Text messaging and futsal.  What do they have in common? 

It's really pretty simple.  When you think about running a futsal league, part of what you are aiming for is growth of your league.  How does the league grow?  Well certainly, some of it is the obvious:  good competition, starting your games on time, player development, etc.  However, each of these areas might be collectively lumped into the the category of "customer experience." 

That's where text messaging comes into play.  Text messaging can play a great role in customer experience.  If you run your league online, which you should be doing, you can have your league set up so you can get text message notification of cancellations as well as tournament scores.  When weather is an issue, what better way to notify parents of a cancellation than via a text message.  It doesn't involve picking up the phone and playing phone tag.  Just que it up and it goes.  Parents get notified, and they get happy.  Likewise, the same is true for tournament updates.  So you've got two or three kids all spread out over the city in different activities.  A quick text message is a great way to know how the tournament is going without having to fiddle with the phone call while your husband is in the hot dog line.  Immediate, quick results lead to better customer experience.

Entire books have been written on customer experience.  Witness The Starbucks Experience.  Why else do people pay $4 for a cup of coffee they can get for $1.50 at Quik Trip?  It's all about customer experience.  The leagues that run with customer experience in mind are going to grow and separate themselves from all the rest.  Not to mention, they are also the same leagues that are going to develop better players who compete at higher levels.

They all go together:  text messaging, futsal and customer experience.

--William High is a freelance writer.  For online text messaging experience, look at www.htgsports.net.