Empowering 3 Skating Organizations with Efficient Software & Cost Savings
Overview
As the winner of the Professional Skaters Association’s 2020 Shulman Award for Lifetime Achievement, it’s clear that Barb Yackel knows the ins and outs of figure skating coaching in the United States. Based in Minnesota, Barb runs Point of Perfection Figure Skating Camp, Girl Power Hockey Camp, and Blades N Motion Skating School. With passionate, industry leading instructors, Barb has created a trio of skating offerings that bring the joy of skating to youth ages 3 to 18 years old. However, before using Uplifter, Barb found herself hampered by a different software that wasn’t delivering the results she needed. After being held back by limited software features, she knew there had to be a better solution that met her needs and aligned with the vision she had for her skating camps and skating school.
Using Uplifter for online registration
About Barb Yackel’s Skating School & Camps
Point of Perfection Figure Skating Camp, Girl Power Hockey Camp, and Blades N Motion Skating School are each tailored to a slightly different audience. Girl Power Hockey Camp has a clear vision to help girls improve their hockey skills, while Blades N Motion Skating School aims to help any child develop their fundamentals and grow into a strong skater. Lastly, with world-class instructors and professional skaters like Kurt Browning, Point of Perfection aims to help build upon the skills of more experienced skaters. Despite these different audiences, each of Barb Yackel’s skating offerings provide a fun, safe and positive environment where skaters can develop their skills under the encouragement and guidance of high-quality instructors.
The Situation
As a PSA Master rated coach with over 45 years of experience, Barb Yackel knows what it takes to deliver compelling instruction that uplifts skaters so they can reach their highest potential. Behind the scenes, she also understands the work it takes to run a successful skating school and skating camp. That’s why Barb has built a staff at each camp and skating school that not only loves their sport, but also excels at organizing, planning and problem solving.
Unfortunately, the old registration software that Barb and her team were using was hampering their abilities to organize and solve problems. Despite choosing a large, well-known provider, they found themselves stuck with limited functionality. Among the limitations, they found that they couldn’t edit invoices or make payment adjustments. They also couldn’t pull reports that could be used across platforms. This added time and frustration to tasks that should have been easier to execute.
Beyond day-to-day management functions, Barb also recalls that with her old provider the “registration process was confusing and we had to change every year.” Meaning, they couldn’t roll over their programming or clone seasons. These limitations added more tasks to their busy schedules.
Getting stuck with extra work and a confusing registration motivated Barb and her team to find a better solution. They knew there had to be a more user-friendly provider that could deliver the same high-level of service that Barb and her staff delivered to their skaters. With this in mind, Barb began looking for a better solution and found Uplifter.
The Solution
Managing one skating school can keep a person very busy. Managing two skating camps and a skating school requires a lot of extra organizational prowess! In Uplifter, Barb Yackel and her staff have found a platform where they can use their organizational skills to simplify key operations like registration and scheduling. Barb explains that, “Uplifter’s registration is a huge plus.” Beyond registration, she’s been pleasantly surprised with the independence Uplifter has given her team. She says, “I like the fact that we can manage most of the information on our own. It is nice to not have to call a customer service line every time we have a small issue and wait for someone else to fix it.” Clearly, Barb and her team have felt empowered by the information and tools that Uplifter provides, and that’s exactly what Uplifter has been designed to do.
Since day one, the Uplifter platform has been built with an emphasis on automation because we know that when tasks are automated – even small ones – it empowers users and creates an easier workflow. With automations and efficiencies built into Uplifter, schools and camps can even get a boost of confidence right from the start with streamlined training. Barb experienced this, saying, “The training provided and the platform is streamlined and well organized.” Of course, when a platform and training feels streamlined and well organized those efficiencies will transfer to your business.
Now, Barb Yackel and her team are streamlining everything through Uplifter and it’s paying off. She says, “being able to link to a specific site for all my resources is a great savings… I would say we are experiencing at least a 10% cost savings overall based on the streamlining alone.” While these cost savings are great, there are time savings too. Barb explains that, “having all the information for all aspects of the programs in one place is HUGE.” Previously Barb would need to generate reports in excel, email them to staff so they could make changes and share them in a Google sheet. Then they’d be able to leverage that data to create different spreadsheets so they could organize information and make groups. All of that cross-platform group work took extra time. Barb explains that, “With Uplifter’s software we can do this all-in-one place.” As a result, her team is simplifying group work, saving time and money!
When asked if Barb had advice for anyone who might be considering Uplifter for the organization, she responded enthusiastically saying, “DO IT NOW – don’t wait a minute longer. The platform is amazing!!!”
Favourite Features
Family Accounts:
Family accounts allow schools and camps to better organize their participants. Barb Yackel explains that, “family profiles have been a great addition because skaters can now be organized together.” This format allows parents to access one place to make payments, see their children’s achievements, and view one consolidated family calendar. Staff can also easily update an individual child’s profile without affecting the profiles of other children in the same family. It’s an efficient and intuitive way to organize participants.
Online Payments & Registration:
A user-friendly registration software will unlock an easier registration process and payment process too. Barb Yackel says, “Uplifter has streamlined our payment process and our registration for multiple programs.” When schools and camps use Uplifter to simplify registration, they can also improve cashflow and expedite accounts receivables which is a big win!
Communication Tools:
Thanks to Uplifter’s built-in email tool, Barb says that her team can now, “communicate with families about changes or additions to the program process.” In doing so, families stay informed and staff can help eliminate confusion about any changes. With this type of proactive communication, Barb and her staff are able to deliver the same type of high-quality service off the ice as they do when they’re on the ice with skaters!
