Private Club Radio Show

432: Making Every Touchpoint Count w/ Melissa Hansen

• Denny Corby

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When it comes to club communication, consistency, clarity, and connection aren’t just buzzwords—they’re the foundation of everything.

In this episode, I’m joined by Melissa Hansen, Director of Membership & Marketing at The Club at Olde Cypress in Naples, FL. With a background in marketing, design consulting, and over a decade of experience in private clubs, Melissa knows how to build communication strategies that actually move the needle.

We dive into:

  • How to create messaging that reflects your club’s personality
  • The role of automation (done right) in saving time without losing the human touch
  • Aligning operations and communications so the member experience feels seamless
  • And why internal storytelling is just as important as what members see on the outside

Melissa brings a smart, thoughtful approach to every part of the member journey—and this episode is packed with ideas that club leaders and communicators can start using right away.









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Speaker 1:

Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club Radio Show, where we give you the scoop on all things private golf and country clubs from mastering leadership and management, food and beverage excellence, member engagement secrets, board governance and everything in between, all while keeping it fun and light. Whether you're a club veteran just getting your feet wet or somewhere in the middle, you are in the right place. I'm your host, denny Corby. Welcome to the show In this episode. Friends, buckle up. This one is packed, jam-packed with nuggets information with one of my favorite people in the club space, a friend of mine, a friend of the industry and a friend of yours, melissa Hansen, back on the show today. As you know, she is an absolute powerhouse in the world of private club marketing, membership and communication. She helps clubs with it, but she's also in the trenches doing it herself as membership and marketing at the club at Old Cypress in Florida, and she walks the walk and she talks the talk. She's constantly lifting others up across the industry with ideas, insights and energy for days. Across the industry with ideas, insights and energy for days. In this episode, we talk about trends, tools and what clubs need to be doing right now to stay ahead, especially when it comes to humanizing your brand, humanizing your club, onboarding new members the right way and building connections that actually last with your membership and with your people. And today Melissa shares everything from how her team uses AI to save time and sanity into why your club's culture and your club's identity should be visible to a potential member way before they even set foot on the property. So we also get into collaborating with realtors, the value of partnerships and how she's automating a 90-day new member onboarding experience that actually works. So she's one of the most thoughtful, creative and real voices in the space. I am super excited to have her back on. Before we get to the episode, a quick thank you to some of our show partners, some of which are actually also mentioned in the episode as well, which is really cool. We have our friends, club Capital Group Members, first Member Vetting Golf Life Navigators and Concert Golf Partners. Thank you all, as well as myself.

Speaker 1:

The Denny Corby experience there's excitement, there's mystery. Also, there's magic, mind reading and comedy. If you want to learn more, head on over to dennycorbycom. Enough about all that, though. This is about you all, the listeners. So Private Club Radio listeners. Let's welcome back to the show. Melissa Hansen. Melissa always love to chit chat First off. How are you, how are things?

Speaker 2:

Things are good, things are busy. I think down in Florida we are in like the peak and the height of our season and it's been a wild one. All good things, we can't complain. But, um, definitely not enough hours in the day, definitely using a lot of ai uh in the workflow just just to assist a bit.

Speaker 1:

yeah, yeah no, thanks for taking time out of the busy. I know it's a busy uh season down there. What, uh, what? What sort of ai tools are you using and digging and what are you using to your advantage? Because I think sometimes too and it didn't mean to interrupt, I saw you're about to talk but do you ever feel, and there's people who use it and it almost takes them more time because they like, they use it almost like too much and then they spend too much time using it and not enough time acting on it, like they use it as like a crutch, not so much a tool? What tools are you using and how do you find to use it the most effective?

Speaker 2:

I think, like right now, just trying to work together with the team to really simplify it.

Speaker 2:

I think it scares a lot of people if you aren't familiar with just simple tools like chat, gpt, like let's just start there and something that would take somebody in the club, you know, 30 to 45 minutes to write a letter to somebody that we had to suspend because they haven't paid their dues or somebody that we had to suspend because of bad behavior. It takes us a long time and a lot of hours of our day to kind of come up with a nice way to write that. So I feel in a professional way to write that. So I feel in a professional way to write that. So I feel just like really simplifying it with the team and showing them how we can get our thoughts in there, get our prompts in there. We can all just use it as simply as that. I mean that can a beautiful nasty gram can go out in five minutes, opposed to you having to spend 30 to 45 minutes writing it. So just you know, simple, little time savers like that yeah, what was?

