifications, is a big deal”.
Revenue
- Online conversion
Online conversion jumped from 2 – 3% to 6 – 7% and up to 15% during holiday periods. Each 1% is worth literally millions of pounds a year.
Process the high post-pandemic demand
Despite the difficulties in assessing a business’ performance during the COVID pandemic, TeamSport has experienced a significant increase in its driving numbers since its reopening. Mark expressed his satisfaction with the impressive results and attributed it to the implementation of BMI Leisure software. Prior to this, pre-registration was not possible, but with the software, they can now pre-populate and pre-register all participants in a group, which has improved customer experience and operational efficiency. It’s clear that the software has allowed TeamSport to handle high consumer demand effectively.
To conclude
In summary, TeamSport’s switch to BMI Leisure’s all-in-one solution enabled them to provide their customers with a seamless and efficient booking process, sophisticated automation engines, advanced analytics and reporting capabilities, and a reduced overhead cost. Key improvements were made regarding guest experience, operational efficiency and revenue. BMI Leisure’s platform allowed TeamSport to make strategic decisions quickly and cater to its customers’ evolving needs across multiple venues, ultimately contributing to their remarkable success.