Electronic Contracts & Packages

Summary

With MINDBODY's Contracts & Packages feature, your staff can create and sell health club style contracts for your clients or members. From the Retail Point of Sale screen, there is a button in the "Add Item" box that enables you to select from a list of preset contracts, ringing that up along with other client purchases. You can also sell contracts and packages online. The member's scheduled payments are automatically programmed.  Associated with this, a record is made of the member's agreement to Terms and Conditions. Contracts can also be pro-rated.

Creating Contracts

After one or more contracts is created, then in the Retail Point of Sale screen, in the Add Item box, a Contracts button is displayed. Use the following steps to create a contract.

 

Steps

1. Choose Toolbox => Setup => Pricing => Contracts & Package
2. In the upper-right corner, click on Add New
3. Using the table below, enter data in to the fields as appropriate
4. After you have entered your data, click on Update Contract

 

New Contract Fields	Description
Description	The description of the contract. This is displayed on Sales Receipts and on Contract windows.
Barcode	You have the option of adding barcodes to the identifications of series and memberships. For example you can just scan a series barcode and your system will look up the series that you're trying to sell.
Frequency	Use Schedule - If the contract uses a series that auto pays, then setting this dropdown box to Use Schedule will bill the client for the series according to a weekly, monthly, or yearly schedule. This is ideal for time series with unlimited visits (e.g., Monthly . Use Series Count - Instead of using a schedule, this simply charges a client for a new series when the visits on their previous series has been completely used. This is ideal for count series with limited visits (e.g., 10-Pass Card).
Payment Every (only appears if you chose "Use Schedule" above)	How often the billing will occur per unit of time. For example, 1 per month or 1 per week.
Number of Payments	The total number of payments for the contract.
Contracts Start - Restrict Day of Month	Use this feature to have this new contract start on the 1st, 15th, last day of the month, 1st or 15th, or the 15th or last day of the month. Choose a date restriction from the dropdown box.
First AutoPay Free?	When a client buys this contract, if any of the series inside the contract autopay, then the first autpay will be free. Good for "First Month Free" type of promotions.
Last AutoPay Free?	When a client buys this contract, if any of the series inside the contract autopay, then the last autpay will be free. Good if you make your clients pay for their last month of service up front.
Auto Renewing at End of Contract	Want your contract to restart after the last AutoPay runs? If you check this box, then the contract just keeps renewing itself every time the last AutoPay in the set of AutoPays runs. For example, let's say that you had a "1 Year Membership" that charged a client $45 every month on the first of the month. If you check this box, here is how the 1 Year Contract will play out: Jan 1 - Sell the contract on Jan 1st, and 12 AutoPays will be scheduled for the client over the next year. Jan 1 -- A scheduled AutoPay will charge the client $45, you can see this coming on the client's Scheduled AutoPays Screen Feb 1 -- charge client AutoPay of $45 Mar 1 -- charge client AutoPay of $45 Apr 1 -- charge client AutoPay of $45 May 1- charge client AutoPay of $45 Jun 1 -- charge client AutoPay of $45 Jul 1 - charge client AutoPay of $45 Aug -- 1 charge client AutoPay of $45 Sep 1 -- charge client AutoPay of $45 Oct 1 -- charge client AutoPay of $45 Nov 1 -- charge client AutoPay of $45 Dec 1 - charge client AutoPay of $45 Dec 1 -- After this last AutoPay runs, and entirely new suite of 12 AutoPays will be scheduled for the client in the following year. The contract will keep doing this until the Contract is suspended, terminated, or deleted from their Account Details screen
Amount	The amount to be charged. (For the None (Just Charge Card) option only.)
Auto Renewing at End of Contract	Checked (enabled), the contract will automatically renew upon completion.
Contract Deposit	The amount to be refunded to the client
Contract Deposit Editable?	If checked, the deposit amount can be edited at the point of sale.
Electronic Confirmation of Contract	If checked, your clients will be prompted to agree to your contract text when they log into their consumer mode accounts. You can see who signed their contracts using the Mailers & Data Export report. There are client alerts and auto emails that encourage clients to agree to their contract text.
Discount	If your clients get a discount for buying this contract (e.g., they get a discount for signing up for a year, instead of buying a new series every month) - set the discount for everything in the contract here.
Allow terminating in consumer mode	If you enable this feature for a contract, the client can log into his or her consumer mode account and delete the entire contract, including the related auto pays, freeing the client from future payments. On the day that the contract is terminated, all related series expire.
Sell Online	When clients buy contracts from your online store, the system sets up their auto pay. (Read more about selling contracts online below. )
Online Description	This will appear as the description for this Contract or Package in your Online Store. You can use some basic HTML for this description.
Members Only	Highlight series in the multi-select box, and only members with those memberships can buy this series. Be careful not to make only members with this series able to buy this series. If you do this, you create a "Catch-22" and the system won't allow any new clients to buy this memberships series.
Add Item	Associate a Retail Product with this contract.

