Do they fully understand that they are in the dues business? Membership dues are approximately 70 percent of all revenue generated by private golf and country clubs. Check your records to establish how much has been budgeted for membership replacement. Has this operational cost” ever been the top priority at your club? Using $7,000 per year in dues and the average membership life span of 14 years, my math tells me a member is worth $98,000 minimum. How much would you invest to buy $98,000 in value?
Now let’s go to Phase Two of the dues business. It’s called marketing and sales. Do you have a sales force? A membership director or manager? Normally member-owned and managed golf and country clubs have an appointed or volunteer membership chairman.
This rarely works because the pay is zero and the results are usually zero as well. Membership people on the payroll in general have a poor track record because the “don’t kill the job” union mentality is there. Do a good job and you are out of a job.
Salary plus commission works better providing the salary is low and the commission is high. General managers in charge of sales are a disaster. They’re too bottom-line conscious. The best system of all is to hire people on a straight commission.
At the present time, many golf and country clubs are running scared. They are having fire sales to acquire new members. In essence, they are telling their marketplace they are in trouble. Buyers are always leery when a price is low.
Clubs are running ads that don’t sell nor motivate prospects. Advertising agencies’ use of clever verbiage, designs more to impress their peers or competitors just don’t sell. Unfortunately, the clubs paying for these ads don’t know the difference.
There is a simple sales strategy that has been successful for centuries: Create a need. Create a reason to buy.
Don’t blame your current problems on the economy. What is happening now is an accumulation and culmination of many mistakes made over the years. Member owned and managed clubs are the biggest victims and violators. Leadership, I truly believe, is sincere, honest and dedicated. But the biggest flaw is inexperience in running a golf or country club Volunteers don’t get paid. They never fire other volunteers and when a volunteer knows what he or she is doing, they get resistance. Take it from someone who knows.
Do you agree with Hall’s opinion? What strategies have you found work for membership recruitment at your club? Do you believe that a professional sales staff is a must in today’s difficult selling climate? Share your opinions with us now.