CourtReserve Webinars

(0:00) All right, let’s get started. Welcome
(0:01) everyone. My name is Ashley. Thank you
(0:03) so much for joining us today. I am super
(0:05) excited to call this lady, my friend
(0:08) Susie Anderson of beautiful Utah.
(0:11) Welcome. Thank you. Glad to be here. So,
(0:15) we’re going to talk all about pickle
(0:17) ball, pickle ballmies, pickle ball
(0:19) trainings, pickle ball, all kinds of
(0:21) stuff. But what I want to do first is I
(0:24) want to bring up my slides because you
(0:26) guys know we always have something to
(0:27) announce here. So, I’m going to do that
(0:29) from the beginning. So, Susie, you can
(0:31) see my slide. I can sure see them. Okay,
(0:34) great. So, of course, this is us. We’re
(0:36) here today. We’re going to talk all
(0:37) about pickle ball coaching and scaling
(0:39) and it it’s going to be an amazing time
(0:41) together. And then, but I also want to
(0:43) let you know that uh Court Reserve is so
(0:46) excited. We just partnered with Racketex
(0:48) and the City Series Tour. Uh we’re going
(0:51) to be in Philly next weekend. Um it’s
(0:53) going to be exciting. Uh we’re just glad
(0:56) because we know Rackadex is doing such a
(0:57) great job in all kinds of uh tennis and
(1:00) pickle ball and padell and bad mitten
(1:02) and they’re just bringing lots of great
(1:04) clubs together. Um so we are excited to
(1:06) be with them. Actually Jill and I are
(1:09) going to be in Philly. So if you want to
(1:10) come hang out with me and Jill in a
(1:12) couple weeks. Uh we’re going to Philly.
(1:14) Um we’re actually going to do a giveaway
(1:16) on Instagram. Um we’re going to give
(1:17) some tickets away to the Philly stop.
(1:19) So, if you’re not on the Court Reserve
(1:21) Instagram, I would highly recommend that
(1:23) you jump on there and become our friend.
(1:25) And if you have not already signed up,
(1:27) it may be too late this week, but if you
(1:29) can hop a plane to Salt Lake City, uh,
(1:31) Club Pickleball USA, uh, is putting on a
(1:34) phenomenal mastermind. I think there’s
(1:36) like 40 people already going. Um,
(1:38) they’re going to spend a couple days
(1:40) learning, and if you can’t make this
(1:41) week, highly encourage you uh, to make
(1:44) the next one. And we’ll find out when
(1:45) those dates are, usually in the fall.
(1:48) And then, you know, we’re always about
(1:51) helping you guys train and instead of
(1:52) you coming to us, we’re coming to you.
(1:54) So, there’s two new court reserve
(1:56) catalyst tour stops uh this fall. The
(1:59) first one’s in Seattle, Washington, and
(2:01) the second one is up in New Jersey.
(2:03) Again, you can go out to
(2:04) courtreserve.com and learn more about
(2:06) Catalyst and uh we’ll take it from there
(2:09) for sure. All right, let’s get started.
(2:13) I’m so excited. Susie, tell us how did
(2:16) you get into pickle ball? Oh man. Well,
(2:18) I’m kind of a dinosaur because I’ve been
(2:20) playing pickle ball for 11 years, which,
(2:22) you know, some people are like, “It’s
(2:24) been it’s been around that long.” Yes,
(2:25) it’s been around that long. The only
(2:27) people that really beat me out are the
(2:28) people that actually grew up in the
(2:29) Pacific Northwest and they got taught
(2:30) it, you know, at school. But, um, funny
(2:35) story really fast. I I actually picked
(2:37) it up at a local rec center. My
(2:38) husband’s a career firefighter and they
(2:40) would go to work out at the rec center
(2:42) and they saw this, it’s the classic
(2:44) story, this old guy that was playing
(2:46) this weird game and he taught all the
(2:48) firefighters how to play and my husband
(2:50) begged me for 6 months cuz I came from a
(2:51) tennis background, come play this, this
(2:53) game. It’s it’s called pickle ball. I’m
(2:54) like, that sounds like the stupidest
(2:56) thing I’ve ever heard of. Then he tells
(2:57) me the game has three numbers in the
(2:59) score and only two teams. I’m like, it
(3:01) is officially the stupidest thing I’ve
(3:02) ever heard of. So after six months of
(3:05) begging, I was training for
(3:06) long-distance triathlon. I was into
(3:08) halfiron mans at the time. Six months of
(3:10) begging, I finally showed up and I
(3:12) played. And within three months, I’d
(3:14) sold my bike, quit training, was all in
(3:17) on pickle ball, and I was sponsored and
(3:19) playing professionally within two years.
(3:22) Wow. Fast track.
(3:26) So, how did you get to Club Pickleball
(3:28) USA? Um, so Club Pickleball USA, I was
(3:34) um playing professionally at the time.
(3:36) This was back before the PPA tour was
(3:38) around. Um and but and I was also
(3:42) teaching on the side when I was at home
(3:44) and um I happened to meet Mike Egan who
(3:49) is the father of the father and son duo
(3:51) of Club Pickleball USA. Mike looked
(3:54) around to see who could teach him how to
(3:56) play pickle ball and I happened to be
(3:58) the person that had the word of mouth
(4:00) and the branding and he found me. So I
(4:04) started teaching Mike. the end of it was
(4:06) at the end of a summer uh would have
(4:08) been summer of 2020 the end of summer
(4:10) 2020 and Thanksgiving day of 2020
(4:15) uh my student Mike Egan sends me a
(4:18) schematic to an indoor pickle ball club
(4:21) and I said what’s this and he says do
(4:24) you want to be our head pro I’m like
(4:26) heck yes I do
(4:28) and then you know a few days at the
(4:32) beginning of the next week I show up to
(4:33) this used to be a it was a home base,
(4:36) like a Home Depot. I show up, they’re
(4:37) grinding the floors down. You can hardly
(4:39) see anything because of all the concrete
(4:40) dust in the air. And um and that’s where
(4:44) the relationship started. And I I ended
(4:47) up not only being the head pro, but also
(4:49) the founding director. I helped build
(4:51) all the playbased programming, which I
(4:53) later handed off to them. And then I’ve
(4:54) delved into just developing um the
(4:57) coaching academy. That’s amazing. So,
(5:01) what makes uh your journey through
(5:03) pickle ball at the club level so special
(5:06) to you?
(5:08) Um,
(5:11) oh, a lot of things. Um,
(5:15) it was really just it was it was a great
(5:17) opportunity for me. I I needed to leave
(5:19) playing professionally because I needed
(5:21) to stay home and raise my teenagers. And
(5:24) I’m a very driven type A goal.
(5:28) And um I loved that it was this new
(5:32) place to put all my competitive nature
(5:34) in, but it was to be the best club, the
(5:37) best coaching academy, the best coach.
(5:39) Um I loved that that that drive and that
(5:43) progress is very fulfilling to me. Um, I
(5:46) can actually tell you I love coaching
(5:50) way more than I ever love playing
(5:51) professionally because it’s it’s
(5:53) fulfilling not just on a personal level,
(5:55) but I love to see the fulfillment and
(5:57) the growth of my students. It’s very
(5:59) meaningful to see how it enriches other
(6:02) people’s lives as well as my own. and
(6:04) and that’s been probably the greatest,
(6:07) you know, high of the whole scenario is
(6:09) is the connections and the people and
(6:11) the relationships and and just sharing
(6:13) in the growth and that’s what it’s
(6:16) that’s what pickle ball is all about.
(6:17) So, for sure. So, when you were at the
(6:20) club full-time, you know, directing,
(6:22) doing events and programming, how do you
(6:25) decide what to put on the event calendar
(6:28) as far as programming goes or how how
(6:30) does a director learn to do that? Well,
(6:33) it’s a little bit of trial and error
(6:34) because we have two clubs here in Utah
(6:37) now and technically we have three
(6:39) locations, but one is like a little
(6:41) satellite extra spillover location
(6:43) that’s 5 minutes from our Sandy club.
(6:45) So, we have we have our ORM club and we
(6:47) have our Sandy club and our demographic
(6:49) in the two counties. These are they’re
(6:51) 25 minutes apart from each other. The
(6:53) demographic is totally different. So, a
(6:57) lot of it is you have to figure out what
(7:00) does your demographic want. Who are
(7:02) they? And and almost any club’s going to
(7:05) have a daytime demographic and an before
(7:08) and after work hour demographic. And you
(7:10) got to know what they both want. And
(7:12) then you start planning the programming
(7:13) around it. And a lot of it is you put
(7:15) stuff on the calendar and you see what
(7:17) fills. You see what they’re excited
(7:19) about. Then you start hearing, you know,
(7:21) you start talking to them. You interact
(7:22) with them. It’s all about community.
(7:24) You’re building this space. So you’re
(7:26) build, you’re creating an experience for
(7:28) them. So you think about it, what
(7:30) experiences, not necessarily what
(7:32) events, but what experiences do my
(7:35) player base want? Figure it out. Add
(7:38) more of them. If they keep filling, you
(7:40) know, it’s like, oh well, how do we
(7:42) Okay, the 35 on Monday nights from 7:00
(7:44) to 9:00 is always full. Okay, what if we
(7:47) did a team night? What if we did a mixed
(7:49) doubles date night? You know, you just
(7:51) start kind of seeing what are the
(7:53) different variations. When you find
(7:54) something that works really well,
(7:56) you know, find some variations. If
(7:58) something doesn’t work, don’t beat the
(8:01) dead horse for very long before you take
(8:03) it off the calendar and put something
(8:04) different on or ask, “Why isn’t this
(8:07) working? Why isn’t this filling?” Talk
(8:09) to your player base. You know, do people
(8:12) just not know about it? Or is the time
(8:14) not right? or you know the the women all
(8:19) want to play at that time but they want
(8:20) to play only with women
(8:22) not with not mixed gender and so it a
(8:25) lot of it is is learning what you want
(8:28) our Sandy club they want events all day
(8:31) long I mean we run bazillions of
(8:33) roundroins kings courts paddle battles
(8:35) the whole shebang my ORM location they
(8:38) actually like open play and booking
(8:39) their own courts our our we don’t fill
(8:42) as many events in the evenings we do but
(8:44) not in the daytime time. And so it’s
(8:46) just
(8:49) you try, you come up with an idea, you
(8:51) put it on the calendar, you try it, you
(8:52) collect the data, you got to have a way
(8:54) to collect the data, and then you make
(8:56) an adjustment or you keep adding to. And
(8:59) so it’s really get to know your players,
(9:03) make smart decisions, collect the data
(9:06) quickly,
(9:08) and make adjustments. So, is there an
(9:11) event or a program that surprised you
(9:13) that you were surprised that it took off
(9:15) as well as it did? Maybe. I haven’t had
(9:18) any that I don’t I wouldn’t say that
(9:19) I’ve had some that surprised me that
(9:21) they did take off. I’ve had some that I
(9:23) was really surprised were total flops.
(9:27) For interesting, in the coaching academy
(9:29) world, most of my most of my pickle ball
(9:31) players out here in Utah are pickle ball
(9:33) players. Not me, not you go, you know, I
(9:36) support a club out in Chicago. There are
(9:38) tons and tons of tennis players that
(9:40) come in. So, cardio pickle ball or like
(9:44) live ball, which are both kind of tennis
(9:47) events that we’ve changed into pickle
(9:49) ball. My Utah players, they hate them.
(9:52) They won’t sign up for them. I know
(9:54) places in California and places in big
(9:56) tennis communities, they cannot get
(9:58) enough of cardio pickle ball and
(9:59) liveball. They love them, but they’re
(10:01) familiar with them. My pickle ball
(10:02) players, they’re like liveball, which I
(10:04) think is a great event, but they’re it’s
(10:06) more of a pressurized fastpaced event
(10:10) where they’re still learning, but
(10:11) they’re like, “How do I win?” And it’s
(10:14) like, “There isn’t a winner.
(10:17) It It’s not It’s not something you can
(10:19) win. It’s your health. Your health is a
(10:21) winner. It’s the It’s your health.
(10:24) You’re moving more. you’re, you know,
(10:26) but you’re also practicing your shots in
(10:27) a high pressure situation and
(10:31) but they’re like, how do I win? I’m
(10:34) like, we you don’t. Well, why do I want
(10:37) to do that? Okay, so we’ll take that off
(10:39) the calendar. Yes. Quickly. Yes. Yes.
(10:41) Yes. Right. Or or we had a we had a flex
(10:43) league that we offered multiple
(10:45) different times. It was like the same
(10:47) league, but there but it was on but
(10:49) there were so many options. Nobody took
(10:51) any of the options.
(10:54) like we thought that Devon and I were
(10:55) talking about the other day. We’re like,
(10:56) “Remember the Kings League?” And we’re
(10:57) like, “Yeah, that stunk.” Um, you know
(11:00) what I mean? It’s but we thought it was
(11:01) going to be the great idea and it’s
(11:03) like,
(11:06) okay. So, yeah, I was more surprised by
(11:08) the flops than I was by the successes.
(11:10) That’s good to know though because
(11:11) again, like even at Old Coast Pickle
(11:13) Ball, we’ve had to completely take
(11:15) things off the calendar that we thought
(11:16) were going to be big hits and like when
(11:18) two people sign up, you’re like, “No,
(11:20) we’re not doing this again.” like
(11:24) that. All right, let’s talk about
(11:26) coaching because you have a passion for
(11:28) coaching. You have created an entire
(11:30) coaching program. Uh tell us how did you
(11:34) get started? Where did this start from?
(11:37) And let’s just start talking about your
(11:39) coaching program. So,
(11:43) um, by nature of limited time, I had I
(11:48) had coaches and I needed to train them
(11:49) and I needed to mentor them. And I found
(11:53) rather than trying to mentor them all in
(11:54) person or have them spend all this time
(11:57) shadowing me,
(11:59) I knew how every skill and every drill
(12:02) should be taught. And so, I I happened
(12:05) to come from a background. I I got a
(12:07) degree in commercial photography. I was
(12:08) a I was a commercial photographer for 16
(12:10) years before I started into my second
(12:12) career. I haven’t figured out what my
(12:14) third career will be when, you know, but
(12:16) for right now, we’re on number two. Um,
(12:19) so I started filming
(12:22) for my coaches because I have 13 coaches
(12:25) over two locations. One location’s 45
(12:28) minutes from my house, one location’s 15
(12:30) minutes from my house. So, I’m like, how
(12:32) am I going to train all these coaches
(12:35) and be time efficient? So I videoed
(12:37) everything.
(12:38) Um so every skill and every drill that
(12:42) is taught in my club is videoed. The
(12:44) other thing that I felt was so so
(12:46) important in creating value in our
(12:50) training academy is we all had to be on
(12:51) the same page. They couldn’t go to coach
(12:54) Bob and get taught how to hit a third
(12:56) shot drop and then come to coach Susie
(12:58) and get taught a whole different
(13:00) technique of hitting a third shot drop.
(13:02) that student is now saying where was my
(13:04) money well spent.
(13:06) And while there isn’t
(13:09) necessarily my way is the only way to
(13:11) teach,
(13:13) there has to be consistency to bring
(13:16) value to your brand. And so I’m like, I
(13:17) got to get all these coaches on the same
(13:19) page. There’s got to be continuity. It
(13:21) also takes away the competition between
(13:22) coaches. Then people are picking coaches
(13:24) based on the personality that fits them
(13:27) and less about this one does this better
(13:30) and this one does this better. It’s
(13:31) we’re all doing the same thing. We
(13:33) deliver it maybe subtly different
(13:34) because of our personalities, but it’s
(13:37) the same, you know, structure that we’re
(13:39) teaching. So, I filmed everything.
(13:42) That’s the way I’m teaching everything.
(13:44) And then I’ve realized as all these
(13:45) clubs are popping up, so many places
(13:49) don’t have a me.
(13:52) How do they build an academy if they
(13:54) don’t have somebody that can write the
(13:56) curriculum, that can train all the
(13:57) coaches, get all the coaches on the same
(13:59) page? it was already digitized. So, not
(14:02) only do I support my two clubs here in
(14:04) Utah and my 13 coaches where I am boots
(14:07) on the ground coaching on, you know, the
(14:10) courts, but I support nine othermies
(14:13) outside of the state of Utah with
(14:15) curriculum, with coach training, with
(14:17) continuing education with their coaches.
(14:19) Um, and it it it it brings
(14:24) value to your club to have a great
(14:27) coaching academy because now you’re a
(14:29) one-stop shop for everything that a
(14:31) pickle baller needs. There’s fun,
(14:34) there’s community, there’s growth,
(14:37) there’s a pathway to pro of progressing,
(14:40) all the things that bring everybody into
(14:42) this great sport, right? And then they
(14:45) keep it keeps them there in your gloves.
(14:47) I love the progression part because
(14:49) coming from tennis, right, it takes
(14:52) sometimes years for people to be able to
(14:54) go out and accurately like even do a set
(14:57) in tennis because of how big the court
(14:59) is and how the strokes are and
(15:01) everything. And that’s what we’ve heard
(15:03) in the pickle ball world is how do I as
(15:05) a coach transition from lessons in
(15:07) tennis to being lessons in pickle ball?
