Club Membership European Trends Attracting Retaining Members

Club Membership European Trends, Attracting & Retaining Members Presented by Jerry Kilby

• Clients

• 85% of golf clubs in Europe are “semi-private” • Customers are a combination of: • Members – Local keen golfers – Local casual golfers • Green Fee customers – Golfers within the area – Golfers from around the country – Golfers from other countries

• Numbers of golfers in Europe

• Numbers of golf facilities in Europe

• Average numbers of golfers per club

• From too few golf facilities to perhaps too many in 20 years • Over supply is great for consumers – as prices are cut and there is plentiful supply • But not good for clubs – revenue under pressure, budgets are being cut

• Do golfers need to join a club ? – Golfers see it as an advantage to play a variety of golf courses – A handicap certificate is no longer required to play golf in most countries in Europe – Young and middle-aged adults see club membership for those over 60 years old – Work and family pressures leave little time to play golf – Golf competitions not important for many club members – An increasing number of golfers are therefore not joining clubs

• Golfers playing habits – – – Infrequent Occasional Core Keen Avid Mad Source: Golf Australia Data May 2009 1 -6 times 7 -12 times 13 -26 times 17 -52 times 53 -104 times 104+ times 21% 14% 15% 24% 19% 7%

• To achieve 25, 000 rounds a year, you might need: Golfers – – – Infrequent golfers (3 x) Occasional (10 x) Core (20 x) Keen (30 x) Avid (80 x) Mad (125 x) Total Rounds 1, 500 4, 500 5, 000 300 6, 000 100 3, 000 50 4, 000 20 2, 500 2, 470 25, 000

• To achieve 25, 000 rounds a year, you might need: Golfers – – – Infrequent golfers (3 x) Occasional (10 x) Core (20 x) Keen (30 x) Avid (80 x) Mad (125 x) Total Members Rounds 1, 500 4, 500 5, 000 300 6, 000 100 3, 000 50 4, 000 20 2, 500 2, 470 25, 000 970

• How far will people travel to play golf ? – – – No more than 10 km 11 -20 km 21 -30 km 31 -40 km 41 -80 km Over 80 km Source – Netherlands Golf Federation 7% 23% 21% 19% 17% 13%

• How far will people travel to play golf ? – – – No more than 10 km 11 -20 km 21 -30 km 31 -40 km 41 -80 km Over 80 km Source – Netherlands Golf Federation 7% 23% 21% 19% 17% 13% 70% of golfers will not travel more than 40 km

Marketing outwards 1 st – 10 mins away 2 nd – 30 mins away 3 rd – 60 mins away 4 th – 120 mins away Finally – target markets further away

• Why do people join clubs ? – In 2001 and again in 2006, a total of 31, 000 club members from 17 countries were interviewed to ask why they joined their club – Here are the top 3 reasons….

1. They were invited to join - by friends and colleagues; they were honoured to be invited; the sense that they had been chosen when others could not get in 2. They wanted to be a member of the club - Joining people of high stature in the community 3. They wanted the camaraderie - Belonging to a group of like-minded people

• Other reasons were: - Prestige and exclusivity - Social enhancement (new and existing friends) - Business Enhancement (new contacts) - Name recognition in a service environment - Made to feel special, welcomed, comfortable

• More reasons: - Fun - Investment (in some cases) - Convenience of location - They feel that they deserve it - To enjoy facilities the club has to offer

• Find out why your members joined your club • Surveys • Focus Groups • Face-to-face

• Why do people leave clubs ? • Again, there are many reasons why • What do you think is the main reason why someone leaves a club ?

• Main reason: – • Poor customer service Other reasons: – – – No time Quality of facility Price Convenience Needs changed

• A complaint is a Gift – You have 30 seconds to deal with a complaint – Only 1 in 25 customers complains (but they will tell others) – 91% of unhappy customers will never return (solve their problem fast and 85% will buy again) – Develop a fair and efficient procedure – Apologise and compensate when a mistake has been made

• Find out the reasons why members leave your club – Exit interviews are essential

• What are the benefits of joining your club ? – Tangible benefits • Play the golf course • Discounts in bar, restaurant and shop – Intangible benefits • Friendships and community • Prestige and status – Spin-off benefits • Health, fitness and relaxation

• Retention – why bother ? – Loyal members are more profitable – Finding new members can be expensive – Happy members spend more – Unhappy members tell others !

• How do we measure success in membership marketing ? – Number of new members joining ? – Length of waiting list ? – A low number of people wanting to leave ? – Your club’s membership ‘churn ratio’ will help….

• How to calculate your membership ‘churn’: Membership at start of year 800 New members joined during year 20 Members left during year 80 Membership at end of the year 740 – The Churn Ratio is 80 divided by 740, or 10. 8% – Go back perhaps 5 years and calculate churn for previous years (if possible) – The annual trend is more important than the percentage number itself

• Go back perhaps 5 years and calculate churn – It should look like this:

• What would you do if it looked like this ?

• Retention – important reasons why: – A 2% improvement in retention is worth a 10% cut in costs – The cost of recruiting a new member can be 20 times more than keeping an existing one – Stop the leaky bucket !

• Tips to reduce membership churn: – Get members to tell you what they want • Focus groups will provide genuine feedback – Make all members feel valued and important • Write to them by name (not ‘Dear Member’) – Recognise and reward long-term members • For example: 20 year + club – Encourage membership referrals • You are unlikely to leave if you have introduced a friend

• More tips to reduce membership churn: – Remove the barriers that are causing members to leave • Listen carefully to exit interviews – Make members feel special • Free lunch on your birthday – Sell the ‘intangible’ benefits of membership • Prestige, friendships, status – Massage your waiting list • Keep them involved and informed • Invite them to join in certain functions

• Attracting new members: – Member get Member schemes • Existing members are your richest source • Make it a member’s responsibility to introduce a friend – Transparent incentives for both the existing and new member • Credit for food & beverage / shop etc • Reduction in following year’s subscriptions • Grand prize draw for all existing and new members that join in a period (holiday) • Free golf lessons

• Strategies for member-get-member schemes: – “You would not have joined if a friend had not introduced you to the club – so introduce one of your friends to the club and enable them to enjoy the club as you have done” – Open Day – invite the local community to come along – Member/guest golf day – “Ensure our club has a prosperous future”…. and introduce someone new to the club

• Should a club incentivise the management and golf professionals at the club ? – They are the first point of contact for a visitor – They should always be ‘talking up’ the benefits of membership – They should understand the potential ‘lifetime value’ of a golfer

• Offer flexible membership categories: – – – – Weekday memberships Weekend memberships Off-peak memberships Junior, student and interim memberships Social memberships Distant memberships International memberships Trial memberships

• Build a relationship with your visitor – A new category of ‘member’ • Affiliate; Associate; Friend; Partner – Encourage repeat visits with incentives – Special events for visitors – Develop a relationship with local driving ranges, to ‘feed’ golfers to your club

• Remove the barriers – Denim: The apartheid of cloth – Time: 9 hole competitions and social events – Cost: Flexible membership options – Quality: Invest in your clubhouse facilities and course

• Get active in your local and regional media – As a responsible employer – Custodian of the environment – Bringing business into the region

• Communicate like crazy – Start on your doorstep • The road to your club, your neighbours – Door drops, letters, leaflets • The nearest villages and nearby towns – Local newspapers and radio stations – And then work outwards • Nationally – Newspapers, sports and lifestyle magazines • Internationally – Travel magazines, golf magazines

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change” Charles Darwin

Thank you for listening www. kandagolf. co. uk jerry@kandagolf. co. uk