Tag: DeLozier

A Better Way to Communicate

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Churning out communications to your members with little thought for who you are speaking to and what medium you are using is not a recipe for success.

As GGA’s Henry DeLozier explains, putting a little more thought and attention to detail into your communications is an impactful, and cost effective, way to make your members feel valued and included.

“Communication in our club is poor”

A phrase that is commonplace in surveys and focus groups we run on behalf of clients across North America – often despite the best efforts of club leaders to improve communications at their clubs.

As much as we would like to prescribe a formula that is guaranteed to improve member relations, the reality is that the communications world evolves continuously, including the ways members consume and exchange information, and the platforms on which they do so.

While this can present a challenge, the evolution in communications technology has also brought opportunities to the fore: opportunities to increase the relevance of your communications, learn more about your members habits and preferences, and branch out to networks of potential new members.

With that in mind, there are some tactics you may wish to consider to enhance your communications relationship with members and club stakeholders:

1. Keep your club website relevant.

As Linda Dillenbeck, a director at Global Golf Advisors and a communications expert, observes, “Most clubs’ websites are outdated, disconnected, and dysfunctional.” Dillenbeck estimates that a private club website has a relatively short shelf-life of around three years. When did you last update your website?

Incremental improvements which factor in the latest in web technology enhancements can increase the aesthetic appeal, user-friendliness and accessibility of your site ten-fold.

Think too about regular updates to your image portfolio and news sections. Investing the time and not letting them become dormant shows members that you care and invokes a sense of pride and belonging.

2. Empower club members to communicate.

The advent of mobile camera technology has handed the power for members to become regular content creators, some of whom may produce high quality photographs and videos of your club.

While you cannot control what they say or post, compelling content drawing on the attributes of your club and amplified to member and stakeholder networks can enhance the club’s reputation among members and the outside world.

Vindicate their efforts by engaging through club social media channels, via email or otherwise. It shows you are interested and supportive, and gives a sprinkling of kudos to what they have produced.

3. Organize information into communication “bites”.

The relative attention span of most recipients is shrinking, so the club should look to communicate in small “bites” – morsels of interesting activities, friends enjoying mutual interests or snippets from club events. Keep it short and to the point.

4. Use tailored media.

Rather than indiscriminately provide all things to all members, ask them to personalize their information expectations and preferences into a member profile so that the club may communicate with each member on the member’s terms.

Regular prompts to update their preferences can provide useful insights into any trends developing over time and how this should be translated to what and how you provision information to them.

5. Measure effectiveness.

Monitor engagement levels from all outgoing communications. Track which members are – and are not – receiving and engaging with information from the club.

By doing so you can start to build out segments of members (starting with engaged / not engaged) and begin to increase the relevance of your communications methods and messages.

 

Crafting the right messages takes time and attention, as does knowing how to communicate them. By better understanding what methods and messages are most influential to members and stakeholders, you can start making meaningful progress and increasing engagement.

In any case, make it personal.

Creating A Better Environment for Workers … and Potential Hires

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This is the second of two Golf Course Industry Game Plan columns focusing on becoming an employer of choice.  For more, check out the previous article “Become an Employer of Choice”.

“… And what do you do, Mike?” the guy grilling the burgers at the neighborhood barbecue asked casually.

“I’m the golf course superintendent at Laurel Lake Country Club.  It’s an amazing place to work.  I have a great team and my manager really appreciates the job we do.  If you’re thinking about joining a club, why don’t you come out as my guest one day?”

Is that the kind of answer one of your staff members would give in a similar situation?  If it is, you’re in an enviable position in this tight labor market — you’re what’s known as an “employer of choice.”  Employers of choice enjoy higher retention rates, better productivity from their teams and a healthier workplace culture.  What’s more, they don’t have to search as hard for top talent because the best people come to them, hoping to join their team.

So how do you create that kind of reputation for your club?  It doesn’t happen overnight, but it can start with the ways in which you promote job openings.  Here are five keys to positioning your club as a place where top talent wants to work:

1. Show your colors up front. Describe who you are and what your course or club represents. This description of your values and the high standards to which you hold team members is attractive to top performers.  Stating your values and the significance of the position helps prospective employees know if your club is one where they would be proud to work.

