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Stay updated with the latest news, insights, and trends from our team. Our blog is a space where we share valuable tips, industry updates, and expert advice to help you stay informed and inspired. Whether you're looking to learn something new or keep up with what's happening, you'll find fresh and engaging content right here.

HOA Accounting Software: The Eye-Opening Ripple Effect of Choosing the Right One for your Accounting

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HOA Accounting software The eye-opening ripple effect of choosing the right one for your accounting

The reason for choosing HOA accounting software seems pretty straightforward. You need a reliable way to keep an accurate record of the operation, including accounts receivable, accounts payable, and all general ledger work.

What’s often overlooked is the ripple effect that the right HOA accounting software can have on your association. That right solution is one where all the many aspects of your association are operating on one database, unifying everything in one financial management software system.

Here are a few examples of the ripple effect from this uber-connected approach.

You’ll find yourself operating more efficiently

With one unified system, you can reduce the hassles and time spent working in multiple systems. And since you no longer have to export and import data from one system to another, you’ll reduce the chance for errors and omissions.

The premier systems help you do this while delivering best-in-class functionality. For example, Northstar’s fully-integrated association management solution has accounts receivable functionality that allows you to bill dues and recurring charges on a schedule you define. Since all aspects of the operation are connected, you can be confident that no charge is being missed. It also allows you to offer ACH and credit card payment options to your members.

You also have full bank reconciliation, the ability to automate your recurring accounts payable, the protection of positive pay, and more.

You’ll discover savings

With a fully-integrated association management software solution, you’ll eliminate the need for multiple vendors. No more paying for a separate gatehouse system. No more paying for separate systems that handle your amenities like golf tee times, activities, and more.

Better yet, you eliminate the time it takes to maintain those separate systems. And you reduce the training time needed as systems add new functionality or you add a new staff member.

You’ll improve your decision making

Since all aspects of your operation connect to one database, you know that the information you see is complete. This helps you confidently make decisions for your association. On top of that, it allows you to access some valuable tools.

For example, Northstar’s HOA accounting software features powerful dashboards that allow you to drill down into the details. And you can quickly and easily generate comprehensive reports so you know where your financials stand at any point in time. Plus, the fully-integrated system gives you key analytics capabilities that help you uncover insights across your entire operation.

You’ll improve the member experience

You can give your members exceptional clarity and convenience when it comes to their association expenses. With the fully-integrated system, all fees, dues, and charges are automatically consolidated from across your operation.

A member could initiate a work order online. That request automatically populates to your crew’s devices in the field so they can see what needs to be done. And once the work is completed, any associated charges are automatically billed to the member.

The members can easily view their balance or individual invoices through an online portal. And systems like Northstar’s even add the ability to view all charges through an intuitive mobile app.

The integrated HOA accounting software allows the members to pay what’s owed right online or through the app.

This level of clarity and convenience delivers the kind of value that elevates the member experience.

Seeing the ripple effect at your association

With the right HOA management software, you’ll spend less time checking on payments, maintaining multiple systems, and the myriad of other administrative tasks that pop up with disparate systems. Furthermore, you’ll create a beneficial ripple effect that spreads across all areas of your operation, helping to improve your efficiency, your member satisfaction, and more.

To take a deeper dive into all the financial management functionality available, Request a demo of the Northstar fully-integrated association management solution. A solution built on one database for the connectivity to further evolve the finances – and operations – at your association.

How to avoid the 3 Facilities Management Software headaches that plague associations

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How to avoid the 3 facilities management software headaches that plague associations

It’s no easy task to handle all the issues that come with managing the facilities at your POA or HOA. Sometimes it can feel like a never-ending stream of challenges.

No doubt you have systems in place to help track and manage the operation. But what many often miss is that those very systems that were supposed to help streamline things may actually be contributing to the problems that can plague an association.

The good news is that you don’t have to live with the pain. Let’s look at the three facilities management software headaches and what can be done to handle them.

Headache 1: anxiety caused by a murky view of your association

One of the biggest causes of stress is the feeling like you don’t have a clear enough picture of the properties and the owners and/or renters in your association.

Decision-making becomes more difficult. And forget about trying to be proactive – whether that’s anticipating the needs of your members or doing what it takes to optimize your occupancy.

