{"id":105,"date":"2015-08-19T14:23:24","date_gmt":"2015-08-19T18:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hostedpools.com\/pickology\/?p=105"},"modified":"2018-07-31T13:43:42","modified_gmt":"2018-07-31T17:43:42","slug":"grow-your-office-pool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hostedpools.com\/pickology\/manage-pool\/grow-your-office-pool\/","title":{"rendered":"Grow Your Office Pool"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once you have started an office pool<\/a> and you have the first season (or several seasons) as a pool manager\u00a0under your belt and things have gone smoothly, it’s time to start seriously thinking about growing your pool.\u00a0 With more entries comes better competition, and what most people are interested in – bigger payouts.\u00a0 This also potentially leads to more time commitment and more responsibility for you. \u00a0Thankfully with HostedPools, that’s generally not the case.<\/p>\n

Here are a few of the key things to consider\u00a0when growing your office pool:<\/p>\n

1. Know What You Can Handle<\/strong><\/p>\n

You already have at least a season managing an office pool under your belt, so you should have a solid idea of the time commitment required at different parts of the season.\u00a0 That should give you a reasonable idea of how much more time and effort you can afford to devote to making your league\u00a0operate well with an increase in entries.\u00a0 Thankfully, HostedPools is here to help you by handle\u00a0updating stats for you, so most of the\u00a0availability is required in the set up stages, sending invites and gathering entries and taking care of financials.<\/p>\n

2. Set Realistic Goals<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once you’ve decided how many more teams you can reasonable handle, be sure to set a goal for you to strive towards.\u00a0 Just saying you want to grow your league isn’t enough.\u00a0 Set a specific number of entries\u00a0to work towards that you think is attainable.\u00a0 You will be more focused in getting there if you have a realistic number in mind.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Existing Members <\/strong><\/p>\n

The key to growing an office pool, is keeping your existing entrants\u00a0satisfied.\u00a0 It’s much easier to keep a ‘customer’ than it is to get a new one.\u00a0 If your existing participants enjoy your pool, they are also more likely to spread the word to their friends, and word of mouth is easily one of the best forms of ‘marketing’ your pool.\u00a0 They’re also apt to create multiple teams on their own to increase their chances as your pool gets larger.\u00a0 This is most often the case in survival\/elimination type pools, so people can hedge their bets to take a shot at a big prize.<\/p>\n

4. Selling Your Pool<\/strong><\/p>\n

What’s the best part about your league?\u00a0 Is it the high payout for first place, the multitude of payout spots, the competition or the daily interaction and smack talk with the other entrants?\u00a0 Is your league ultra-competitive or more casual?\u00a0 Knowing what potential poolies are looking for makes it a lot easier for you\u00a0to ‘sell’ participating in your pool to them.\u00a0 As we mentioned in\u00a0our start an office pool<\/a> post, make the invitations as personable as possible.\u00a0 Mass messages don’t tend to work nearly as well.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0Make It Easy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Create an email, PDF or a Google Doc of step by step instructions for how to join your\u00a0pool, for both yourself and your existing entrants\u00a0to use as a reference\u00a0when recruiting new entrants.\u00a0 Be sure to be clear and concise, so your potential new\u00a0entrants\u00a0understand what to do.\u00a0 It’s always helpful when doing something new to have an easy to follow reference if you get stuck or confused by something. \u00a0We have a one step link in our invites to make it easier to acquire new entrants.<\/p>\n

6. Social Networking<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why not set up a fan page or group on Facebook so people can follow your pool, or post on Twitter using your pool\u00a0name as a hashtag?\u00a0 It’s a good way to spread the word about your pool, and very easy for your participants to invite their friends to follow along. \u00a0Be sure everyone is cool with their name being posted as a courtesy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do you have any other great tips for growing an office pool? \u00a0(What has worked for you? \u00a0What hasn’t?) \u00a0Share them in the comments!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you have an existing office pool and are looking to make it bigger, here are several simple things to consider\/do to make it happen. Boost your membership and your payouts with minimal effort!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[16,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-105","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-manage-pool","7":"tag-manager","8":"tag-office-pool","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6CptU-1H","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":53,"url":"https:\/\/hostedpools.com\/pickology\/manage-pool\/start-an-office-pool\/","url_meta":{"origin":105,"position":0},"title":"Start an Office Pool","author":"hpadmin","date":"August 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Considering starting an office sports pool? 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A little planning, with some in-season flexibility can make you a champion.","rel":"","context":"In "Winning Strategies"","block_context":{"text":"Winning Strategies","link":"https:\/\/hostedpools.com\/pickology\/category\/strategies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":202,"url":"https:\/\/hostedpools.com\/pickology\/manage-pool\/ultimate-loser-pool-fundraiser\/","url_meta":{"origin":105,"position":4},"title":"Ultimate Loser Pool Fundraiser","author":"hpadmin","date":"October 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the last couple seasons we've been hosting a number of pools set up by people that have used the now defunct Ultimate Loser Pool (or Ultimate Sports Fundraiser) website, so we wanted to highlight some differences to hopefully make things a little clearer and\/or easier for people that want\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Manage a Pool"","block_context":{"text":"Manage a Pool","link":"https:\/\/hostedpools.com\/pickology\/category\/manage-pool\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":223,"url":"https:\/\/hostedpools.com\/pickology\/manage-pool\/2022-fifa-world-cup-pools\/","url_meta":{"origin":105,"position":5},"title":"2022 FIFA World Cup Pools","author":"hpadmin","date":"June 16, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"HostedPools debuted a pair of soccer pool options for last summer's European Championship and things went reasonably well, and it was far more popular than we had imagined. 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