2. Describe the job benefits clearly. Benefits are an important differentiator in today’s workplace, but don’t think of them in limited terms. Beyond health insurance, sick leave and vacation days, benefits include respect, being part of a winning team, and the opportunity for continued professional learning and development.  Make sure you help prospective employees understand the full range of benefits that you offer.

3. Tell what the job entails. Pay attention to the language you choose to describe the job and its responsibilities. And don’t be hesitant to describe the job in demanding terms. Top performers want jobs that challenge them and ones that matter.  Describe the team that the prospective employee would join, its work ethic and its team spirit.  Being a part of a great team is a strong incentive to employees who enjoy collaboration and sharing.

4. Know your competition. Being an employer of choice requires that you do your homework to know how your compensation, benefits and culture compare with the competition. In a tight job market, it’s also important to realize that your competitors include more than golf clubs and other golf operations courses.  You’re also likely competing with landscape companies and hospitality positions for top talent.  Knowing what competitive organizations offer helps you structure benefits and comp attractively while being mindful of the budget.

5. Tell stories of valued performers. Stories of performance, customer service, overcoming adversity and teamwork give new employees insight to the organization and the culture they are part of. Think of it as a window into your team room, which allows you to describe the human components of the job that are not a part of the formal job description.

In his book, “Attracting and Retaining Talent: Becoming an Employer of Choice,” Dr. Tim Baker emphasizes the importance of standing on trustworthy values.  “In plain terms, being an employer of choice means establishing a business that is a great place to work.  If companies don’t genuinely act to become an employer of choice, then good employees will simply vote with their feet and move to a forward-thinking employer who offers them what they want.”

Remember the story of the janitor at the Johnson Space Center in Houston who, when asked by President John. F. Kennedy about his role, said, “Mr. President, I’m part of the team that is putting a man on the moon.”

Don’t you wish that janitor worked for you?

This article was authored by GGA Partner Henry DeLozier for Golf Course Industry Magazine. 

How to Develop an Enviable (and Profitable) Events Calendar

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A thriving events calendar, if delivered well, can propel member satisfaction and loyalty to new levels. But first you need to understand what works, and how to measure event success. We enlisted the help of GGA’s Patrick DeLozier, who has over 14 years’ experience delivering events at some of the top clubs in the country, to explain what clubs need to know.

A thriving events calendar has been a staple at the top clubs I have been fortunate to manage in recent years. Are they hard work? Yes, absolutely. Are they worth it? Without a doubt.

I have witnessed first-hand how events create memorable and meaningful moments in people’s lives, strengthening the bonds they have with a club and enriching relationships with other members.

While a number of events you deliver may not quite achieve this ‘magic’, there is a formula and steps you can take to deliver a compelling events calendar.

Keeping it fresh

The key to delivering outstanding club events lies in not standing still. Inject some creativity and fresh ideas into each and every event. This does not mean needing to stage new events every year, but adding new twists or new dimensions to established, traditional ones.

Sometimes this could be as simple as hosting an event in a different area of your property. Not only does this create a different ambience, it also serves to introduce members to parts of the property they may not normally see, or facilities they may not typically utilize. This is something we would routinely do at Augusta National to great success and satisfaction amongst members.

Timing it right

Simply put, one of the critical things to get right is timing. It can be easy to overlook, but so fundamentally important. Clubs of a certain size will need to communicate with other departments to avoid internal date conflict with other events, but all managers should also be attuned to events happening elsewhere either in the community or beyond.

Sports events, school events or charity fundraising events may all impact your club’s event calendar, so don’t fall into the trap of choosing the wrong date and marketing the event before needing to change. The same can be true of major sporting events such as the Super Bowl or The Ryder Cup. Set dates carefully, then market them with confidence and assurance.

Understanding what works

Fundamentally, you want members to engage with and enjoy the events your club chooses to stage. And when it comes to measuring success, their satisfaction should feature prominently. But events need to be well attended for them to be viable, both from a satisfaction standpoint for members and commercial standpoint for the club.

At the point of conception or planning, it will help to determine what constitutes reasonable participation numbers for particular events. This will provide a sound barometer of success not only for the current year, but future years too. If the popularity of certain events begins to grow, you can begin to unpick the reasons why and use the insights to fuel ideas for new ones.

When it gets to the events themselves, attend. Especially If you are relatively new to the club; it will give you the opportunity to engage with members and see for yourself how the events are received. Although we want to put a measure next to all aspects of an event, sometimes you have to accept some events carry a special aura – which you can only experience by being there.