The quickest way to clear up the murkiness is to get everything connected. For example, with Northstar’s comprehensive association/facilities management software solution, all systems run on the same database. This uber-connected approach helps eliminate gaps in visibility across your operation.

This also enables industry-leading tracking of the properties and the owners and/or renters. Through an integration with Google Maps, you can get a bird’s eye view of your entire operation. Each property is color-coded to give you a quick overview of its status (owned, rented, for sale, or vacant). With a click, you can drill down to the information on the property, including pictures, utility information, violations and liens, and the history of the property’s owners or renters. Additionally, you can access information on the owner/renter connected to that property. The information including owner preferences – like the landscaping company that the owner prefers to use also can be accessed. On top of it, updating is easy with an intuitive wizard for modifying owner/renter information.

This connected and multi-level view of your operation helps you identify:

  • Trends in the different sections of your properties
  • Priorities that need addressing
  • Intelligence that allows you to better communicate with and serve members

Headache 2: operational hiccups that have you constantly putting out fires

When you’re working with disparate systems, things can get overlooked. That can lead to scrambling to address the resulting problems.

With a system operating on one database, you can be rest assured that nothing is gone missing. This is especially important at billing to ensure you’re capturing all assessments as well as the association dues.

With solutions like the Northstar facilities management system, you have the connectivity to make this happen. A good example is the connected work orders module. Owners can request work through the website or mobile app, attaching any related videos, pictures, and documents. That work order is automatically accessible to your team in the field. You can track the progress of the request and the owner can get updates through the website and app. Once the work is marked complete, any associated charges are immediately relayed to the accounts receivable module for inclusion in the next bill.

The connected system also helps streamline the management of unique needs. Like if you have vacation properties in your operation. You can allow the owners to request checks and maintenance on the property through the website or app. And you can handle the rental of the property for the owner, billing the renter and splitting the revenue between the owner and the association. The system also ensures the front gate is automatically updated with the renter’s information and the dates they will be on the property.

You can also designate different rules for the different types of members of your association. For example, you may grant access to the golf course to owners and not renters. A fully connected system helps you communicate the rules to everyone in your community and makes this information readily available across your operation, mitigating misunderstandings that could lead to disgruntled members.

Headache 3: a frustratingly complex technology stack that hijacks your time

One of the often-overlooked challenges of not having a comprehensive facilities management software solution is the time it takes to manage all the disparate systems.

It’s easy for hours to slip away as you wrangle the different interfaces and databases. And that’s not counting the time required to update, maintain, and train on multiple systems.

With a comprehensive, single-database solution like Northstar’s, you have one familiar interface no matter which part of the operation you’re dealing with. And if you have a question, there is just one number you need to remember – for any kind of support.

Better yet, complete solutions like the Northstar system give you unsurpassed connectivity. Does your association have lifestyle offerings like a golf course, food & beverage operations, or on-site events? Northstar’s system has modules for each of these offerings, making it easy for members to book tee times, order food, register for events, and much more. It all ties back to your accounts receivable module. And it’s all integrated into a robust reports and analytics offering to help you make better decisions.

If you’d like to make your facilities management software headaches a thing of the past, request a demo of the Northstar comprehensive association management solution. A solution built on one database for connectivity to help you streamline the management of your association and give you the time to focus on what matters most.

The right club management software can help a club put itself in a position to take advantage of all these opportunities in 2022. To learn how, request a demo, of the Northstar Technologies complete club management platform. A premier platform built on one database to give your entire operation a single source of truth for better decisions for the club. And a better experience for members. Request a demo, today.

Is your Club Management Software built for the 3 reasons new members join?

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Is your Club Management Software built for the 3 reasons new members join?

When a club looks at its software, it’s natural to ask, “Does this serve the club’s needs?” But is that really the most important question you should be asking? It’s easy to look inward. And in doing so, it could cause you to deprioritize your club management software’s ability to serve the desires of members. Most crucially, the desires of the new, younger breed of prospective members.

The Eye-opening Math

As the winter 2022 edition of Club Director points out, “Annual member attrition of 4–7% is normal, which means over the next decade you will need to replace more than 50% of your membership. Given that the average age of new members joining a club is 42, the profiles of those new members will be very different than the profiles of those departing.”

When you consider this reality, it changes the way you look at what your system needs to do in order to cater to this rising segment at all clubs.

The 3 Reasons Younger Members Choose your Club

Younger members view the club differently than the generations that preceded them. Not every club is set up to cater to their desires. But as the data shows, it’s becoming imperative.

