Registrations Department
The primary function of the Registration Department is to build and manage registrations and e-commerce products for our various program offerings (travel teams, tryouts, events, tournaments, uniforms, etc.) through our software partner, League Apps. Additionally, they explore strategic initiatives to make our internal operations more efficient. The Registrations Department works closely with the Marketing Department, given an overlap in workflows (most marketing requests will require a registration link as a deliverable), but it still exists independently. Customer Service rolls up through the Registration Department as well, given that an adept knowledge of League Apps is required to service our families well in that area.
While directors are given entry level access to League Apps to view and download team rosters and access certain information, it is important that the creation and management of registrations are kept centralized. League Apps is a powerful platform, but there are numerous settings to know and leverage correctly that have critical implications on: our revenue, our accounting, the integrity of our data, and the user experience of our customers. Additionally, these settings will vary depending on the program type. It is essential that we are buttoned up here (especially for a company of our size) as we continue to scale. We understand that this requires additional lead times for registration creation and adjustments, but this trade-off is justified by the headaches and problems that are avoided from errors that have and would occur from a more democratic approach.
We utilize a wide variety of League Apps tools to accommodate seasonal participation and discounted registrations. As mentioned before, doing this correctly (or incorrectly) has big implications. It is important that directors have a solid understanding of these items, so we can give clear and accurate communication to our customers during the sales process for these use cases. Invoice adjustments due to customers registering incorrectly are a massive transactional burden on our customer service department currently, and we have a great opportunity to clean that up on the front end. In doing so, we can divert some of that bandwidth back to things like collections that help the bottom line and are good for everybody.
Private Payment Plan Codes are used to accommodate seasonal participation for our travel teams. Full year pricing (pay in full / payment plan) will be the default options a customer sees when they register. We want to encourage full year participation wherever possible, but we understand that SOME seasonal participation is necessary to run our business. The reason private payment plan codes are superior to discount codes, in this instance, is that they account for the correct price AND payment schedule. This is critical for our accounting and ensures that customers are only billed during the season(s) they participate, which improves the user experience as well. Our list of private payment plan codes is standardized across the company. “PIF” designates “Pay in Full” and “PP” designates “Payment Plan”:
- FallPIF
- FallPP
- WinterPIF
- WinterPP
- SummerPIF
- SummerPP
- FallWinterPIF
- FallWinterPP
- WinterSummerPIF
- WinterSummerPP
- FallSummerPIF
- FallSummerPP
Universal Discount Codes are a short list of standardized discount codes that should only be offered on travel team registrations. In fact, all registrations that are not travel teams will have a setting enabled called “Prohibit Universal Discount Code Redemption”. Given the size of our company, any measures to prevent over-discounting are prudent. Universal discount codes exist at the sub-site (market) level in League Apps and are primarily for sibling signups. The pre-approved universal discount codes for travel teams are:
SIBS10%
3SIBS15%
BRO/SIS7.5%
There are certain occasions where we might want to offer a companywide loyalty or early bird initiative across multiple programs, and a universal code would be best here, but in this instance the creation of such a code should be a coordinated effort between the Registration and Marketing Departments. No one outside of the Registration Department should be creating universal discount codes. We audit these lists across the company periodically and want to be clean here.
Registration Discount Codes are created within (and are exclusively valid within) specific registrations. Again, we want to be as prudent as possible to avoid over-discounting, so registration discount codes should represent the vast majority of the discount codes that are created and redeemed within League Apps. VPs and certain high-level directors DO have the ability to create registration discounts (registration admin view > Settings), butagain these need to be done at the registration level, not the sub site level (universal discount codes). Directors are encouraged to include discount code requests for your registrations when you submit marketing requests (VPs can create registration discount codes as needed after the fact), and the Registrations Department will produce the code(s) along with the registration link. That being said, DO NOT use a specific syntax when requesting a discount. If a discount code already exists in the system, League Apps will not allow you to use that syntax again. This has created several issues when marketing communications have gone out with an invalid discount code because the requested code was not able to be created.
DO: We need a 10% early bird discount
DON’T: We need the EARLYBIRD10 discount created
Whenever a customer registers for a program, they can use up to 1 private payment plan code and up to 1 discount code (universal or registration code)
A family has two sons. The older (and more expensive registration) will participate for the full year, and the younger brother plays football in the fall but would still like to participate for the winter and summer on a payment plan. They are eligible for a 10% sibling discount for the cheaper registration. Here is how they should be instructed to register the younger brother:
Please use..
- Private Payment Plan Code: WinterSummerPP
- Discount Code: SIBS10%
As long as they are given good directions, it’s intuitive on League Apps during the signup process.
Credits we can also issue customer credits for our families League Apps accounts. These are often a great olive branch option in lieu of a refund. League Apps credits are valid for all registrations within the sub-site (market) for which a credit is issued. If you would like to give a family a credit, simply contact customer service.
TSG does offer pay by check options on travel team registrations and tournament team fees ONLY. All smaller ticket registration sales MUST be done electronically. This option should never be advertised, but it is a request we can accommodate. If a customer is requesting this, IMMEDIATELY connect them with customer service to ensure that the process is handled correctly start to finish. DO NOT try to handle a “pay by check” sale on your own. Similary, with a customer requesting a custom payment plan, this is something we want to avoid at all costs. This is not the same as someone looking to participate seasonally, but rather someone who wants to dictate the terms of their payment plan beyond the standard payment calendar. This is not a precedent we should be setting up with our customers, and this is a lot of additional work per sale. If the player is really that valuable to the program, discuss the situation with your VP, and email customer service with the VP and family cc’d with specific instructions on how to set up the custom plan.