(15:09) How have you helped people see that and
(15:12) the value in that and and the value in
(15:14) this way of coaching? Absolutely. Um,
(15:17) so,
(15:19) um, I’ll address it kind of in two ways
(15:21) because you’ve talked about like a
(15:22) tennis coach switching to pickle ball
(15:24) and it’s not many tennis. Um, I recently
(15:29) worked with um all the tennis coaches
(15:32) for Cliff Dale Tennis and um and helping
(15:36) them to see there’s some great things
(15:38) from tennis that we bring into pickle
(15:40) ball and then there’s things that we’re
(15:41) going to leave in tennis and we’re going
(15:43) to do them different in pickle ball
(15:45) because it’s a smaller court, it’s
(15:47) different equipment, it’s a paddle and a
(15:50) hard ball. Um because the court’s
(15:52) smaller, we move differently. um they
(15:55) bring great things like their ability to
(15:57) load and rotate, all these things. So,
(15:58) there’s lots of things to to bring in
(16:00) and and I address that when I’m training
(16:02) coaches, especially coaches that came
(16:04) from tennis or are teaching in a tennis
(16:06) heavy area, right, of there’s some
(16:10) pretty clear distinctions of keep these,
(16:12) throw these away. Um, and so there there
(16:16) is a shift there and there needs to be a
(16:18) willingness to see the differences,
(16:21) appreciate the differences, and embrace
(16:23) them if you’re transitioning there. Um,
(16:26) when it comes to progression pathways
(16:29) for your students, it’s all about having
(16:31) expectations of what each skill level
(16:33) should be able to do. And in the
(16:36) curriculum that I build for my for my uh
(16:39) inerson and remotemies,
(16:41) there is a progression in in their
(16:45) series. Like we we have a 250 series
(16:47) that’s for two fives. We have a 300
(16:49) series that’s for 3 0’s. The the 300
(16:52) series is giving them the skills that
(16:54) they would need to become a 3.5. We’re
(16:58) already assuming they have the skills of
(16:59) a 3 0, but now we’re going to give them,
(17:02) you know, work on the skills for the 35
(17:04) and we have it set up in a way that it
(17:06) can be ongoing. They can jump in the
(17:08) series any month in the series. They
(17:12) don’t have to start at le one. So, it’s
(17:15) progressive in that the 300 leaves to
(17:17) the leads to the 350, but by nature, I
(17:20) can’t be starting, you know, say it’s a
(17:23) it’s a 12we 12 weeks of lessons. I can’t
(17:26) be starting a new one of those every
(17:27) month. There’s not bandwidth. There’s
(17:30) not court time. And so it’s built out so
(17:32) they could jump in on week five or on
(17:35) week nine
(17:38) and still go through the series. They
(17:40) repeat through, but it but it gives them
(17:42) this beautiful progress. Give it it
(17:44) educates them on the expectations of
(17:45) what they need to know. We’re going to
(17:47) give them the tools. Hopefully they go
(17:50) out and practice. It’s always up in the
(17:52) air, right? Well, that’s true. How how
(17:56) is it that you can take someone who
(17:58) maybe is a great pickle ball player,
(18:00) right? Does that always translate to or
(18:04) translate to being a great coach? Oh,
(18:06) no. The best pickle ball players I know
(18:10) are horrible coaches.
(18:12) And the reason being is a great pickle
(18:15) ball player sometimes they do a lot by
(18:17) feel. They’re that kid that was
(18:19) freakishly athletic. They watch the
(18:22) coach do something and they can just do
(18:23) it. But a great coach can take this is
(18:27) I’m this is a classic student of mine.
(18:30) The stay-at-home mom that is finally an
(18:32) empty neester and all her be girlfriends
(18:34) are playing pickle ball and she doesn’t
(18:35) want to look like a fool and yet she
(18:38) doesn’t have any sports background.
(18:39) Maybe she was a cheerleader. Maybe she
(18:40) was a dancer. Maybe she was the brain
(18:42) and she didn’t do any sports or
(18:44) athletics. and and to take
(18:48) sometimes that really athletic,
(18:51) extremely talented pickle ball player
(18:53) can’t actually talk to that student of
(18:57) this is where I need you to turn this
(18:59) toe and your hip’s going to do this and
(19:01) then you’re going to rotate through. You
(19:04) have to be able to you have to know the
(19:07) technical competencies of every shot,
(19:09) how they inter work and how to actually
(19:10) communicate and get somebody to do that.
(19:13) And some people are visual learners,
(19:15) some people are auditory learners, some
(19:17) people are kinesthetic learners. And you
(19:18) actually have to hold their paddle or
(19:19) their arm or, you know, move their
(19:21) shoulders to get them to do it. And so
(19:24) sometimes that really great pickle ball
(19:26) player, they never had to learn it like
(19:28) that. They could just see it and do it.
(19:31) Like I got a great friend, Tyler Loom.
(19:33) You all know Tyler Loom. And Tyler will
(19:36) admit to you that he’s not the best at
(19:39) coaching. Um Tyler’s great. He’s great
(19:42) with strategy, but like when it comes to
(19:44) mechanics, he just feels it so well and
(19:46) he’s always felt it so well. Breaking it
(19:48) down for him is difficult.
(19:51) Great guy, great player, great at
(19:53) coaching strategy and things like that.
(19:56) But
(19:57) your 25 and your 3 and even your 35,
(20:00) they need mechanics, right? And so
(20:03) having somebody, one of my best coaches
(20:05) is actually 80 years old.
(20:08) Love Bob. That man can teach the
(20:10) beginners. He has the patience. I mean,
(20:12) patience all day long. And and and
(20:14) everybody’s like, one of my young guys
(20:16) was like, “You’re hiring Bob.” I’m like,
(20:17) “Yeah, you just watch.”
(20:20) And he is like the beginner whisperer.
(20:23) So, how do you take an individual who
(20:25) says, “You know what? I want to be a
(20:26) pickle ball coach.” like through your
(20:28) academy and what you’ve done like like
(20:30) give us like the four different things
(20:32) or the five different things like how do
(20:33) you take them from player or maybe I
(20:36) want to coach or I want to learn to
(20:38) being able to like hold their own and to
(20:41) be able to go to a club and get a job as
(20:43) a coach. Um the first thing I’m going to
(20:46) tell anybody to do is get certified. Um
(20:49) I I got my hat on. I’m a coach developer
(20:51) for PPR and an education consultant for
(20:53) PPR. um that means I’m kind of biased
(20:57) towards them, but
(21:00) um if you get certified, say you’re
(21:03) looking, you’re a good player and you
(21:04) want to get you want to move into
(21:05) coaching the sphere, the coaching
(21:07) sphere, and you want to get hired by a
(21:08) club. Any reputable club should be
(21:11) hiring somebody that’s certified. Why?
(21:13) Well, number one, you’re going to come
(21:14) with liability insurance. Number two,
(21:16) you’ve shown that you’re interested in
(21:17) investing in your craft with both time
(21:19) and finances. That you want to be taken
(21:22) legitimately. You’re not just the guy
(21:24) pulling a basket of balls out of the
(21:26) trunk of his car at the city park.
(21:28) You’re more than that. You’re a brand.
(21:30) You’re a professional. Right? And so
(21:32) that the first step in looking
(21:34) professional is get some cred
(21:35) credentials, right? PPR, we focus very
(21:39) heavily on how to coach
(21:43) and what to coach, but there’s a big
(21:45) emphasis on how to coach. We have a
(21:46) level one, we have a level two, um, and
(21:49) we’ve got some more specialty courses
(21:51) coming out as well in the next year.
(21:54) But, um, the first thing I would say is
(21:57) get, um, certified. The second, start
(22:00) practicing.
(22:02) Really learn the components
(22:06) of each of you. We call them the
(22:08) technical competencies. They’d be grip,
(22:11) stance, your paddle prep, shape of the
(22:13) shot, contact point, weight transfer,
(22:15) and your recovery. Those are the five
(22:16) competencies of any shot. If you don’t
(22:21) know those things, well, how are you
(22:23) going to teach somebody? How are you
(22:25) going to know that they’re popping a
(22:27) ball up every time because their stance
(22:29) is wrong or their grip is wrong? You
(22:31) have to know how they inter interact.
(22:33) You have to be the fountain of all
(22:35) knowledge. Your player hits the ball in
(22:36) the net. You must have the answer. So
(22:39) you’ve got to train you got to have the
(22:40) knowledge and you got to train yourself
(22:42) to see the knowledge, right? And that
(22:43) just comes with practice. The other
(22:44) thing, you got to have people skills. At
(22:47) the end of the day, people come back
(22:48) because they like you and you were fun.
(22:51) They have to have a good time. They have
(22:52) to feel good about themselves.
(22:55) The other thing that people forget about
(22:56) being a coach, you’re a salesman all at
(22:59) the same time as being a coach.
(23:02) It sounds sleazy and we all hate it, but
(23:04) at the end of the day, don’t give them
(23:06) all your information in one lesson.
(23:09) Give them enough that they can digest
(23:11) and allude to what’s next and invite
(23:13) them to come back again, right? It’s
(23:15) salesmanship.
(23:17) And so, you have to be comfortable with
(23:19) all those things. But the but the
(23:21) biggest thing is create your own
(23:24) personal brand in essence of who you are
(23:27) as a coach. What are you known for? If
(23:30) you have a personal brand, if you have
(23:31) an identity as a coach, you’re hireable.
(23:35) Word of mouth will go around. You will
(23:38) be a professional. And that’s really
(23:39) what people are looking for.
(23:42) Now, you’ve been in pickle ball a long
(23:43) time, and you probably learn to play
(23:46) pickle ball one way, but teaching
(23:48) someone to play pickle ball today is
(23:51) probably a little bit different than,
(23:52) you know, 11 years ago. What’s the
(23:55) difference now than if you would have
(23:57) done this 11 years ago? Um
(24:01) well, even since I started teaching six
(24:03) years ago, the way we teach the game is
(24:05) different. The game has changed. The
(24:07) paddle technology,
(24:09) um you know, the pro tour with the
(24:10) bigger contracts, more tennis players
(24:12) coming in, the the game is changing.
(24:14) It’s much more offensive. It’s much more
(24:16) aggressive. I I laugh and tell my
(24:18) students, um I’m like, when I was a pro,
(24:20) we would have dink rallies that were 80
(24:23) dinks. 80 dinks. There’s no speedups,
(24:25) guys. 80 dinks. I kid you not.
(24:28) like
(24:30) we were playing with composite paddles,
(24:34) right? You couldn’t do
(24:37) the stuff that they can do now with the
(24:40) paddle technology. And so the game’s
(24:43) gotten much more offensive and and it’s
(24:46) modern. We saw tennis do this when the
(24:48) Williams sisters came in. No longer was
(24:50) it like the, you know, Chris Everett and
(24:52) Stephie Graph days of tennis. It was the
(24:55) Williams Sisters. It was power. It was
(24:56) load and rotate. It was, you know, more
(25:00) spin, open stance, all these things.
(25:02) Well, we’ve seen the same thing
(25:04) happening in the last two years in
(25:05) pickle ball. So, we teach it
(25:06) differently. You know, it no longer are
(25:09) we approaching the net as a wall. We’re
(25:11) approaching staggered because it’s more
(25:13) offensive. Um, you know, we’re not
(25:15) watching our partner hit our third.
(25:17) We’re not dinking for survival. We’re
(25:19) dinking for manipulation to get what we
(25:21) want. I I I hardly even use the word
(25:25) reset when I’m teaching. I teach my
(25:27) students, I want you to hit a neutral
(25:29) ball.
(25:31) Reset to me is so passive. It’s like,
(25:33) uh, now I’m in defense mode. I want to
(25:35) be in defense for as minimal amount of
(25:38) hits as possible and then I’m back in
(25:40) the driver’s seat. Being in the driver’s
(25:41) seat doesn’t mean I’m hitting the crap
(25:42) out of the ball. Being in the driver’s
(25:44) seat means I’m putting a ball somewhere
(25:45) to make my opponent uncomfortable.
(25:48) And I teach a lot about ball
(25:49) recognition. I know what I’m going to
(25:52) hit as my opponent is hitting their shot
(25:56) based on where’s their weight, where’s
(25:59) their paddle, what’s their court
(26:00) positioning. The ball recognition piece
(26:03) starts on the other side of the net.
(26:05) It’s gotten so fast. I can’t decide what
(26:07) I’m doing when the ball’s bouncing in
(26:09) front of me. I have to decide when
(26:10) they’re hitting the ball what I’m doing
(26:12) next. And this is the new more modern
(26:14) way that we’re teaching pickle ball
(26:16) because it’s fast, it’s aggressive, it’s
(26:18) offensive. Aggression and offense isn’t
(26:21) always power. It’s placement. There’s
(26:23) lateral pressure. There’s forward
(26:24) pressure. And and that’s this the style
(26:28) that we teach in mymies. It’s new. It’s
(26:31) modern. It’s up to-date. And it throws a
(26:34) lot of people because there’s lots of
(26:35) coaches still teaching the old way
(26:38) because we’rehead.
(26:40) Yeah, that that’s what I was going to
(26:42) say is, you know, in Florida for
(26:44) instance, you know, you can go out here
(26:45) to the public park and sometimes people
(26:48) are out there being a coach, right? And
(26:51) so now it’s how do we make sure in the
(26:54) future of pickle ball that we are being
(26:56) coached and able to get a hold of
(26:58) coaches to bring them into our
(27:00) facilities that are trained and teaching
(27:03) up to standards of what the play is like
(27:05) today for us as social players. Yeah.
(27:08) And I think that it goes back to, you
(27:11) know, the accreditation. Do they have
(27:14) credentials? Do they have a
(27:15) certification? If they have a
(27:16) certification, you know, and they’re
(27:18) active in their continuing education. I
(27:21) mean, the way when I became a coach
(27:23) developer for PPR 5 years ago versus
(27:26) now,
(27:28) we don’t even talk about the game the
(27:29) same way we did, right? But I’ve stayed
(27:31) involved. It It’s not did you get a cert
(27:35) five years ago and then never do
(27:36) anything more. It’s it’s are you staying
(27:39) active in these organizations that are
(27:42) or that are continually building the
(27:44) sport as it grows and progresses.
(27:47) So if somebody was interested and they
(27:50) wanted to develop their own, you know,
(27:52) training academy at their own club, what
(27:54) are some of the steps that you would
(27:56) encourage them to take in this day and
(27:58) age? Um
(28:01) they need to get a good head pro that’s
(28:03) willing to lead. um whether that head
(28:07) pro is falling in line with support with
(28:10) curriculum, you know, and training with
(28:12) somebody like me or they have the
(28:13) ability and desire to build their own.
(28:17) You’ve got to have somebody that’s going
(28:18) to lead it’s going to be a go-getter and
(28:20) building that continuity. It it you
(28:23) really have to look at it as you’re
(28:24) building a brand.
(28:26) Um that’s what you want from your
(28:27) coaching academy, not just we’ve got
(28:29) these five guys that teach pickle ball
(28:32) when they have extra time. Like there’s
(28:34) got to be some organization,
(28:37) you know, just like you have
(28:39) organization to the rest of your club
(28:41) management. This you can’t have
(28:44) organization and and value and brand
(28:46) identity everywhere and then just here’s
(28:50) these schlubs that teach for us,
(28:53) right? Make it all professional.
(28:56) Um, and so you have to find somebody
(28:59) that’s willing and interested in in
(29:00) leading that way. Some some clubs I mean
(29:03) I believe you only have two courts at
(29:05) Old Coast, right? We do. That’s correct.
(29:07) I mean a smaller club, two to four
(29:09) courts, even six courts. It’s realistic
(29:11) to think that your director could also
(29:12) be your head teaching pro.
(29:15) They’re going to have to have at least
(29:16) one or two more probably teaching pros
(29:19) below them because they can’t carry all
(29:22) the directorship and all the teaching on
(29:25) their own. Maybe on two courts they
(29:27) probably could, but you get into the,
(29:30) you know, the four and the six courts,
(29:33) but it’s it’s just it’s having clear
(29:34) expectations and a vision and a brand
(29:37) and really being polished and finding
(29:40) somebody that that’s how they’re going
(29:42) to operate. And like I said, the best
(29:44) player isn’t always the best coach. So,
(29:47) what do you think when clubs andmies or
(29:49) or clubs and facilities, they’re they’re
(29:51) they’re ready to take the next step,
(29:53) right? they want to hire this head pro,
(29:55) this club director. What are some of the
(29:58) the best things they can look for
(30:00) besides, hey, yeah, I’ve have I have my
(30:02) certification, right? How do you how do
(30:04) you bring somebody in and hire the right
(30:06) head pro or club director? Um, well, I
(30:12) always tell my clubs that I support
(30:14) that, you know, that they’re looking for
(30:17) um coaches. I’m like, well, I’ll ask the
(30:19) owner. I’m like, well, do you play
(30:20) pickle ball? They’re like, yeah. I’m
(30:22) like, then go take a lesson from this
(30:25) person.
(30:27) It’s don’t even tell them you’re looking
(30:30) to approach them, to hire them. Just go.
(30:32) It’s like see being a secret shopper.
(30:35) Um, go take a lesson.
(30:37) Uh, are they professional? Did you learn
(30:40) something? Uh, was it organized?
(30:45) You know, have an idea in your mind of
(30:47) what qualities you would want in a
(30:49) headpro?