In order to rise to the challenge, it is important to understand the reasons why younger members choose a club and how your club software can help you position yourself to attract this group.

Reason 1: Understand Me

More than ever, prospective members want to feel like the club understands them. There is an expectation that you’ll leverage data to cater to their personal preferences. That’s possible when your software for club management connects to all parts of your club and operates on one database. That level of technology puts individual members’ preferences and tendencies at your employees’ fingertips, allowing them to anticipate the member’s needs.

Additionally, these prospects expect you to mine all that data to adjust the offering at the club to fit their evolving needs. Again, robust club software will include the data analysis capabilities to understand member behavior and to make data-driven decisions on new offerings – from programs to events to menus.

Reason 2: It’s a Social Thing (But Not in an Old-School Way) 

This may sound like an old-school reason to join the club, but your younger prospects have expectations that give this a new twist. They expect the club to be able to extend social connectivity beyond the club’s physical facility. The prospects want to connect with their club friends online. They want to get a group together to go to an event at the club right from their smartphones. And also want to put together a foursome for a round of golf right from the app. They want the same kind of communication and interaction that they find in their favorite social media apps.

Your club software must be ready to offer the functionality that serves this new paradigm of social connectivity if your club hopes to fulfill the expectations of these prospects.

Reason 3: Treat Yourself

This is a group that likes to indulge themselves (after all, this is the generation that brought brunch back as a thing). They expect the technology to help them reward themselves. That means using the app to easily set up drinks with friends at the club or a round of golf with buddies. Or, planning an escape to the club with the family.

They expect a technological concierge that connects them with all parts of the club. Your software for club management should enable a robust app that intuitively empowers them to connect with friends, make reservations, and even pay from their smartphones.

Generations have always been a bit different from one to the next. But there is something else at work today that clubs need to pay attention to. Your younger prospects expect an experience augmented by technology. Technology that personalizes experiences, enables the connectivity they expect, and makes it easy for them to reward themselves. These are the factors that can help you assess your club’s offering and evaluate your club software to help deliver the next generation of club experience.

If you’d like a closer look at a club management software solution that helps you evolve your offering, request a demo of the Northstar system. You’ll discover a complete solution built on one database to help you deliver the optimal member experience today and tomorrow. Request a demo, today.

Using Golf Club Management Software to tee up a next-level experience

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Using Golf Club Management Software to tee up a next-level experience

Any modern golf club has to have software in place to meet the expectations of today’s golfer. It’s simply the price to play.

But if you’re looking to up your game at your club, you need more than just a standalone piece of software that does something like expedite tee time scheduling. You need a solution that gives you the ability to elevate the whole experience.

That means a solution that understands that there is a whole ecosystem at your club. And that the golf offering doesn’t exist in a silo. A solution that recognizes that the experience should be seamless for your members as they move from the course and pro shop to the dining room, the spa, or any of the other facilities.

When a solution does that, it delivers an experience that’s hard to describe. It’s like hitting that approach that leaves you a tap in for birdie.

Driving excellence at your club

If you’re going to get to this next level of experience at your club, you need golf club management software that’s part of a complete club management solution. That means a solution that ties everything together by operating on one database so all parts of the club are connected and integrated. This helps you:

  • Give members the unparalleled convenience of accessing all club services from one intuitive smartphone app
  • Better manage your facilities
  • Streamline billing
  • Anticipate your members’ needs

Let’s look at what you can expect from a solution like this.

Crushing it when it comes to the tee sheet

Having a fully-integrated system doesn’t mean giving up functionality when it comes to your tee sheet. For starters, members should be able to easily book tee times from the club’s smartphone app or website.

You should be able to employ an intuitive lottery system that allows golfers to request a tee time as an individual foursome or as a linked group – and place linked groups in consecutive tee times. The system should take into account your club’s membership and guest rules. And give you the ability to assign tee times in a random or weighted lottery.

Your tee sheet system should be equally as effective for your tournaments as well. You should be able to set up rules and rates, define the format of your tournament, and manage the start – whether shotgun or crossover. You should be able to set up recurring events (like leagues). And you should be able to activate automated notifications to send registration confirmations as well as updates to your members and staff.

