By Diana Mirel, Contributing Editor
Being a new member of a club can be a bit intimidating. To ensure that its new members feel immediately welcome, the Denver Country Club in Denver, Colo., launched an extensive outreach initiative for new members, to give them an immediate sense of community and service, while also providing valuable feedback to the club.
Within the first two weeks of membership, General Manager Patrice Piralla invites new members to a lunch with him, the club President, Golf Pro, Superintendent, Athletic Director and Communications Manager. At the lunch, the team discusses the history of the club, the programs available, and the do’s and don’ts of the clubhouse.
Piralla then takes new members on an all-encompassing clubhouse tour and introduces them to the rest of the management team. At the end of the day, new members receive a gift package with certificates for brunch, golf and tennis lessons, fitness evaluations, bottles of wine, and logoed club gear.
Another important part of the club’s new-member initiative is the 90-day follow-up survey. Sent to members 90 days after they join the club, the survey allows members to rank their experiences at the club, including the social offerings, the food-and-beverage services, and recreation.
The idea for this survey stemmed from Club Managers Association of America research data that found new members determine their loyalty within the first 90 days of joining a club. “The first 90 days is when new members use the club the most; they are excited to be here,” says Piralla.
THE GOAL: Help new Denver CC members smoothly integrate into the club, while also ensuring that they continue to utilize the club and develop a sense of loyalty.
THE PLAN: Implement a welcome initiative that includes a new member lunch and orientation, and a 90-day new-member survey. Denver CC also sends a one-year survey to each member after their first full year at the club.
THE PAYOFF: One hundred percent of new members have participated in the 90-day survey, and the club has made changes in services and operations, based on new-member feedback.
The survey is designed for the club to find ways to ensure that new members stay enthusiastic about the club and continue to use it. “If they stay excited about the club, it also helps drive revenue for us, because they’ll want to bring friends and guests, and they’ll want to go to all the events,” says Piralla.
In the first year of conducting the survey, 100 percent of the club’s new members participated. And the overwhelming response has allowed new members to have a direct impact on different club services and events. For example, through the survey, one new member suggested that the club start labeling gluten-free foods in the buffet line. The food-and-beverage team agreed that this was important for members on restricted diets, and gluten-free labeling is now part of each buffet.
“One of the goals of the survey is to continually improve services for our members,” says Piralla. “Every time we get suggestions from members, we really listen, and we do what we can to do better. This makes members feel good—and feel like part of the club.”
To prepare for each “Mirasol Feud” event, the club collected answers for the game by sending out e-mail surveys two months in advance.
Friendly Feud
By Brandi Shaffer, Associate Editor
The concept of “game night” is nothing new—families across the country have gathered around board games for decades, strengthening their bond through healthy competition, while learning about one another in the process and, of course, having fun.
When looking for ideas to keep members entertained and generate high member satisfaction, The Country Club at Mirasol in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., sought to extend America’s love of games to the club. Taking its cue from a well-loved television game show with an all-adult spin, “Mirasol Feud” was born.
Modeled after “Family Feud,” which has been on the air for 30 non-consecutive seasons with a slew of different hosts, Mirasol’s version, which has now been held on three separate occasions with an average of 140 participants each time, followed other successful game nightoriented ventures for the club, including Trivia Night and “Name That Tune.”
The Mirasol “Feud” wasn’t thrown together on a whim, however. To get the group survey answers on which the game is based from its membership, the club planned well in advance, sending out questions via e-mail two months before one of the events was to be held. Advanced planning and consideration are precisely what has made the event a success, with wellcrafted survey questions and good response (Mirasol regularly received about a 20% return on the surveys).
THE GOAL: Keep members of The CC at Mirasol entertained and generate high member satisfaction.
THE PLAN: Noting the success of game nights such as trivia and “Name That Tune,” the club added “Mirasol Feud,” another social event that also tested how well players could predict survey responses from fellow members.
THE PAYOFF: With an average of 140 participants each of the three times the club has offered the game, the club’s latest “game night” iteration is a resounding success.
“The key is really in the questions you send out,” reports Clubhouse Manager Joe Gamlin. “You need questions that get different answers, rather than ones that tend to be answered the same by all.”
After gathering answers to prompts like “Name something a man had better not take along on his honeymoon” (the top response for that question was “mother,” followed by “girlfriend” and “work”), the club divides members who sign up for each “Feud” event into teams of up to eight players. Each participant contributes $5, which is later split 70/30 between the first- and second-place teams, based on points earned during five rounds with five questions each.
INSTANT IDEA
- To give members a safe and secure way to dispose of any mail or documents they wish, Belle Meade Country Club in Nashville, Tenn., hosted a Shred-It Day. The club called a local disposal company to send a truck for a few hours and invited the membership to stop by.
Unlike the television show, members write down their responses during the competition, rather than say them out loud. “We talked about trying it live—but as you can imagine with 150-plus attending, it wouldn’t really work,” Gamlin says.
“If you think about what you are really trying to accomplish, you have to get everyone involved the whole time,” he adds. “Otherwise, they could just watch the show on TV.
“It really boils down to a night out with friends that isn’t the ‘same-old same-old,’ ” Gamlin says.
Between each round, the club markets other events. The event is paired with a buffet dinner, and in all, the festivities typically last an hour and a half.
“Member satisfaction is hard to put a price on, and you can price out the event however you want to create your margins,” Gamlin notes. “We charge $29.95 and include house wine—that always helps people have more fun.”
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.