(30:51) you know, professional, organized, stays
(30:53) on task, all those kind of things, like
(30:55) actually delivers some value. If you if
(30:58) those things show up in the lesson,
(31:00) well, then approach them because there
(31:02) are a lot of coaches that are just kind
(31:04) of freelancers doing their thing here
(31:06) and there, and you’ll have some that are
(31:07) building a brand even though they kind
(31:10) of teach here and they teach here and
(31:11) they teach here. But if they’re if
(31:14) they’re professional, they’re organized,
(31:15) they’re building a brand, you actually
(31:17) like the product they delivered from
(31:19) your secret shopper experience, that’s
(31:21) the kind that you go and approach and be
(31:22) like, “We’ve got a club and we need a
(31:24) head pro. Is that something you’re
(31:25) interested in?” I love it. So when
(31:28) you’re, you know, 11 years ago and and
(31:30) you came to Club Pickleball USA and, you
(31:33) know, you’ve been there for a while now,
(31:34) what are some of the the, I guess,
(31:36) benefits or, you know, things that
(31:39) coaches are being offered today that you
(31:41) see as something that’s powerful
(31:43) because, you know, we’re trying to make
(31:45) this is a profession that wasn’t around
(31:46) 10 years ago, being a professional
(31:48) pickle ball coach or a head pro of a
(31:50) pickleball club. So what are some of
(31:51) those benefits? Like I don’t know,
(31:54) insurance is important, regular
(31:56) benefits. How do clubs how do they
(31:58) provide the extra benefits to gain these
(32:01) good pros and and directors at their
(32:03) clubs?
(32:04) So, um
(32:07) I have
(32:11) I I feel like coaches, pickle ball
(32:12) coaches are interesting. If I were
(32:14) looking at it from a club owner, we
(32:18) actually pay all of our pickle ball
(32:21) coaches. It’s all commission based. You
(32:24) eat what you hunt.
(32:26) Um because I’ve seen it happen in other
(32:29) way. It’s different for a director
(32:31) because they have lots of things that
(32:33) they’re doing on the director side,
(32:35) organizing, managing that can’t really
(32:38) be commissionbased as well. But I found
(32:41) pickle ball coaches are a little bit
(32:43) interesting. If you don’t keep them
(32:44) motivated, they take advantage. I’ve
(32:46) seen it happen in multiple clubs and so
(32:50) and and most of them right now are still
(32:52) freelancers.
(32:54) Okay? You know what I mean? All of our
(32:56) all of all of our coaches are, you know,
(32:59) on a 1099. They’re they’re a contractor.
(33:02) Um
(33:04) but uh a director and a head pro would
(33:07) be different. Um
(33:10) and so but the benefit that these
(33:12) coaches are getting is
(33:15) um they get exposure to all the
(33:18) clientele that the club is bringing in.
(33:20) people that they’re not going to get
(33:22) exposed to by just wandering around the
(33:24) city park. Um they have a guaranteed
(33:27) court. Rain, wind,
(33:31) you know, lights out, whatever. They
(33:33) have a guaranteed court that’s going to
(33:35) be there no matter the weather, no
(33:37) matter how busy the courts are. Do you
(33:39) know what I mean? A guaranteed court. Um
(33:42) they have, you know, it’s it’s a place
(33:44) to hang your shingle, right? We put
(33:46) banners with a QR code that this, you
(33:49) know, that shows our coaches, you know,
(33:52) here’s here’s coach Josh Peterson. This
(33:54) is his duper. This is his favorite shot.
(33:56) This is how long he’s been playing. And
(33:57) here’s a QR code. Scan this if you want
(34:00) to, you know, lesson with Josh. And it
(34:03) immediately populates your phone with a
(34:05) text message. Hey Josh, I want a pickle
(34:07) ball lesson from you. Tada. Easy. You
(34:10) don’t get that at the park, right? You
(34:12) don’t get a business card with your
(34:14) phone number on a front desk where
(34:16) hundreds of people walk by. And so the
(34:21) biggest benefit is the exposure, the
(34:24) home base,
(34:26) um the community, we’re offering more
(34:29) training, right? They’re getting
(34:30) curriculum provided that, you know, we
(34:33) fill the classes, they show up and teach
(34:34) them. And so there’s lots of benefits
(34:38) in
(34:40) essentially the hunter gatherer
(34:42) mentality for those coaches even though
(34:44) we’re not providing you know insurance
(34:48) and all those other things for them. It
(34:50) would be different story if I’m hiring a
(34:51) full-time director head pro. That’s
(34:54) great though because I do think it’s the
(34:55) hunter gatherer. It’s you got to be your
(34:57) own salesperson. You got to go out and
(34:58) create your portfolio of clients for
(35:01) sure. So I love that. So, what is the
(35:04) best thing that you get to do when you
(35:07) are supporting? I know you have several
(35:08) clubs that you’re already working with
(35:10) with your academy. What What’s the best
(35:12) thing like when you get out of bed in
(35:13) the mornings and you know you get to
(35:14) work one of those. What’s the best thing
(35:16) for you about that? Um, so I love it
(35:20) without fail. So, when I onboard new
(35:23) what I call my remotemies, the ones that
(35:25) are outside of Utah that most of the
(35:27) most of them just most of the time 99%
(35:30) of the time they’re getting the digital
(35:31) version of me. But when they choose to
(35:32) on board in person and I show up for a
(35:35) one or two day visit, my favorite is
(35:38) blowing their minds with this new modern
(35:41) way of pickle ball because most places
(35:45) don’t see it or teach it. I’ll show up
(35:48) and I’ll start hitting a third shot drop
(35:49) and their coaches are like, “How do you
(35:52) do that?”
(35:54) And I’m like, “Well, let me show you.”
(35:55) and I break it all down and then they go
(35:57) and they’re like, “Oh my gosh, that
(35:59) isn’t even that hard to do, but look at
(36:01) how effective that is.” Or I have a way
(36:04) that I that I divide the court up into
(36:07) into chunks visually and and these
(36:10) different lanes on the court give me
(36:13) expectations. If I put a ball here, I’m
(36:15) expecting it to come back. And this is
(36:16) how we teach people to build points.
(36:19) Well, I’ll get out there and I’ve got
(36:20) these coaches that are just kind of
(36:24) greeny coaches still, right? And I teach
(36:26) them this and they’re seeing it happen
(36:28) in their own game. I remember I went and
(36:30) onboarded in Cleveland and I had this
(36:32) guy and I was teaching him. I’m like,
(36:33) “If you put a ball here, you should
(36:35) expect it coming back here.” And we
(36:37) started playing and he had like three
(36:41) like clean putaway winners. Nobody
(36:44) touched him based off of this pattern
(36:47) and this new mentality because he
(36:49) positioned his body different because of
(36:50) his expectation was different and he was
(36:53) so excited that he was now doing it for
(36:55) himself and he couldn’t wait to go share
(36:57) it with everybody else. And so it’s it’s
(36:59) blowing their minds with this new way of
(37:04) seeing the court teaching your students
(37:06) modernizing, you know, like it’s just
(37:09) stuff that hasn’t even they didn’t know
(37:11) what they didn’t know. And and I just I
(37:14) love I love their faces when they light
(37:16) up. He was so excited about those
(37:17) winners in Cleveland. He was so excited.
(37:20) So you take those those like almost like
(37:23) fresh, right? And you teach them
(37:25) something new. How do you how do you
(37:27) handle also teaching them when they have
(37:29) to go back to their own facility, their
(37:31) ownies, and now they’re going to
(37:33) integrate everything that you’ve taught
(37:35) them or learned? How the
(37:36) overwhelmingness of that, right? How do
(37:38) you help them not become overwhelmed
(37:40) with all this new stuff? Um, there’s
(37:43) tons of online support. Like I said,
(37:45) every skill and every drill that’s in
(37:47) any lesson that they lesson plan that
(37:49) they have access to, it has a QR code
(37:52) right next to it. It has a written
(37:54) version and a QR code. They have access
(37:57) to the digital version of me at any
(38:00) time. There’s a vault of over 300 videos
(38:04) of skills and drills they could peruse.
(38:06) And so, there’s tons and tons of online
(38:08) support that they have access to me. And
(38:11) even my own coaches will use it too.
(38:13) They’re like, “Oh man, I got this
(38:14) person. They need to work on their
(38:16) swinging volley and I don’t know what
(38:17) drills.” And it’s like I’m like, “Get on
(38:19) the vault.” So they get on the vault and
(38:22) they’re like, “Oh, it’s right there.”
(38:23) Boom.
(38:25) So there’s lots and lots of of support
(38:27) that they can access at 3:00 a.m. at
(38:30) 5:00 a.m. when I’m on vacation.
(38:34) 24 hours. Susie, it’s slightly scary. I
(38:38) have a lot of students and even some of
(38:39) my coaches, they’re like, “You’re the
(38:41) voice in my head. I hear you talk to me
(38:43) all the time while I’m playing.” I’m
(38:44) like, “That’s creepy.” That’s awesome. I
(38:46) love that. Well, so you know, you’ve
(38:49) you’ve done this now. You you’ve done
(38:51) the director, the head pro, you’ve
(38:54) played professionally. You’ve created
(38:56) the Susie Anderson Academy. So, I mean,
(38:59) like, what’s next? We’ve already talked
(39:00) about the third career. It’s not there
(39:02) yet. What’s What’s next for the academy
(39:04) right now? So, what are you looking
(39:05) forward in the next couple years?
(39:07) Um, so I’m still I’ll still continue to
(39:11) teach and support ummies
(39:14) uh because I love it. I love the PE.
(39:16) It’s it’s the people aspect. Um, but I’m
(39:19) looking uh they I’m I’m going to be
(39:23) doing some education consulting with
(39:24) PPR. Uh, for those who don’t know, it’s
(39:27) the professional pickle ball registry
(39:29) registry. We’re one of the the governing
(39:31) bodies of how the sport is taught. um
(39:35) and helping
(39:37) more. The next level up is coaching the
(39:40) coaches.
(39:42) Um and so
(39:45) running more of those workshops, helping
(39:47) develop more more content um with PPR.
(39:52) And so that’s kind of my next adventure
(39:54) into being creative and developing more
(39:58) um to help the pickle ball community on
(40:01) how to learn and how to play better. And
(40:04) so, you know, taking some more roles
(40:06) there and not to like toot my own horn,
(40:09) but I I they I was the PPR the 2025 PPR
(40:12) pro of the year. So, just a bigger
(40:14) bigger Wow. Yeah. So just a bigger a
(40:18) bigger role with PPR in the in the
(40:20) future is kind of you know where I’m I’m
(40:23) looking um
(40:26) but you know more consulting with them
(40:28) at the time you know you know at this
(40:30) time as we move forward but looking more
(40:32) on education educating coaches as much
(40:34) as as players. Well congratulations. I
(40:37) did not know that. It’s welld deserved
(40:39) for sure. Every time I turn on social
(40:41) media and PPR you’re there. So it’s
(40:43) awesome. Um, you know, Court Reserve, we
(40:45) deal with a lot of clubs. There’s a lot
(40:47) of entrepreneurs in the world now. They
(40:49) all want to open up a pickle ball club.
(40:51) They all just see the money, right? And
(40:54) then, you know, what we want to do is
(40:56) help educate people because you got all
(40:57) these public park social players. And
(41:00) how do you see in the next coming years
(41:03) that these clubs and franchises are
(41:06) going to kind of change the way pickle
(41:08) balls played? Because 20 years ago there
(41:10) there wasn’t really a pickle ball club
(41:12) out there. Now they’re a lot. They’re
(41:14) almost everywhere.
(41:16) They are. Um,
(41:19) and it’s always as as I’ve as I’ve seen,
(41:22) you know, we’ve even had clubs, you
(41:24) know, come and go already here in Utah.
(41:27) And it’s that fine balance of the
(41:30) passion for the sport and actually good
(41:32) business sense of finding that balance
(41:35) to make the club successful. I think um
(41:38) it’s been shocking to a lot of people um
(41:42) opening clubs how um we’re going to call
(41:45) it nice how frugal pickle ball players
(41:47) are. Yes, good word. Uh
(41:52) so that was my that was my professional
(41:55) label for that. Um
(41:58) pickle ball players while yes there’s a
(42:00) lot of money in pickle ball, they’re
(42:02) interesting on how they spend their
(42:03) money in pickle ball. And I think it’s
(42:05) still because, you know, it’s the wild
(42:07) west and there’s so many public courts
(42:09) still available. Do you know what I
(42:10) mean? And but I think the biggest thing
(42:14) in growing these clubs as we move
(42:17) forward is it’s it’s it you’re creating
(42:19) an experience. You’re creating a
(42:21) community. That is what they are drawn
(42:23) to. That is what they will pay money
(42:25) for. and and and that’s that’s what
(42:29) separates the successful clubs from the
(42:32) ones that don’t do as well is is paying
(42:36) attention to their community. Have your
(42:38) front desk needs to know the names of
(42:39) the people. Interact with the people. I
(42:42) want I want players after they’ve left
(42:44) my court to feel like they’re my friend,
(42:46) not just my student. Um,
(42:49) and and that’s that’s I think the really
(42:52) the the secret sauce to making these
(42:54) clubs successful
(42:56) is
(42:57) really building the experience in the
(42:59) community and making sure that you’re
(43:01) doing it in a business smart way.
(43:06) It’s not double down on making your your
(43:09) club the fanciest club because remember
(43:12) pickle ball players are frugal. So,
(43:15) there’s always that that fine balance as
(43:18) these clubs move forward with success is
(43:20) keeping all of that in mind. Um, I think
(43:24) it’s going to be exciting to see where
(43:26) this goes. I mean, I think everybody’s a
(43:28) little bit on pins and needles. It’s
(43:30) like, are we going to be like raetball
(43:31) that we’re going to boom and then
(43:32) fizzle? You know, are we the next frozen
(43:35) yogurt shops? Do you remember when
(43:36) frozen yogurt shops were popping up
(43:38) everywhere and now there’s not as many
(43:40) frozen? I I really hope that’s not our
(43:42) case. I hope that we continue with a
(43:44) beautiful long journey like tennis has
(43:48) um you know and other sports and I think
(43:49) we can because there’s so much community
(43:52) in this game but that’s the key is the
(43:56) community the accessibility
(43:58) keep that that’s that’s pickle ball at
(44:01) its truest right um not elitist in any
(44:06) way and and I think that’s the biggest
(44:08) focus as we grow and we want to continue
(44:12) because at the end of the day, abundance
(44:14) mentality, right? There’s enough pickle
(44:15) ball players for everybody. Oh, yeah.
(44:17) For sure. Yeah. It’s how you do it. For
(44:20) sure. So, I was watching a match the
(44:22) other day and of course, you know,
(44:24) tennis versus pickle ball because I I
(44:26) still play a lot of tennis as well. And
(44:28) I was watching and every time I I
(44:29) watched whether they had a good point, a
(44:31) bad point, whether they needed
(44:33) encouragement or just needed somebody to
(44:35) yell at, they were always like looking
(44:36) up in their box, right? They had this
(44:38) box of people, this section of people
(44:39) that was their coaches and their family
(44:41) and everything. Who is in Susie
(44:44) Anderson’s box right now? Who’s in my
(44:48) box? Um, well, I got a husband and two
(44:51) great kids that cheer for me. Um,
(44:54) and I’ve got uh so um but yeah, they
(44:59) they put up with all my crazy ideas um
(45:02) and my crazy hours on court. Uh
(45:07) but um probably one of my biggest
(45:09) motivators. It’s going to be all
(45:10) sentimental, but my mother
(45:12) uh is is probably my biggest motivator.
(45:15) She’s in my box, but she’s in my box
(45:17) from heaven cuz she passed away when I
(45:19) was 14, but she was my biggest
(45:20) cheerleader as a kid growing up uh
(45:23) playing tennis. And so there’s always
(45:25) this little piece of me that’s like make
(45:27) mom proud. Um, and I know she’s in my
(45:30) box, but it it’s great to have the
(45:31) support that I have at home with my
(45:33) husband and my and my kids. Um,
(45:37) so my son loves to brag to everybody.
(45:39) He’s at the US Coastg Guard Academy
(45:41) that, you know, cuz they have pickle
(45:43) ball as an elective and they have a
(45:45) pickle ball club at the Coastg Guard
(45:46) Academy and so, you know, they’ll bring
(45:49) it up and and he’s like, “Yeah, well,
(45:52) let me tell you about my mom.” And
(45:54) they’re like, “Whatever.” And he’s
(45:55) they’re like, “What’s her name?” and
(45:57) they they Google me and I show up and
(46:00) they’re like, “Is this your mom?” And
(46:01) he’s like, “Yeah.” And he looks just
(46:03) like me, so it helps. So, that’s
(46:06) amazing. It’s kind of cool to have my
(46:08) kid that I think is so amazing at the
(46:10) Coast Guard Academy actually bragging
(46:11) about his mom that’s pretty good at
(46:12) teaching people how to hit a plastic
(46:14) ball. That’s awesome. I love it. I love
(46:17) that. That’s awesome. All right. So, if
(46:19) somebody needs help with their club, if
(46:21) somebody wants to create an academy, if
(46:23) they want to teach or train their own
(46:25) coaches, how do they get a hold of you?
(46:27) How do they reach out to you? How can
(46:29) they get your advice and help?
(46:31) Absolutely. So, I dropped it in the
(46:33) chat. Um, you can find me at
(46:35) suzieandersonacademy.com.
