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By Kyle Darbyson
Though arduous, Elizabeth Manor Golf & Country Club is leveraging the lost art of personalized correspondence with hand-picked prospects to boost membership
Personal letters are a rarity these days, but to Joe Meagher, they’re an invaluable marketing tool. The general manager of Elizabeth Manor Golf & Country Club in Portsmouth, Virginia, writes personalized notes to every prospect, past member and possible lead as part of a program the club is calling “Great Again.”
The one-time journalist was a member at Elizabeth Manor for 10 years before joining as its general manager. “I actually came onboard on a volunteer basis,” Meagher recalls.
He inherited a club still reeling from the downturn of 2008. “We had about 420 members at one point, and were down well below 400.” An oversupply of golf in the area was also dragging revenues down. “There are nine or 10 courses in the area,” he notes. “Fifteen years ago, there were half that many.”
While a lot of clubs in similar circumstances would slash initiation fees or even sell off parcels of land to stay afloat, Meagher and his team instead rolled up their sleeves and set out to make Elizabeth Manor great again.
“We thought of it well before Trump,” Meagher says in reference to the program’s name. It was derived from a simple belief that focusing on the core member experience would be the silver-bullet solution Elizabeth Manor needed. “If we can deliver on service, we can guarantee that everyone who plays will have a great time again,” he adds.
One of the first orders of business in the “Great Again” program was to win back lost members. Meagher says Elizabeth Manor’s previous model was decentralized, with the board heavily involved in day-to-day decision-making. “It became very political, which turned a lot of people off,” he admits. The club concentrated most of those operational tasks under Meagher. “The board is now focused on policy, not the everyday minutiae.”
As GM, Meagher reached out to former members who had left over the past two seasons with personalized letters outlining these operational changes. “We were very open and admitted our past mistakes,” he says. The transparent approach worked, garnering what Meagher calls a “very positive response” from these lapsed members.
To grow the membership, Meagher and “Team Manor” knew they needed to do more than win back a few dozen past members. “Everyone agreed our focus had to be on growing our membership numbers.” To accomplish this, the team had to broach a subject previously off-limits—allowing public play. Meagher says that rather than throw the doors wide open and reap the short-term gain of additional revenue, the “Great Again” program took a very strict, measured approach and used public access as a shrewd marketing tool. “We were very clear that this was controlled, limited public play,” Meagher notes. Members were still given priority tee times, and were consulted at every step of the process as the plan was developed. “We used to have an all-member meeting once a year, but now we’re doing it at least three times,” Meagher explains.
Moreover, Meagher leveraged the personalized letters that had worked so well winning back former members. “Sure, it’s a little laborious,” he admits. “But if it takes 45 minutes or an hour to write one, and that nets a membership, it’s well worth it.” Meagher says the letters also serve to make the club seem a bit more approachable. “We’re always battling against the old stereotype of stodgy and exclusivity,” he says. “Your club can’t survive in the modern environment with labels like that.”
The letters introduce the club to these hand-picked prospects, with Meagher taking the time to tailor the pitch to each recipient. “I try and find which amenities will resonate best,” he says. An invitation to come be a member for a day is included with each.
The doubling down on service gives Meagher the confidence that this one-day experience will convert these public players to full, dues-paying members. “If they get a taste of us, they’ll want to come back for more.”
The team at Elizabeth Manor buys into this concept so much that they take a remarkably passive approach to follow up. “We would rather someone raise their hand on their own than us pester them to raise it,” states Meagher.
Some club managers might blanche at the prospect of leaving such hot, highly qualified leads on the table, but the results suggest Meagher’s approach works. “We started the program in March and have added 109 members since.”
All members are getting behind the program, becoming the best salespeople club stakeholders have. “Every day, it seems I have someone coming up to me with a person or family they think would be a good fit,” Meagher says.
This new blood has had a dramatic effect on Elizabeth Manor. The average age of members has dipped from 67 to 50. What’s more, Meagher says he’s seen the return of something missing from the club for years. “It’s amazing to see smiles on the faces of our members and our staff. It’s a sign that what we’re all working so hard to do is starting to pay off.”
Kyle Darbyson is a Vancouver-based freelance writer.