 

Changing Contract Text

Click here to read an in-depth page about Contract Text

Selling Contracts

After you have created a Contract, you can sell them through the Retail Point of Sale screen. For the initial release, Contracts can only be sold in Business Mode.

	Steps
1.	Go to the Retail tab.
2.	In the Add Item box, click on Contracts
3.	Select the Contract that you would like
4.	Select the Start Date of the Contract
5.	If necessary, adjust the Amount
6.	Click on the Add Item Button
7.	Choose a payment method and click Save Print Receipt
When a Contract is purchased, the following events occur: The Contract window is displayed, which contains the text of the Contract. The Client's credit card is charged for the first installment. The AutoPay Schedule is created for the client. The Package is added to the Client's account. The Contract is added to the Client's account.

Deleting or Terminating a Contract sale

1. To delete or terminate a Contract sale, display the Accounts Details screen (select a client first, if necessary).
2. Contracts are displayed under the Contracts header.
3. Click on Delete or Terminate next to the contract you want to delete
4. Click Ok to confirm the deletion. 

 

Catching and Editing Contracts before They Auto Renew

At the top of your AutoPay Details Report is a checkbox titled "AutoRenewing." Check this box; and the report will only show AutoPays if the contract that they're associated with is on its last automatic payment - and if the contract is about to auto renew.

• Feature's location: Payment Processing => AutoPay Details => AutoRenewing Checkbox

 

To adjust your prices for inflation every time a contract reaches the end of its 12-month cycle:

1. Follow this menu path: Payment Processing => AutoPay Detail
2. Check the AutoRenewing Checkbox
3. Run the report
4. Click on a client's name whom you want to raise monthly prices
5. Go to the client's Account Details screen
6. Uncheck the box in the Auto Renewing? Column next to the contract's name (this keeps the old contract from renewing itself)
7. Go to the Retail Screen
8. Sell the client a new contract with an updated price. While on the Retail Screen, make sure that the new contract's start date is the day when the old contract should have auto renewed.

Things You Can Do to a Contract

• Deleting Contracts - Do this if you made a mistake selling a client a contract.Once you delete the Contract, the Auto Pay schedule is removed. Packages and Products that were purchased as part of the initial purchase must be deleted separately, by using the normal Void/Return process.
• Offset Activation - When you sell contracts on the Retail Screen, you'll notice an [Offset Activation] link beside the [Pro Rate] link. The number that you enter into this new Activation Field will determine how many days after a contract's start date that the series inside the contract is activated. If you don't use MINDBODY's real-time credit card or ACH processing, the Offset Activation feature gives you a window of time for payments to clear before a client can use his or her series.
• If you use this feature for a contract with series that auto pay, the offset activation will be applied to all future auto pays for the contract. However, the Future Auto Pays Screen won't display the offset activation date until the day that the auto pay charges the client.
• Whether you click the Pay Now checkbox or not, the activation offset is always applied to the contract's start date.

