Step 3: Basic Kicksite Tasks

 

After you have customized your Kicksite account and added students and prospects, it’s time to put Kicksite to work! Start taking and tracking attendance. Start communicating with your students via email or text message. Send students agreements or waivers to sign electronically.

 

First Steps

See the Step 1 and Step 2 articles for the rundown of getting your Kicksite account set up and ready to go.

 

First: Start taking and tracking attendance

Taking and tracking attendance is something most schools will need to do every day. Kicksite offers easy to use and helpful attendance features.

You can take attendance in two basic ways:

• Run the Student Check-In Screen. Many schools use a tablet to run the Student Check-In screen, installing a bracket to hold a tablet near the entrance to the studio floor where classes take place. This makes it easy for students to check in as they come to class; students check in by typing in their ID/PIN and tapping Go. (Tip: You don’t have to spend a lot of money on a tablet; an inexpensive one will work just fine, as long as it’s relatively new and can connect to Wi-Fi.)
• Use Mass Check-In. If you prefer, you can manually check in students using the Mass Check-In screen. For example, the class instructor could use a smartphone or tablet to check in students as they arrive for class.

If you need to search for an attendance or add an attendance, you can use the Attendance Log page.

 

Second: Start communicating with students and prospects

Kicksite offers several ways to communicate with students and prospects:

• Send a General Announcement.  You might send a notice if you need to close the school due to winter weather, for example. Or you might send a regular newsletter. You can also create a General Announcement Template if you have a message you want to send later, or for an announcement that will need repeated.
• Set up Automated Messages. These messages will be automatically sent when a specific situation occurs. For example, when a new student is entered, a specified number of days before a birthdate, or when a membership is about to expire.
• Create Message Flows. This sends a series of messages. For example, you could create a message flow that will send a welcome message when a new prospect is entered, then 2 days later, to send a message introducing the school’s instructors, then in another 2 days, inviting them to a trial class. Make sure you activate the message flow so it will start sending messages for you.

 

Third: Enter agreements and send them to students or prospects

Kicksite makes it easy to go paperless with contracts and waivers using the Agreements feature:

• Create an Agreement Template. After you have the template created for your contract and/or waiver, you can send it to students, families, or prospects.
• Send an agreement to a student. You can send an agreement to a newly entered student, or to an existing student, for example, when they need renew their membership. Another example might be that you need students to sign an updated liability waiver.
• Send an agreement to a prospect. While a prospect may not be ready to sign a contractual agreement, you may need to have any person who participates at your studio sign a liability waiver first.

 

Fourth: Set up appointments and tasks

You can use Kicksite to help you keep track of your appointments and tasks which will help you keep your internal processes organized:

• Appointments are great for things like setting up a trial class with a prospect or setting up a private lesson with a student.
• Tasks are a great way to give yourself reminders. Some examples include: To follow up with a prospect after they attend a trial, to prepare for a belt testing event by ordering belts, or to remind an employee of an assignment.

 

What’s Next?

Check out the Step 4 article when you’re ready to start using finances and billing with Kicksite.