In our last post, Upgrade Your Club — Part I, we discussed some low-cost improvements that can be made to keep your club profitable in an increasing competitive leisure industry.
There are, of course, more substantial improvements that, while they demand a bit more of a commitment, are necessary to keep your club as profitable as possible. Though these improvements carry a higher-up-front cost, the ROI, if properly executed, will be well worth it. Take a look at some of our favorite ideas.
Elevate your talent.
Many clubs rely on the cheapest help they can find for their entry-level positions. A high school kid whose parents are making him work during his summer vacation probably isn’t all that serious about his job and may not provide the level of service that your guests expect.
However, these are often the positions that your guests encounter first when arriving at your club (valet parking or pro shop point of sale for example). Older, career-minded employees will be more expensive, but they’ll represent your club the way you’d like it to be represented.
Fix it right.
Your facilities are exposed to hundreds of guests every week and Mother Nature’s wrath all year. Hinges break. Paint peels. Steps fall apart. It’s tempting to throw a quick, cheap patch on the problem. Eventually, the patches start to add up and the facilities begin to look shoddy.
Hire an expert and repair the problem correctly — you’ll end up saving money in the long run.
Add year-round attractions.
This is especially important if your club is in an area that gets a lot of snow. There are a couple ways to do this.
You can add indoor facilities such as a fitness room or a golf simulator that will stay open all year. The less expensive approach would be to adapt your outdoor facilities to winter.
Cross country skiing is extremely popular and can be added to a golf course relatively inexpensively. Ice skating is also a possibility, but you’ll need consistently cold winters to ensure safety.
Attract a younger crowd.
Not only do younger guests bring in more revenue, they ensure your club will have members in the future. You’ll need to make your club easy for young people to find by using the tools that are popular with a younger generation.
- Make sure your club website is modern and easy to use.
- Build a presence on social media and hire someone to continually update it.
- Lastly, automate your email marketing program and target millennials with your email campaigns.
Automate management.
Modern club management software improves every aspect of club management and increases your efficiency dramatically.
A comprehensive club management system ties your departments together and puts all your data into a single database for more accurate inventory, ordering, and reporting.
Detailed reporting provides a bird’s-eye view of your operations to increase efficiency in every area of your operation, and individual programs simplify everyday tasks and eliminate human error.
Start making improvements, one at a time.
Some upgrades require a bit of an up-front investment but pay for themselves many times in a short period. With increasing competition in the leisure industry, you need to constantly analyze each area of your club to see where improvements can be made. With periodic improvements, your club will stay profitable well into the future.