Speaker 1:

uh, something I read somewhere and I was like that is genius, like a little like prompt thing it was. When you put in your prompts at the end you have it ask you questions and you say like now, ask me any questions to help make the answer more. Like I forget the exact phrase, but it was like now ask me any questions to help make the answer more. Like I forget the exact phrase, but it was like now, ask me questions that might help you, that help you, help it create a better response. So that's what I've been doing too and it's been creating some, some semi decent stuff.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome. I feel like it's ever evolving and we just have to continue to learn and grow with it. But I mean, it's been, it's, it's nice, it's been awesome, and I feel like the team is is getting their feet wet and like slow and surely we're like growing together.

Speaker 1:

So and using it as a tool and not just like, not just the end, all be all. I think some people you can just tell just clearly, just copy and paste and you're like you did not edit that at all, Come on.

Speaker 2:

Right, right, come on. Definitely has to be your brand's voice, for sure.

Speaker 1:

Thousand percent, but I want to bring you on what are some trends. You got your ear to the ground, you got you know, your hand on the pulse. I don't know any other cool, cool phrases, but, like you know so much about what's going on, you help others, you teach others, you talk to others in that space. When it comes to club membership marketing, what are the? Because we're now into March whenever this goes out, so we're now into 2025. What are the trends that you're seeing? What's the goods, what's the bads? What are clubs using? What are the goods?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so I love trends. My favorite topic, I feel like 2025, it's all about inserting humanity in everything that we do. So, whether it is your club communication, whether it is your website, whether it is your social media, whatever you have going on your membership, marketing, communications, world, inserting that humanity is what our members want to see, Because, at the end of the day, they want to connect with people. They want to connect with the people at the club. So I just feel like so many of the things that we might have done traditionally, like the traditional newsletter and this, and that if we insert humanity, it's getting such a bigger and better response. So definitely start with, like you know, the website experience and a prospective member experience when they're looking to join your club. I think you know, sandra out at in Concord. How do you pronounce it? Yes, yes, okay, like.

Speaker 1:

Cause, like when you like so many. It took me, I think, just until like last, last month to say it properly. I was like nah, cause there's like letters in places that shouldn't be.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, okay, well, she, sandra she is a rock star when it comes to her club's website and the digital experience that she is providing to your prospective members. She's just one example, and I've oh yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I was gonna say, like, what do you mean by humanity? Like, because I think, like some people are like, oh yeah, like I get it. But like what does that? What does humanity mean? Like, what does that word mean? Is it like more friendly words? Is it, you know, using real photos instead of stock photo? Like, what does humanity mean?

Speaker 2:

No, that's a great question. I feel like using your people in the club. So, for example, if we talk about the website, you know one of the most important things I feel like is having a meet the team on the website. So allow your perspective members to get to know the people within the club before they're stepping foot for a tour. You know, as soon as I have a prospect, come in because my face is all over the website they walk into the club and they're like, oh my God, you must be Melissa and they feel like they already have that connection.

Speaker 2:

Then, when I continue to send out emails to the prospective members, you know, having your face on it, having it, you know, from Melissa or from whoever your golf pro or whoever that is inserting that person where they feel like there is a connection is going to make a stronger bond. So one of the things that Sandra does we utilize it at our club is a live chat on the website. So you go on, it's got our picture. It says, hey, we're ready to chat with you. And so all of a sudden they pop on our website and they are live with Sandra and I and we're just receiving this via our text message and all of a sudden there's just that sense of connection. You feel like you're texting the membership director, membership representative at the club.

Speaker 2:

Another thing when it comes to, you know, inserting humanity, if you will, is just when you go to promote your events at the club, instead of just putting out a flyer, having one of your team members dive into potentially what events they're most excited about that month and why or maybe, if they've done that event in the past, why it was so successful Just really taking those amazing team members that you have and utilizing them 100%, because then it shows the teams involved how many times I think some people are afraid of that because the rest of the team doesn't know what's going on in the club and there's that zero communication going on, almost Right, yeah, which is, I hate to say it, but I think, maybe a little bit more common than we'd like to admit.