Rising on the leaderboard with related services

Off course, you want the seamless experience to stay on course. That means making it simple for your members to easily access their favorite teaching pro’s schedule and book a lesson – all through the smartphone app. And it means making it easy for you to manage your staffs’ schedules as well as the schedules of any facilities like a golf simulator.

Your golf club management software should be part of a system that offers this capability.

Of course, it should also offer stellar features that help you manage the pro shop – from optimizing sales to streamlining inventory. And it should give you the reporting to identify trends and even anticipate demand by understanding members’ preferences. When all systems operate on one, unified database, this becomes possible.

Teeing up a next-level experience

Imagine Joe buying a sleeve of balls at the pro shop of his golf club (and the staff member at the shop knowing what brand he prefers to play thanks to the system). Then he heads out to the course to play the round that he scheduled through his smartphone app.

While on the course, Joe makes a dining reservation on the patio – once again through the app. Coming off the course, he meets his family for lunch (where the server knows he likes the cobb salad). He checks his app and sees he can get in a massage at the spa while his family heads to the pool.

Joe doesn’t think of all of these as different experiences. It’s all one club experience. Everything is accessible through the app, and all are conveniently billed there. It all feels seamless. And more importantly, it feels like this club fits him and his family.

That is a club that has figured out how a fully-integrated golf club management software solution can help up its game.

For more information on giving your club the advantage of an integrated club management software solution, request a demo of the Northstar system. A comprehensive solution built on one database to deliver a new level of excellence for the golf experience at your club.

How technology and Club Management Software can help you navigate The Great Resignation

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How technology and club management software can help you navigate The Great Resignation

During the early part of the pandemic, many companies downsized, unwilling to keep employees on their payrolls during lockdown. The move caused an unprecedented number of workers to file for unemployment. And it left economists thinking that workers were going to be scrambling to find work.

Oh, how the tables have turned. According to a report by the US Department of Labor in October of 2021, almost 7% of workers in the hospitality and food industry quit their jobs in August, more than twice the average rate of the rest of the economy. There have been a variety of reasons cited:

  • Compassion fatigue – In some sectors, like hospitality, workers are worn out dealing with customers’ heightened anxieties caused by the pandemic.
  • Job burnout –The pandemic changed workers’ jobs. That caused stress that was now coupled with the anxiety mentioned above. All of that fueled an increase in worker exhaustion.
  • Employer Inflexibility – Many companies did not adjust well to the new reality, further alienating the worker.
  • Lack of employee appreciation – Employee recognition is a perennial issue for many companies in good times. In the scramble to adjust to the pandemic, many organizations let employee appreciation slip even more.

Whatever the reasons, it’s a new reality and organizations have to adjust how they do business to accommodate it. There is a real cost to this. According to a Cornell study, employee turnover costs an organization an average of $5,864 per employee. And when you look at the Q3 report from Joblist and see that a staggering 58% of all hospitality workers say they are considering quitting, this can be a substantial hit to a club.

So, let’s take a look at some steps we can use to mitigate this trend.

Club management solutions that help them work the way they want to

Your Millennial and Gen Z workers are digital natives. Giving them the technology in their jobs helps your organization feel like a natural fit in their lives.

Giving them access to information

These are generations that grew up with information at their fingertips. It can seem archaic for them to work in an environment where information is siloed and not readily accessible.

A club can improve the retention of high-performing team members by giving them access to the information that helps them do their job better. For example, giving staff a view into a member’s profile and preferences, whether that’s knowing that a member’s wife can’t eat gluten or knowing that a member always orders coffee the same way.

This allows your staff to create a personal connection with the member. That can lead to new levels of delight among members and heightened job satisfaction with your team.

Empowering your staff to act as ambassadors

There’s an opportunity to have your staff act as ambassadors and teachers. If a member asks for a service, have the staff fulfill the request for them on their app and then offer to demonstrate how they may like to use the app for future requests.

This does a few things. It lets your staff know that they have an important role as evangelists of the club app. It gives the staff a heightened sense of value by empowering him or her to share knowledge. And it allows the staff to once again build deeper connections with the members. All of these things help the staff feel like they are part of an organization that values their role.

Building better communication within your team

Top performers have a natural desire to do their job well. They know that communication within the organization is vital. And, they know that technology is the key.

For example, deploying tableside POS allows your wait staff to instantaneously communicate with the kitchen staff without running back and forth between the dining room and the kitchen. This makes your wait staff’s work more rewarding as they are now able to spend more time serving members. And it reduces errors, rush orders, and other annoyances that can affect the job satisfaction of your kitchen staff.