(46:38) Um, if you go slashcoaching,
(46:41) uh, but if you just go to
(46:42) suzieandersonacademy.com,
(46:45) uh, you’ll see me there. Uh, but yeah,
(46:47) here’s the coaching page. If you scroll
(46:49) down, you can go to clubs and
(46:50) facilities. Um, you can click on there
(46:53) and I do give a free 30-inute
(46:55) consultation. Um, just to let you know
(46:58) how I support, you know, more in detail
(47:00) how I support clubs, what your needs are
(47:02) as a club. I offer full lensure of my
(47:06) curriculum and coach training as well as
(47:09) I do offer just plain consultation
(47:12) hours, too. If you’re like, we don’t
(47:13) want to buy all in on, you know,
(47:14) curriculum, but we would really love
(47:16) some help and some of your expertise, I
(47:17) also am available
(47:19) just on a consultation basis as well.
(47:21) But I love to help clubs grow. Um, I
(47:24) think that’s one of the greatest ways
(47:25) that I can help influence even further
(47:27) than just my little sphere in Utah and
(47:30) the sport that’s brought so much just
(47:33) vibrance to so many lives. I just I love
(47:36) it. All right. Well, before we go, we
(47:38) have a couple of questions. Uh, of
(47:40) course, we’re going to record this
(47:41) today. We’re going to put it up on
(47:42) YouTube and then you guys um can see it
(47:45) on the court reserve YouTube channel. Um
(47:47) there’s a great question here actually
(47:49) for you. What certification
(47:51) um when you talk about certification? We
(47:54) talked about the PPR certification. What
(47:56) should the pros have and how do they get
(47:58) it? Do they have to go online? Do they
(48:00) have to go in person? Like how do they
(48:01) get certified? Perfect. So,
(48:05) um, they have there’s IPA,
(48:07) there’s PCI, and there’s PPR, and RPO. I
(48:11) believe there’s four. Now, um, I can
(48:15) tell you what it takes for PPR. PPR, you
(48:19) uh, you go to PPR, uh, pickleball.org.
(48:22) You can sign up for a workshop. You have
(48:24) to become a member of PPR and you have
(48:26) to sign up for a workshop. Um, you’d
(48:28) start with level one. Level one is uh 3
(48:32) hours online and then eight hours on
(48:33) court with a coach developer like me. Um
(48:36) and then you you know we grade you.
(48:38) There’s three different levels that you
(48:39) could be graded at. Um
(48:42) and then the other nice thing through
(48:44) PPR is if you get certified through PPR,
(48:47) you can pay it’s like 70 bucks a year to
(48:50) get this enormous liability coverage.
(48:52) It’s this big umbrella policy for
(48:54) everybody. And so that’s just great. A
(48:56) lot of the clubs like you to have your
(48:57) own liability. Um, and so that’s just
(49:00) one of the great benefits of PPR. But
(49:02) that’s what a certification would look
(49:03) like is that there’s usually an online
(49:05) and an in-person portion. I believe PCI
(49:08) is all online. Um,
(49:11) I like an in-person piece to it. I think
(49:14) there’s a little more depth to the
(49:16) learning. Um, like I said, I’m biased
(49:18) towards PPR. I’m not knocking on anybody
(49:20) else. I’m just saying I have a favorite.
(49:23) Um
(49:24) um I also think that Sarah Ansbury,
(49:26) who’s built out PPR, is one of the best
(49:30) educators in the sport. Um and uh but
(49:35) yeah, that’s that’s what certification
(49:36) is is going to look like is they’ve got
(49:38) to take a workshop. Now, if you already
(49:40) have coaches and you would like to get
(49:42) them certified, you can contact PPR. You
(49:45) can host a workshop. You’ll get you’ll
(49:47) get a free for the court time. you’ll
(49:50) get a free um registration for the
(49:54) workshop for one of your coaches. Um but
(49:56) we can come out and actually you can
(49:58) host you a workshop at your facility and
(50:01) and we can train your coaches there as
(50:02) well. Yeah, we did that at Old Coast
(50:04) Pickle Ball uh last year actually. We we
(50:06) held a certification um and it was great
(50:08) and and I mean it’s great because then
(50:11) you know that your local coaches also
(50:13) are going to come and they can check out
(50:15) your club, your players know about it
(50:16) because it’s on the calendar. So, um,
(50:18) there’s another question about that. Any
(50:20) thoughts on the IPA certification? Do
(50:24) you know anything about that
(50:24) certification?
(50:26) I do know some about it. Um, my
(50:32) I I don’t know a lot about it. I have
(50:35) trained coaches that are using my
(50:37) lensure that have done an IPA and that
(50:41) um and it they teach a little
(50:45) differently and
(50:48) I do have some concerns if it’s as
(50:50) modern of a version of teaching as we
(50:53) teach in PPPR. Like I said, I’m biased.
(50:56) This isn’t meant to be We’ll leave it at
(50:58) that. Meant to be a slam.
(51:01) All right. Uh a couple other questions.
(51:04) Do you let coaches work at different
(51:05) clubs besides your own?
(51:08) Um, yes.
(51:11) However, in our coaching contract,
(51:13) because we provide curriculum for them,
(51:15) the curriculum does not go anywhere
(51:18) else. They sign that in their coaching
(51:19) contract. We also have a piece in their
(51:22) coaching contract that any studentclient
(51:26) that they gain from interaction at our
(51:30) club and teaching at our club remains a
(51:34) client or student of Club Pickle Ball
(51:36) USA for I can’t remember if it’s 18
(51:38) months or two years after that coach
(51:40) were to leave. Um, so we had it, we
(51:44) didn’t have that written in our
(51:45) stipulation at first, and we had coaches
(51:47) that would come, cuz we’re in Utah,
(51:48) they’d coach all winter long, and then
(51:50) they’d take all their students outside
(51:52) to the public courts. We had that happen
(51:54) a couple of times, and so we altered our
(51:57) um coaching contracts because as the as
(52:01) the club, you’re investing um in them
(52:05) and some loyalty back. We we thought it
(52:09) was a little more given than it was, so
(52:11) we put in writing. Yeah, for sure. But I
(52:13) don’t have a problem with coaches
(52:15) coaching elsewhere as long as the you
(52:19) know, like we provide curriculum that is
(52:21) that is for use only at our clubs. Um
(52:25) you can lock them in if you want. It
(52:27) just it varies kind of club to club. All
(52:30) right. All right. And so the last
(52:31) question that we have, unless we get any
(52:33) more, do most clubs let their pros play
(52:36) in open plays and court bookings for
(52:38) free?
(52:40) Um,
(52:42) so we with our coaches, they start at a
(52:48) membership level where they don’t have
(52:50) to pay the membership fee, but so we
(52:52) have
(52:55) but they still have to pay for court
(52:57) time. I still pay for court time. I’m
(52:59) the head teaching pro. I still pay for
(53:00) my court time. If I go play in the 40
(53:05) round robin, I’m not a 40. The reason
(53:07) I’m playing in a 40 round robin is to
(53:09) market myself as a coach.
(53:12) I don’t play I don’t pay. It’s only five
(53:15) bucks, but I don’t pay to play in that
(53:17) roundroin because I’m there to market
(53:19) myself. Um but um our coaches do get
(53:26) some member benefits. If they are
(53:29) teaching a certain level of volume, they
(53:32) get higher member benefits. So they get
(53:35) the lower court fees. You know, we have
(53:39) a we have different tiers of our
(53:40) membership. So they get rewarded based
(53:42) on their volume. Um you give us more, we
(53:46) give you more. That’s the secret sauce
(53:49) right there. That’s awesome. Motivation,
(53:51) baby. That’s right. Well, thank you so
(53:54) much for joining us. I hope that you
(53:55) guys have enjoyed uh just as much as I
(53:58) have today. We’ll put this up on the
(54:00) YouTube uh channel for court reserve.
(54:02) And if you want to know more about Suz’s
(54:04) Academy, you can click the link we put
(54:05) in the everyone channel or reach out to
(54:07) us at supportcourtreserve.com.
(54:09) Thanks, Susie. Thank you. See you later.
(54:12) Bye. Bye. Bye.

(0:00) Hello everyone. It’s Ashley with Court
(0:02) Reserve. We are so excited to have you
(0:05) on our call today. Uh we’re going to get
(0:08) started in just a minute, but just a
(0:10) couple of announcements. Uh of course,
(0:13) you know, we’re always trying to to be
(0:16) in areas where we think it’s uh relevant
(0:19) for our clubs and things. And so, we’re
(0:21) going to be heading out on the city
(0:23) series tour with the Rackadex uh club
(0:26) series. Uh we’re going to Philadelphia
(0:28) next weekend. super excited. Uh if you
(0:30) actually get on our Instagram or
(0:32) Facebook page, we’re we’re going to be
(0:33) giving away some free tickets to this,
(0:36) but you got to be on Instagram and
(0:37) Facebook. So, join that and you’ll see
(0:40) uh how you can do that as well. And then
(0:42) if it’s not too late, we’re doing
(0:44) mastermind. It actually starts tomorrow.
(0:47) Might be a little late this time, but if
(0:48) you’re a pickle ball facility in any
(0:50) manner, we highly recommend you
(0:52) eventually go to mastermind. You’re
(0:54) going to you’re going to spend money
(0:55) somehow. Might as well not waste it. Go
(0:57) to mastermind. We highly recommend it.
(0:58) Our team’s out there in Utah this week
(1:01) uh with our pickle ball folks. And then
(1:04) if you are here and you’re a court
(1:06) reserve user, you got to come to a
(1:07) catalyst. We have put so much just this
(1:11) year into court reserve and just wait
(1:13) till you find out what we’re going to
(1:15) release on July 9th. Um I’m not putting
(1:17) I’m not giving any uh clues, but
(1:20) definitely get your tickets. We’re going
(1:21) to Seattle, Washington September 15th
(1:24) and Skiilman, New Jersey, right outside
(1:26) of Cherry Hill September the 30th. So,
(1:28) we are super excited about that as well.
(1:31) So, today, regardless if you use Safe
(1:34) Save payments or not, there’s a couple
(1:37) others. There’s Stripe, there’s some
(1:38) other folks. You are going to learn so
(1:40) much today about chargebacks. These are
(1:43) experts at Safe Save. Rachel and Shane,
(1:46) welcome uh to the court reserve webinar
(1:48) series. We are so happy to have you guys
(1:50) here today. Thanks for having us.
(1:53) Absolutely. So, um, if you’re a business
(1:56) owner, uh, you know, Tim and I, we
(1:57) opened up Old Coast, uh, pickle ball
(1:59) last April, and even Court Reserve
(2:02) itself, we occasionally have had people
(2:05) come in and say, “Oh, no. I I don’t want
(2:07) to pay for this. I’m I’m charging back.”
(2:09) So, Rachel, first of all, tell us what a
(2:12) chargeback is. So, a chargeback is
(2:15) basically when a customer goes directly
(2:17) to their bank to dispute a charge uh
(2:20) rather than speaking to the merchant.
(2:23) Nowadays, that’s often just a button in
(2:26) their banking app. So, it makes it easy,
(2:28) sometimes a little too easy, to skip you
(2:31) entirely and get a refund. Yep. So, they
(2:33) don’t even go back to the business. They
(2:35) don’t even call us at Old Coast Pickle
(2:36) Ball and say, “Hey, I want to talk to
(2:38) you about this charge.” They just go
(2:39) right back to the cart or right back to
(2:40) the bank. Yep. It’s It’s a dirty
(2:43) practice. Yes. All right. And so I know
(2:46) you have a slideshow uh ready to go for
(2:48) us. I’m super excited. So why don’t you
(2:51) just go ahead, you and Shane, just take
(2:52) it over and and you guys, I know you’re
(2:54) going to have questions. Put them in the
(2:57) um let’s see, do we want to put them in
(2:58) the chat or the Q&A? I actually like the
(3:00) Q&A better. Uh so if you’ll put your
(3:03) questions today in the Q&A, uh we’ll go
(3:05) through those as we go ahead. So Rachel
(3:07) and Shane, take it away. Thanks. Just
(3:11) pulling up my notes. So, welcome to
(3:13) today’s session on chargebacks. Um, I’m
(3:16) I know they’re a hot topic right now out
(3:18) there in the payment processing world.
(3:21) Um, the objectives of today’s session is
(3:24) to have you all understand chargebacks
(3:27) at a higher level. Um, prevent them
(3:29) before they start whenever possible.
(3:31) Sometimes that’s unavoidable, but every
(3:34) time we can, we will. um respond
(3:37) effectively when you do receive a charge
(3:38) back and reduce your overall fraud risk.
(3:41) Um so in 2023, the average card holder
(3:44) filed almost six chargebacks each um at
(3:47) around $76 a chargeback. Um so that was
(3:51) $65.2 billion in chargeback disputes in
(3:55) 2023 and that number has gone up
(3:57) significantly since then. Um and it is
(4:00) expected to continue to rise
(4:01) unfortunately.
(4:03) Um, let me hit the next.
(4:08) Um,
(4:10) so what is a chargeback? We went over
(4:12) this briefly, but a little more detail.
(4:14) Um, a chargeback is a forced reversal of
(4:16) funds, a forced refund directly from the
(4:19) bank. it skips the merchant, skips the
(4:21) payment processor entirely and starts a
(4:24) process at the banking level to
(4:29) ultimately often recoup those funds for
(4:31) the customer. Um, it was created as part
(4:35) of a federal act to protect consumers um
(4:38) from fraud, billing errors, etc. Um, and
(4:41) it has expanded into a much larger issue
(4:45) for merchants, consumers, everyone
(4:47) involved. Um it is different because
(4:50) merchants have no control over the
(4:52) initiation or outcome of this refund. Um
(4:55) and it does cost you money and time even
(4:57) when you do win. Um chargeback volume is
(5:01) expected to grow almost 25% over the
(5:04) next three years. Um reaching almost 330
(5:08) million chargebacks annually.
(5:13) [Music]
(5:15) Uh so who’s involved? There’s many
(5:18) parties. Um, so ultimately the card
(5:21) holder, whether that’s the customer or
(5:24) if your customer used someone else’s
(5:26) card, the true card holder, um, the
(5:29) issuing bank, uh, the card network. So,
(5:32) Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American
(5:34) Express, they control the rules for
(5:37) compelling evidence, for timelines, for
(5:40) the processing of disputes.
(5:42) um they are really the backbone of the
(5:45) entire process. Um your payment
(5:48) processor. So in our case that’s safe.
(5:51) We act as the middleman for the process
(5:54) rather than controlling anything. We
(5:56) really h advocate for our clients in the
(5:58) process. Help submit documentation and
(6:01) notify you when a chargeback is filed.
(6:05) Um and then of course there’s you as the
(6:07) merchant. And I do have a timeline. Cute
(6:10) little photo here. Um, so you can see
(6:13) just how complex this process can be.
(6:16) Um, so it starts with the card holder
(6:18) and it goes through all three separate
(6:20) parties to reach you as the merchant.
(6:22) After you receive the chargeback, if you
(6:24) do choose to dispute, you communicate
(6:26) that to your merchant services provider.
(6:29) We communicate it usually through a
(6:31) portal to the card network. card network
(6:34) communicates with the issuing bank and
(6:36) then the dispute process and the review
(6:38) of evidence occurs to come to a
(6:40) resolution.
(6:44) So here’s that same timeline written out
(6:46) for all of you verbal folks. Um so
(6:52) with SAFE save you have seven days to
(6:54) respond. Dispute timelines vary based on
(6:57) payment processor. Um it’s typically
(7:00) between 5 and 20 days, but the
(7:03) resolution is required by law to um
(7:06) occur within 90 days. We almost never
(7:10) see it go beyond 90 days and often
(7:12) closer to the 30-day mark. If you win,
(7:15) your funds are returned. Um if you lose,
(7:18) the transaction stands and the customer
(7:20) is refunded. Um but no action, ignoring
(7:24) the notice is an automatic loss of those
(7:26) funds for you guys.
(7:29) Um and some common chargeback reasons.
(7:34) Um some things you’ll hear from
(7:36) customers and we hear through the
(7:38) process is customers go to their banks
(7:40) and say they didn’t authorize the charge
(7:42) that they were cancelled. They cancelled
(7:44) and were still build. Oftent times this
(7:46) is uh after they have gone beyond your
(7:52) cancellation policy. So they want a
(7:54) refund and have not been provided this
(7:56) refund. um they never received the
(7:58) service. So in for tennis clubs, pickle
(8:01) ball clubs, that’s often for rain dates
(8:03) and things where an account is being
(8:05) credited. Um they don’t recognize the
(8:07) charge or system errors, unclear
(8:10) policies, things that um are typically
(8:13) resolved with communication. So I have a
(8:16) question, Rachel. So are for you guys at
(8:20) Safe Save, this is kind of, you know,
(8:22) going through that, but are most payment
(8:25) processors doing the same kind of thing
(8:27) or or are these things that you guys do
(8:30) specially because like you’re fantastic
(8:32) people like tell us a little bit about
(8:33) that. Is this a normal process for all
(8:36) payment providers?
