Will private clubs exist in 25 years? How about 50 or 100 or 500? Spoiler alert: of course they will! The real question—the critical question—you’ll need to answer is, “will my club be around in 100 years?” That answer, sorry to say, is no. But before you tear up this article and toss it in the trash can, let me explain.
Since the beginning of time, humans have longed for connection. We’ve gathered together. We’ve built communities. We’ve searched for our tribes from the African Serengeti all the way to the online virtual world. Just take a look outside your door. Power lines, telephones lines, fiber optic lines and more have all been built to connect us to one another. You’ve even got a device near you right now that connects you to the entirety of human knowledge that you can unlock with your fingerprint or face.
So, for anyone to say that private clubs won’t exist, or golf is dead, or no one likes to go out anymore, or millennials aren’t interested in a dying industry is simply fear mongering and peddling ignorance. Because as long as a few folks with shared passions or a love of sport wish to connect, they’ll find or build a club to do it. It’s one of mankind’s most basic inclinations.
But will your club exist? More than likely it will not. At least not the way it does today. You’ll need to accept that. No, embrace that!
In addition to connection, humans love progress. We love evolution. We love to push the boundaries and test our limits. There’s no better example than the Olympic Games. Year after year, athletes break all kinds of unimaginable records. Over and over, they run faster, jump higher and travel farther.
As a leader, you hold a great responsibility to push your organization to be more than it is today. Your job is to take the great club you already have and make it something unimaginably more. Visionary leaders don’t accept the status quo. They are proactive. They think nimbly. They act decisively. They have a picture in their mind’s eye of what’s to come.
What Your Club Will Need to Do to Stay Relevant
There are three critical ways in which clubs must evolve in order to remain relevant and become, as private club luminary Michael Crandal, CNG, so elegantly puts it, “your members very favorite place to be.”
- Focus your efforts on connection
- Take security seriously
- Find ways to engage members even when they can’t walk through the door
Focus on Connection
As mentioned, humans crave connection. After food and shelter, it’s the next most important human need. Being the place to make connections is the secret sauce that makes a great private club.
In a world that is increasingly lived online, the next generations may have very little chance to connect one-on-one in person. Clubs will become a sacred space to forge those bonds. That’s where the true value of the club is—not the golf course or that new outdoor dining space. Those are the means to an end. The end game is connection.
The number one reason members resign is not financial. It’s not because they age out either. It’s a lack of meaningful connection. There are many clubs with members who are too old to golf, yet still come every day. Why? Because the club is fulfilling their desire to connect and form bonds with other like-minded individuals.
How can you introduce members to each other? How can you “break the ice” for new members and get them sewn into the fabric of the club? How can you forge more social interaction? That should be priority number one as you think about the long-term vision of your club.
You might consider a business networking group, a new member mixer where tenured members get paired up with newbies or a mentorship program to get members introduced to each other more intimately. Any new ways you can foster connection within the club will pay long term dividends.
Take Security Seriously
The news is filled with horrific stories. On any given evening, you’ll hear of mass shootings, car jackings and various other misdeeds. While studies can show that the world is actually getting much safer, there’s often a pervasive feeling that the world is becoming an increasingly dangerous place. Clubs can capitalize on this and spin it for their benefit. The ones who do will succeed.
Many clubs are behind a gate. That’s a selling point for them. However, many others are not. Many times, you can walk right into a club—even in Manhattan and other major cities—without so much as a second look. You could walk into just about any golf course around the world without even being greeted at the front door. Yes, even Platinum-level clubs. That’s alarming.
The most important, most affluent, most influential folks in the community and their families are frequently members or guests of clubs. If there was ever a target, it’s them. Clubs need to take their protection seriously. Video surveillance, key card access and staffed entrances should be looked at as an investment, not an expense. When prospective members see the ways in which a club takes their security seriously, they’ll value that.
Every club should have a professional audit from a security organization and consider security a vital part of its master plan. And remember, members’ cyber protection is just as important as their physical protection.
For additional resources, see the summer 2017 issue of Club Trends, “Security Challenges for Private Clubs.”
The Club Is Not Four Walls
American Express® emails its Platinum card members each month whether they use the card or not. Their emails explain or remind customers of all the benefits that they have as cardholders. For instance, one email might highlight the $200 baggage credit they have with airlines. Another might detail the hundreds of airport lounges that card members have access to around the world, or the $15 in Uber credit they receive each month. On and on it goes. When benefits are explained like this, their $495 annual fee seems more than justified. It’s magic.
As technology continues to advance, our world will become more and more online-experience based. If your club is going to exist in 100 years, members will need to interact with it from outside its walls. Clubs can start doing some things right now to get there.
For instance, clubs—especially city clubs—should consider live streaming their events. When there is an author, speaker, comedian or entertainer that comes to the club, let members access the event online. It’s easy and affordable. At a minimum, a private Facebook group for the members will give them exclusive access. Many of your members travel often for business. As such, they miss some of the club events because they can’t physically be there. How cool would it be if they could log on and participate from their hotel room?
Does your club have an ongoing email series like the Amex example above? Why not? You probably have a reciprocal club network, strategic partnerships and more. Showcase them. Let your members know that dividing golf rounds by monthly dues is not how membership value is measured.
If you don’t have these benefits, get out there and form some relationships. Stuart Finlay, a club manager in Wales, has approached boutique hotel chains in his area and secured discounts for his members at all their locations. What a great value-add for members who travel! Go to your local sports teams, theaters, theme parks and other attractions and work out deals for exclusive, behind-the-scenes access. Once you have these relationships in place, get the email series up and running. Don’t forget, you can even use email to introduce members to each other. Showcase one member each month to show how special and connected members are to each other.
Time for Action
It’s time to take what you’ve read and put it into action. If you can manage to accomplish these three key differentiators during your tenure, your club won’t exist in a few years. It will be something utterly and completely more remarkable. You’ll shatter today’s “world records.” It will truly become your members’ very favorite place to be.
Gabriel Aluisy is the founder of The Private Club Agency and author of The Definitive Guide to Membership Marketing and Moving Targets: Creating Engaging Brands in an On-Demand World. Aluisy hosts the weekly “Private Club Radio Show,” the industry’s premier podcast dedicated to private club education. You can reach him at 813-344-4769 or [email protected].
This excerpt was adapted from the book, The ABC’s of Plutonium Private Club Leadership by Michael Crandal, CNG and Gabriel Aluisy. Learn more at plutonium.club.