Another example is reservations. Getting a desired tee time always causes stress, not only for the member trying to reserve it but also the employee who has to break the news that somebody else beat him to it. Through the club app or website, you can give the member the ability to view tee times, make a reservation, and even invite other club members. Members appreciate the convenience. Just as important, your staff members will appreciate how the functionality can reduce the instances of them having to deal with irate members.

Addressing challenges before they lead to a staff exodus

Data analytics can be a powerful tool in retaining employees. Smart club management software gives you the ability to identify top performers. It could be the server with top sales in the dining room. The spa staff member with the most up sells. Or the banquet coordinator who continues to beat historic sales numbers. The data analytics can help you identify these stars and ensure you’re doing everything to retain them.

Additionally, the analytics could help you identify areas where performance is lagging and then look at the root cause – before this becomes a big problem. It could be as simple as coaching a manager that may not be handling his reports optimally. Or it could be a systematic issue that shows that current processes are not scaling.

This kind of proactive approach can help you identify those often hidden factors that, if left unaddressed, can become major contributors to employee turnover.

Staying ahead of The Great Resignation

There is a lot involved with ensuring that your staff members feel like the work that they are doing is valuable and that they are appreciated. Deploying smart technology can go a long way to helping you accomplish this. Especially with the digitally-native Millennial and Gen Z generations.

Nobody knows how long The Great Resignation will last or what the repercussions will be in the months ahead. But taking steps now to improve your technology can up your game, helping you continue to retain and build a quality team.

Northstar Technologies can help you address the challenges of The Great Resignation. Built on one database, the complete club management platform delivers improved access to information, communication, and all the tools that help staff members feel their work is worthwhile and appreciated. Get a feel for it yourself – request a demo, today.

3 C’s for Increasing Event Registrations using Club Event Management and Reservation Software

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3 C’s for increasing event registrations using Club Event Management and Reservation Software

Events offer a great opportunity to remind your members why your club is an essential part of their lives. Just think of something like an annual Christmas dinner. It can stir strong emotions as members find themselves surrounded by friends and immersed in the spirit of the season. When you can help foster those kinds of feelings, it makes your club something special to your members.

Of course, making that happen can feel like a chore. But it doesn’t have to. You can go a long way to achieving impressive results by simply following the 3 C’s.

Consolidate: Getting all the Details in One Place

There are numerous pieces to building event participation among your members. From helping them discover your event to building their interest to having them sign up. And doing it in a way that is convenient, feels helpful, and builds anticipation.

Getting all the details in one spot is key. Timelines, spreadsheets, and checklists are good for consolidating all the details of the effort. But here’s a pro tip: it becomes exponentially easier when you can take care of these tasks with club reservation software that integrates with your club management system. That means having one spot where you can connect to:

  • Your membership database to track those who are interested
  • Your campaign manager for sending announcements and reminders
  • Your website builder to add event banners
  • Your online calendar to publish the event
  • Your events registration module to sign up members
  • Your billing module to automatically invoice members

Coordinate: Get it all Working Together

It’s important to choreograph the activities that will engage members and get them signed up. For starters, you want to make sure you’re scheduling on a date that does not conflict with another event that could compete. The calendar function in an integrated system can give you a comprehensive view of everything scheduled at the club.

Once you set the event, you want it to populate to the club’s calendar – both on the website and in the club’s mobile app. This ensures members see your event every time they check their calendar.

You also want to promote the event across the website and the mobile app so the event stays front and center for your members. We’ll cover that more in the third C.

One of the keys to improving participation in your club events is to remove the friction to signing up. It should be easy for members to register with the ability to purchase tickets on the website or through the app. You can boost the success rate even more by giving them the ability to see a seating chart and choose the seats they want.

Once a member registers, you can email tickets to them. Or print them out and distribute them if that works better for you. You want to get the billing out right away as well. With an integrated club management platform, this can be automated, populating the charges to the member’s billing page on the website.

With one integrated system, the coordination of the details becomes easier and, in some cases, even automated.

Communicate: Keep Everyone Engaged

Communication is essential to improving member participation in your events. That means making the effort to announce the event early and then staying in front of your members with reminders in order to boost sign-ups.