(8:38) So it is to an extent. So the difference
(8:41) with Safe Saves is that we are a much
(8:43) smaller team. So, when you email or are
(8:45) getting a chargeback notice, you’re
(8:47) getting it from me um or my teammate. Uh
(8:52) so, when you reply with a dispute or a
(8:53) question, rather than a robot or going
(8:56) through an automated system, there’s a
(8:58) real person on the other end going
(9:00) through your documents with you, looking
(9:01) at the dispute information, and trying
(9:03) to help you navigate that system. Um
(9:06) many other payment processors are a
(9:09) larger group of people. Um, so you don’t
(9:11) necessarily get the same amount of help
(9:13) or personal attention. Um, but the
(9:16) general flow of things from card holder
(9:19) to bank to merchant services provider is
(9:23) the same. Just awesome. Just to piggy
(9:25) back um on Rachel’s point there. So the
(9:27) universal chargeback process as a whole
(9:29) is the same. The steps it goes through,
(9:31) the bank, the card brands, etc. Well,
(9:34) we’re different and like Rachel said,
(9:35) we’re a smaller team. So we’re sending
(9:36) you an email notice almost right away.
(9:38) Other processors we’ve worked with send
(9:40) out a letter via snail mail, which could
(9:42) take a week or two to get to you. So now
(9:44) your timeline to respond is even
(9:45) shorter. You’re probably dealing with an
(9:47) automated system robot as Rachel
(9:49) mentioned. Um, so that’s just one way
(9:51) we’re different, but the steps it goes
(9:54) through behind the scenes through Visa,
(9:56) Mastercard, all of that is the same. Uh,
(9:58) but our methods for notification are are
(10:01) a lot quicker. That’s awesome. Thank you
(10:03) guys. Yeah, thank you. Um,
(10:07) so every time you receive a chargeback,
(10:10) the first question, and honestly, the
(10:13) main question you should be asking is,
(10:15) should you respond to the chargeback?
(10:18) Um,
(10:19) to do that, you should really do a
(10:21) costbenefit analysis and review the
(10:23) documentation you do have. So, can you
(10:26) prove the service was provided? Do you
(10:28) have any signed agreements, any check-in
(10:30) logs? Um, did you disclose a
(10:33) cancellation refund policy? Was that
(10:35) clearly handled? Sometimes accepting a
(10:38) chargeback is better. Um, but that’s on
(10:41) a case- by case basis. Say that a $5
(10:44) chargeback is going to cost you three
(10:45) hours of work.
(10:48) Your time is money. Um, you’re busy busy
(10:51) business owners. Your staff is busy. Um,
(10:54) is that $5 worth that three hours? And
(10:56) it’ll vary from business to business.
(10:59) Um, and you can always email uh uh if
(11:03) you use Safe Save, you can reach out to
(11:04) us and we can assist in figuring out
(11:07) what documentation is best or um there’s
(11:10) a lot of resources online as well as now
(11:12) in the court reserve uh knowledge base
(11:14) that can help with that as well.
(11:17) Um so if you do choose to respond,
(11:20) building a strong response is the main
(11:24) battle. Um so you want to be clear,
(11:26) common, factual. I try to explain it
(11:29) like you’re uh explaining the entire
(11:32) situation to a stranger. You want it to
(11:34) be clear, organized, complete. Um,
(11:37) jokingly I say it’s like you’re going on
(11:39) judge duty. You really have to make it
(11:41) easy to understand for the person on the
(11:44) other side who’s going to be reviewing
(11:46) all your documents. You have to connect
(11:48) all the dots with your evidence and your
(11:49) statement and directly dispute the
(11:51) chargeback reason that you’re given,
(11:53) which we can go into in the next slide.
(11:56) Um, so you can include booking policies,
(12:00) no-show conver confirmation, screenshots
(12:03) from court reserve are excellent. Um,
(12:06) signed policy agreements, attendance
(12:08) records, all of the above directly from
(12:11) Safe Save or your payment processor,
(12:13) including AVS, CVV, um, so that’s
(12:16) address verification. CVV is your
(12:19) security code on your card, like the pin
(12:20) on the back. Um, an IP address as
(12:23) evidence. Um, typically it’ll say if
(12:25) there was a match, a no match. You can
(12:27) look and see if the IP matches the
(12:29) billing location and that is strong
(12:31) supporting evidence as well, especially
(12:33) in fraud cases. Um, oh, and you
(12:36) definitely want to submit on time.
(12:37) Missing the deadline means that the card
(12:39) holder will win that case.
(12:43) Um, so some myths and misunderstandings.
(12:46) Uh, so this is like a true or false game
(12:49) going on. All chargebacks are fraud. Um
(12:53) it definitely feels that way but this is
(12:56) false. Um the chargeback system was set
(13:00) up to protect consumers and it does do
(13:03) its job in that way despite the new
(13:06) issue with friendly fraud. Uh safe and
(13:09) your payment processor can cancel a
(13:11) chargeback. Um we wish
(13:15) uh we cannot false. It is managed
(13:17) entirely by the card network um and the
(13:20) issuing bank. So, we have no ability to
(13:23) cancel or prevent a uh chargeback from
(13:26) being filed. I often wish I could for
(13:29) our clients, though. I will say um
(13:31) merchants can’t win disputes. Um the it
(13:36) feels this way for a lot of our clients
(13:38) that I speak to, especially after a big
(13:40) loss. But win rates can exceed 70% if
(13:43) you follow the rules and submit proper
(13:46) evidence. Um, evidence is the name of
(13:49) the game.
(13:51) Most chargebacks do stem from poor
(13:53) communication and criminal intent, not
(13:56) criminal intent. Um, I get a lot of
(13:58) emails saying exactly the opposite, but
(14:02) uh, it is true. Uh, chargebacks are
(14:05) often pure miscommunication, a lack of
(14:07) understanding from card holders.
(14:12) So, true fraud versus friendly fraud.
(14:15) This is huge right now in the chargeback
(14:18) world. Um, true fraud is everything we
(14:22) all think of when we think of fraud. So,
(14:24) stolen cards, identity theft, some bad
(14:26) actor on the other side trying to get a
(14:29) service for free or testing to see if a
(14:32) card works so they can use it elsewhere.
(14:34) Friendly fraud is what’s very become
(14:37) very common with chargebacks. Um, it’s
(14:39) also known as firstparty fraud, first
(14:42) party misuse. Um, but it’s typically a
(14:46) fraud claim or a chargeback that’s filed
(14:49) specifically uh to recoup funds. Maybe
(14:52) on accident because uh they forgot they
(14:55) purchased it or there’s a
(14:57) miscommunication of the family, but
(14:59) occasionally also because they’re
(15:00) confused or they regret the purchase and
(15:03) want their money back without
(15:04) communication often um or user error.
(15:08) Um, I know I have done this myself as a
(15:11) consumer where I see a charge on my
(15:13) debit card or my credit card and I go, I
(15:16) don’t know who that is. And I
(15:17) immediately go to press the button like
(15:19) to mark it as fraud or dispute it and
(15:22) then I go back later like, I’m so sorry,
(15:25) I figured out what it was. Um, even when
(15:28) a consumer goes back to reverse a
(15:31) chargeback, it’s still going through to
(15:33) the merchant. They’re still incurring
(15:34) fees. They’re losing time. Um, and most
(15:37) customers are not aware of this.
(15:41) Um, so the best chargeback is the one
(15:44) you’d ever get. Um, it’s much cheaper to
(15:46) prevent chargebacks than to fight them.
(15:48) Um,
(15:50) chargebacks cost around 375 for each
(15:53) dollar lost directly. Um, and this
(15:55) because of time lost, processing fees,
(15:57) damage to accounts or reputation.
(16:01) Um, so we’ll go over some best
(16:03) practices. Um, these are good overall
(16:06) business practices and they build trust
(16:08) in your clients, but they also build a
(16:11) documentation trail and make it more
(16:14) clear to your customers um, how to
(16:16) cancel, how to request refunds um, and
(16:19) prevent confusion and friendly fraud
(16:21) situations. Um, so clear visible clear
(16:26) visible policies are your first line of
(16:28) defense. You want to use every customer
(16:30) touch point to communicate them. Um, you
(16:33) can also submit this all as evidence um
(16:35) of agreement in disputes and it
(16:38) increases your chance of winning. Um, so
(16:40) you want to display cancellation or
(16:42) refund policies at checkout. Uh, court
(16:44) reserve does have the ability to require
(16:46) digital agreement terms at checkout.
(16:48) I’ve seen I’m sure Ashley can speak more
(16:50) about that if anyone uh needs
(16:53) information on that. Um, and you do want
(16:55) to avoid ambiguous language. So rather
(16:58) than maybe refunded, you say refunds
(17:00) provided within this amount of time for
(17:03) if you so like can a refunds provided
(17:06) for cancellations within 24 hours,
(17:08) something like that. Um you got have to
(17:11) be very very clear. Um and I do have
(17:14) examples of that that are in the court
(17:16) reserve knowledge base or going into the
(17:18) court reserve knowledge base. Um you
(17:20) want to send confirmation emails with
(17:22) full booking details whenever you can.
(17:24) Um, and include information on how
(17:27) cancellations and refunds work in all
(17:30) communications. Uh, proactively remind
(17:32) your customers of their upcoming
(17:34) sessions. Document every cancellation
(17:36) and complaint in writing. When you
(17:38) document things in writing, you can
(17:40) submit that in the case that a dispute
(17:43) is filed, that a chargeback is filed.
(17:45) Respond quickly, keep detailed records,
(17:48) train your staff, contact members early.
(17:51) Um, yeah, I think that that covers many
(17:54) things and of course this will go on for
(17:57) ever with documentation options. Well,
(17:59) and I’d love to speak to that because in
(18:01) aside court reserve, there are a couple
(18:03) different places. Definitely, people can
(18:05) go in right now and on payment receipts,
(18:08) they can add additional notes, you know,
(18:10) that go along with. So, if you’re
(18:12) running a point of sale and you’re
(18:13) selling drinks or merchandise out of
(18:15) your point of sale shop, you could
(18:16) definitely have a refund policy on
(18:18) there. Um, you know, we also have the
(18:21) waiverss and liabilities within court
(18:22) reserve. So, you could always put your
(18:24) refund policies in the documentation
(18:27) when the member first joined your
(18:29) organization. Now, does anybody read
(18:31) that? No. But you can prove that they
(18:35) signed it when they joined your facility
(18:37) as well. Um, you can put refund policies
(18:40) on your member portal. U, there’s lots
(18:42) of different ways. And so what Rachel is
(18:45) describing is different ways that you
(18:48) can, you know, add these refund
(18:50) policies, what your procedures are. Of
(18:51) course, you can print them out, put them
(18:53) at your front desk, uh, put them on the
(18:55) app. Uh, but as well, I think it’s just
(18:58) good for you to even think about this
(19:01) because I was telling Rachel and Shane
(19:03) before this, you know, at Old Coast
(19:04) Pickle Ball, I don’t even know if we
(19:05) have this written anywhere. So, we want
(19:07) to make sure that we are presenting, you
(19:10) know, this is exactly how it is. this is
(19:12) our refund policy and etc. So I know
(19:15) that Rachel you’ve created four uh
(19:18) documents for us at court reserve
(19:20) specifically for safe clients and we are
(19:23) working on putting those documents into
(19:26) the court reserve knowledge base under
(19:27) those safe articles. Um so if you’re
(19:30) interested um in reading what those are,
(19:33) I know Rachel’s going to go over them,
(19:34) but just reach out to support later on
(19:36) and then we can show you where that
(19:38) lives. So cool. Thank you. Yeah, it’s uh
(19:42) good policies overall and great evidence
(19:46) to submit as well, although I hope you
(19:48) can avoid needing to submit.
(19:52) Um so using court reserve and safe save
(19:54) safe to prevent and respond. Um so court
(19:56) reserve has a lot of great features for
(19:59) managing your customers. Um tracking
(20:01) attendance and cancellations is huge. Um
(20:04) submitting that as evidence in dispute
(20:07) is also incredibly helpful. um card
(20:10) networks do take attendance seriously
(20:13) and proving that they attended either
(20:15) through the court reserve features of
(20:18) tracking or images. I’ve had people
(20:20) submit images from their security
(20:23) cameras even um it also logs check-ins
(20:26) messages. You can create custom forms
(20:28) and Ashley talked about um modifying
(20:31) where policies are placed on the website
(20:34) in the app um etc. uh safe we for
(20:39) prevention we do have real time fraud
(20:42) prevention solutions. Um so we have
(20:44) fraud prevention available in each
(20:45) gateway that can be managed by the
(20:49) merchant directly. Um you can also reach
(20:51) out to our customer service team if you
(20:53) want any help going through that and
(20:55) figuring out what works best for you.
(20:58) Oftent time this means uh modifying CVB
(21:01) or ABS settings. Um and we have some
(21:04) other options as well. Um overall court
(21:08) reserve is incredibly secure. So card
(21:11) testing and other forms of fraud are a
(21:13) non-issue. However, uh preventing things
(21:17) like incorrect card use or using of
(21:20) someone using someone else’s card can be
(21:22) helpful with some of our settings in the
(21:25) gateway. Uh we’re also P PCI compliant
(21:28) so you don’t have to worry about data
(21:30) breaches um anything like that. you will
(21:34) get all of your dispute alerts via email
(21:36) and it has instructions on how to reach
(21:38) us for questions and submitting those
(21:40) disputes um and the support and guidance
(21:43) we offer. Um
(21:48) oh and uh this is just a fun fact. It is
(21:51) a marketing bonus to
(21:55) use the chargeback prevention tools and
(21:57) policies to build trust with your
(22:00) customers. Um, so by communicating
(22:03) clearly, having all of your policies
(22:05) posted, making it easy to understand how
(22:08) things are built and why they’re build,
(22:10) not only do you reduce disputes and
(22:12) chargebacks, but you improve your reput
(22:15) reputation. Um, members know you’re
(22:18) protecting their data, you’re practicing
(22:20) fair billing practices, um, and that
(22:22) you’re transparent and proactive in
(22:24) handling any concerns that do arise. Um,
(22:27) so it’s just a overall good uh business
(22:31) practice.
(22:34) Some fun real uh real world fraud
(22:37) trends. Um, so in a Forbes report on
(22:40) chargebacks, uh, merchants reported that
(22:44) at least 44% of chargebacks were
(22:46) friendly fraud. Other numbers that are
(22:48) not based on merchant reporting have
(22:50) this number even higher. Um, which is
(22:53) unfortunate. Um, fraud is not always
(22:56) what you think it is. It’s often a
(22:58) regular customer changing their mind or
(22:59) being confused. Um, so 84% of customers
(23:04) surveyed in the chargeback.io survey
(23:08) said filing chargebacks felt easier than
(23:10) requesting a refund. Um, a good
(23:13) prevention method is to try to make it
(23:16) easier to request a refund than to file
(23:18) a chargeback, which is the ongoing
(23:20) struggle. Um 72% of customers saw no
(23:25) real difference between filing a
(23:27) chargeback and requesting a refund and
(23:30) uh almost around half skip the merchant.
(23:33) Um
(23:35) uh card testing fraud is rising but it’s
(23:39) incredibly low when utilizing uh risk of
(23:43) sorry I have Wednesday brain. Uh there’s
(23:46) a really low risk of hard testing fraud
(23:48) utilizing court preserve because of
(23:49) login features and other security. Um
(23:54) so Rachel, what is surprising to me is
(23:57) that you know most people common people
(24:01) they don’t even realize what they’re
(24:03) doing when they do a chargeback. They’re
(24:05) actually hurting the business, right? No
(24:07) idea. And and they they just don’t know.
(24:09) And I mean it it’s interesting. I’m glad
(24:11) that we’re having this conversation
(24:12) today because this allows, like you
(24:15) said, for our clubs and facilities to
(24:17) really go above and beyond and and make
(24:20) sure that their policies are in place
(24:21) and that they can tell their players,
(24:23) hey, please come to us if you have a
(24:25) concern about a charge on your account
(24:27) and and maybe not have to go through the
(24:30) burden of all this chargeback stuff.
(24:33) Yeah, it’s a a game of prevention. And I
(24:36) do think that most customers if they
(24:38) knew the burden and the fees and
(24:40) everything associated with a dispute
(24:42) when they file it would not be filing
(24:44) them to begin with. We a lot of our
(24:46) customers are like our clients know
(24:49) their customers. They email in saying I
(24:51) know this person so well. I don’t
(24:53) understand why they’re filing this. Um
(24:55) and it’s often just a communication
(24:57) issue. So making everything very clear
(25:00) makes a huge difference. So good. Um
(25:03) yeah, and it’s uh
(25:06) just one note, chargebacks are popular
(25:08) right now because of the convenience of
(25:10) mobile apps and um all of that, but the
(25:14) lack of awareness, confusing return
(25:15) policies are a huge part of the
(25:19) increase.
(25:21) Um so preventing fraud without friction.
(25:24) So you like we talked about you want it
(25:25) to be everything to be clear. You want
(25:28) it to be so easy for your customers to
(25:30) go onto your website, go into the app
(25:31) and see who they have to talk to, who
(25:33) they have to email, who they have to
(25:34) call, can they press a button to request
(25:37) a refund, any of that. Um, so that they
(25:40) don’t have to go guess or search, press
(25:43) five clicks to find your policies. Um,
(25:47) enable the address verification system
(25:49) and CVB checks if you can. Um, you can
(25:53) work with our support team and call in
(25:56) and we can help you figure out what
(25:58) settings will work best based on your
(26:00) processing history. Um, and a lot of,
(26:03) uh, other payment processors will have a
(26:06) knowledge base or support team as well
(26:08) that you can work with. Um and requiring
(26:11) login for reservations is a um huge part
(26:16) of preventing card testing fraud as
(26:18) well, which is very much not an issue
(26:22) with court reserve, which is great. So
(26:25) Rachel, let me just stop you real quick.