Speaker 1:

But it's nice seeing there's a lot more clubs I love seeing it on LinkedIn and Instagram a lot more clubs doing video work and I don't want to say the word cute, but you can tell when, like someone's like new and anxious on it and they're like hi.

Speaker 1:

I'm cute, but you can tell when like someone's like new and anxious on it and they're like hi, I'm bill, I'm the golf pro, we're gonna, you could just tell. But it's like, oh, at least they're doing it, like, at least they're doing it, putting it out there and you can, you can tell by the like response people love it, they love it. Did you see what? Um, oh, kent did for, uh, baltimore country club when?

Speaker 1:

he did the he did the uh voice thing. So they, they, they, uh, he. I was talking about. It was awesome, the. If you go on uh baltimore country club's instagram, they, he goes. You know the. The team was like kent, just uh, uh, sit down. They. They blindfolded him and they put all the staff in a row behind him and they and they talked and he had to guess who the who the staff member was. It was just like so dumb but so cute, but like engagement was through the roof. It was amazing.

Speaker 2:

And that's what. That's exactly what we're seeing and I think you know that's the lesson that I've learned from at least running the social pages for the past. You know, decade is that social is such a fun way to test things and test what your audience wants to see. But like you post a picture of the golf course or the dining room or whatever it is and you get some engagement, but all of a sudden you post a meet the team or here's our team and we're bonding together to get through a tough season, all of a sudden you go from having 20 likes to a hundred and something likes Like people wanna be with the people and see the people.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and it's not even about the, the light. It's just about, like, letting them inside. Like, who are the people who are here working for us? It's not even who's the word. Hey, here's some stuff about the members Like you're, you have a small community. Like, yeah, so yeah, that's got it. So that's, that's cool. What else?

Speaker 2:

All right Trends. Um, I would say so. I mean, we're talking about social media a little bit. Um, I would say that, um, I I had a good quote that came across my Instagram page that I'm going to share with you, and it says competition happens at the bottom. The people at the top are collaborating and I truly believe that is the number one thing right now is collaboration. There are some clubs that have understood this and they're just taking this and running with it. One of my friends out in Pennsylvania I don't know if you know Mazalem Springs, Mazalem Springs, Crystal Knoll she's done a really great job partnering with influencers in the community. So, whether those are golf influencers, whether it's the Chamber of Commerce or whatever, to create that brand awareness around the club, we're just seeing such a bigger response when we start to collab instead of thinking as other people and businesses, as competition.

Speaker 1:

I like that a lot and you, being in Florida, are you seeing anything in the real estate side? Because real estate and clubs is big in Florida.

Speaker 2:

Yes, so I think you know my friend Jason Becker.

Speaker 1:

The man Golf golf navigators, yep.

Speaker 2:

So we have just signed on recently to collab with them. Our yeah, our club is collabing with them. They do, you know, an awesome rollout of like these feature club Fridays where they have this massive database of people that are looking to get into private clubs that are attached to real estate communities and I know they just they did our club so it went really well. They did a feature club Friday and they send it out to their database who have filled out their forms and they just get all that information right to them. And we had a ton of leads come in from the program that now we're continuing to foster.

Speaker 2:

But it was something that we had set aside for so many years, I think you know, obviously the market has shifted a little bit. So sitting back and just realizing that, okay, now we have to collab in order to things to continue to thrive. On the membership side of things, it it can be an adjustment for some people. You know they might not be ready. Clubs boards, general managers might not be ready, but I think those are the clubs that are going to succeed, are the ones that are willing to to do that.

Speaker 1:

Adapt or die? Yeah sure. Yeah, things, things are, would you say, like leveling back out, like it's not as, what's the word? Almost, maybe not robust, but I don't know where I'm trying to get at.

Speaker 2:

but yeah, it's, it's definitely leveling out. Um, you know, I think every market is different, um, but I think, as far as real estate, we're seeing homes that are on the market now for three to four months instead of them going in three to four hours, exactly, and so, and there's some negotiation going on now and there's people that are, you know, coming in and you know, actually checking out the club and making sure that that is the right fit before they make that real estate decision. So it's actually been really nice because it allows us the opportunity to get to know the buyer again and see if that buyer is a fit for your club.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I felt like before it was such a whirlwind and it was just like you know. They were in and out and it was happening so fast and a lot of people came in that that might not necessarily have been a fit to the current club's culture.