Here is a list of ways to engage members and build anticipation for your event:

  • Send out an announcement in an email, texts, and push notifications through the club app
  • Get it on the website and app calendars – we talked about this earlier, but it’s important to remember the impact that this can have
  • Get it in the news feed – an upcoming event makes for a great news item and is another avenue for promoting your event
  • Use your website builder to create event banners to post on the site
  • Send regular reminders as the event draws near – again using email and messages delivered through their mobile phones

It’s worth another mention of having integrated club management software to help you handle all of this. Having everything in one system makes it easy for anyone involved in club operations to review what’s needed (for example, F&B for planning a menu or facilities management to prepare the room or grounds.)

The Advantage of Club Reservation Software beyond the Special Events

There is an added bonus to having event registration software within an integrated club management software solution. You can use that same system to set up and manage the ongoing events at your club. Like exercise/training classes, activities, and more.

Additionally, you can take advantage of functionality to create specific rules for each program or class. For example, you can designate that an exercise class is only open to women or a program is closed to minors. You can also include any forms you require like a liability waiver members must sign. Or you can create a form to get things like clothing size, entree preference, and more. Plus you can designate when registration opens and closes, and you can make events recurring.

Events, programs, & activities offer a unique opportunity to a club. You can make the most of this opportunity by employing smart club reservation software and the 3 C’s. Do that and you will improve that invaluable engagement every club hopes to build with its members.

An all-in-one Club Management Solution: Why Now More Than Ever?

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An all-in-one Club Management Solution Why now more than ever

Baby Boomers shaped the Club culture, but with millennials and their younger siblings taking over the baby boomers, the club industry was already undergoing massive changes. Clubs that once were mainly centered around Golf had to branch out in multiple directions and activities to stay relevant to this new demographic. However, in the middle of it all, the pandemic hit us, and how!

The Post-Pandemic Surge in Younger Member Interest

With the increased interest of the younger audience after the pandemic, exciting new ideas, and technology emerging every day, it is indeed the time for clubs to catch up with the millennials’ completely interactive digital world, and thus arises the need for an all-in-one solution that makes clubs more tech-savvy.

Creating a Seamless Digital Member Experience

Not only a hassle-free, personalized experience at the club, but an intuitive and responsive interaction with the club digitally makes the millennials feel engaged and is the motivator for them to get on board or retain their membership with the club. An end to end online experience with smooth navigation across the club’s website and member app: quick reservations, automated notifications, instant updates about events, inviting buddies for a friendly round of golf, repeating custom orders, easy bill payments or access to personal club account information adds to the seamless experience that the member today expects.

Empowering Club Staff with Smarter Solutions

While your solution must make your member’s life easier and their club experience richer, it should also enable the club staff to easily and efficiently manage the daily club operations. Software built on a single database minimizes the risks of business disruption caused due to multiple interfaces.

A Single Source of Truth for Better Decisions

Having a single solution at your club also ensures the implementation of a single source of truth practice, wherein all the stakeholders across the various departments use the same data to make better business decisions. Data-driven business intelligence enables clubs to have a competitive edge over their counterparts and enhances the member experience manifolds.

Why Millennials Demand Seamless Technology

The Millennials have different tastes from their predecessors and expect an uninterrupted technology as a standard to enhance their Club experience. After all, Member is the king, and the clubs must choose a smart, all-in-one technology to help treat them as one.

The Extraordinary Opportunity to Redefine Service and how Club Management Software can Help

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The extraordinary opportunity to redefine service and how club management software can help

When the pandemic hit, something happened that most people didn’t stop to think about. Something that almost never happens. Your members’ long-held expectations of service were altered drastically.

Members understood the need for things to change, like reducing face-to-face interactions. In fact, that’s why some clubs discontinued things like valet service.

Getting people to change their expectations is extremely difficult at best. That’s what makes the situation today so unique. The disruption of the pandemic has created a rare opportunity to reset the service expectations at your club. For example, when the pandemic started, some clubs set up self-check-in rather than having a staff member greet guests. Now may be the time to make this the standard practice. Another example is scheduling tee times. Pandemic concerns moved some clubs to recommend booking tee times online or through the club app. Again, maybe now is the time to make this the default.

