11 ways to increase your football academy revenue

Upselling at your football academy is an opportunity you simply can’t afford to miss

It can help to maximise average spend per head. As well as increase your turnover and improve the customer experience. From personalised hoodies to birthday parties, we’ve put together a list of helpful ideas to give your football academy a revenue boost.

Read on to discover our top tips to help maximise your income.

11 revenue-raising tips 

Camps 

If you haven’t considered running a football training camp or soccer school, now is an ideal time. Camps are a popular upselling option for many football academies – and parents appreciate them too. Academies offering camps will see a major boost in income, especially if you combine these with school calendar breaks. Try offering Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn intensive camps.

Top tip: Advertise your camp in local community groups as well as across your standard social media platforms.

Birthday parties 

Although this might not seem like an obvious choice, the demand for birthday parties is there. Parents are always looking for creative ways to make their child’s birthday special.

Top tip: Charge extra to provide branded party invites and certificates to party guests. At the end of the party, hand out flyers to children who aren’t yet attending your academy.

1-2-1 training

Private lessons are always a popular choice for parents and academies alike. Children will love the option to be able to enhance their skills, and parents are likely to pay a higher price for the privilege.

Top tip: Ensure you advertise this as a premium service, where children are expertly coached to help them reach specific goals or skills.

Merchandise

Children love merchandise. Especially when it’s branded with something that they love and enjoy doing. Branded items such as tracksuits, water bottles, bags, trackies, and hoodies are easy ways to boost brand awareness and revenue.

Top tip: Think outside the box when considering merchandise. For example, sell branded cone markers for children to practise with at home.

School partnerships

If you haven’t yet considered partnering with schools or nurseries, now is your opportunity. Schools are always looking for new opportunities to provide students with extra-curricular activities. In addition, you can contact local colleges and universities to see if you can offer placement to students studying sports education. This will enable you to provide more classes with the extra help.

Top tip: Make sure you have professional leaflets ready to distribute via reading folders or at pickup.

Gift vouchers

Offering gift vouchers is a great way to boost revenue. Grandparents, aunts and uncles can buy 1-2-1 coaching vouchers for children, pay for merchandise or contribute towards a summer camp.

Top tip: You can create branded and personalised gift vouchers for free using the online design tool Canva.

Girls-only sessions 

In recent years, there’s been a huge increase in the demand for girls’ football. There is still a shortfall in academies offering tailored sessions for young female footballers – which provides you with the perfect opportunity.

Top tip: Branch out to offer girls-only camps or mixed football sessions.

Go paperless

Online administration methods can help save you time, as well as increase your turnover. Football academy management software such as LoveAdmin can significantly reduce your administrative workload, allowing you to spend more time coaching.

Top tip: Create in advance your emails for the week and schedule them to be sent out at the time best suited for your members.

Increase prices

Even a small increase in your prices can have a big impact on your football academy revenue. You could be undercharging for the value you provide.

Top tip: If you aren’t sure whether to increase prices or not, carry out some competitor research to make sure you aren’t missing out on an opportunity.

Add new services

Video analytics services are always a great upselling opportunity. Analyse players’ performance and help them perfect their game. Provide your feedback on the video so that they can view it on the device of their choice. They can use the video to improve their technique between training sessions. The players will appreciate feedback, and the parents will happily pay extra for this premium service.

Top tip: All you need is a mobile phone to record the players and then analyse the footage at a later stage (make sure you obtain permission to film first).

Hold a 5 or 6-a-side tournament

Invite clubs/academies to come and get involved in a tournament. Every team pays a fee to play in the tournament, and you can charge a pitch fee for food trucks and entertainment.

Wayne Harvey, our LoveFootball Community Ambassador says: “You could even provide a bouncy castle, speed gun to see who scores the fastest penalty, have a sweets/cake/tea stall run by the academy. It’s a great way to raise some really good money but does involve a lot of organisation. But once you have it in place it is then easier to continue to on an annual basis.”

How can LoveAdmin help your football academy revenue grow?

Your administration software is key to the success of your football academy’s growth. It’s essential to have a system that can grow and adapt with you as your needs change. The LoveAdmin system does all of that and more.

How does the LoveAdmin football academy management software help?

• Parents can easily sign up, pay, and book training sessions online
• Registers, medical information and emergency contact details are accessible to all coaches
• Collect more money by gaining better visibility and control over who’s paid and who hasn’t
• Everything is automated so you can save yourself valuable admin time
• You can track payments, manage members, run camps, or create one-off events all in one secure location
• Sell merchandise at the click of our button via your personalised shop
• Communicate effectively with parents via email and text messages

Discover more about how our LoveAdmin software can help. Or get a demo below.