Doncaster Dome

OPERATOR NAME: Doncaster Dome
SECTOR: Leisure Trust
MEMBERSHIP SIZE: >3000

Low Cost Membership and Quality Service. Impossible? Not with a strong retention strategy.

When budget clubs entered the UK marketplace, the industry appeared to have two options. Either compete on price by cutting your staff – and inevitably your service – or justify a higher price with higher service. Kraig Kelly, Operations Manager at The Doncaster Dome saw a third possibility. Through 2009 he would cut his prices to below that of his competition yet still offer superior service.

How?

Kraig had already worked with The Retention People for a year so knew that managing the way his staff interacted with members made him thousands of pounds. He also knew his market would respond positively to a lower price.

By working in partnership with TRP and gaining a greater understanding of retention, he also knew he needed a multi faceted approach if he was to succeed.

Kraig says, ‘cutting the price of our membership for the 2600 members we had at the time was a huge gamble – my neck was on the line! I only had the confidence to do this as I knew I would retain more members as a result of our retention strategy.’

Reduce the Price

Kraig reduced his price from an average £30 per month to a simple monthly fee of £22.50 with a 12 month contract or £27.50 without.

Introduce Membership Contracts

TRP’s analysis added to Kraig’s understanding of underlying retention at The Dome so he was able to determine the exact price point at which to launch a 12 month contract.

Improve the Induction Process

Kraig, like many operators, knew the first few weeks of membership were vital so purchased TRP Induct. Delivered on behalf of TRP by Dr Paul Bedford, this combination of training, process support and software dramatically improves retention.

Deliver Fantastic Service – by Managing Interactions with Members

The team at The Dome already had a year of experience managing staff interactions with members through TRP’s retention solutions. The challenge now was to set and deliver even higher targets for both the quantity and quality of interactions.

Refurbish the gym

Following a successful 2008 – and funded in part by improvements in member retention since working with TRP – the 8000 square feet (750 m2) of the Fitness Village was completely overhauled and turned into a stunning, contemporary health club.

Results

Kraig provides the best summary of the results, ‘The project has been fantastic. We have seen membership increase by over 600 to a total over 3200; our DD line is higher than it has ever been and we are retaining members for longer than we have ever done before.’

As the first year of the project came to an end, analysis by TRP was able to demonstrate the effect of the various strategies:

• The overall retention rate improved for members joining in 2009 compared to those joining in 2008.
• Members who were interacted with at least 4 times during their membership remained at the club 18 months longer than those with no interactions (see figure 1).
• Interacting with members was more important than both contract length and visit frequency in determining length of membership!

Figure 1 The effect of interactions on member retention

Conclusion

By combining proven retention strategies from TRP with The Dome team’s skill and experience, The Dome have successfully shown an alternative route to success – low prices combined with fantastic service.