(26:27) I just saw a question come in, so I
(26:29) figured we just answer this one real
(26:31) quick and give you a little breather. So
(26:34) um it’s asked that safe charges a $20
(26:37) non-refundable fee for chargebacks. Why
(26:40) is this fee not returned if we prove the
(26:42) chargeback is erroneous?
(26:45) So, the fine is my absolutely favorite
(26:48) part of chargebacks, and I’m sure Shane
(26:50) can agree. Uh, this is a fine that’s
(26:53) directly
(26:54) given to us as your payment processor by
(26:57) the card network and bank. Um, they say
(27:00) it’s for chargeback handling and
(27:02) processing. Um, but it’s not a safe
(27:06) making any money off of your
(27:08) chargebacks. being charged to us and we
(27:11) pass that to you as our client. Um, we
(27:15) do work with clients as best we can, but
(27:18) it’s overall um, something that is an
(27:21) unfortunate and standard practice in the
(27:23) chargeback world because banks are
(27:25) issuing this to all payment processors.
(27:28) So, so yeah, one thing we see with
(27:30) others is they’ll charge a monthly fee
(27:32) for chargeback handling. Whether you
(27:34) have them or not, you’re getting charged
(27:35) a $20 fee, a $30 fee. Not everyone does
(27:38) this. Most do, you know, how we do it is
(27:41) per occurrence. And as Rachel mentioned,
(27:43) we’re passing along what we’re charged.
(27:45) We’re not increasing that or upcharging
(27:48) it. But even if you win, that fee still
(27:50) sticks. Um it’s not like it goes away
(27:52) and we get refunded the fee. It it still
(27:54) applies regardless. Um the beauty
(27:58) business owner.
(28:01) Yeah. It’s very fun. Uh, I’ve also seen
(28:03) I I like to look at how other businesses
(28:06) are managing chargebacks as part of my
(28:08) job. Um, and I’ve seen some companies
(28:11) your first chargeback fine is free and
(28:13) then after that it’s $50 to $100
(28:15) depending on the uh case. Like there’s a
(28:19) lot of different ways of applying it,
(28:20) but the fee is uh standard unfortunately
(28:25) um and not charged to for fun or to make
(28:28) a profit. Let’s go. I’ve got a couple
(28:30) more questions here. Um, so one is let’s
(28:33) see, we would like our confirmation
(28:35) emails to provide more information to
(28:37) avoid issues. When will court reserve be
(28:39) building the ability to customize the
(28:40) confirmation and reminder emails? So
(28:43) currently you can go in and to those
(28:45) emails and you can add additional
(28:47) information, the payment receipt. Um,
(28:50) you can put it on your event
(28:51) registration emails, your lesson, and
(28:54) there’s a lot of stuff that you can do.
(28:56) Um, we are going to be working in Q3 to
(28:59) do more customization around emails, but
(29:02) right now you can certainly add
(29:04) additional information to those emails.
(29:06) Um, and so what I would do is if you
(29:09) have questions about how to do that,
(29:11) please reach out to support. Um, we’re
(29:12) definitely um, we can help you with
(29:14) that. And then the next question, if we
(29:17) get a chargeback request, decide that it
(29:20) is not worth contesting, so we refund
(29:23) the charge to the card. Does that fix
(29:26) the problem and avoid the fee?
(29:30) Unfortunately, no. Um I wish uh so when
(29:33) a chargeback is filed, it’s acting as
(29:35) the refund already. So, in all safe
(29:38) chargeback notifications, they’ll
(29:39) there’s a line saying to not attempt a
(29:41) refund in any way because the chargeback
(29:44) is the refund. Um, so if you want the
(29:47) card holder to receive a refund, you
(29:49) would either uh accept the refund
(29:51) usually via like for safe you reply
(29:54) saying accept or do nothing. Um, but you
(29:57) absolutely do not want to provide a
(29:59) refund on top of a chargeback. Um, as it
(30:02) then you will be out extra money and
(30:04) you’ll be in the negative. Um, so yeah,
(30:07) if you have questions, definitely reach
(30:08) out to Safe Save and support and and
(30:10) make sure that you don’t double them for
(30:14) Yeah, you don’t want to give away free
(30:16) money like that. It’s already a painful
(30:18) process. So, Right. That’s exactly
(30:20) right. All right, we have some more
(30:21) questions coming in. This is great.
(30:23) Where can we find the confirmation email
(30:25) that was sent to the customer to support
(30:28) these chargebacks when disputing? So,
(30:31) I’m assuming Cindy, if you’re talking
(30:32) about court reserve, all emails, you can
(30:35) actually go into um and I tell you what,
(30:39) Cindy, what I’ll do is I’ll try and get
(30:41) support to kind of make you a screenshot
(30:43) of where you can go in and see where
(30:45) emails live that go out of court
(30:46) reserve. And then what about from you,
(30:48) Rachel? Do you guys have any emails that
(30:51) you send out with with information that
(30:53) can be helped in the dispute?
(30:55) uh we don’t send any emails directly to
(30:57) customers but in the gateway we do carry
(31:00) um all of the transaction data and I
(31:04) have found that submitting a screenshot
(31:06) of the entire transaction is incredibly
(31:10) helpful especially for uh fraud. Um you
(31:14) can also pull your transaction history.
(31:16) So, if someone’s claiming fraud and say
(31:18) they have 10 other reservations they’ve
(31:21) made and not disputed, submitting those
(31:24) other notis disputed transactions, the
(31:26) transactions with no chargebacks is
(31:29) really great evidence that no, this is
(31:31) not fraud, this is just a confused or
(31:34) angry customer. Um, something like that,
(31:37) right? Are you telling me that sometimes
(31:39) people just get upset and they just do
(31:41) chargebacks because
(31:43) um it’s rare, but it does happen. It’s
(31:46) not a fun practice. I have seen uh I
(31:50) would say once a week I get a reply that
(31:53) this customer is just mad we won’t
(31:55) refund her because she received the
(31:57) services. Um how do we prove that she
(32:00) received the services and this is not
(32:02) fraud? Um, so there can be a malicious
(32:06) aspect.
(32:08) Luckily, it’s not super common, but we
(32:10) we have all had experiences with someone
(32:13) who just wants to show you how angry
(32:15) they are. Yes. So, all right, we got
(32:18) another question. Is there a
(32:19) determination on how the CVV code will
(32:22) be used either by court reserve or safe
(32:25) to avoid people loading incorrect card
(32:27) numbers into their payment profile?
(32:31) Oh, we were uh Oh, Shane, if you want
(32:33) ahead. Uh we have been working with Port
(32:35) Reserve on this and I believe that
(32:37) feature is incoming, but Shane, I don’t
(32:40) know if you have any updates. In terms
(32:42) of storing a payment profile, you
(32:44) actually can’t store a CVV. So, it’s not
(32:48) used for that purpose. And by default,
(32:50) we’re not requiring a match on a
(32:53) transaction. Um just because of the same
(32:56) storage issue, you can’t actually store
(32:58) it. But if it is provided on a
(32:59) transaction, you’ll see the response
(33:01) like did it match or did it not match on
(33:04) our side in the transaction history. We
(33:06) have settings. You can certainly enable
(33:07) it so that it must match or a
(33:09) transaction will fail. We can set that
(33:11) by but by default it is not. But if it
(33:13) is provided, you see if it matched or
(33:15) not um under the transaction details in
(33:18) the gateway. Nice. Yeah, the CBVB for uh
(33:21) saved payment methods is uh more
(33:23) difficult because it’s uh federally
(33:26) illegal to store the security pin, the
(33:29) CVB. Um so it does make it more
(33:33) difficult um in terms of
(33:37) blocking transactions through the CVB
(33:39) method. Address verification is
(33:41) typically better, but that has pluses
(33:45) and minuses too depending on which
(33:47) settings you choose. So reaching out to
(33:48) safe is always a a good call when
(33:51) modifying those settings. Awesome. These
(33:54) are great questions. Uh but Rachel, I’m
(33:56) going to let you continue on. Yeah. Um
(33:59) so we’ve gone over this a few times. Uh
(34:01) oh, we went over pretty much all of this
(34:04) already. Let’s see. Logins. Yeah, sorry.
(34:06) I’m catching up. Um so spotting fraud
(34:09) early. So, in cases of true fraud, um,
(34:11) which are incredibly uncommon with court
(34:14) reserve, however, they do happen,
(34:17) unfortunately. Um, you have some red
(34:21) flags you can look out for. A lot of it
(34:22) is unfortunately a gut feeling based on
(34:25) people acting strangely. Um, so
(34:29) customers being rude and evasive when
(34:31) they’re adding a payment method or, uh,
(34:34) changing their card 10 times and each
(34:36) time it’s failing. I don’t know many
(34:39) people who have 10 different credit
(34:41) cards to attempt a transaction with. Um
(34:44) disputing the last minute like
(34:46) cancelling last minute often disputing
(34:50) um unfamiliar names or locations. If
(34:52) you’re based in Florida and someone
(34:55) books online um from Washington
(35:00) just like they could be traveling or it
(35:03) could be um something a little weirder.
(35:07) So, keeping an eye on your payment
(35:08) processing overall and who’s signing up
(35:11) and just being aware as best you can of
(35:14) what your transactions are is a good
(35:16) best practice. Um, and you are in
(35:19) control of who you accept as a customer.
(35:21) Um, if something’s suspicious to you,
(35:23) you can reach out to Safe Save, you can
(35:25) reach out to Court Reserve, um, and
(35:27) protect your business first and
(35:29) foremost.
(35:31) Um, and last page. Um so the final
(35:34) takeaways uh for protecting your club’s
(35:37) bottom line with chargebacks and fraud.
(35:39) Um understand the process. Chargebacks
(35:42) cost time, money, resources, reputation.
(35:46) Um know the flow of chargebacks. Know
(35:49) who’s involved in the process. Um have
(35:52) clear policies. Uh communicate
(35:56) proactively.
(35:57) Keep strong documentation.
(36:00) Respond quickly and confidently. Um,
(36:03) watch for warning signs and leverage
(36:05) your partners. Sport Reserve is
(36:07) excellent. They’re here to help you.
(36:08) We’re here to help you at Safe Save.
(36:10) Your payment processors have knowledge
(36:13) bases and support teams you can reach
(36:15) out to. Um, so don’t be afraid to reach
(36:17) out for help and use the systems to
(36:20) really tackle these issues. Yes,
(36:23) definitely. Because I can tell you, you
(36:26) know, at Court Reserve, we’ve been
(36:27) around over eight years now and
(36:28) occasionally, you know, we’ve had a
(36:31) player accidentally come in and they’ve
(36:33) subscribed to court reserve. Now, why
(36:35) they did that, I don’t know, but they
(36:37) did. And then instead of coming to court
(36:39) reserve and saying, “Hey, I don’t know
(36:40) why you charge me. It’s the chargeback.”
(36:42) So, we’ve actually worked with Rachel a
(36:44) couple times, you know, on this. And so,
(36:47) Rachel, I want to share the kind of the
(36:50) documents. Um, do you want me to share
(36:51) the screen? Um, yeah, that would be
(36:53) great. Okay. All right. So, I’m going to
(36:55) share these documents just because I
(36:57) want to kind of show you guys uh what’s
(37:00) what what the the team has come up with.
(37:02) And we’re going to actually take these
(37:04) and put these in the um safe articles
(37:08) within the court reserve knowledge base.
(37:10) Um that’s where all of our articles and
(37:12) videos and things are. So, one, they’ve
(37:14) done a chargeback prevention guide. Um,
(37:17) again, a lot of this stuff we’ve kind of
(37:18) gone over today, but just wanted to kind
(37:20) of show you guys um, you know, how to
(37:23) handle this. Um, a customer dispute call
(37:26) log template. This is great because then
(37:29) you can use this internally. Um, keep
(37:31) good records. That way when you’re
(37:33) working with Rachel, you can already
(37:34) show her um, and and the merchant, you
(37:37) know, what you guys have already done. A
(37:39) chargeback response template. So, this
(37:41) is great because you’ve already given us
(37:43) the language uh that could be used uh
(37:46) for this and then the you know just an
(37:49) overview of chargebacks, what to expect,
(37:51) timelines, how we work with Safe Save,
(37:54) all the Safe Save emails and phone
(37:56) numbers and support um and everything.
(37:59) And so, I just wanted to share that with
(38:00) you guys. If you would like copies of
(38:03) these before we get them in the
(38:06) knowledge base because literally Rachel
(38:07) sent these to me this morning and I’m
(38:08) like, “Oh, that is so gold.” Uh, reach
(38:11) out to court reserve support and say,
(38:13) “Hey, I was on the safe webinar today
(38:15) and Ashley said I could ask for those
(38:17) four documents and we will send those to
(38:19) you. They’re PDFs, so so they’re really
(38:21) good right now.” So, any final
(38:24) questions? Please go ahead and put those
(38:26) in the Q&A so we can make sure and
(38:27) answer those. Um, you know, Rachel and
(38:31) Shane, I think, you know, in this day
(38:32) and time, as much, you know, as we would
(38:35) love to think that, you know, there’s no
(38:37) fraud out there at all and that people
(38:39) aren’t going to do this, I mean, it’s
(38:40) just part of of running a business. And
(38:43) so, I just want to thank you guys today
(38:44) for taking the time out to come on, you
(38:46) know, regardless if you use Safe Save or
(38:48) not, whether you use Stripe or another
(38:50) card merchant provider, this is really
(38:52) good knowledge for all businesses to be
(38:54) aware of. So, um, and you know, at Court
(38:57) Reserve, we’re constantly working to try
(38:58) and make it easy for you. So, again, if
(39:02) you need help with knowing where that
(39:04) extra line item is on your confirmations
(39:07) or your payment receipts within court
(39:09) reserve, reach out to support. I will
(39:11) let them know that you guys are on the
(39:13) way to ask questions because we want to
(39:15) make sure that we help you set up these
(39:17) policies and procedures um in order to
(39:20) to do and and to run your business more
(39:22) efficiently. Uh, we got a question. I
(39:24) assume that when a chargeback goes
(39:26) through, there is no change in the court
(39:29) reserve payment history of that member.
(39:32) So what happens within that? Do you guys
(39:35) can you talk about that a little bit? It
(39:37) has been a little bit since I’ve had a
(39:40) screenshot come through. I know that in
(39:42) safe it uh shows as failed. So when a
(39:45) safe uh when a transaction comes through
(39:48) as a chargeback, it’ll ch it’ll show a
(39:51) chargeback line. It’ll show sale,
(39:53) settle, chargeback, and when that
(39:55) chargeback happens, it changes the
(39:57) transaction to failed. Um, so I would
(40:00) have to check with court reserve support
(40:02) on how it shows on the court reserve
(40:03) side. I unfortunately don’t have a
(40:04) system myself. Um, but we do get a lot
(40:07) of uh questions being like, oh, I
(40:09) thought this transaction failed. Um, it
(40:11) just changes to failed, so you can’t
(40:13) provide a secondary refund because that
(40:15) would not be fun. And I just made sure
(40:18) and that is correct. there’s no change
(40:20) in the court reserve payment history. Um
(40:23) we don’t actually get any notification
(40:25) in court reserve that a chargeback is
(40:27) done. Um and so that would answer that
(40:29) question right there for sure. So good
(40:31) question. Yeah. And we do have uh
(40:33) automated gateway emails that’ll go out
(40:35) and tell you when a chargeback’s filed.
(40:36) and then our chargeback dispute email
(40:39) that has all the instructions on what to
(40:41) do, who to talk to, um what your options
(40:44) are and everything like that that we
(40:46) send out as well to the primary gateway
(40:48) contact.
(40:50) Anything else you can think of? Oh,
(40:52) let’s see. He’s got one more question.
(40:54) Uh so, how do I settle the reports in
(40:56) court reserve to show a chargeback? That
(40:59) is a great question and what I would
(41:01) encourage you to do is reach out to
(41:02) customer support because I don’t know
(41:04) the answer to that. I’ll be quite
(41:05) honest. Um, so I’m trying to get the
(41:08) answer for you right now, but if you’ll
(41:10) reach out to uh support at court
(41:12) reserve, then definitely um we can help
(41:15) you know what to do with that. The next
(41:18) question is, does Court Reserve place
(41:19) the $20 chargeback fee on the customer
(41:22) account? No, we don’t know when a
(41:24) chargeback happens within court reserve.
(41:26) And so if you want to charge your
(41:29) customer for doing a charge back, then
(41:32) you’ll have to go in and and assign a
(41:34) miscellaneous fee of somehow on that
(41:37) customer or that member’s um you know
(41:39) account within court reserve. So I do
(41:42) suggest uh including in your policies if
(41:45) you will share the fee with your
(41:47) customers if they file a chargeback
(41:50) accidentally. Um, just so you can That’s
(41:53) another great idea actually. Yeah. To
(41:55) have in your policy. So if they
(41:57) accidentally hit the button they’re
(41:58) charging back, then they’re going to
(41:59) help you pay for all the processing fee
(42:01) of $20 for sure. So um, we got another
(42:04) question. Should I contact the customer
(42:06) once I’m aware of a chargeback or just
(42:08) go through the process? I always suggest
(42:12) contact contacting the customer if you
(42:14) have the time. Um, time, cost, benefit,
(42:16) analysis always. But um oftent times you
(42:20) can resolve things directly with a
(42:23) customer either through accepting a new
(42:24) payment method or they can call and uh
(42:28) cancel the chargeback with their bank um
(42:30) and then send you an email confirmation
(42:33) of that cancellation. Um, so it’s worth
(42:37) it in my opinion to reach out. Um, and
(42:39) if they don’t answer, please contact
(42:42) Safe Safe or your payment processor and
(42:45) I would say um, if you would like to
(42:47) dispute and not have that be a refund,
(42:49) we should plan out your documentations.
