Top 3 Most Important Private Club Industry Trends of 2022
There was no way of predicting the impact COVID-19 would have on golf and the entire private club industry, but in the years since 2020, we’ve all seen an enormous change in the game. Continuing to evaluate private club industry trends is an important part of a healthy membership sales strategy so that you know how to respond to market conditions and stay ahead of the curve.
What does this mean for the private membership club industry in 2022? To start, it means evaluating how things have changed for membership sales since 2020 and whether those trends are continuing or changing.
The answer to this question is simple. We’re already seeing a return to pre-pandemic times for private club membership. You’ve likely already seen your incoming leads slowing down in the last quarter or two.
This doesn’t mean that success you might have had during the pandemic bump is lost forever – it just means it’s time to evaluate the industry trends and adapt your strategy to the new market. Private golf club consultants like the sales experts at Capstone Hospitality can help you evaluate your current strategy and reinvigorate your incoming leads pipeline.
Here are the top three most important private club industry trends that we are seeing and taking into consideration as we help private clubs grow membership sales in 2022.
Organic incoming leads are down 50+% Year over Year
The tour to sale ratio is down 11% in the first 6 months of 2022 (compared to 2021)
There is a 27% increase in time from first contact to a sale
At first glance, these trends look highly negative. But when you dig deeper, you’ll see that there’s enormous opportunity. Once you know what you’re up against, you can develop the right strategies and implement a plan to meet your sales goals.
It’s worth noting that the past two years have been nothing short of an anomaly for private club membership sales. Basing your club's position off these data points alone would not be a comprehensive outlook of where you currently stand. We strongly encourage you to look back to your 2019 membership sales data to use for data comparisons. Now have an honest assessment of what has changed:
Has your clubs’ membership sales process evolved or remained the same?
Are the reasons for an influx of new members due only to the COVID boom?
Is your membership director new/tasked with non-sales responsibilities?
These are all factors that could be contributing to your club’s unique position.
Developing a Strategy for 2022 Private Club Industry Trends
For each of these private club industry trends, we at Capstone Hospitality offer an opportunity to offset the situation and turn your strategy around.
Organic Incoming Leads Are Down 50+% YoY.
When we say organic incoming leads are down 50+% YoY, we’re talking about the leads we think of as “low hanging fruit” – the leads who proactively reach out to your club’s sales department through phone calls, online inquiries or walk-ins. They may already have some familiarity with the club if they have family or a friend who is a member and likely already have high intent to become a member of your private club.
During COVID, organic incoming leads grew as people got back to the game of golf and wanted a place they could enjoy outside of their home. Now organic leads are down across the board, meaning your sales department has to rebuild your leads pipeline. But if you have turned off your lead generators due to an influx of organic leads, how do you go about rebuilding your pipeline?
Capstone has a tried and true approach to generating new sales leads. Our membership sales experts are seamlessly integrated into your club, and are implementing a large variety of lead generators from the start. Additionally, they’re measuring the results and putting more resources into the generators that are working with the help of our Lead Generation Center and proprietary CRM system.
To tackle this private club industry trend head on, you need a multi-faceted approach to rebuild your lead generation pipeline and grow your potential sales numbers.
2. The Tour to Sale Ratio is Down 11% Through the First 6 Months of 2022.
When compared to the first 6 months of 2021, which still saw some of the biggest COVID bumps in the private club industry, the tour to sale ratio is down this year. This means that even if you’re doing just as many tours as you were, you likely aren’t hitting the same numbers for closing sales.
The solution to this is perhaps more simple than you think: do more tours. You need to offset this ratio by conducting even more tours to maintain your previous number of closed sales through this medium.
This sounds easy in theory, but in practice that also means you need enough leads in your pipeline to conduct these tours. If you’re getting private club consulting and sales expertise with Capstone, then you have implemented more outbound lead generators to make this a reality. But without kicking up your outbound lead generation, you may not have enough leads in your pipeline to actually increase your tours and save your conversion rate.
3. There Is a 27% Increase in Time From First Contact of a New Lead to a Sale.
If your club tracks how long it typically takes to make a sales lead convert, you may have found that conversion is taking longer than usual. That is what industry trends are showing in the first half of 2022. But on the flip side, we’re also seeing that sales leads are converting after two fewer interactions, or touches.
The industry average is twelve touches until a sales lead converts and purchases a private club membership. So while the process may be taking longer right now, prospects are moving forward after fewer follow ups from your sales team. This tells us that time to make that decision is a key factor instead of the number of follow ups.
What you can do to counteract this trend is to make sure that each touchpoint you do have with a prospective member is meaningful. Ensure you have thoroughly answered all of their questions and offered enough information to hold their interest in between touchpoints and have a strategy for handling every type of objection.
The most common objections within the last 60 days we’ve seen are:
Market uncertainty
Concern of not using club enough
Bad timing
Knowing these common objections in advance and knowing how to handle them is key to moving a lead closer to conversion. Our sales experts not only know how to build out lead generators, but we’re also intimately familiar with every private club market in the country and know the types of touchpoints that see the most success in your target market. Armed with this knowledge, you can be sure that each touchpoint you do have is meaningful and will lead to a sale.
What These Trends Mean for Private Club Memberships
The most important takeaway from all these private club industry trends is that a return to pre-pandemic numbers is not only likely, it’s already here. That means that you can no longer rely on the “COVID bump” you might have seen in organic leads. If you want to grow your membership, it’s time to rework your sales process and incorporate new learnings and data into your tactics.
If you aren’t sure where to start, Capstone Hospitality is here to help. We provide a multi-faceted and hyper-focused sales plan that goes far beyond typical private club consulting. Outbound lead generators are more important than ever, and our team’s ability to evaluate your club’s market and opportunity and then implement a data-driven approach will help you in your sales strategy for years to come.
Learn from the industry trends from the first part of 2022 by taking action today and maximize your potential to finish this year strong.