Your club has ‘customers’, not members

As we are aware, KPMG released figures recently stating 42,700 members left UK and Irish golf clubs in 2011. If you divide that by the number of clubs in the British Isles (currently 2,900) and work on an average subscription charge of £600, each club is losing 15 members a year, which is approximately £9,000 a year in subs. So how are golf clubs intending to address this big problem?

The answer is eluding me although clubs do have many golfing bodies to turn to in the UK for support from county and regional to national organisations. To their credit, these key organisations perform sterling work but their approach to marketing the qualities of UK golf clubs seems rather disjointed, the message seems to have got lost on its way to UK golfers. If the message continues to be lost I predict some 60,000 golfers leaving UK clubs by the end of 2012!

The current economic climate has not helped UK clubs. However many clubs (especially private members’) have done little to assist themselves in moving their clubs forward. Many clubs have unknowingly chosen the route of self destruction. Few are prepared to change and we all know if you do the same old thing, you get the same old results!

Those clubs that try to change lose sight of value as they think cutting costs is the way to save their golf club. In fact it’s the opposite that should be happening. Market your club with a marketing plan!

From my visits to many clubs around the country those clubs that have adopted a successful strategy have at least a five-year business plan in place which has been based on canvassing members’ opinions. They run their golf club as a business not as an old boys’ club handing out jobs on the committees for their mates.

Successful clubs utilise social media to market their message to the masses. Clubs that are stagnating struggle to comprehend the power of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or LinkedIn.

If you look at the most successful businesses on the high street and online these days the one name that stands out and bucks the trend of doom and gloom is John Lewis. I appreciate very few clubs will turn into a John Lewis-type of business, however much can be gained from adopting some of its principles.

So with this in mind, why don’t you consider your members as customers? Treat your members as not just a means of balancing the books at the end of your financial year but respect their wishes as customers. Customer care is of paramount importance, without it you face a difficult time. By just offering a warm and friendly welcome will leave a lasting impression on any golfer and that’s before you play golf and savour the hospitality of the clubhouse!

Build your business plan around their opinions and aspirations. Listen to what they have to say and react to their concerns – why not even offer all customers a share of the club when they join? You could even go as far to offer shares to the staff – this way everybody owns a share of their club and you’ll know the more proactive they all are this will lead to greater success of the club and all will benefit. John Lewis’ tag line ‘of never knowingly undersold’ has worked well over the years. I recently purchased an item from John Lewis and when I checked the receipt, I noticed I had been overcharged. I was not only given the difference back I was also given a further amount of money as a gesture of goodwill. What gestures of goodwill are offered at UK clubs these days if you happen to receive a complaint / unhappy customer?

Membership and retention is a key area that most UK clubs are extremely concerned with. In general, flourishing clubs have many categories of membership to promote while just one-category-clubs are floundering. Customer clubs offer flexible membership to meet their customers’ needs! Establishing categories based on the amount golfers wish to play is the way forward although it takes a leap of faith for traditional clubs to change direction. More golf clubs should review how health clubs operate and offer similar types of memberships. If UK clubs adopted a similar strategy I believe fewer members would leave golf clubs.

Of course it’s not just categories of membership that need to be addressed. Make sure your club has an identity! Ask yourself what identity your club has and is it being reflected to your customers and the wider community? Is your club a friendly-family-customer-orientated-club or are you part of the crusty brigade?

Review what you offer at your club – if it’s just golf you offer you may have a problem. Add other services and facilities to your club if you’re able to. They don’t all have to be costly. Open the club to outside functions (dinners, discos, meetings and so on), get a licence to conduct wedding services in your grounds and offer a nature walk to local schools and the community. If funds are available, go down the American country club route – tennis courts, swimming pools, gyms, crèche and so on. All of this variety will further encourage a greater interest in your club and will assist in securing further customers.

Contact the local Chamber of Commerce and establish a relationship. Promote your club at business breakfast meetings and sell the advantages of becoming a customer at your club. Invite local business leaders or council leaders to your club for a showround and build a relationship. This will open doors and may lead to a successful sponsorship relationship over many years!

To conclude – treat your members as customers, regularly review the customer service you offer at your club, survey your customers frequently and give them what they want and not what you want to give them. Respect their views, they will respect you and the club more for it and remember the golf business is a leisure business. Draconian rules are not required and don’t encourage golfers to join or play at your club. Rules are for Victorian workhouses, prisons or schools – policies are better and it sends out a friendly message to potential customers – after all your club needs income.

Golfers want to relax and enjoy their golf when they are at your club; give them the ultimate customer experience every time they visit your club, create the customer relationship, maintain the customer relationship, market the customer relationship and strengthen your customer relationships. I’m sure if you club moves in this direction, you will be pleasantly surprised with the outcome!

Karl Hayler FPGA is the Founder of Whiteball Marketing which co-creates visionary marketing solutions with golf clubs and offers corporate tournament event management. Email:info@whiteballmarketing.co.uk