(42:53) I wish Tracy question Tracy. Yeah,
(42:56) Tracy, that fee is part of something
(42:58) that even Safe Safe’s not doing. It’s a
(43:00) part of the policy of the the provider
(43:02) at what Visa, Mastercard, Discover, all
(43:04) those all those fantastic people that we
(43:06) love. So that fee does not go away. So
(43:09) that’s where she’s talking about Tracy
(43:11) where you can make it as part of your
(43:12) policy that if you do have to do go
(43:14) through this chargeback dispute, then
(43:16) you can share that pain with the
(43:18) customer that’s actually trying to
(43:19) charge back. So completely up to you
(43:22) guys. Unfortunately, that fee happens at
(43:25) the time the chargeback is initiated. So
(43:27) if a customer clicks that button in
(43:28) their bank that says dispute and then go
(43:30) two minutes later go oo accident and
(43:33) call their bank and say never mind it
(43:35) already got initiated that $20 already
(43:37) hit. So it’s it’s immediate. Really?
(43:40) Yeah. That’s why that fee like even if
(43:41) they win the chargeback or the
(43:42) chargeback’s canceled, it was already
(43:44) initiated. That’s when the fee applies.
(43:45) That’s why it still applies even if the
(43:47) customer cancels it. Uh the card holder
(43:50) cancels it. Sorry. Um because it’s at
(43:52) the time of initiation. Oh, lovely.
(43:54) Yeah. Yeah. It’s a very fun fun process.
(43:58) That’s why we got we gotta So, here’s a
(44:00) great question. How do you come up with
(44:03) a great policy for refunds and
(44:06) chargebacks, right? I mean, I’m thinking
(44:07) off the top of my head, I mean,
(44:09) everybody’s all AI crazy right now. Chat
(44:11) GBT might have some great
(44:14) like chat GBT like, hey, we need a great
(44:16) refund cancellation chargeback policy
(44:19) for our pickle ball or tennis club. What
(44:21) can you give me? And then the other
(44:23) thing I would do is I’m sure
(44:25) statebystate regulations also flow into
(44:28) this which is why court reserve we don’t
(44:30) actually give anybody any waiverss or
(44:32) disclosures. You have to get those
(44:33) yourselves. Um I will put a plug out
(44:36) there for Rocket Lawyer. Uh when court
(44:37) reserve first got started before we had
(44:39) an attorney. Uh we actually use Rocket
(44:42) Lawyer for a lot of basic documentation
(44:44) and it’ll do it per state. So it I mean
(44:47) it’s not very expensive. Uh it’s just a
(44:50) monthly fee and you can cancel at any
(44:51) time, but you might want to go out use
(44:53) chat GBT first. Uh and you know, then
(44:56) maybe verify that with your own state.
(44:58) Um yeah, that’s a great point. Yeah, I
(45:02) was going to say chat GBT as a first
(45:03) thought, but yeah, online your state.
(45:05) There’s tons of great resources. The
(45:06) unfortunate truth is you can have the
(45:08) best most rockolid policy ever and still
(45:10) lose. Yep. It’s unfortunate. It
(45:12) definitely helps and definitely
(45:13) increases win rate. But it’s just
(45:14) important to know with this process as a
(45:16) whole,
(45:18) even with the best, you sometimes will
(45:20) still lose, right? Yeah, for sure. It’s
(45:22) a there’s a person on the other end in
(45:25) the card network who’s reviewing
(45:26) documentation and their ability to read
(45:29) and understand and uh choice to read and
(45:33) understand is uh you know, it it throws
(45:37) everything in a whirlwind. Um, it’s a
(45:40) bit of a roller coaster out there, but
(45:42) uh, it is a good call to review things
(45:44) with a lawyer.

(0:03) Well, hello everyone. It’s Ashley with
(0:05) Court Reserve. We are so excited for our
(0:07) webinar today. Um, one of the things
(0:10) that I’ve learned as a business owner is
(0:13) that it’s hard to hold inventory. And so
(0:16) today I’m with my friend Dirk from M4
(0:19) Sports. How are you, my friend?
(0:22) >> I am great, Ashley. Happy, very happy to
(0:24) be here.
(0:24) >> Yeah, definitely. So, before we get
(0:26) started with all the fun information,
(0:28) don’t forget that Court Reserve, we love
(0:31) training our admins. And so, we’re going
(0:33) to be in Seattle actually next
(0:35) Wednesday. It may be too late, but if
(0:37) you really want to go, you can contact
(0:39) us and maybe I can get you a seat. But
(0:41) definitely the last Catalyst user
(0:43) conference for the year is coming up at
(0:45) the end of this month. It’s going to be
(0:47) in Skilman, New Jersey. That’s literally
(0:49) between Newark and Philly. So, you can
(0:51) catch a flight to Philly, hour 20
(0:53) minutes. you’re at the Cherry Valley
(0:54) Country Club. Uh you can go to
(0:56) courtreserve.com and sign up for
(0:59) Catalyst or reach out to our support
(1:00) team. And then our team will also be up
(1:03) in New England um in a couple weeks and
(1:05) I’ll be down in Austin, Texas uh for the
(1:08) Racketex City Series as well. And don’t
(1:11) forget if you are pickle ball happy, all
(1:13) about pickle ball, we always encourage
(1:15) you go to mastermind. This could be the
(1:17) last one for this year out in Salt Lake
(1:19) City. Um, so you can reach out to the
(1:21) folks um at Club Pickle Ball Mastermind
(1:24) or you can actually uh get on a call
(1:25) with Devon and he’ll tell you all about
(1:27) that. So, let’s go ahead and get started
(1:30) because I’m really excited because when
(1:32) Tim and I decided that we weren’t busy
(1:34) enough and we opened up our own pickle
(1:36) ball club, people started wanting merch.
(1:38) They wanted shirts and all kinds of
(1:41) stuff. And the last thing I had time to
(1:43) do was figure out what they needed and
(1:46) then buy inventory. So, we did that for
(1:49) the first couple months, Dirk. And you
(1:51) can imagine like I ran out of the right
(1:53) sizes and then I didn’t have the right
(1:55) colors and the material was okay. And
(1:58) so, when I met Alfredo and you back
(2:02) earlier this year and we started our
(2:04) online customizable store for Old Coast
(2:07) Pickle Ball, it was kind of
(2:08) life-changing for me as a business
(2:10) owner.
(2:12) >> That’s great to hear. That’s our That’s
(2:15) why that’s what we’re here to do. So,
(2:17) thank you very much. Um, do you want me
(2:20) to jump into it?
(2:21) >> I do. Let’s get started for sure. Tell
(2:24) us a little bit about you. Like, how did
(2:25) you get into this business?
(2:28) >> Well, that was a stumble about 25 years
(2:31) ago, but it was a fortunate one. Um, so
(2:34) I’ve been working uh for a company
(2:36) called MB Sport, which is a product
(2:39) design development uh and sourcing
(2:40) business. um we work with retailers
(2:43) across the United States and really take
(2:46) that that entire lift off their
(2:47) shoulders. So when you think about what
(2:49) we’re talking about here with these
(2:50) online pro shops, it’s it’s a similar
(2:52) model where we’re we’re taking all of
(2:56) the inventory, all of the branding, all
(2:58) the management kind of off club’s
(3:00) shoulders and it’s been a product that’s
(3:02) been wellreceived. Um so we are into our
(3:07) third full season um as M4 um M4 Sports
(3:12) is the brand. We are working across uh
(3:15) racket sports. We’re working in tennis
(3:17) and pickle and padell and paddle and we
(3:20) different we do differentiate them that
(3:22) way. Um and and squash as well. Um, so
(3:27) we again we found that the um the online
(3:30) offering is something that has been
(3:33) wellreceived and I’d love to spend a
(3:35) little bit of time and walk you folks
(3:37) through um a quick overview about how
(3:40) we’re how we configure these shops and
(3:42) how we work.
(3:43) >> Yes, that would be great. And I’ll tell
(3:44) you at the end once he’s done going kind
(3:46) of going through the process, I’m going
(3:48) to show you how we hooked up Old Coast
(3:49) Pickle Ball inside of Court Reserve. So
(3:52) our folks can go into Old Coast Pickle
(3:54) Ball. They can see what we have to
(3:57) offer. They can try on a demo and then
(3:59) they can order it or they can order
(4:01) directly through court reserve as well.
(4:03) So Durk, if you want to go ahead. I know
(4:05) you got some stuff that you want to
(4:06) share with us.
(4:07) >> If if I can share my screen.
(4:10) >> Yeah.
(4:11) >> Um,
(4:13) let’s do that
(4:16) and then let me get over to the
(4:19) presentation.
(4:21) >> Oh, he’s running on a Mac, folks.
(4:23) >> No. Yes. Oh, this is I’m all P. I’m all
(4:26) PC.
(4:26) >> Thank you. Okay. Me, too.
(4:28) >> I’m all I’m I’m I’m
(4:30) all I’m still I’m I I guess I’m old. I’m
(4:32) still very much embracing the Windows.
(4:36) >> So, um the the way that the the this
(4:40) product works is that um we come in, we
(4:45) configure a custom shop for clubs, for
(4:49) organizations. Uh we ran about 25 or 30
(4:53) of them. um last year. Um and the the
(4:57) thing that to point out here is that the
(4:59) products that we’re selling um is all
(5:01) M4. It’s our um it’s our active wear.
(5:05) It’s some basic accessories, water
(5:07) bottles, hats, things like that. Um and
(5:10) we we work with you to because it is an
(5:14) iterative process. We work with you to
(5:17) identify what products should go into
(5:19) the shop. work through talk through the
(5:21) branding um and and get the shop to a
(5:24) point that you you approve it um to to
(5:27) go live. Um and there are some other
(5:30) companies out there that that that run
(5:33) this model um we’ve found that rather
(5:36) than having a a deadline on the shop of
(5:39) of a week or two or 3 weeks, um we’ve
(5:43) actually found it’s been wellreceived to
(5:45) have the shops open for an entire
(5:46) season. So, we’ll open the shop, we’ll
(5:49) keep it open for six months. Um, as we
(5:51) come towards the end of that period,
(5:53) we’ll check in with you and identify
(5:55) like, hey, this is working like we want
(5:57) to continue this or we want to change
(5:59) this for another sport, for another
(6:01) season. Um, and and we’ll we’ll work
(6:04) through that together with you. Um, we
(6:07) also along the way um provide digital
(6:11) marketing materials. So, we’ll we’ll
(6:12) provide um um clips that you can send
(6:16) out via Instagram or via email. Um and
(6:21) so that you you don’t have to take take
(6:23) the extra effort to be marketing it um
(6:26) to your to your members. Um and then
(6:28) lastly, um of course is, you know, we
(6:31) appreciate um the access. We appreciate
(6:34) you you sharing our our company and our
(6:36) products with your with your members.
(6:39) Um, so we’re uh we pay a commission um
(6:43) of 20% um of our net sales. Um and we
(6:48) pay that out every three months.
(6:52) Okay. Um speaking to to the products, um
(6:56) I want to one point I want to want to
(6:58) stress here is that um again we are a
(7:00) product development and sourcing
(7:02) company. Um so the pro the M4 products
(7:04) that we’re selling are not traditional
(7:07) blanks. They’re not coming from, you
(7:09) know, a blank style or a full source or
(7:11) somewhere like that. These are all
(7:13) products that we have designed from
(7:15) scratch that we have identif we have
(7:17) selected the fabrics for um and we have
(7:19) manufactured them expressly for M4. Um
(7:22) we’re very proud of the quality of our
(7:25) fabrics, of our styling, um and of the
(7:28) the workmanship. Um, we also another
(7:31) advantage of of working this this
(7:33) tightly is that the products are all
(7:36) designed for the same fit. So, it’s not
(7:39) that a large large A and large B will
(7:42) fit you in different ways. It’s that the
(7:44) um the the fit is consistent across the
(7:47) entire line. Um, we generally I would
(7:50) say our fit and we we we have sizing
(7:53) guides and everything online that we we
(7:55) can we can share. Um, our fit is active.
(7:59) Um, it’s it’s not I wouldn’t say it’s as
(8:02) small as maybe a a Nike is, but it’s
(8:05) also certainly not as large as a a
(8:08) Johnny O Peter Malar. So, it’s a good
(8:10) middle-of the road active fit. Um, all
(8:13) of the products are all of our apparel
(8:16) is manufactured in Maitius, um, which is
(8:19) a very pretty country in the South
(8:22) Indian Ocean. Uh we’ve been working
(8:24) there for 15 years and have our own
(8:26) office and employees there. Um so we
(8:28) have people our own people in the
(8:30) factories. We are very confident about
(8:33) the social compliance um and and the
(8:36) people that we’re working with there. Um
(8:38) aside from it taking 23 hours on
(8:41) airplanes to get there, it’s a it’s a
(8:43) pretty special place. Um, and then we
(8:46) have a a an office and a warehouse in
(8:50) Connecticut about an hour north of New
(8:52) York City, which is where everything is
(8:54) inventoried. So all the products that
(8:56) we’re showing you um that we’re making
(8:58) available to sell online are in in our
(9:02) inventory now. So it’s not like we’re
(9:04) not going to try and sell something and
(9:05) then go source it from somewhere else.
(9:07) We have the have the products on hand
(9:10) and we do all the branding from our from
(9:12) our our workshop as well. Um,
(9:16) one thing that happens over the course
(9:17) of the season is we we bring in new
(9:19) products. Um, sometimes things can be
(9:22) delayed. Sometimes, um, we we we in we
(9:25) we institute new styles. Um, but as we
(9:29) bring in new products, we will from time
(9:30) to time reach out and say, “Here are
(9:33) half a dozen new things. Let us know if
(9:35) you want to talk about adding these to
(9:36) your stores.” Once we have the stores
(9:39) up, it is very easy to move things in
(9:41) and out. And it’s even relatively
(9:43) straightforward to make changes on the
(9:45) fly. Uh in terms of branding,
(9:48) um our goal because we are pulling these
(9:52) things from inventory. The goal is that
(9:54) products um are delivered to the
(9:56) customer within two weeks. Um we do we
(9:59) do pretty well with that goal. um if
(10:01) there ever is an issue um or if we ever
(10:04) do run into, you know, inventory on a
(10:07) size, we will reach out very quickly and
(10:09) and work through to resolve that with
(10:11) the the end consumer.
(10:14) Okay. Um so now we get into a little bit
(10:18) more of the nitty-gritty. Um from a
(10:21) pricing standpoint, I wanted to just
(10:24) give a range um so people could
(10:26) understand kind of where where we are
(10:28) coming in. Um, we set our pricing as our
(10:32) normal M4 retail pricing. Um, and then
(10:36) we add $3 for the branding. Um, so TE’s
(10:40) are in the 50s to60s. Polos are in the
(10:43) 60s. Um, we have shorts, squirts,
(10:47) joggers that that run a wider range. Um,
(10:50) those are from the ‘ 60s to the ‘9s.
(10:53) Hoodies, quarter zips um are in the 70s
(10:58) to 90s. And then we have a variety of
(11:00) jackets and vests um that are between 80
(11:04) and and $130. Um and again, we can we’ll
(11:08) go through through the selection process
(11:10) and help you fine-tune the line that
(11:13) will make the most sense for your for
(11:14) your members. Um, one thing that we call
(11:17) out at this point is that M4 has its own
(11:21) obviously has its own retail presence
(11:24) and um, we we we don’t carry because of
(11:28) the commission structure we’re working
(11:30) on with you folks, we don’t carry our M4
(11:33) retail discounts over to the custom
(11:36) shops. However, discounts are a good are
(11:39) a good idea. And one thing that we’ve
(11:41) seen we’ve seen happen is clubs have
(11:45) opted to say, “Yes, we do want to extend
(11:47) a discount to um to our members. Maybe
(11:51) it’s a preseason discount, maybe it’s a
(11:53) holiday discount. Um we do want to
(11:55) extend that discount. We can support
(11:57) that and we’ll support that. Um but we
(12:00) would need to take the value or the net
(12:03) cost of that discount out of whatever
(12:05) commissions were payable at the end of
(12:06) the process.” And that’s something that
(12:08) um Alfredo or I can can walk through
(12:10) with you folks. Um we ship for free over
(12:14) $125.
(12:16) Um and another thing that we’ve had
(12:19) success with has been um if a club wants
(12:22) to say get all your orders in now and
(12:26) have it shipped to the club, um we will
(12:29) we’ll take any batch of four or more
(12:32) orders and just batch ship them to the
(12:34) club at our cost. Um, obviously that
(12:37) takes some coordination, but but we can
(12:39) work through that. Um, we also have a a
(12:43) fairly robust business supporting
(12:45) events, member guests and the like and
(12:47) internal tournaments and the like and
(12:50) should you want to talk with us about um
(12:53) gear for that um we we’d welcome the
(12:56) conversation. And our traditional model
(12:58) is that we take um we sell that product
(13:01) to you at 30% of the of the um retail or
(13:05) 30% off the retail price. Um and we do
(13:08) ask though that it’s a minimum of 20
(13:10) units and it does need to be the same
(13:13) style, the same branding across um
(13:16) across there.
