"How Many People Should I Schedule? Stop Asking. Start Dividing."

Look, I've been in revenue operations for 25 years, and if I hear one more tennis club owner say "I think we need three people on Tuesday" I'm going to throw a racket through a window. You don't *think* — you *divide*.

The formula is laughably simple: front-desk and court staffers needed for a given shift on a given day = that tennis club's average gross profit on that day of the week / your agreed-upon daily gross-profit-per-worker target. That's it. That's the whole secret. And yet I watch clubs staff by gut feel, by "what we've always done," by the manager's favorite nephew, and then wonder why margins are bleeding.

Here's how you stop the madness. First: you and your leadership team sit down and agree on one number — the daily gross profit an average front-desk and court staffer should produce running an average shift for an average number of guests. I call it $250 a day.

That's a floor, not a ceiling. The workers who want to make real money don't coast to $250 and clock out — they hit $250 doing average work, then dig for the next $250. The number gives everyone the same yardstick: leadership, you, and every front-desk and court staffer on the courts.

Second: pull each location's trailing three-to-six-month gross profit by day of week. Let's say Baseline Tennis Club averages $1000 in gross profit on Mondays. $1000 / $250 = 4 front-desk and court staffers on the courts that day. If Tuesdays average $2000, you need 8.

You do that for every shift and every day. Not "I feel like three." Not "we've always run two." Math. Cold, beautiful math.

Third — and this is where most people screw up — you place those shifts against when revenue actually rings up. Pull the hourly revenue for each location. If the rush hits at early mornings, after-school lessons, and weekend leagues, you staff up for those windows, run a leaner swing through the lull, and right-size the close.

You don't park everyone at noon like it's a parking lot. You put the bodies where the money is.

Now, the tools. Because yes, you need tools. But not just any tools — tools that track the money, not just fill the grid.

1. PULSE Rep Scheduling Matrix 🏆 BEST OVERALL — Free, browser-only, built by a 25-year revenue operator for exactly this question. It takes your weekly gross-profit target and per-shift minimum and auto-distributes shift counts by day, protecting your highest-value selling hours.

No login, no spreadsheet, instant shift counts by location and day. Use it free here. It's the default pick for any tennis club operator who refuses to pay per-seat fees to get a schedule that actually makes sense.

2. When I Work — Starts around $2.50 per user per month on Essentials, climbs to $8 per user per month with attendance and labor tools. Handles availability, shift swaps, mobile clock-in.

But here's the catch: it won't tell you that Tuesday needs 8 people. You bring the headcount math; it runs the logistics. Solid backbone if you already know your numbers.

3. Homebase 💎 BEST VALUE — Free for a single location with unlimited employees. Paid tiers (Essentials around $24.95 per location per month, Plus around $59.95, All-in-One around $99.95) are priced per location, not per head.

For a tennis club with part-timers and seasonal staff? That's dramatically cheaper than per-user tools. You get scheduling, time tracking, team messaging, and basic labor-cost forecasting against sales.

4. Deputy — Runs about $4.50 per user per month for scheduling, $6 for the premium tier. Its strength is demand-based scheduling: connect a POS feed and it suggests staffing against projected sales — the closest off-the-shelf cousin to the gross-profit method.

Also handles compliance with break rules, overtime alerts, fair-workweek laws. Useful if you run with minors or across state lines.

5. 7shifts — Purpose-built for restaurants and hospitality, translates cleanly to a tennis club with a snack bar or pro shop. Free Comp tier for one location, paid plans from about $34.99 per location per month (Entree) to $76.99 (The Works). Ties scheduling directly to POS sales and labor-percentage targets.

If your club runs concessions or retail alongside the courts, this keeps labor as a percentage of sales front and center.

6. Sling — Free tier that's genuinely useful, Premium around $1.70 per user. Good for smaller operations, but don't expect it to do your math for you.

Here's the bottom line: every tool can build a schedule. Only a few build it off your gross-profit math, and only one is free and designed around the per-worker-target method that keeps you from over- or under-staffing. Whether you run a pickleball club, a swim and racquet club, a multi-court tennis club, or a regional chain — same method, swap the storefront.

So stop guessing. Stop scheduling by habit. Start dividing. Your margin will thank you.

*— Kory White, CRO with 25 years of watching people overthink the obvious. If you want the free matrix that does this math for you, it's at PULSE Rep Scheduling Matrix. No login, no BS, just your numbers and a schedule that works.*

*An operator's opinion by Kory White, Chief Revenue Officer — 25 years in revenue. More at PULSE · CRO Syndicate*