Speaker 1:

And I think when we you go back to that word humanity, that's what helps you separate from other clubs and get your club's personality out there. So you are attracting the right people. Because if you, you know, put up this, you know, very exquisite, high profile club, very exclusive, but you know, but really you're this really fun club, but your website and everything else is like this standoffish. You know, has, like you know, your club as RBF, you know so, so has your club as RBF, so to speak. But when you can put out the personality and you can show here's who we are, here's how we are, it helps both sides. It attracts the right people and detracts the wrong people.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely, and that's so important, right? So in my office I have this big screen TV and I scroll on there all the photos of the events that we have and our people are. They're a blast, they're so much fun, but it's very different than, let's say, like you've been out to Ben Lorenzen's club at Champions Run. It's going to be a very different vibe than that, but it's more so, like I would say, an older demographic reentering college again, if you will. Okay.

Speaker 1:

That's a great way to put it Okay, amazing.

Speaker 2:

And so I am in the background of my office. These photos are scrolling, you know, and the prospective member is seeing, you know, everyone dressed up for the 70s theme, everyone dressed up for, you know, disco, and you know, in the 50s theme or whatever we have going on, and they can decide if that's the right vibe for them. So I've had these members that have come to the club, you know, over the past two or three years and they say, you know, we're not attending these events because we're not, you know, really big into dressing up and themes, and I feel like maybe I almost did a disservice by not sharing who our membership was before allowing them in, because that's who we are at our club, you know, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And it has to be a match on both sides.

Speaker 1:

But also shame on them a little bit too, because you can still go and not have to dress up and still have a good time. Right, there's people who go to costume parties just dressed as themselves. But you know, I think there's people who still go to that stuff and have a good time. But, yeah, shame on them, but no, that's the perfect way to put it and that's such a great idea about putting that screen and back so that, as you're sitting there talking and going through it and to, I don't know if this is maybe off topic or not, but it is finding making sure the people are the right fit.

Speaker 1:

And I think sometimes, as maybe club membership people, you just want all the members, especially if you don't have a wait list and you're really trying to get numbers up. You just want everybody and they put on that hard sell. And for me, I don't think a club membership should have to be a hard sell, meaning like an aggressive sales like hey, close today, sign on the dot. Almost like buying a car should be an experience. It should make sure that the right people are coming in and you have that great connection and they're excited and you're excited and it's like did we just become?

Speaker 2:

friends? Yeah, absolutely. And at the end of the day, those are the people that you're going to retain right, because if they aren't a fit and if they aren't like the current culture that you have, those are the people that are going to end up leaving, because it's just not the vibe.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, have. Have you gotten you know? Have you gotten better? Like and I'm assuming like the answer is like yes, but like with all this stuff, like are you pretty good at and and do you tell people like I don't think you're going to be a good fit here, like, have you had those conversations where people are like we want to join and you're like based?

Speaker 2:

off what you told me, I don't think you're going to have that that much fun. Definitely. Don't say it like that, but I just say so, have you? Are you looking at any other clubs you know in the area? And if they say you know no, then I'll say definitely, like, based off our conversations, I feel like you should check out XYZ Club and this other club because I think that that might be worth looking into. It might, you know, check a lot of the boxes, that of the things that you're looking for.

Speaker 2:

So I definitely do that and I think, as a membership professional, it's so important to just know your market and know that, like, yes, myself and five other clubs. If we're looking on a spreadsheet, it could look like apples to apples, but at the end of the day, the vibe in each of those clubs are so very different from each other and I feel like I'm so close and I'm best friends with half the people in my position at these other clubs and just call them up and be like hey, this is not a fit for us, but this is definitely a fit for you and we do that, denny, like we really do that that has to be so cool for the, for the membership to, or for that potential member to go like, wait, what Like?

Speaker 1:

that has to be a cool feeling for them. Like you can already tell my person, like you know, I'm going to be a good fit over there. Like's just cool, and to kind of circle back. That's sort of why I like Jason Beck, that's why I like Golf Life Navigator, because it's Zillow meets eHarmony for people who want to be in a club. And you fill out this glorified dating profile Because you put in like, oh, I like walking, I don't care about the flowers, I like that. You know you put in all that stuff and it matches you with the right club like or prompts you like hey, these are like your top choices based off everything you told us. Yeah, you should, you should reach out, and that's it's game changer.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's a great place to start, you know, for the prospects, because it at least gives them you know the top three that they need to start looking at, or the top five that they need to start looking at, and then they can check it out and narrow it down from there.