Beyond the event, there can be a tendency to focus on what’s next, but don’t miss out on the crucial feedback and insights. There should always be a team debrief for those involved in the event delivery. Typically, we would spend 10% of the time on what went well and 90% of the time on how we could improve, with all staff and committee members challenged to come up with new ideas covering all aspects of event delivery.

Externally, send a feedback form to event attendees (do this quickly, so that you collate as many insights from the most members possible while the event is still fresh in their memory). This will enable you to identify areas for future improvement and pick up on any negative feedback (where appropriate).

Bringing it all together

By implementing this defined approach to event delivery, from planning through to evaluation, you will establish a culture of measuring success, defining continuous improvement, and translating this through to the events you choose to stage.

Combine this with a sprinkling of creative flair and you should have the basis for a calendar of thriving, well-attended events.

It may take some time to get there, but the impact on member satisfaction and the bottom line will be more than worth waiting for.

Become an Employer of Choice

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The order of the day went straight to the point: “England expects that every man will do his duty.” In the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, one of England’s more decisive naval battles, Admiral Lord Nelson called upon the sailors of his island nation to ward off an attack by the combined French and Spanish navies. It was a battle to the finish and one in which Nelson was mortally wounded. When told of eminent victory, among his final words were, “Now I have done my duty.”

Golf course managers today are charged with myriad duties, maybe not with life and death consequences, but critical nonetheless. Foremost among them is the recruitment, training and retention of a qualified and motivated staff. There is no more important role to the financial and operational well-being of courses simply because so many moving parts require near constant attention.

What’s more, the job is getting tougher. The U.S. has more job openings than unemployed people, a situation known as “full employment.” The U.S. economy added 216,000 jobs in April, notching a record 103 straight months of job gains and signaling that the current economic expansion shows little sign of stalling. The Labor Department reported in July that the unemployment rate fell to 3.6 percent, the lowest since 1969.

What we should glean from those statistics is that the war for talent continues unabated across U.S. businesses, making it even more challenging for leaders to build a staff with the highest quality workers. Becoming an employer of choice in your market is now a business imperative. Here are five ways to distinguish your facility:

1. Prioritize. With labor costs representing slightly more than half of operational costs at most facilities, making your course and club attractive to job seekers is a smart use of resources. Start by deciding the selection criteria for each position. Thinking through on-the-job performance standards helps to establish the search criteria for each position. This careful job description serves to focus the employer’s intentions and expectations. Detailed job description and criteria also clarify the opportunity for prospective employees, so they know going in what is expected of a successful candidate.

The process seems simple, but many employers fail to prioritize the time and thought process to describe what is needed from a specific position.

2. Organize. Employees want to know what will be expected of them in the job. An organized approach to describing the position makes sure employer and employee are on the same page, reducing surprises and establishing an understanding on key aspects of employment. Carefully organizing the position description signals that you know what you want and will keep searching until you find the best candidate.

3. Standardize. Your search process is a miniature branding effort. Using consistent and professional formatting, job and benefits descriptions and comprehensive summaries of expected annual income guide prospective employees to you. Remember, you’re not simply searching for someone to fill a position – you’re searching for the best possible fit.

Describe the culture of your team with words that demonstrate commitment and dedication. For most people, work is an emotional relationship before it is an economic consideration. In a December 2018 study of employees’ attitudes, Clutch, a B2B search firm, noted that “workplace values are essential to recruiting, retaining, and motivating quality employees.” In the same study, employees emphasized the importance of fair treatment and compensation alongside ethical treatment. While compensation is obviously important, how people feel about themselves in their jobs is even more valuable.

4. Recognize. To keep top performers, celebrate their successes. To many workers, the respect of their co-workers is highly important. Create a culture that recognizes the efforts and successful performance results of teammates. There are many examples of employee recognition successes, but most important is keeping the recognition fair, transparent and generous. Recognition will prove to be one of your best investments in time and money.

5. Evolution-ize. Create a recruitment and retention process that evolves with the workforce, your club and employees. Most staff members want to work where there is a fresh and invigorating environment. Traditions are extremely important and should be balanced with the need of employees to see change and growth in their jobs and lives.

This article was authored by GGA Partner Henry DeLozier for Golf Course Industry Magazine. 

