Long-term strategic planning is at the heart of every club’s ability to prepare for the future. Unfortunately, saying that a strategic plan is important and knowing how to actually create one that meets the needs of your specific club are two very different things.
Establishing a strategic plan is a difficult task, but clubs can help organize and facilitate the process with the use of a relatively simple tool: the Strategy Tree. A Strategy Tree helps to link the root purpose of a strategic plan with the plan’s overall goal, and provides an easy tool for measuring progress.
Before clubs can establish a long-range plan for the future, they must first identify where they stand today. A few (deceptively) simple questions can help clubs organize their thoughts and provide a jumping off point for management and board members. Though asking the basic “Why, what, who and how” questions may seem like unnecessary, elementary steps, they are invaluable tools for putting a strategic plan into perspective, and they serve as the basis of the strategy tree:
- Why does the club exist? Asking the club to pin down and identify its unique purpose can help to clarify the characteristics that make your club unique. Though every club serves its members, each club’s member base and service culture creates an exclusive, tailored experience based on goals and clientele. Does your club strive to create an exclusive dining environment in a metropolitan area, or does it seek to offer a variety of leisure and recreation activities and dining in a family-friendly environment?
- What is your club’s value proposition? Answering this question focuses more on defining member service. What aspects of your club’s services or offerings clearly differentiate it from the competition? One club might offer truly unique value-added services like specialty spa treatments or dining featuring guest celebrity chefs, while another club might boast an incredible golf course or tennis program. These unique selling points are what draws members in–and keeps them coming back.
- Who are you trying to serve? Determining the unique market segment that comprises your club’s target members is crucial to strategic planning. Clubs should be highly specific when defining their target market, and should be mindful of all of the different components that define a specific demographic. Does your club target young professionals with families, or does it instead focus on retirees? Clubs should look at their top three or four target segments by identifying those members most likely to be of high, recurring value.
- How do you know you succeed? Establishing key membership and financial targets–and determining how far you are from reaching them–is key. Developing a system that evaluates member satisfaction, how likely members are to recommend other, new members, and establishing how often current members use the club, will help to measure a club’s success. Clubs should also make note of additional member expenditures, such as pro-shop items, meals, and spa services purchased, to help determine what mix of club offerings and member services is most effective at generating club use.
Now that your club has identified answers to these questions, it can work on forming it’s Strategy Tree in order to help guide clubs through the strategic planning process and the growth that accompanies its implementation. The Strategy Tree can be used to promote discussion on the issues most critical to your club’s success, and can help foster consensus and alignment on main club priorities by providing the big picture on one little page.