Speaker 1:

And I think it at least gives them the sense like if it goes, oh, these, and then they can kind of see, like, oh, these clubs, they can get a feel for that style, that vibe. So then when they see another club, like, oh, cause, maybe some of them may have not been a member of a club before or maybe you know, so they might not have or you know they haven't had that type of experience.

Speaker 2:

I think it helps, helps them as well figure out what, what they want, and make their, their life a little bit easier and it's so different because they're all coming from different areas of the country and you know how it is in one state is completely different than it is in another. And so I think just you knowN you know, assisting them and navigating that process is so essential because it is so different. You know, it's definitely different.

Speaker 1:

It has to be a little bit tough in Florida with so many options Like it's very overwhelming yes For some people.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, the market, it's an oversaturated market and you know you have a hundred private clubs, and so where do I begin?

Speaker 1:

and, um, yeah, their platform is really great at narrowing that down yeah, yeah and uh, you know, I think, helping you know, in the same token, shameless plug to one of our, both of our friends uh, paul dank, member, member vetting, helping people, making sure that the right people come into the right club. Uh, danky, doodle dandy, I love paul dank paul is the best.

Speaker 2:

Um, member vetting is just a game changer. I feel like denny so many of these they're having issues when it comes to behavior of their members, things that they're finding out after the members get in, where they're having to have, like these behavioral committees and they're having to spend so much of their time focusing on what is taking place at the club where I feel like if your club does go through a process like member vetting, feel like if your club does go through a process like member vetting, a lot of that stuff could have been avoided. Um, maybe those people could have been avoided.

Speaker 1:

Uh, I think you know oh yeah, oh yeah and uh, we, we have plenty of episodes here on private club radio of member vetting. I mean there's the, the, the stuff that he's found the stories are are some of them I couldn't even air, like they were about to air. He's like, actually, can you take that out? I'm like ugh, just because, like he didn't want to put it out, but like stuff that they find is absolutely ridiculous and it's just making sure it's just fact-checking, like they're not doing anything out of the ordinary. It's just, you know, because Google is only 5% of the internet, 3% of the internet.

Speaker 2:

Mind-blowing FYI.

Speaker 1:

I know.

Speaker 2:

I know.

Speaker 1:

And it's just you know, and it's just whatever the applicant puts on that application, they're just fact-checking it and making sure they are who they say they are and peeling back the layers, peeling back the onion, just yeah, like finding people's and I think he even said like most people are good. Right and it's not up to them to decide if they're in or not.

Speaker 1:

They just present the information back going hey, here's this and then here's a couple maybe yellow or red flags, or here's a couple things you might want to run your eyes over. Um, yeah, they're. They're so good at what they do.

Speaker 2:

Oh, my goodness every time I go to introduce him to someone. I was like, just start by sharing one of your stories, because the stories of what they have found is just eye-opening. I mean, it's not your traditional background check.

Speaker 1:

No, I mean, they can do it, but there's layers to it, right, it's oh, I love me some, paul Dank. And why more clubs don't use it? I think I can. I think I can understand why. Because it is a little bit scary, um, or could be perceived as scary, and you know if, if, if you're a member and I and I recommend a friend, and all of a sudden now you know, maybe this friend isn't a good fit, but granted, all that stays confidential in, like you know, in the process and stuff. But like I, I can understand why clubs do and don't use it, but why more don't? Because you don't have to use all the layers of the service. You can kind of pick and choose and bang for buck. Oh my.

Speaker 2:

God.

Speaker 1:

It's not expensive.

Speaker 2:

No brainer.

Speaker 1:

No, zero brainer, zero brainer. Yeah, paul Dank, remember him. Tell him you heard about us through private club radio and melissa hansen, and he will have the best stories. And he's a bulldog lover too.

Speaker 2:

He has two adorable frenchies, so oh, shout out to him all right uh, what else do we got?

Speaker 1:

I know you said there were some other real estate stuff we were we were talking about earlier too.