Community… and How To Build It

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A member’s relationship with your club will feel infinitely more connected, more substantial and more emotional if they are part of a community. But how do you create a community at your club? Can you create a community? GGA’s Henry DeLozier has the answers.

It is a genuine sense of community – and the opportunity to be a part of it – that attracts members to a private club.

Members need their club to be a safe place, populated by people with shared lifestyle expectations, and built on experiences that create a feeling of fellowship.

But how does a club create an authentic community?

The foundation of any community is shared values, and for a private club these may be values such as safe haven and healthy lifestyle.

In private clubs today, this culture of common attitudes, interests, and goals cannot be left to chance – it must be facilitated and fostered by the club leadership.

Successful club leaders and managers understand that this requires an intentional plan of action; one which establishes and sustains several key elements within the club’s culture:

Setting the Standard

Clearly stated standards of conduct are essential to establish a shared understanding of the community’s behavioral norms. Members rely upon a common understanding of acceptable – and unacceptable – behavior.

In clubs today, such standards of decorum include dress, usage of technological devices such as mobile phones, and personal conduct. In the main, club members are highly supportive of rules and rule enforcement… for others at least.

How can club leaders effectively implement respected community standards?

  • Engage input from many members when formulating and updating the club’s rules. The more members who participate in establishing the community’s standards, the more widely the standards are supported.
  • Communicate the commonly accepted standards for all to see, question, refine, and accept.
  • Make such standards the backbone of new-member orientation and communicate to existing members that new members are being so informed.

At The Ford Plantation near Savannah, Georgia, the sense of community is a point of pride among club members.

CEO Marc Ray observes, “Everything we do, including our Mission Statement, refers to Ford as a community of “friends and neighbors”. The members, and the staff, genuinely care about each other, and it is a culture that permeates the community.

“We travel together, dine together…and sometimes cry together. There is nothing fake or contrived. It is an ingrained culture that people want to, and get to, belong to. Something bigger than themselves.”

Firm but Fair

Establishing a sense of unity and togetherness is a powerful asset for any club, and this is something that needs to be protected.

From time to time, there will of course be people who do not honor the standards set, and knowing how to address those individuals and the situations that arise is critical to uphold the standards of the community.

How should clubs approach these situations? The best are consistent and firm in the enforcement of community standards with very few exceptions. So too, top clubs enforce their rules evenly regardless of status, tenure or importance.

“If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything” is a commonly referenced quote with mixed attribution and, yet, its aptness is clear. Members like to know that their community and its traditions stand for something worthy of their respect and support.

Behind the Curtain

Employees are a vital component of club communities. In many clubs, it is the staff that hold the club together and keep it the safe haven on which members rely.

This is particularly prevalent at Desert Mountain in Carefree, Arizona, as Damon DiOrio, the Club’s CEO, describes, “Establishing a safe, positive, healthy and energized work culture, built on trust and respect for your employees, is the first step in developing a strong and inclusive brand.

“Having a united and caring culture for your team is critical to forging an environment that emanates membership loyalty and a sense of community. As leaders, we can only fulfil the dream of having pride and harmony in our membership by being open, honest, engaging, transparent and authentic.”

The Power of Tradition

A sense of community also relies upon treasured traditions which celebrate friendship, family, and fun. These are key ingredients to a feeling of “belonging”.

Traditional special events and celebrations at many clubs help to crystalize the community’s values.

Take the ‘Big Little Show’ at Westchester Country Club, for instance, where family is the tradition placed front and center every summer with the club’s vibrant talent show.

Events which celebrate patriotism and love of country are other popular examples that serve to bring club members closer together through shared, cherished moments.

Your club could have all of the facilities and amenities in the world, but it is the sense of community – of being a part of something dear to them – that makes members proud and dedicated to their club for generations.

Facilitate and foster the emergence of this community, and it could fast become your club’s strongest asset.

Make Time for Strategic Thinking

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Do executives at your club know what a strategic plan really is?

Club executives often confuse a strategic plan with a master plan, a capital expense budget or standard operating procedures when in fact it is none of those things.

“A strategic plan is an all-encompassing game plan. It is a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. It is a tight, clear-cut statement of what it is your club is trying to do,” explained Henry DeLozier of Global Golf Advisors during a seminar for club managers earlier this spring. “It’s a crucial document because every club needs to know where it is going.”

