One of the first questions a new member will ask is which club they should join. Sometimes this is determined by the proximity of the club, the training schedule, the coach, the community, or the benefits the club offers. More often than not, it’s a combination of these things, and how much weight a new member will give to each consideration will depend on what they value.
That’s right – we’re talking member value.
We can all appreciate the importance of offering value to members in exchange for their hard earned money and their precious time. Continuously demonstrating value to our members is the easiest way to keep them engaged and retain them, as well as attract new members who simply do not want to miss out. This is exactly why retaining member benefits exclusively to members is so important. By offering those benefits to people outside of the club, membership is devalued. If anyone can access the benefits, why pay for membership?
This month I have been working with the North Coast Triathlon Club on servicing their members as they have decided to refine the access to their club member page on Facebook. Their membership page had blown out to over 800 members, which is significantly more than the club’s 2020/21 membership. While this might seem like a small issue, the result is that access to their club community is open to any and all, regardless of whether that individual has purchased a membership. That is one less value point they can offer to current or prospective members, making selling memberships more difficult than it needs to be. It also means that any member benefits posted in that group can be seen and accessed by all. If the club wanted to offer a discount to a sponsoring business, it can’t use this channel to communicate it without risking a larger group accessing it, and a business looking to help out is going to be less likely to offer a substantial discount to 800 potential customers, than they are to 200 or so.
This is an easy fix for the club – simply archive the old group (it will still exist on Facebook, but will no longer be active or usable). Then start a new one, inviting only current members. The difficulty will come next year in removing old members and adding new, but if managed well and the upkeep is done regularly, this should not be an arduous task. If it is too much, they can simply archive and repeat.
But this concept extends to all member benefits, perhaps most notably trainings. If a club is allowing non-members to train with the club and access the benefits of the community and the coaches the club has developed and invested in, then what are the members accessing that is above and beyond the general public? Beyond this, non-members at club trainings raises insurance risk issues, but that’s a topic for another day.
We love hearing about and helping with initiatives our clubs have implemented that have helped them improve the culture, operations, or general club life. Does your club have a great initiative worth sharing? We’d love to hear about it and share how it could help other clubs in WA, so let us know!