Speaker 2:

Yes, so when I sat, I sat down with Jason Becker a couple, I think a week or two ago. We had coffee and we were just talking about the importance of membership directors getting back connected in the real estate community, especially when your club does have that real estate component. I think that one of the things that you know we were just the market was so robust, as you had mentioned, we had kind of maybe just stepped away from that. I know I have a good friend down here, kelsey Collins. She's at the Oaks Club and she just had this huge realtor breakfast where she invited all of these agents in the Sarasota community to come to her club to hear from her. This is what we're doing. She sold the club to them so that they could then sell the club to their people and we've gone away from that.

Speaker 2:

I know that I personally have, and so what I do now is that as soon as we know that we have a listing on the market, I reach out to that agent who has the listing and we start and we make a connection from the beginning and just making sure that they know what's going on, if you have any renovations coming up, if you could provide collateral to them. I think that one of the things that has been really important with our brand is that I've been providing the real estate agents with a folder of our professional photography to use within their listings so that they're not coming into the club using their photographers and shooting on a day that we have the dining room a disaster because we just had a big event.

Speaker 1:

Let's use this photography that we've already approved eggs so good, and because or they just pull off line and it's like an old, pixelated photo and you're like, how are people still posting blurry photos in 2025 is beyond me. But yeah, and and and. Do you do? Some of them try to just like, show up to the club, like I'm sure, like because you want to have a little bit control of that too, and some of them must think they can just show up and oh, I have a listing here. Let me let me in.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely so. I feel like the realtors. They are sometimes the most important component of our job, but sometimes they can be the death of us for sure. They do just show up and there's ones that are really really, really good at what they do show up and and there's ones that are really really really good at what they do. Right, they know the industry, they know the club and they reach out to you, they connect you with their buyers, but then there's ones that just don't, and those are the ones that are doing a disservice to their buyers and those are the ones that we, you know, prefer not to work with. But yeah, it's just part of it. But I think, getting back in connection with them and really just kind of, you know, I've started sending them a monthly email blast. So, just as we would send our newsletter to our members, letting our members going on, let's let the realtors know what's going on so that they can educate their community.

Speaker 1:

That's actually really good. And the word that I'm, it's just being proactive, it's just having a proactive approach, it's yeah, yeah. And that email, that monthly email, is great Because even if it's not an immediate fit, or even if they don't have a listing right now, most of the time they're going to open up the email. So, whether it's a year from now, six months from now, they're going to be getting that information. So let's just say they do get a listing there, they know about the club, whether they like it or not, and they can talk to the member or they could talk to that buyer or those potential buyers and being like, oh, because let's just even say they can almost vet maybe them for them, like they can almost be part of that vetting process If they're, oh, a family, this, that it's like, listen, you would not be a good fit for this.

Speaker 1:

And I think that's a good real estate agent too, who will know it's. And same with a good membership person, same with a good whatever it's knowing when you have a good, a good potential client and buyer or whatever, and being able to turn somebody away or being able to not lose a sale but to put ego everything aside and going hey, listen, I know you love this house, I know you have a family, but listen, this is not a family club absolutely like you're, they're not gonna be happy that your kids are in there causing a ruckus.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

It's so good, so good.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, when you're working with your club, you work with a lot of club membership people. Is there anything that you see more?

Speaker 2:

common than not that they're just not doing. Yeah, so I would definitely say the lack of onboarding the new members. I feel like, as salespeople, we are under a lot of pressure to make a specific goal, whatever the board has set for us, our general manager has set for us, and oftentimes when we're in sales, it's like we made the sale and on to the next, on to the next sale, and so what I feel like there's a lot of clubs missing the boat on is taking the time to onboard that new member through either like a 90, 120 day process and make sure that they're fully integrated into the club. And I had made a post about this on LinkedIn a couple of days ago. I don't know if you had seen it, but I just said you know what are you guys doing to onboard your members? I got a ton of feedback on it. Um, but yeah, um, we do the new member orientation and that's it. But what we're doing, what we've seen, you know, be successful, is well, automation has been amazing, but what we have done is we had created like a templated series of welcome emails, and it will be one for each department. So one for the golf department, one for rackets, one for dining, whatever amenity you have at your club, and then over the period of the next 90 days we take those and we schedule them out and those trickle to the new members. So we're not giving them all that information the day they join, right, we're giving them an opportunity to get their feet wet, check out the club, but then also start to sprinkle in the other amenities and then the other people like the department heads at the club and that's been very successful.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I know I'm going to give a shout out to our friends Sean Bly, I'll have members first. They have a great new member onboarding microsite and platform that helps with a lot of that stuff too. So they get it as well. And that's key because you probably see it and hear about it from the membership people that you have in your circle and are just ones that aren't, but you just hear about it. It's what's onboarding? They just sign up and that's it. Like that's. That's a little bit scary and you're probably missing out on so much opportunity and potential.