Strategic planning is receiving more focus in private clubs now than in the past. DeLozier believes this is due to the fact that more is expected of club leaders now (and more of leaders in general). He also says that clubs are expected to function in a more businesslike setting. Oversupplied, competitive markets require more focus and different types of clubs use different models of strategic planning. That’s why strategic planning is more important now than ever before.

The strategic plan should answer the questions what and why. It should not answer when, who or how because the answers to those questions are tactical. To keep strategy and tactics separate, DeLozier urges executives to remember the following:

Strategy = What. A primary duty of the board is to develop the strategy for the future of the club in a three to five-year life cycle. “Strategy is doing the right things for the club and its members. It is conceptually planning what the club will do and why,” he explained.

Tactics = How. This is a primary duty of management. Tactics are about executing the strategy and doing things right for the current period of time.

DeLozier urges all club executives to block off time regularly to think strategically. “Find the time to collect, study and share information. Strategy is part of a leader’s job today. Encourage strategic thinking in such a way that it becomes cultural at your club,” he concluded.

This article was authored by GGA Partner Henry DeLozier for the Private Club Advisor.

Grasshoppers, Water, and the Golf Business

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Beginning in June 1874, a swarm of grasshoppers dense enough to block the sun’s rays – so copious that you could scoop them up with shovels – descended on the drought-ravaged Great Plains. They mowed down crops and brought economic devastation to entire communities. In a scene eerily familiar, the chewing herbivorous insects, a close cousin of the locust, did it again in 1931 in regions suffering from prolonged periods of below normal rainfall.

No one is predicting a return of the grasshopper, although that seems a haunting title for an apocalyptic movie. But history does warn us of the dangers of extreme drought, when grasshoppers can flourish and when turfgrasses are most vulnerable. As we move into the summer months, when rainfall is scarce in many parts of the United States, golf courses and sports facilities are reminded that they must manage water usage and consumption diligently.

Audubon International, which promotes sustainability for businesses, recreational properties and communities, is committed to bringing solutions to golf and sports facilities. “Putting your golf course, community or resort on the path to sustainability may seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be,” Audubon International CEO Christine Kane says. “We suggest starting by establishing an environmental policy that will guide your operations. This will bring your employees and members onboard and pave the way for incorporating topics such as water conservation, IPM or wildlife management into your budget, marketing and maintenance processes.”

Golf facilities and clubs also benefit from sustainability’s halo effect. Many members today expect greater levels of environmental stewardship from businesses and other organizations with which they are associated. In addition to its environmental impacts, sound water management has taken on a good-for-business shine as well.

Research points out that sound environmental stewardship matters to women and millennials especially.

Eighty-three percent of U.S. women believe that climate change is a serious problem, according to a 2015 Pew Research Center study. Nearly 70 percent of the women polled worry that such changes will affect them personally. The bottom line is that women are concerned about sound environmental practices and are receptive to learning how golf course managers are caring for Mother Earth.

Pew further reports that drought is among the top four climate-related concerns. “Fully half of Americans name drought as their chief climate change concern, and this is especially true in drought-plagued Western states compared with other regions of the country,” according to the research.

Clubs and courses seeking to attract younger members would do well to take a responsible approach to environmentalism. “Brands that establish a reputation for environmental stewardship among today’s youngest consumers have an opportunity to not only grow market share, but build loyalty among the power-spending millennials of tomorrow,” says Grace Farraj, an executive with Nielsen Environmentalism.

Audubon International launched its Water & Sustainability Innovation Award this year to recognize landscape companies, organizations and municipalities for sustainable, water-efficient projects. Corica Park South Course of Alameda, California, and its management firm, Greenway Golf, was the first recipient.

The Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf provides a tangible form of recognition for clubs and courses committed to protecting the environment and preserving the natural heritage of the game. By helping people enhance the valuable natural areas and wildlife habitats that golf courses provide, improve efficiency and minimize potentially harmful impacts of golf course operations, the program serves an important environmental role worldwide.

Audubon International also has developed Standard Environmental Management Practices that are generally applicable to all golf courses. These standards form the basis for the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for golf certification guidelines. Points of focus from the ACSP for golf facilities include habitat planning and management guidance, which educates club members and other golfers while increasing the understanding of best management practices for pesticide use.