Embracing technology

Along with changing expectations, the pandemic has sped member adoption of the technology. And not just among the younger generations. People of all ages have discovered how to use technology to manage through the pandemic. This is an important shift in behavior that clubs need to take advantage of. A post from GGA Partners helps reinforce the shift, “…clubs have also learned that the use of technology is far more accepted than it was two years ago…”

Of course, this does not mean automating the club experience. After all, that experience is very much defined by the attention and care your staff delivers. Rather, this is a clarion call for clubs to recognize the opportunity. To reevaluate the service they provide and identify ways to use technology to augment the service while streamlining operations.

But clubs should not hesitate or put off examining their operations.

The window of opportunity is closing. If you wait too long, you could lose the opportunity. In other words, your members will naturally expect things to go back to how things were as more time passes.

Powering the new paradigm of service

The easiest way for clubs to take full advantage of this opportunity is to look at their club management software. A complete solution will allow a club to easily look across the entire operation and uncover opportunities where technology is freeing up staff so you can reallocate team members to help streamline how you operate.

More importantly, a complete solution can help you identify where you have the opportunity to use the technology to augment the member experience.

This could mean giving your members options (book a visit to the club spa online, through the app, or at the club). Or putting the data at your staff’s fingertips so they can personalize the experience for each member (imagine your spa employee asking Ms. Smith if she would like the hot stone massage that she had last time with the masseuse she prefers).

The right software solution can help you offer more options to your members and provide an even more personalized experience. And all while improving your image as a modern club.

Today’s unusual circumstances have created a unique opportunity for clubs. A rare opportunity that opens the door for clubs to reset member expectations and evolve the member experience. But that opportunity won’t last forever.

For more information on taking advantage of this unique opportunity to redefine the service at your club, request a demo of the Northstar system. You’ll discover a complete club management software solution operating on one database to give you the visibility and exceptional control to help you deliver the next generation of service at your club. Request a demo, today. 

Best-in-class customer feedback: What it takes for Customer Experience Management

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Best-in-class customer feedback What it takes for Customer Experience Management

It is a challenge to keep a finger on the pulse of the ever-shifting sentiments of members. Moreover, it’s too easy to form opinions based on a gut feeling or a few anecdotal member comments. That can lead to missing the signs of an underlying issue. Or missing an opportunity to make an adjustment that elevates the member experience.

This is why leading clubs are pivoting to a new breed of member feedback solutions. These solutions are raising the expectations for gathering and utilizing feedback in order to elevate the experience at clubs.

Happometer is one such solution. The company has developed a unique platform that goes beyond just collecting feedback to helping clubs manage the member and team experience.

“You’re going to be able to better understand that member journey through your club,” says Happometer CEO Imad Atalla. “And you’re going to be able to enhance the member engagement.”

There are three key areas that define this next generation of solutions and set offerings like Happometer apart.

Ease of Integration with Existing Systems

An advanced solution should integrate seamlessly with all areas of club operations. It should help you simplify the process by automatically and intuitively requesting feedback – whether that’s after a dining experience or after a member attends a club event and more. The request should be personalized. And it should make it simple for your members to provide feedback. For example, clubs have the ability to gather feedback via email outreach or through SMS (text messaging) with a system like Happometer. Furthermore, there is built-in intelligence to ensure that no member will ever feel overwhelmed by the number of requests for their feedback.

In the Happometer case, they go a step further specializing in the private club industry. This allows the company to understand and address the nuanced needs that clubs have when it comes to customer experience management, whether be it a member or team experience.

Actionable Insights

Intuitively gathering feedback is important. But just as important is what you do with that feedback.

The premier solutions give managers the ability to act. For example, the system will identify comments with a negative sentiment and send an alert to the general manager’s (or a specific department manager’s) streaming dashboard. Real-time access to the feedback means the manager can immediately take action, perhaps seeking out the member while she or he is still at the club to personally address the issue.

The system also provides the general manager with the ability to create an incident response case, assess the seriousness of the incident, and even assign a staff member to follow up with the club member.

These systems also deliver powerful analysis. This analysis can help managers uncover trends. It may be identifying a situation in the club before it becomes a problem. Or it may be uncovering offerings, practices, and even team members that are receiving positive reactions from the member population. This is the kind of feedback managers can use to help further nurture these positive experiences at the club.

Member Communication & Employee Engagement

A great feedback solution helps you build stronger engagement with members. Simply by asking for feedback, you are demonstrating to your members your dedication to optimizing their experience. You can then use that feedback to tailor your future communication, focusing on the things they have indicated as their priorities.