Speaker 1:

I don't want to say business, but like revenue from those members, cause you know, hey, maybe they do have an interest in rackets but don't really know it or it wasn't properly said to them, and maybe they have always heard about pickleball but don't want to admit they want to try pickleball. But they got that email and it's, there's a picture of the like pickleball director who's like hey, come for like, a free lesson or come hang out for 30 minutes and all. I don't know why I'm pointing because maybe they'll point the photo but like no, it's stuff like that that like hey, you know, welcome to the dining room, come in for a free glass of wine to you know, try out our wine. It's stuff like I don't know what the emails entail, but like little things like that just reels them in more. It gets them using the club, using the amenities, using the things doing the thing.

Speaker 2:

So you nailed it. Okay, you got me really excited, like that's what we do, okay. So if you just think about, maybe the new member joins and they're more heavily golf focused, right, they come in, it's all about the golf. Well, you want to introduce them to our Sunday brunch, so why not, like you said, invite them for a complimentary brunch for four? And all of a sudden they come and that's not maybe something that was on the top of their radar when they join, but they come, they bring their friends, they see what an amazing experience it is. Now their friends are interested in joining. They were able to treat their friends because it was complimentary. I mean, that's what it is about is getting them into the club, all aspects.

Speaker 1:

There was. So I love John Taffer, like I love Bar Rescue, I love, you know, kitchen from gordon ramsay. I love, like those are my like reality show jams. I love all that crap. Um, but it was, there was a uh and you you may have heard it I don't know if it was a podcast episode, a social media thing. I think it was a mixture of all of them, but it was john taffer talking to uh, gary v and and it was somebody called in and it was so funny because this dude, he like wanted to talk and they kept like shutting him up.

Speaker 1:

But it was this guy who owned like a barbecue restaurant somewhere and he's like, hey, how can I help? And John just took over and he goes. You know what you do if you're, if your restaurant's slow. You read, you go on Instagram. You find people in your area who are posting doing stuff. You invite them to your restaurant and say, hey, show the manager or show the clerk, whatever the person up front. I think it was like you go up order and then your food's brought to your table. It's not like a fancy.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 1:

It's like order up top and go and sit down, show this message to the manager and you'll get a free brisket. And I think the guy said his brisket cost him like seven bucks or something. So he goes up and it was this whole process, like, okay, the manager is going to go, you're going to give him a red napkin. And the whole staff knows if they have a red napkin that means they're there, for it's their first time, it's their free meal. The manager knows because the person taking the order gave them the red napkin. So the manager knows to go over. Hey, this is your first time here. Oh, thank you so much for coming. How's, how's the brisket? The brisket is great. Hey, do you like chicken, love chicken? Hey, guess what, come back next time. Half off chicken. Here's, you know.

Speaker 1:

You take a business card, you write on the business card, bring it up top half off chicken. Now they come back again. They give them the half off chicken. There's another queue on the order. The manager knows hey, you came back a second time. How was the chicken? Great, guess what. Come back next time. You get free, free pie. And he gives them a note thing hey, so it. Like it was this, like it just kept them coming back. It was like this. It was this onboarding of like integrating them into the culture and like into the food of the restaurant. I just thought it was genius.

Speaker 1:

I will find it and send it to you, because I my description did not do it justice.

Speaker 2:

No, it did do it justice. No, I absolutely loved that. Every bit of it. It's it's. That's definitely what it's about. And circling back to you know what you said before and, for example, maybe Rackets wasn't top of mind when they first joined, but you have that email going out from your Rackets pro and they're saying hey, you know, come join me for a 30 minute complimentary lesson. Now you're making that connection, You're offering that opportunity. I mean, I always just bring it back to like when you first join or go to a new gym and you don't know any of the equipment and you don't know any of the trainers and you don't know any of the classes, it can be very overwhelming and it can be very intimidating. So somebody that actually takes the time to walk you through that over a period of X, y, z and it can be very intimidating. So somebody that actually takes the time to walk you through that over a period of X, y, z, those are the people that are going to be integrated into all of the things.

