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Most clubs that want more members already have them, briefly. They join, play twice, find nobody to play with, and do not renew. So the work starts with the members you are losing, and only then with finding new ones.
Find out why members leave
Ask everybody who does not renew one question: what would have kept you? A short email, sent by a person rather than the club, gets an answer more often than a survey.
The answers are usually the same few: nobody to play with at my level, could not get a court, felt like an outsider. Each of those has a fix, and every one of them also helps the next newcomer.
Make the club easy to find
Somebody looking for a club searches for one near them, finds your website or your listing on a map, and decides in a minute. Make that minute work:
- A website that answers the first questions. When you play, what it costs, how to join, and a name to ask.
- Your club on the map. A business listing with your opening hours, a few photos of people playing and a link to the website.
- An answer within a day. An enquiry that waits a week has usually joined somewhere else.
Run an open day that signs people up
An open day is worth running when it ends with names on a list. Pick a time when the courts would otherwise be quiet, and plan the whole visit from arrival to joining.
Before the day
- A date and time, on the website and the map listing, at least three weeks ahead
- Posters at local schools, libraries and the leisure centre
- A coach or two experienced members booked to run taster sessions
- Rackets and balls to borrow
On the day
- Someone at the gate to say hello and take each visitor round
- Short taster sessions on the hour, grouped by standard
- A sign-up sheet asking for a name, an email and permission to contact them
- An offer for joining on the day, such as a first-year rate
The week after
- An email to every visitor within two days, with how to join
- A personal invitation to the next club night or beginners’ session
Bring-a-friend and taster offers
Most new members arrive because somebody they know already plays. A bring-a-friend evening, or a free first visit for a member’s guest, turns your members into the club’s best advertising. Keep the guest’s name and email, with their permission, and follow up the same way as an open day visitor.
Give newcomers a way in
The first month decides whether a new member stays. Give each one three things:
- A named person to ask, who checks in after the first week.
- A regular game. A place in a box league, a ladder or a club night, so there is always somebody to play.
- A reason to come back. The date of the next social, a beginners’ course, or a coaching session at their level.
Every member kept is one you do not have to find.
Juniors bring families
The parent watching a junior coaching session is the easiest new adult member there is. Offer parents a session of their own at the same time, or a family membership that makes the second membership cheap. Plenty of adult members started by waiting for their children.
Keep them past the first year
The riskiest renewal is a member’s first one. A month before it, ask how the year went and what would make the next one better. A member who has been asked is more likely to renew than one who only gets a bill.
Filed under Membership and money · Every sport