Innovative ways to increaseyour club's bottom line.

Staying on the cutting edge of success is a challenge thatrequires a constant influx of creative ideas. To help you meetthis arduous challenge, Tennis Industry has compiled the bestideas from leading industry insiders around the nation.

At a recent seminar on racquet cus-tomization, equipment guru WarrenBosworth held court. Stressing the factthat proper customization leads toincreased customer satisfaction and higherrevenues, he explained that weight andbalance are the keys to tailoring a frame toa player's liking. Typically, when a playerswitches to a new racquet he expressesconcern about how different it feels com-pared to his trusty old stick. That'sbecause the player is accustomed to a pre-vious weight and balance. Therefore, saysBosworth, the art lies in reconstructing anew racquet with the comparable weightand balance of the old one. This gives theplayer the best of both worlds: the high-tech features of the new frame plus thefeel and playability of the older frame.

Bosworth also pointed out that tenniselbow, if caught early enough, often canbe remedied by making a couple of simpleadjustments in the weight and balance ofthe racquet as well as the grip size. First,add more weight to the head of the rac-quet through the use of lead tape at boththe 3 and 9 o'clock positions. By increas-ing the mass in the racquet's head, thestress on the elbow is severely reduced.Second, increase the grip size. Although alarger grip diminishes the potential ofwrist snap on serves and overheads, itencourages a more stable racquet head ongroundstrokes and means that a playerdoesn't have to squeeze the grip as tightwhen hitting the ball. The end result isless strain on the arm.

Want to sell more shoes and improvethe services offered to your club mem-bers? Then take a leaf out of the book ofJim McLennan. A Northern CaliforniaU.S. Professional Tennis Association(USPTA) veteran, McLennan suggests thatteaching pros incorporate in to theirlessons footwork and movement drills.This has the desired effect of getting prosto talk about shoes. At the same time, herecommends that the pro develop a list ofthe brands each of his pupils wears. Then,on an annual basis, use this list to meetthe needs of his members, who couldswing by the shop or club counter to pickup their next pair of shoes. No hassles.No fuss. No searching interminably for aparticular brand. Just a quick pit stop.The results of this simple yet effectiveprocess are twofold: members are provid-ed with an improved service and tennisshops increase their bottom line. What'smore, this marketing technique doesn'trequire a pro shop. All that's needed is astorage area.

Fernando Velasco, a former USPTAnational pro of the year who is the directorof tennis at the Landings Club in Savannah,Georgia, shares a number of winning ideasto keep you ahead of the competition.

1) Don't charge in advance forre-stringing because the racquet may neednew grommets or other customizationsthat cost extra. Occasionally the stringermay even find a crack in the frame. Bynot charging in advance, the pro or

special ty shop can telephone thecustomer and advise him if there's anyadditional expenses that may be incurredwithou t having to get into the messybusiness ofre-funding money.

2) During a lesson or clinic the teach-ing pro should hit with the students'racquets to find out if the racquets neednew strings or grips.

3) Hold monthly ball machine clinicsto promote and educate members aboutthe use of ball machines. Velasco under-scores the importance of using good balls.To draw more attention to the ballmachine, Velasco also says it's a good ideato promote the ball machine drills in theclub newsletter and on the bulletin board.

4) If possible, establish a ball machinecourt that's visible from the office of thetennis director or head professional. Thisallows the pro to get out on the court andhelp members who are having difficultiesusing the machine. Hopefully, it will alsostimulate additional ball machine rentalsand generate more lessons .•

Joe Dinoffer is aUSPTA Master Pro-fessional and a mem-ber of the USPTR. Hespeaks frequently atnational and interna-tional tennis teachersworkshops as a mem-ber of both theReebok and Wilson

National Speaker Bureaus. He is also thepublisher of Coach Tennis America, anaudio magazine which presents highlights oftennis teacher workshops.

[Editor's Note: Tennis Industry invitesyou, our reader, to share your winningideas with us. You can write to Joe Dinofferin care of our offices, fax him at (214)823-3082 or reach him bye-mail atDinoffer@aol.com]