The answer is simple, provided that you have followed a logical path of targeted direct marketing to people within 30 miles of your club, who are at least by golf interest and income qualified for your offer!
Do nothing, nothing that is, except change the price!
But lets rewind.
I assume you have followed instructions to generate membership leads. You created a compelling offer and you mailed a creative letter to a good targeted list but still failed to get the response you wanted.
Now, what does that tell you?
It tells you that the market does not like your offer. It does not mean it does not like your club, or membership, ONLY that it does not like your offer.
Say what you will but the MARKET never lies. The market only responds or does not respond.
By not responding, the market tells you that it does not agree that the SPECIFIC price value proposition you presented to it meets its needs. The first and easiest way to respond to this problem in a logical way is simply to mail the same prospects a different offer.
Lets say your original offer was a $15,000 initiation fee with a $5,000 discount for acting now. You have several options to re-approach this market with a different option.
A) You could change tactics and sell against a raise i.e. “Join before December 31st and save $10,000 before we raise our fees to $25,000.”
B) Alternatively, if you had no response at $15,000, you could lower your initiation fee to say $5,000.
Whether you go down $5,000 or threaten to go up $10,000, you will very likely get a very different response rate even from the exact same list.
A third option is to build-in value rather than discount. For example: “Join before January and get a five day Florida golf holiday in the sun!”
Many people are very reluctant to test offers for fear of fall-out from existing members or recent sign ups. This is a valid concern and must be carefully thought out to minimize problems. The easiest way to do this is to try and change some element of the new program offered so it’s not apples to apples.
For example, discount the initiation $5,000 but charge more for monthly dues. In that way, when existing member Joe Schleplock asks why he did not get the initiation discount, you can tell him he can have it, if he will agree to higher dues.
Or you could make the $5,000 initiation fee non-refundable vs. the one everyone else signed-up on which was 15k but fully refundable.
The strangest thing off all to most people is that in many cases raising the price actually increases response faster than lowering the price but you don’t know until you try!
Testing is one of the most powerful but least used strategies in marketing; use it to your advantage!