This article was authored by GGA Partner Henry DeLozier for Golf Course Industry Magazine. 

Substance Over Style

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In the old west, big talkers who didn’t deliver on what they promised were described as “All hat and no cattle.” Simply put: more image than substance.

None of us wants to be thought of in those terms. We all want to deliver the goods as promised. Doing so, while often challenging, is more achievable when you take these important steps:

1. Develop your strategic plan carefully because that’s where you lay out your promises in the form of goals and objectives. Stephen Johnston, the founder of Global Golf Advisors, often explains the importance of strategic planning by saying, “The lack of a strategic plan is not as dangerous as not having fire insurance, but it’s certainly playing with fire.”

The key components of a sound strategic plan are: (a) market analysis; (b) operational review and comparison against performance benchmarks; (c) financial measurement — especially of the sources and uses of funds; and (d) clear-eyed evaluation of governance practices. These four components assure that you have a plan that states clearly your goals and objectives and establishes a broad understanding of expectations.

Remember that an effective strategic plan answers the question: What? The business plan provides the details behind How? When? Who? and Where? The tactical plan outlines the steps that will implement the strategy.

2. Put your strategy to work. Strategy is only as good as the execution that backs it up. Putting strategic goals and objectives into action also requires a plan — one that describes in detail how you and your team will achieve the goals and objectives of the strategic plan.

3. Make sure club leaders and managers understand the plan and how their functional areas are expected to contribute to its success. In 1962, President Kennedy declared, “We will put a man on the Moon in this decade and return him safely to Earth.” Shortly thereafter, while on a tour of the NASA Space Center, the president came upon a janitor mopping the floor. When asked by the President about his job, the janitor responded, “Mr. Kennedy, I am part of the team that is going to put a man on the Moon.” That is plan buy-in and real-life awareness. The lesson: Make believers of your staff.

4. Review your plan’s success. No matter how well-intended a plan might be, careful evaluation and follow-up ensure that the plan remains relevant and purposeful. Another benefit of ongoing evaluation is evolutionary improvement and maximized understanding. Here are three steps to ensure that your plan is working at full capacity:

  • Provide quarterly strategic plan updates. Report your accomplishments and missteps with equal openness. Quarterly updates keep strategy alive in the boardroom and assure members that their board and club management are keeping their promises. Members support trustworthy leadership and trust is built on accountability in your actions.
  • Post a strategic scorecard. After the quarterly update, post the results truthfully and without acclaim. No different that posting your golf score, this is a matter of open accountability for performance. Embrace accountability for your strategic plan’s effectiveness.
  • Produce an annual report. Tell your members what has been accomplished. Align the annual report, as any major corporation would, with the strategic goals and objectives for your business and report on progress toward those goals. Provide members and stakeholders with a succinct summary of the strategic effectiveness of your plan, your board and yourself.

Strategic plans are based on the notion of having a focused plan of action on which all can rely. This step helps to make you and your work more trusted while bringing focus to what makes your facility successful.

One of the more common concerns in many golf courses and clubs is the question of vision or what it really wants to be. A carefully developed strategic plan clearly states who and what you are and establishes a trustworthy foundation for achievements. It shows people that you’re more than just a hat – it’s evidence that you’re bringing the beef.

This article was authored by GGA Partner Henry DeLozier for Golf Course Industry Magazine.

Avoiding a Category Overload

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When was the last time you conducted a thorough review into your membership categories?

GGA’s Bennett DeLozier explains how a streamlining process can help to slim down the number of categories and keep them relevant in today’s marketplace.

“Confusion and clutter are failures of design, not attributes of information” – Edward Tufte

Across North America and Europe a competitive landscape for membership has emerged, with more leisure pursuits competing with one another than ever.

Naturally, club leaders across the world are not sitting back and watching the evolution of customer needs and wants without acting. But while a great deal of this action is well-placed – from the introduction of intermediate and family memberships in North America to flexible membership schemes in Europe – in other instances it is leading to an uninformed inflation of membership categories, creating confusion for customers and an administrative headache for club leaders.

A trail of memberships

It is common for categories to emerge at a particular point in time, often as a reaction to an event, as an attempt to appease a vocal minority, or in an effort to attract a specific new member cohort.

