Everett Golf & Country Club is a private, member-owned country club located in Everett, Washington, 30 miles north of Seattle. The Club offers a full-service private club experience with golf, swimming and fitness programs, locally infused culinary offerings and a wide range of social programming for all ages.
CHALLENGE
Everett Golf & Country Club was experiencing slightly declining membership growth over the past few years. This was attributable to new member acquisition struggling to keep pace with annual attrition of approximately 10%. This small gap from year to year resulted in a decreasing membership base each year, with no reversal in sight.
With over 700 members and a slightly higher industry attrition rate, Everett Golf & Country Club struggled to keep pace with those members leaving each year. The challenges lie in how to continue to recruit approximately 70 new members AND reduce the number of resignations annually.
SOLUTION
Creative Golf Marketing identified three specific areas that needed to be addressed for the outcome Everett Golf & Country Club was looking for. These included an effort to reduce the current sale list, increase member participation/engagement in the membership process and a more comprehensive approach to marketing the club.
Due to our collaborative efforts which were bolstered by a strong management team and membership sales professional in place at the Club, we designed a comprehensive marketing plan, which included customized communications and strategies to engage club members to get involved in the club’s membership growth efforts. We also designed and produced appropriate marketing collaterals and distributed them utilizing multiple channels of print and digital communication.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Due to our collaborative efforts, we achieved the following results:
In only four months, Everett Golf & Country Club welcomed nearly 100 new families in all categories.
Even more impressive is one-third of the new families introduced to the club were under the age of 40.
New Intermediate Golf memberships practically doubled and increased the number of potential life-long members.
A decrease in the number of members on the sales list, as well as a larger pipeline of intermediate members to ultimately convert to full golf membership in the future.
“Working with the entire team at CGM was like having my own marketing agency at my fingertips which allowed me to focus on the daily tasks involved with building relationships and following up with a large number of prospective candidates. Their strategies were very successful in keeping our members energized and engaged while providing the marketing resources which resulted in nearly 100 new memberships.”
EDDY CARRELL, MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR EVERETT GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB
FINAL WORD
Despite various challenges, including very wet and cold weather patterns in February, March and April (more so than what they were accustomed to), Everett Golf & Country Club was able to re-establish a positive trend regarding membership growth and reverse the cycle of attrition outpacing new member acquisition.
By taking a proactive stance on growing membership, Everett Golf & Country Club have positioned themselves for more success in the future.
If you would like assistance perfecting your current Membership Marketing Plan, or if you would like more information on how to design a plan for 2020 from scratch, please Click here or call (800) 526-8794 and we can start today.