(13:18) All right.
(13:19) Okay. So, um, the process to set up a
(13:24) shop, um, we we ask that if you, and
(13:28) we’ll share the contact information, and
(13:30) I’m sure Ashley will will as well. Um,
(13:33) we ask you if you have an interest in
(13:34) setting up a shop to please reach out to
(13:36) us. Um, when you do, we we want to just
(13:39) keep track of of who’s in the mix and
(13:41) also keep track of of demand and the
(13:43) number of shops that we have that we’re
(13:45) opening. Um, so we will send you a link
(13:48) with a a sample shop and then more
(13:51) importantly we will send you a se a
(13:54) second link for a selection shop and
(13:56) we’ll send you the link and a code. And
(13:59) what you will do as as your first step
(14:02) is to go into the selection shop. You’ll
(14:05) pick the items that you’d like to put
(14:07) into your assortment. Um, and you will
(14:10) basically you’ll go through a checkout
(14:12) process on that shop as you would on any
(14:14) e-commerce site. the code will will will
(14:17) make the sale at zero cost. But that way
(14:19) you gives you the chance to pick what
(14:21) you want and then articulate it to us um
(14:24) very very clearly um so that we can then
(14:28) look at that review it um and start our
(14:31) planning for the development of your
(14:33) shop. Um of course the branding is um an
(14:37) important component of this. So while we
(14:40) are going through this selection
(14:42) process, we ask that you send us your
(14:44) logo um so that we can start to
(14:46) understand what’s in uh involved in
(14:49) working with it um and start to think
(14:52) about about coloration and things like
(14:54) that. Um once we have all that
(14:57) information, we’re going to put together
(14:59) an outline and um of what we see with
(15:03) your shop. We will we may have feedback
(15:05) on you might want to consider this or
(15:07) you might want to consider that. Um, and
(15:10) we will come back to you and have a
(15:13) relatively quick conversation to to walk
(15:16) through it. Um, just there will always
(15:18) be questions about kind of the size of
(15:20) the branding, the how heavy you want it,
(15:22) how heavy you want things to be. Um, so
(15:25) we’ll have an initial conversation, then
(15:28) we will come back, we’ll build the shop
(15:32) um online. We’ll send you a link for the
(15:35) shop and you for you to review. Um we
(15:38) will often we find that we we get it
(15:42) right the first time, but we’re of
(15:43) course happy to have another round of um
(15:46) review and update to get it to get the
(15:49) shop to a place that you you feel good
(15:51) about. Um our goal um that we we
(15:55) generally are able to to achieve is that
(15:58) uh we expect it to take three weeks from
(16:00) when you hit go on the selection uh
(16:04) order to when the shop goes live. Um, of
(16:07) course, you know, if there’s a little
(16:09) bit more back and forth, it might take
(16:10) it might take a little bit longer, but
(16:12) we are we are generally up and live
(16:15) within 3 weeks of of really initiating
(16:17) the process.
(16:20) >> Yeah. A few things on branding um
(16:22) because you know that’s obviously
(16:25) central to what we’re doing here. Um, we
(16:28) do ask and we’ll we’ll work through
(16:30) these details with you. Um we we
(16:32) generally are looking um for two
(16:36) different colorways or two different
(16:37) patterns of a logo. Um we don’t want to
(16:40) have 10 different logos um on a site
(16:44) because that that gets unwieldy to
(16:45) manage. But um we’re looking for two
(16:49) different colorways. One that will work
(16:51) well on light apparel, one that will
(16:52) work well on dark apparel. Um and again
(16:55) we can work through that detail during
(16:56) the setup process when you send your
(16:59) logos to us. And this is an area that’s
(17:01) that that does create some additional um
(17:04) work. It ideally we would love to
(17:07) receive your artwork in a vector file.
(17:10) So AI uh Adobe Illustrated uh
(17:14) encapsulated postcript or or SVG. Um
(17:17) those are the files that are most easily
(17:19) manipulated. Um if that’s not available
(17:22) and it’s often not um we’re happy to
(17:25) work with a high resolution PNG.
(17:28) um when we start getting to smaller PNG
(17:32) files um or smaller JPEGs um the the
(17:36) quality of the branding starts to
(17:38) deteriorate. So one thing we have we use
(17:41) our designers for the main business um
(17:44) and and we can help you um clean up your
(17:48) clean up the the logos um so they will
(17:51) will present well um and that’s
(17:53) something that we we would review as we
(17:55) were going through the process with you.
(17:57) Um we will again we will review the the
(18:01) size where the branding is going to be
(18:03) placed on the product. There’s some
(18:05) flexibility there. Um and again there’s
(18:08) a lot of individual preference that
(18:09) we’ll try and accommodate. Um within M4
(18:13) we have um we have five sports that we
(18:17) are we kind of consider our our front
(18:19) five um which are tennis, pickle,
(18:21) squash, padell, paddle and then we also
(18:24) have core which is just a plain I meant
(18:26) to wear it today. I didn’t have a a core
(18:29) which is just a plain M4 branding. So,
(18:31) as we’re going through the process, um
(18:34) we will work with you to land on kind of
(18:37) which sport you want to or which sport
(18:39) you want to be representing um for your
(18:42) shop. Um we do all of the branding is
(18:46) done um on apparel with a high quality
(18:49) heat transfer. Um we use embroidery for
(18:54) hats. um we can discuss using embroidery
(18:58) especially for for higherend pieces like
(19:00) jackets um that there is an additional
(19:03) cost associated with that um but we’ll
(19:05) we can work through those details at
(19:07) setup and then finally we’ve we do have
(19:11) a an ability through our office in Hong
(19:13) Kong to um develop 3D silicone really
(19:17) elevated 3D silicone logos um but that’s
(19:20) something that there is additional lead
(19:22) time and additional cost but if there’s
(19:24) an interest we We could talk about that.
(19:27) Okay. Um, last slide. Um, couple of po
(19:33) final uh final closing points. Um, we do
(19:38) recommend
(19:39) um that we keep the assortment fairly
(19:41) tight to start. Um, and that’s not just
(19:44) for our benefit, but it’s also for you
(19:46) and your customers benefit. I think when
(19:48) these things get too broad, um, one, the
(19:52) branding becomes complicated. Um but two
(19:55) it’s also kind of gets overwhelming for
(19:58) people. So I think what we wanted to be
(20:00) doing um and is choosing the best
(20:04) choosing kind of a a smaller group of
(20:06) the best items and then as I said before
(20:10) we can we get into it we want to change
(20:12) something we can change something
(20:14) graphically online we could bring in new
(20:16) products. So there there is there is an
(20:19) an ability to fine-tune as as the season
(20:22) progresses. um we do have we do reserve
(20:25) the right to kind of say sorry we you
(20:28) know something is an inventory issue or
(20:31) you know we we might want to tighten
(20:33) this up a little bit but we’ll we’ll
(20:34) certainly be reasonable and
(20:35) accommodating with that. Um our goal for
(20:39) this initiative for the fall is to do 50
(20:42) shops. Um, that doesn’t mean that we’re
(20:46) going to necessarily take shop 51 and
(20:50) say, “Sorry, we’re not going to develop
(20:52) a shop for you.” Um, but we do want to
(20:55) we do want to have that that governor in
(20:57) place just in case like it would be
(20:59) great if there is a huge ground swell
(21:01) and we will certainly do what we can to
(21:04) accommodate everybody, but we just we
(21:06) want to have a little bit of a
(21:07) protection in case this uh runs away
(21:09) from us because the most important thing
(21:11) on these shops is um getting them right
(21:14) and executing and and we want to make
(21:17) sure that we’re setting ourselves up um
(21:19) to be successful for you. Um, if you do
(21:23) have an interest in a shop, um, please
(21:27) reach out. Alfredo Barcelo, um, works on
(21:29) my team and is on this call. Um, and I
(21:33) would ask you to reach out to Alfredo.
(21:36) His contact information is here. I’m
(21:38) sure Ashley can share that as well. And
(21:40) we really were excited to be presenting
(21:43) this to you and we’re very excited about
(21:45) this opportunity. So, thank you very
(21:47) much. Um, and I can say from your
(21:49) slides, that’s how my process went. It
(21:51) was smooth and I mean, you guys
(21:53) communicated very well. And so, what I
(21:56) want to do is I want to actually share
(21:58) um how we actually put this into old
(22:00) coast pickle ball um on the court
(22:02) reserve platform. So, this here, you can
(22:04) see this is court reserve. If you’re a
(22:06) court reserve admin, this is my player
(22:08) side or my mobile side. And of course,
(22:10) this filters through to the mobile as
(22:12) well. So, what I’ve done is I’ve
(22:14) actually put a row here, buy clothing or
(22:16) buy hats. And for you in court reserve,
(22:19) you’ll know this is a hero row where you
(22:20) can add two buttons, but I’ve also put
(22:23) it at the top, buy OCP gear, and this
(22:26) directs directly over to my M4 store.
(22:29) So, my players can come into Old Coast,
(22:31) they can click on buy clothing or buy
(22:33) hats. When they go to buy clothing,
(22:36) here’s my online store. Okay, my my
(22:39) members, my players can go through, they
(22:41) can see all of our great wares, shorts,
(22:44) skirts, hats. Um, if they want more
(22:47) information, they can click on it, they
(22:49) can turn it around. So, I mean, this is
(22:52) good stuff. Um, we have had some player
(22:55) sales uh at the store. They can pick and
(22:57) choose and then it gets shipped directly
(22:59) to them. So, again, if you have
(23:02) questions about this, about how to put
(23:04) this in court reserve, this is super
(23:06) easy. Most of you guys are kind of super
(23:08) admins already. U but if you want to
(23:10) reach out to our support team later on
(23:13) this afternoon, I’m going to give them
(23:14) some instructions by which you can use
(23:17) to kind of set your own store up. Uh but
(23:20) what you’ll want to do first is you’ll
(23:22) definitely want to reach out to Alfredo
(23:24) um and get some information um and we’ll
(23:27) have his email and everything ready. So
(23:29) if you guys forget today, didn’t write
(23:30) it down, you come into support and we’ll
(23:32) make sure and give you that information.
(23:34) Um, it looks like we have a question.
(23:36) Let’s check it out.
(23:37) >> Shoot.
(23:38) >> Um, let’s see. In your model, do you
(23:40) offer exchanges, refunds, warranty for
(23:42) members? Logistically, how does that
(23:44) work? And who would pay for shipping?
(23:47) >> Okay, so it’s a little it’s a great
(23:50) question. Um, our policy with refunds
(23:54) has been um, you know, we we are doing
(23:57) this to build our brand and to um, and
(24:01) we want the customers to come away from
(24:03) having a good experience. Um, we have
(24:07) taken and done exchanges. Um, it’s a
(24:10) little challenging with custom product.
(24:13) Um, but our policy at this time is that
(24:17) we process exchanges. um we will we’ll
(24:21) send it an airway bill uh to support it.
(24:24) That is something that we we are attuned
(24:27) to. So we may modify that policy over
(24:30) time if we see it starting to run away
(24:32) from us. But for right now we are we are
(24:35) processing exchanges and we also have um
(24:38) people who are working here in addition
(24:40) to Alfredo who can help give some
(24:42) guidance on kind of how things fit um
(24:45) because that seems to be the biggest
(24:47) issue. So size-wise, yeah,
(24:48) >> that’s a long answer to a short question
(24:50) or a long and vague answer to a short
(24:52) question, but that’s how we’re handling
(24:54) it. Now,
(24:54) >> that’s a great question. I can tell you
(24:56) that, you know, we have our online
(24:58) store, but I have also ordered through
(25:00) Alfredo probably 60 ball hats at this
(25:03) point with the embroidered OCP logo.
(25:05) They sell quick at the store, so I just
(25:08) went ahead and and bulk ordered a lot of
(25:10) those. Um, and then we did order we did
(25:13) some orders for court reserve as well.
(25:15) And for core reserve, you know, we don’t
(25:17) want to say we’re pickle or whatever.
(25:18) So, we just have the core the plain ones
(25:20) made. And the material is like I don’t
(25:24) want to give it too much, but like my
(25:26) husband Tim loves the Travis Matthews
(25:29) stuff and it is probably better than
(25:32) that. I love it. It’s so super soft. Um,
(25:35) and it washes well and I just wash it
(25:36) and hang it up. And I I mean I could go
(25:38) on and on, but like this is really good
(25:40) for us um to have an online customizable
(25:44) component so that my players can get old
(25:46) coast pickle ball wear in the door
(25:48) quickly and in the size they want. So,
(25:51) >> thank you.
(25:52) >> Thank you, Dirk. This has been exciting.
(25:54) Oh, it looks like we got one more
(25:55) question before we go.
(25:56) >> Oh, two more questions. Oh,
(25:59) uh, let’s see. Sensitive to the fill of
(26:01) material. Do you have any samples to get
(26:03) an idea of materials?
(26:06) >> Yes, we can. Um, again, we we we are a
(26:11) smallalish company and we want to manage
(26:12) our costs. If you do want to see um see
(26:16) some samples, we can send them to you,
(26:17) but we would ask for them to come back
(26:20) >> um
(26:21) >> just just to keep our keep our side
(26:23) operating as leanly as possible. or
(26:25) order a couple for yourself and write it
(26:27) off and that way you kind of know and
(26:29) can give the the feel, which is kind of
(26:30) what I did for sure. So, uh this is a
(26:33) great question. Can you negotiate the
(26:36) percentage based off the size of the
(26:38) club and the number of clubs we have? We
(26:40) have 19 teams out of one of our clubs.
(26:44) Can the captains add team names to the
(26:46) shirts at the beginning of the season
(26:47) for uniforms?
(26:50) >> Everything is subject to negotiation.
(26:54) No, we’re um we we do provide a fair a
(26:59) considerable amount of customization
(27:01) support. That’s something um we can
(27:05) discuss is doing a bulk order. Um that
(27:08) that we we would be very happy to have
(27:10) that conversation. Um individual
(27:12) customizations are possible, but they’re
(27:14) more involved obviously. Um but uh we’d
(27:17) be very happy to have have a discussion
(27:19) about that.
(27:20) >> Yeah. And I can just say, you know, if
(27:22) you guys want to try some some gear on,
(27:24) just come on down to St. Augustine. You
(27:26) can come to Old Coast Pickle Ball. Come
(27:28) see us. I’m gonna put Alfredo’s um email
(27:32) in the chat. Uh actually, I’ll put it
(27:34) here in the Q&A. Let me see. I’m going
(27:36) to type the answer and see if you guys
(27:37) can. Um I’m just going to put it here.
(27:40) It’s Alfredo
(27:42) m4ports.com, right?
(27:44) >> Yes.
(27:44) >> Yeah. And it’s Alfredo like the sauce.
(27:46) So he’s
(27:47) >> and you can but if you can throw Dirk at
(27:49) M4 Sports in there as well. I don’t
(27:50) >> Dirk at M4. Yeah, that’s awesome.
(27:52) >> I don’t want to throw Alfredo totally to
(27:54) the Wolves.
(27:55) >> Uh Shannon says she’s a Connecticut girl
(27:57) and she’s happy to go to New Kanan to
(27:58) see Alfredo.
(28:01) >> That’s awesome. I love that.
(28:02) >> She’s always welcome.
(28:04) >> Oh, and I’ve got some people coming to
(28:05) Catalyst in Seattle. Kirsten, I will
(28:08) bring some M4 stuff so you can see it.
(28:10) Um that’s a great idea. So that’s
(28:12) awesome. Um, and I’m coming to New
(28:15) Jersey, too, so I can bring some infor
(28:16) stuff to New Jersey as well. So, um,
(28:18) let’s see. Kristen’s got or Kristen has
(28:20) another question. How does instore
(28:22) inventory work? Do we buy say margin
(28:24) share?
(28:26) >> Um, if you’re going to, so if you want
(28:30) to buy, we will we also work wholesale.
(28:34) Um, so we would we would want to get a
(28:37) sense of what you’re looking to order.
(28:38) Um, we would sell if you’re going to
(28:41) sell in storere, we would prefer to sell
(28:44) to you wholesale, right? Because it the
(28:46) the ability to fulfill through instore
(28:49) would be challenging. But we do work and
(28:51) it depends on how clubs are configured.
(28:54) Um, we do work with a number of clubs
(28:56) who prefer um to just buy and and manage
(28:59) their own inventory and we’ll support
(29:00) that gladly.
(29:02) >> Yeah. And then you can use the court
(29:03) reserve point of sale and keep up with
(29:05) everything. That’s a great idea. That’s
(29:07) what we do at El Coast.
(29:08) Well, this has been great. Uh, you guys
(29:10) know we will put this up on the court
(29:12) reserve YouTube channel sometime today
(29:14) and then if you need more information,
(29:16) please come into live chat support. As
(29:18) soon as I click this off, I’m going to
(29:19) make sure that they have all the
(29:20) information, Durk and Alfredo’s email so
(29:23) that you guys can reach out. Thank you
(29:25) so much, my friend, for joining us.
(29:26) We’re so excited to offer our clubs an
(29:29) online component. Thank you.
(29:32) >> Thank you very much. Couldn’t be happier
(29:33) to be here.
(29:34) >> All right, friends. See you soon. Bye
(29:35) bye. Bye-bye.