• Terminating Contracts - Do this if selling the contract was not a mistake. But you need to end the contract and see it as "terminated" on the client's Account Details screen. Terminating removes all of the contract's future auto pays. Services inside a terminated contract cannot be used. If a continuation of services was necessary, the client would need to purchase a new contract.
• Suspending Contracts - Do this to pause the contract for a while, assuming the client will some day start using it and paying for it again. The AutoPays missed by the client are pushed out into the future. Meaning, if a client's 1-year contract has been suspended for four months, and the suspension is lifted, the missed four months of AutoPays are automatically tacked onto the end of the contract.
• Assign Barcodes - You have the option of adding barcodes to the identification of contracts. For example you can just scan a contract barcode and your system will look up the contract that you're trying to sell.
• Cancel Terminations - You have the ability to cancel a contract termination. When you cancel a terminated contract, the system re-activates the contract and reinstates the contract's remaining AutoPays. Unlike suspensions, when the termination is canceled, the AutoPays missed by the client aren't pushed out into the future.
• Creating Suspension Fees for Contracts - You have the option to impose a suspension fee at the time the suspension is being made on the Account Details Screen, which will then be added as future AutoPays. You may even assign the suspension fee to its own revenue category (e.g., "Suspension Fees"). To apply suspension fees:
  1. Follow this menu path: Toolbox => Setup => Options => General Setup & Options
  2. In the Client Management Section, enable the new "Contract Suspension Fees" feature
  3. In the Client Management Section, choose a revenue category that will track the suspension fees
  4. Look up a client with a contract that you want to suspend, then click on the client's Account Details Screen
  5. Click the Suspend Link to the right of the contract
  6. Enter a suspension fee in the new "Term Suspension Fee" field
  7. Click the Add Suspension Button
  8. When you view the client's future AutoPays, you'll notice the suspension fee scheduled to run on each date that the contract is suspended. All existing AutoPays are updated to "Suspended."
     • When a contract suspension is deleted from a client's Account Details Screen, all future suspension fees within the date range of the suspension are removed.
     • When a contract is unsuspended, all suspension fees after the suspension end date are removed. That is, you don't want to charge a suspension fee after the suspension has been lifted.

Please note the following:

• If a Deposit is setup as part of the contract, it is charged at the time of purchase.
• If a Retail Product is setup as part of the contract, then it is charged at the time of purchase.
• The Auto Pay status for the initial charge is updated to Successful.

Facts about Selling Contracts and Packages in your Online Store

• The Members Only options on the contracts screen override the Members Only options of the series inside the contract. Meaning, if settings on the contract conflict with the settings used for the series inside of the contract, the contract's settings always wins.
• A contract discount overrides any promotion or membership discount.
• If you make at least one contract or package available online, a new submenu appears for your online store titled Contracts, Packages, or Contracts & Packages; depending on what has been enabled for "Sell Online?" For example, if you only have one package enabled for "Sell Online?" then your online store will just have a button titled "Packages."
• This is related to the one above. But if you don't see a Contracts or Packages option in your online store, then you haven't enabled any contracts or packages for "Sell Online?"
• Contracts sold online list all items inside the contract, how often the contract will AutoPay, the contract online description, and each item's product notes.
• The client must agree to the contract's text before it will be added to the cart.
• Prorates do not apply to contracts sold online.
• The "Contract Start - Restrict Day of Month" feature (set up on the General Setup & Options screen) does affect contracts sold online.
• First auto pay free and last auto pay free (set up inside the contract) will be applied to contracts sold online, if enabled.
• New page phrases added to Consumer Mode Online Store (Toolbox => Setup => Options => Language Settings => Page Phrases)

 

Create direct links to specific contracts and packages sold in your Online Store

Each contract and package has its own direct link that you can give to clients. When clicked, the link will take your client directly to your Online Store with that particular package or contract selected.

 

To use this feature:

1. Follow this menu path: Toolbox => Setup => Pricing => Contracts & Packages
2. Look up a contract or package
3. Check the "Sell Online?" Checkbox
4. Right click on the new "Link" text and, in your browser's popup menu, choose to save the link
5. Paste the link where you please

 

Note: if an individual series is enabled for "Only use in Contracts & Packages?", then you cannot create a direct link to it. You must create a link to the contract that it is in.

Click here to learn about pro-rating contracts.

Back to Advanced Features

Back to FAQS

Open topic with navigation