Many clubs react to changes in the market by adding or creating a new membership category to appeal to specific segments. When structured properly, this can be an effective way to cast a wider net and appeal to different audiences. However, when this happens in an unstructured way over a number of years, a club may end up administering upwards of 15 to 20 categories at a time.

More categories mean more discounting, different access, and different privileges. Membership samples per category get smaller, and it becomes too much to administer and too confusing for existing and prospective members alike.

Top-performing clubs have fewer membership categories, largely because they enjoy demand such that members are attracted to them versus the other way around. For others, what should be a set of simple, straightforward membership categories becomes a patchwork quilt, absent of any tangible strategy or current solution to underpin its creation.

Naturally, tackling this issue has its challenges. How do you begin to evaluate and streamline so many categories? How do you negotiate shifting members from one category to another?

Streamlining your categories

Current market intelligence and supporting research is essential to guide this process. Once you understand the current market circumstances and positioning of your club, you can identify where membership categories may need to be realigned to attract future members.

The key is to study internal membership utilization rigorously so you can understand where your club has the capacity to grow. The adjustment of existing categories or development of new ones should be based on creating access and privileges in areas where the club has room to grow, not necessarily where prospective members desire it.

To illustrate the importance of proportionate categories, think about one which has emerged in recent years particularly: the intermediate or young professional category.

Typically offered to those between the ages of 25-35 (with a great deal of variance depending on the club and location), its origins are rooted in the issue of affordability both in dues and initiation fees. This has given way to lower dues, waived initiation fees, or a tiered system based on a particular age bracket.

While the introduction of such a category has been, in most cases, an appropriate tactic, it is one in need of constant analysis. As young intermediate members age into their mid-thirties their lifestyles begin to evolve, so does what they need, want and expect from their club experience.

This poses a challenge to clubs: do you change the existing intermediate category or create a new one to meet evolving demands?

The answer comes back to robust intelligence – intelligence which enables club leaders to get ahead of this challenge long before it makes its way to the doorstep. Intelligence allows you to measure and monitor utilization, enabling category adjustments which match lifestyle changes and market trends.

Moving members

Whether you’re dealing with category overload, wrangling legacy categories that you are looking to streamline, or have members moving up an age category where there are implications to their dues or privileges, at a certain point in time it is necessary to change.

But it’s difficult to change members from one category to another.

Legacy categories can be contentious, as members are unlikely to welcome category change – especially if this means an increase in dues. Club leaders should enter the process with the primary aim of growing where the club has the capacity to grow and a secondary aim of establishing a fair playing field across the membership base.

The best practice approach is to identify categories that have become irrelevant and essentially ‘grandfather’ those members into new categories which fit the room-to-grow bill, allowing them the opportunity to transition into new categories under advantageous terms.

If we look back to our young professional categories, when the time comes for them to move up the ranks to full membership, invest time and attention into the process. Why? Because these members have reached a pinch point, a ‘fight or flight’ moment in their membership tenure. If they decide to progress through to full membership now, the likelihood that they will stay for the long-term increases substantially.

Communicating your product

Before communicating your streamlined categories, club leaders should have answers to the following: Are the current categories relevant? Are they performing financially? Are category offerings causing issues with facility accessibility or compaction of activities? How do they situate within the local market and relative to competitor offerings? What benefits will category changes provide existing members? What benefits will they provide the club?

Once in position to communicate the changes internally, preempt what members will think. The primary concern for them will be, naturally, “How does this impact me?”. But the club’s agenda should also form part of the equation. Communicate how the changes will make the club more attractive to future generations and how they will support the club’s financial sustainability. Although it may feel self-serving, it will help to mitigate any ill-feeling among members by giving clarity and a sense of purpose to the changes.

For the change itself, successful clubs provide the option to transition into a new category that has similar access under favorable terms (such as a lateral move into a new category at no cost; or, upgrading to a higher privilege category at a lower incremental entrance fee compared to that of a new member off the street).

Externally, the focus should be on competitive advantage through value. It’s easy to compete with local competitors on price, but it’s not necessarily advantageous to the club. The best clubs look at ways to establish their competitive advantages by adding new programming and subtle category elements that make the value proposition more attractive. Injecting value is preferable to cutting costs.

Clarity over confusion

A proactive and streamlined approach to membership categories has much to offer: an easy-to-manage administrative process and clarity for existing members, prospective members and the Board.

