As advances in health care continue to extend life expectancies, there's also been progress in dispelling the myths about what older people can—and can't—do.
Like the one that says older folks can't learn to make good use of the Internet. If you're still buying into that one (or any others that typecast people over 60 as inactive and resistant to change), you need to check out what's happening at Plantation Golf & Country Club in Venice, Fla.
When Barry McDonald came to Plantation as its new Club Manager two years ago, he immediately began to implement new ways to make communications with the club's over 2,100 members more immediate and more effective. "I hooked us into an automated calling system that allows me to record and send out a personalized message to the entire membership within minutes," he reports, "in case there's a hurricane warning or any other urgent message."
But for regular communications about club activities and events, McDonald continued to rely on that old club standard, the printed and mailed monthly newsletter—with maybe an occasional flyer mixed in for some "special" alerts. He now admits he was reluctant to switch this aspect of club communications to a more immediate, electronic format, because he didn't think the Plantation membership—with an average age of 71.5 years old—would fully embrace e-mail alerts or make a habit of checking the club Web site.
"I was skeptical that too many of our members were just not ready for online communication— and I didn't know if they ever would be, because of their age," he recalls.
The more McDonald looked at Plantation's existing Web site, however, the more he didn't like what he was seeing. "It was disgustingly outdated, just not well-presented at all," he says. "It was more than terrible—it was embarrassing, to the point where I wanted to shut it off."
That led McDonald to have a discussion last fall with the people at MembersFirst, the Wayland, Mass.-based company that specializes in providing interactive Web site application and communication management services to clubs. Because MembersFirst had been providing basic hosting services for the Plantation site, McDonald admits that the "discussion" began with a rather hostile tone, as he felt the vendor was largely responsible for the site's sorry state.
But the people at MembersFirst pointed out that to date, they had only been given the opportunity to provide technical services to Plantation, and had nothing to do with site content. They proposed that Plantation move from a supplier relationship to a true partnership, by upgrading to "managed services." Under managed services, MembersFirst communication specialists would work with McDonald and his staff to coordinate and implement all member communications and site updates.
Here, too, McDonald says he had his doubts, because of his nagging belief that no matter how slick MembersFirst might be able to help him make the site, Plantation members wouldn't embrace it and use it enough to justify the added cost of the upgraded service. But not seeing any better alternative, he decided to challenge MembersFirst by setting what he now calls a "ridiculous" timeline—four weeks to not only get the site transformed, but also to get members using it enough to generate increased activity for upcoming club events, including a 25th Anniversary Gala that was just a month away.
Happily Eating His Words
Just two months after that initial "discussion," McDonald was already more than happy to declare he had clearly been wrong about several things. "I truly felt we were a leader in delivering information to our membership, but I now realize we weren't even close," he says. By dedicating an account representative, Robin Michael, and a project manager, Dan Stepchew, to work closely with McDonald's staff to plan and post content, MembersFirst has dramatically transformed the look and content of the Plantation site (www.plantationgc.com)—to the point, McDonald says,where it is already "the buzz" among club membership and "a source of pride that they show their family and friends."
Better yet, the members want to use the site, and also have e-mail communications about club happenings sent to them as often as possible. MembersFirst has already transformed Plantation's printed monthly newsletter into an e-mail version and developed an "e-bulletin" format for updates around the regular issues. Reception has been overwhelmingly positive. "We now have nearly 90% of our members receiving professionally presented information on a daily basis," McDonald reports.
And what about the additional costs tied to the upgrade to a "managed services" account? That's proving to be peanuts, McDonald says, when compared to what it had been costing to print and mail monthly newsletters.Note his use of the past tense—McDonald is already so convinced electronic newsletters are the way to go, he's cut back print runs by half. And most of those will only be distributed within the club; because such a huge percentage of the membership has already indicated its preference for the electronic versions, only a handful of newsletters will now get mailed out. The net savings from reduced printing and postage, even when the cost of expanded electronic services are factored in? McDonald looks to reclaim nearly $15,000 over the first year.
Much more importantly, McDonald says that providing information to members in a more immediate and effective format has already led to significantly higher participation levels for club events—especially the 25th Anniversary Gala.
"It was our biggest party ever, with over 1,200 attending," he reports. "Overall I've seen a tremendous jump in participation that's the primary explanation for our revenues being up 20%- 25% over the same levels a year ago."
McDonald is also excited over the recent results, using the club's enhanced e-mail capabilities, from Plantation's first foray into online proxy voting. "All clubs have difficulties getting quorums or scrambling to get enough votes," he reports. "But after we sent out online ballots, we got over 100 responses back on the first day."
Members can now also review their statements online, "right down to who had the iced tea and who had the Jack Daniels," McDonald says.He's so sold on the full range of possibilities for his new electronic village that he's determined to eventually achieve 100% member buy-in, no matter how much personal effort is required. "I'm focusing on those few who are still [resisting]," he says. "I've told them I'll buy them equipment, if
that's what it takes, and I'll come personally to their house to install it and show them how to use it. If I've learned one thing over the past few months, it's that there's no stumbling block to this that can't be overcome." C&RB
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