Speaker 1:

This is music to my ears, this is so. It's 100%. I think, yeah, yeah. And because it takes members, it could take a year or two to kind of integrate and get a feel and learn the you know after the first year, like, oh, that's what that event. When you come back, you know the second year for, like you know, whatever the big event was, like, oh, this is, and you start getting the ball rolling. So I think that's great to just having it set up 60 days, 90 days, and I'm sure you can go even even further with it if you want to get more into the analytics of just checking oh, did they open up that email?

Speaker 1:

Have they used it? Going into their account and checking and seeing, doing a little bit of digging, doing a little bit of work, really making sure that they're integrating. And if they're not trying to integrate them, maybe send out that email again or reach out personally. Or you know, hey, what would it be so wrong to have the? Or maybe they open up all the, all the racket emails and you can see that they open up but they don't do anything. Have the racket to send them like a customized video. Or say, hey, I saw, you know, even just being blunt, hey, I saw you guys open up the emails but you never took action. Why don't you come on out Right Worst?

Speaker 2:

What's the worst that's going to happen. No, that's such a personal touch Like. I mean that just means the world to people, just people taking the time, and I just feel like the more that you can introduce that new member to every team member of you know at your club, that's just additional ample opportunity to get them involved. Because you know your golf pro, your tennis people at your club, that's just additional ample opportunity to get them involved because you know your golf pro, your tennis people, your fitness people, they know who would connect best with that new member, they know all the members right and they know the circles that that new member can fit into. And getting them involved in that process really just it allows it all to just work seamlessly.

Speaker 1:

And going back to sales, sales is just the right message to the right person at the right time. So when you kind of keep doing those little touches, those little things, it might not be the right time when they sign up, because it's the winter and they're not thinking about it. But guess what, in six months, when their best friend just signed up for a pickleball thing and they're doing this now, it's more like they're. They're tough. I don't want to keep bringing up pickleball, but like you know when, when it's, you just start, you just keep those little pings, those little, those little drips going and you never know when they're finally going to pull that trigger and go. Ah, you, absolutely yeah, as we're starting to wrap up any other last bit. You're like a wealth of knowledge when it comes to all this, any other bits of business, any other things you want to leave the people with.

Speaker 2:

I mean, I think that it's important to continue to strive to surprise and delight our members at the club, whether they're new, whether they have been at the club for 20 years, whatever it is. I think in order to keep things you know vibing, in order to keep things popping, in order to keep them excited, we have to continue to surprise and delight them in all ways. So just getting creative with that and having fun with it and getting outside of your comfort zone and thinking of ways that you can just add the little touches, those are the things that matter and those are the things that that make being a member of the club a an amazing experience.

Speaker 1:

And that's why they join a club. That's why it's for those moments, for those things. That is so what a great way to end. Oh, this is killer. Where can people learn more about you, Because you do some cool stuff? Tell the people about YOL in a circle.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so we meet monthly. Virtually we do the inner circle. Yeah, so we meet monthly where, uh, virtually we do the inner circle. It's a 30 minute kind of a mastermind where we all get together. Um, we just joined together on zoom and we share a lot of information. Um, a lot of membership professionals come on and share what's working with them. We have vendors come on and share new products. You know I am on social media. Right now I'm pretty loud on LinkedIn, on Instagram, you can always email me, melissa, at melissahansoncom. I'm happy to share any information that I have and I would love to connect. I very much like you, denny. I enjoy speaking to the incredible CMAA and PCMA chapters around the country and I've done a lot of work recently with the PGA and club and resort business coming up. We have some things that we're going to be sprinkling out soon, so it would be my pleasure to work with any of the chapters or to speak with anyone individually.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much for coming on. Really, really, really appreciate it.

Speaker 2:

It was awesome. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1:

Hope you all enjoyed that episode. I know I did so much fun, so much energy and just great conversation. I love it. Hope you all took something away from it. Want to learn more about Melissa Hansen? Head on over to melissahansencom from it. If you want to learn more about Melissa Hanson, head on over to melissahansoncom. And, while you're at it, head on over to dennycorbycom to learn about how to bring my magic mind reading comedy show to your club. But if you're enjoying the content, a like, share, subscribe, a five-star rating, a review, a share anything you can do to help move the content and channel forward means the absolute world. Enough about that, though. That's this episode. Until next time catch.

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Denny Corby

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