Systems like Happometer also recognize the crucial role your staff plays in creating a world-class experience. You can identify your top performers and ensure they are receiving the recognition and rewards that keep them motivated. Or, you could identify areas where your staff is getting overwhelmed, allowing you to make the adjustments. In a tight labor market, this heightened engagement helps you retain and even recruit the best team members.

Customer feedback has always been important. But with today’s advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning, premier systems can help deliver a new level of intelligence, analysis, and insight. And, help clubs take their member experience to new levels.

“It creates eureka moments for club managers.” says Atalla, “Those moments can help managers transform their customer experience management.”

For more information on integrating advanced capabilities for managing the member and team experience, talk with a Northstar representative. Or, schedule a demo of the Northstar system, today.

5 Problems That Property Owner Associations Face and How Club Management Software Can Help

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5 Problems That Property Owner Associations Face and How Club Management Software Can Help

There are some problems that just always seem to crop up for a property owner association (POA) or homeowner association (HOA).

Some have resigned themselves to just living with the challenges. Others look to technology to help mitigate them. That’s a step in the right direction. But these well-intentioned attempts can fall short if you don’t have a solution that can integrate all aspects of your operation.

Let’s take a look at 5 problems and how POAs and HOAs can put the right technology to work to evict the challenges in their operations.

Problem 1: Disparate Systems Give You Headache After Headache

Unfortunately, it’s not unusual for a POA or HOA to have multiple systems, each handling a different aspect of the operation. In fact, it’s too easy to just accept all the inefficiencies — and risks like the errors and omissions that come with importing and exporting data from one system to another.

Add to that the work it takes to update and maintain everything as well as train any staff on multiple systems.

But you don’t have to accept these headaches. There are systems like Northstar’s that integrate all aspects of your operation. So you only pay for and maintain one system. And if you ever have a question, there’s only one support number you need to remember.

Since the system is integrated, it all operates on one database. This gives you powerful reporting and, most importantly, one source of truth to help you make better decisions in your operation.

Problem 2: Lost or Forgotten Work Orders

It’s crucial to maintain the standards of the community. A reliable system for work orders is a vital part of that. Today’s leading solutions bring all aspects of managing work orders into one system. Once requests are logged, they are automatically populated to your crew’s devices in the field, so they know exactly the scope of work. Your community member can track the progress of the work order online or through the community app. And once the work is marked complete, any charges to the member can be automatically billed.

Work orders don’t get lost. Billing isn’t forgotten.

There are other advantages as well like the ability to schedule recurring tasks and to transmit work orders to third-party service providers.

Problem 3: An out-of-touch Gatehouse that Upsets Residents and Guests

It can be embarrassing to have a visiting guest detained, especially after you went through the trouble to notify the gatehouse.

Today’s technology can make that scenario a thing of the past. It can give your members the security they appreciate without sacrificing the hospitality to their family and guests.

A modern system will allow your members to schedule guest visits online or through the association app. At the gatehouse, attendants can immediately see approved visitors. Members can even schedule recurring visitors like a housekeeper or gardener.

Once guests arrive, the attendant confirms the visit and the system automatically notifies your member of their arrival.

Problem 4: Overlooked Billable Charges

There is no problem quite as crucial as overlooked billable charges. After all, it has a direct impact on the financial viability of your POA or HOA. Moreover, it can result in you constantly worrying that you’re missing something important.

You can get real relief from the worry with association management software that operates on one database. These systems integrate all aspects of your association. So all assessments, fees, dues, and more are captured in the system. With Northstar’s solution, those assessments can be efficiently routed to accounting and automatically billed. In fact, you can schedule recurring charges and offer ACH and credit card payment options to your members.

Problem 5: Missing the Indicators and Trends

Disparate systems lead to a hodgepodge of information, making it near impossible to glean any meaningful insights about your operation.

With an association management system operating on one database, you can get a clearer picture. You can see across the entire operation. You can set up key indicators to track. And implement powerful reporting that allows you to identify trends and opportunities.

All of this helps you make decisions that improve the health of your POA or HOA while ensuring the satisfaction of your members.

For more on how to eliminate the problems that can plague a POA or HOA, request a demo of the Northstar system. It’s a comprehensive solution built on one database to give you unprecedented control over all aspects of your operation. Request your demo, today.