Someone signs up on comeandtrycroquet.com. Now what? The club needs to talk to them.
Right now, that's where things get messy. A committee member's personal mobile on a sun-bleached sign at the gate. An email address that goes to someone who left the committee two years ago. A voicemail box that's been full since March.
The Come & Try system gives clubs a way to contact enquirers and see what's already been said.
When someone signs up, the club gets their name, phone, email, and postcode. That information stays in one place. If the person who usually calls new enquirers is on holiday, someone else can open the list, see who's new, and pick up the phone. The conversation doesn't live in one person's inbox or disappear when they change roles.
Three weeks from now, at a committee meeting, when someone asks "did anyone call that lady back?" the answer is in the system. Messaged Tuesday. Coming in next week. Done.
After the sign-up, a short series of emails goes out automatically. What to expect at a Come & Try session, a bit about the game, some practical stuff. The club doesn't write them and doesn't send them.
The club handles the personal contact. The SMS, the "see you Wednesday." The system handles the rest so noone falls through the gaps.
Someone phones a number on a faded sign. No answer. They don't try again.
An enquiry email arrives. The person who checks that inbox is away for a fortnight. By the time they see it, the enquirer has moved on.
A committee member retires. The club's contact email was their personal address. Nobody realises for months.
This is how clubs lose people who already wanted to come. A shared system means the enquiry goes somewhere permanent, and anyone at the club can see it and act on it.
That's Co-operate for Croquet doing the boring but necessary work: making sure the person who wanted to try croquet actually gets to try croquet.