Retention of members is the key to success in the club industry. Common knowledge. The key is to keep yourself on the same page as your members in terms of member expectations. Identify and establish those expectations and you can clearly quantify your success, page by page.
This process can be broken down into categories like Tennis, Golf, Fitness, Pro Shops, and even Food and Beverage. And, within each category, smaller areas of focus can be identified as well. For the purpose of this article, let’s zoom in on tennis, specifically your on-court programming, both social and instructional.
Before starting, let’s discuss some of the common problems you might be facing at your facility. First, there’s the question of training staff and ensuring consistency of lessons for your members from one tennis pro to the other. Second, there is the question of how you stack up to your competition. In this article I will share the concept of developing a mission statement that I helped develop for an indoor club in the Midwest (name withheld intentionally but the information is being shared with their consent). Publishing a mission statement similar to this one and broadcasting it clearly and broadly tells your members the following:
1. You have thought deeply about your standards and are committed to maintain them.
2. Your members will also know what to expect – no surprises, fewer complaints.
3. You are committed to training and maintaining standards among your staff.
One other benefit is not to be overlooked. The mission statement sends a clear message to your staff and helps them feel part of a strong and vibrant team that is commitment to excellence. But, remember that it is critical, make that mission critical, to get your staff on board and to wholeheartedly agree to the standards you publish. Get your staff on the same page first to help ensure your success.
I suggest starting with a brief introductory paragraph that could read something like this: “The entire tennis staff at Your Club is committed to meeting and exceeding your expectations. To help us reach these goals and to help you know what to expect, we want to describe our commitment. We hope you will agree that this list of standards meets or exceeds the qualities of any tennis program in the country.”
1. Continuity - We are dedicated to maintaining consistency among our staff through extensive and ongoing training, based on the newest research and current playing trends.
2. Confidence – We believe your confidence and self-esteem is critical to improving as a player and enjoying your tennis. We are here to help you feel good about the time you spend at your club.
3. Accelerated learning – Through active use of visual and kinesthetic aids, we believe your tennis improvement is accelerated. We are commitment to using the best tools available.
4. Guarantee – All lessons are guaranteed. If you participate in a private or group lesson that does not meet your expectations, that session will be free of charge.
5. Safety and Facilities – We are committed to maintaining a safe, clean, and well-maintained environment at all times and welcome suggestions to maintain those standards.
6. Recognition – We will make every effort to equally recognize and appreciate player participation as well as success through our bulletin boards and club newsletters.
7. Fun – Enjoyment is a key element to all private and group classes. After all, tennis is a game. We believe that smiles and laughter must be present in all on-court experiences with our staff.
8. Exercise – One of the benefits of an active sport like tennis is that there is a healthy exercise component. We are dedicated to making certain that the exercise is appropriate to your needs and desires. Not too much and not too little.
9. Friends – We all know that the social element of tennis is one of the magical elements of this great sport. We will do everything possible to help you make and meet friends you can play with.
10. Family – Whenever possible we want to arrange programs that encourage family members to learn together and play together.
Then, you can close with a statement like this, “Thank you for being a part of the Your Club family!”
In a time and environment where over five million players are trying tennis for the first time each year, it is imperative that we all take steps to keep those players playing. I hope this article helps identify one more aspect of player retention that will help ensure the stability and growth of this wonderful sport of ours we call tennis.