A review of your membership categories also offers the opportunity to view each through the lens of the future and under the guidance of current research. With membership dues representing a hugely significant revenue component for any club, this process is time well spent.

For guidance on how to revise your club’s membership categories, connect with
Bennett DeLozier.

Change Shows No Sign of Slowing

Date:

If your time to you is worth saving
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’
– The Times They Are A Changin’, Bob Dylan

The songwriter, poet and social observer Bob Dylan warned us about change.  Back in 1964, he said it was a-coming.  Forty-five years later, we are reminded of his prescience.

In private clubs, change has arrived in full force and shows no signs of slowing.  As a new year reveals itself, private club leaders should be alert to change in five key areas affecting their operations.

1.  Economy – A surging economy has helped a number of clubs in North America add members in the last two years. But many experts are forecasting a softer economy in 2019.  According to the Conference Board’s November 2018 report, “Higher interest rates, and the intention of the Federal Reserve to keep raising them into 2019, will create a more challenging environment for business next year.”  That means membership recruitment and retention are still top priorities at most clubs.

Global Golf Advisors estimates that less than seven percent of the 4,400 private clubs in North America are full and working from a waiting list for admission.  Anticipating that the economy may soften, private club leaders must intensify their efforts to recruit new members while giving focused attention to retaining existing ones.

Often the solution is not a price change, but something more creative, such as ones that make the club more personal and relevant to today’s lifestyles.

What are the right moves for your club?  The answers start with knowing your members as well as your prospects and knowing what they value most in a club relationship.  If you don’t know how they define value, ask them.

2.  Delay no longer a strategy – In the heat of the recession, many businesses, including many private clubs, decided to forego capital improvements until times got better. Times got better, but many continued to delay investment.

Now many clubs are playing catch-up on deferred capital improvements. In the process, they’re discovering that new members are attracted to standards of quality that match their personal lifestyles.

That means that improvements to club facilities, programs and staff must reflect a long-term commitment to sustained quality.  Most members want their clubs to be better five years from now and club leaders are obliged to fulfill that expectation.

Club leaders do well to establish a broad standard of excellence for the club.  This is where clubs can truly be “unique,” as everyone like to profess.  The standard of excellence dictates the qualities of fit and finish for the facilities, the style and level of services and the types of recreational programs offered members.

3.  Brand takes on added significance – Private clubs are brands, and just as a particular soft drink, computer or automobile stands for something in consumers’ eyes, so does your club stand for something in the eyes of your members and prospects. Club leaders must develop an intentional branding strategy that sustains the promises on which the club has built its reputation, including course conditions, levels of service and culture.

 For brand planning in a private club, several keys apply:

  • Confirm the club’s potential tax-exempt status to ensure conformity with the U.S. Tax Code;
  • Develop and implement a proactive communications plan that reinforces primary brand pillars, and
  • Remember that the club’s brand is reflected in everything it does . . . and fails to do. Everything communicates.

When making any key decisions about the future of the club, make sure you’re staying true to your brand promise.

4.  Security and privacy concerns are increasing.  In a world rife with cyber threats, private clubs are highly vulnerable targets.  People of means gathered in one easy-to-access vault of names, addresses and possibly financial information constitute an attractive target for those ill-intentioned among us.

Members place their trust in their club to safeguard their privacy.  Break that bond and the consequences could be irreparable.  Club leaders must contract with companies expert in securing their club’s sizeable data storehouse and secure this information.  This threat will expand in 2019 at clubs that are unprepared

5.  Access and affordability of labor is changing clubs. Most clubs surveyed by GGA report increasing direct and indirect labor costs.  Many clubs are outsourcing work through contract-labor arrangements.  Some clubs are securing overseas workers for seasonal needs.  All clubs are evaluating steps to reduce the reliance on accessible labor for routine club services.

In some clubs, self-service is taking hold.  In progressive clubs, new solutions including F&B orders entered on tablets, are reducing head-count.  Some clubs are exploring making the golf halfway house and the tennis and pool snack shacks honor-system facilities, where losses are likely to be less than the labor costs to secure them.

On the flip side of Dylan’s ballad that promised change was a song titled “Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance.”  A new year gives us revived opportunities – one more chance – to get ahead of change.  We better start swimmin’.

This piece was authored by GGA Partner Henry DeLozier for BoardRoom Magazine.

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