How Digital Ticketing Presales Benefit Bookkeepers

Bookkeepers are essential to managing events successfully. Often working long hours to meet rigid deadlines, they typically must adapt to systems and processes that don’t completely address their needs.

In particular, reconciling events can be extremely tedious for bookkeepers with traditional paper tickets and cash sales. After a long day of work, many bookkeepers are then faced with counting cash and ticket stubs to close out the books for an event. This effort quickly becomes magnified when schools host multiple events across campus throughout the year.

Along with being inefficient, cash sales don’t provide accurate visibility into ticket sales or attendance in advance. This can make it difficult for bookkeepers and finance teams to budget and make decisions for staffing and other event logistics.

Digital Ticketing Streamlines Event Finances

With digital ticketing, schools and other organizations can secure funds prior to hosting a busy event, whether for athletics, performing arts, dances, camps, club activities, and more. If money is collected and ticket sales are completed or even partially done ahead of time, the job of a bookkeeper just got much simpler.

Presales generate funds early, which helps bookkeepers manage events more efficiently. By selling tickets in advance, schools can secure funds before the event or activity takes place. This can be especially useful for covering upfront costs such as supplies, staff, and rental fees.

Without presales, the life of a bookkeeper can be stressful and reactive. Digital ticketing can streamline event finances with automated promotion, sales, and reconciliation. With just a few clicks, authorized users can set up events, manage ticket sales, and reconcile accounts with GoFan digital ticketing.

5 Ways Digital Ticketing Presales Benefit Bookkeepers

1 - Budget more accurately.

Event budgets are dependent on attendance. Consider the planning that takes place to staff a basketball game, for example. The number of people who show up for an event dictates several expenses for host schools, including security staff, gate staff, concessions supplies, and other logistics. Officials decide how many people to staff and where to position them based on attendance. They also determine how many hotdogs to order and how many sweatshirts to stock based on the projected turnout.

With paper tickets and cash sales, attendance typically can’t be determined until the day of the event. Digital ticketing can provide more certainty for bookkeepers and other event staff. Schools can more accurately budget for the event or activity by having a clear idea of how many items or tickets will be sold in advance. Attendance information can help ensure that there are sufficient funds to cover all necessary expenses. 

Digital ticketing also automates presale reporting, so bookkeepers no longer have to count cash to deliver real-time insight into how many tickets have been sold. Multiple authorized users can view sales reports to get the budgeting information that they need, so bookkeepers don’t have to run reports several times and distribute them manually.

2 - Promote event attendance and increase revenue.

Schools can help build excitement and encourage attendance at an event or activity by promoting presales to their students, fans, and local communities. Schools can promote events by email, on social media, and with on-site signage. The more tickets sold before the day of the event, the less stress is involved from a management perspective for staff and bookkeepers on campus.

Tip: Organizations can even offer promotional deals like early-bird discounts to incentivize fans to buy tickets in advance. This speeds up the sale and creates a buzz about the event. Additionally, schools can bundle products like concessions or VIP seating to drive more presales, which ultimately increase overall event revenue and elevate the fan experience.

Presales with digital ticketing can help with promotions by improving fan engagement. By offering tickets and various offers, the target audience becomes more engaged.

Years ago, the primary way to promote an event was with signage and word of mouth. Hopefully, students and families would see a sign or hear about an event in conversation, communicate their interest to go, and purchase a ticket with cash on the day of the event. With online ticket sales, bookkeepers and school staff can easily promote events and drive attendance by sharing links via email and social media.

3 - Make life easier for staff and fans.

Ticketing presales provide convenience to school staff and fans alike. It’s easy to email or text a link to someone who may be interested in buying a ticket. It’s also just as easy to share a link with a large group of people at once.

Fans interested in buying tickets in advance can now simply visit Gofan.co, search for their school, and tap to purchase a ticket in as few as 10 seconds!

In the age of social media, the concept of sharing a link may seem commonplace. But consider this - only four years ago, most schools hosted zero presales. Schools that sold tickets in advance primarily did so during designated times at lunch or in the morning before class. Many schools still have a similar approach to ticket sales.

Imagine the inconvenience to the busy staff members who must host ticket sales and the busy parents who need to either send cash with their student to school or pay cash in person at the gate. That’s a lot of effort for everyone involved.

Tip: Online presales can be especially helpful if the event or activity is likely to sell out, as it allows individuals to secure their spots without having to worry about missing out.

4 - Save time with automated reporting and quick reconciliation. 

Presales are automated with digital ticketing, which streamlines event management and saves time for bookkeepers. Tickets can be sold online and automatically synced with a list of attendees, eliminating the need for manual ticket sales and tracking. This approach also improves accuracy. With a digital ticketing and event management platform, bookkeepers can more easily track and record ticket sales. This visibility can reduce the risk of errors or omissions, saving time and effort in reconciling financial records.

5 - Enhance security. 

Setting up presales on a digital ticketing platform like GoFan can also improve security, as it helps prevent lost, stolen, or counterfeit tickets. This can reduce stress and prevent bookkeepers from having to deal with these security issues. 

When tickets are purchased, automatic attendee tracking is enabled. An admin can see which tickets have been purchased, by whom, and whether or not they have been redeemed. When tickets are purchased online, they are typically added to an attendee list automatically. This can save bookkeepers time by eliminating the need to manually track ticket sales and create an attendee list. 

Automatic payment processing is another security measure with presales. With cashless transactions, bookkeepers no longer have to worry about the security concerns associated with counting and transporting cash after events. 

Next Steps

Bookkeepers are busier than ever, and digital ticketing can dramatically reduce the time and effort required to manage and reconcile events. For more information on how thousands of bookkeepers manage events with GoFan digital ticketing, visit our Bookkeepers Hub or contact us today.