MAY 2013 | I S S U E 01
MONTHLY WELLNESS NEWSLETTER FOR THE PRIVATE CLUB INDUSTRY
WELLNESS AND FITNESS SELLS MEMBERSHIPS by Melissa Fox
Prevo Health Solutions would like to recognize PALO ALTO HILLS GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB
as one of AMERICA’S HEALTHIEST CLUBS® and to
congratulate Dirk Zander and his team for their
dedication to helping their members and staff
live healthier and happier lives.
PALO A LTO H ILLS G OLF & C OUNTRY C LUB
(PAH) located in Northern California, expects to
reach its cap for both social and proprietary fullmemberships in the very near future, and much
of the success can be attributed to the new
30,000 square-foot family fitness center expan-
sion. The main adult fitness area includes a
3,400 square-foot fully equipped workout room,
a 1,200 square-foot exercises studio and an 800
square-foot pilates studio.
The $14.5 million master plan renovation project first began to form in 2006 and four years later
the family fitness center opened. According to
Dirk Zander, general manager, “the project was
one of the largest in the Silicon Valley at the time
and during construction, the number of memberships up for sale more than doubled and the price
dropped to an all-time low. That all changed since
the opening of the family fitness center as the
clubs shareholder value has doubled.”
Kathy Sanders, membership director said “the
family-oriented aspect is really attracting
younger families with children,” she adds. “They
see how all of the new facilities, plus the youth
programs that assure them their kids will be
properly supervised and engaged, which adds up
to an incredible value”.
Courtney Rebel, the spa & fitness director has
developed over 70 family based and age specific
youth programs which include summer camps,
fun teen events, dive-in movies, family yoga,
Kool Kidz events and more. Every age group
and member profile gets ample attention. All of
the staff in the family fitness center are young
and energetic people that are passionate about
kids and are trained in adult health and wellness
programming.
The family and adult initiatives have been extremely well-received throughout the club and
new programs are being added all the time. In
fact, 48 percent of all adults in the club reportedly visited the fitness center at least once during
the past month.
While not every club has the wherewithal to
make a significant capital investment to expand
their facilities, all clubs have the ability to improve their programming to satisfy the needs of
their members to remain relevant.
IN THIS ISSUE
From the President P.2
Spa & Fitness P.2
Nutritional Bites P.3
Associates Corner P.3
Facilities & Amenities P.4
About Prevo Health P.4
SPA & FITNESS
KNOWING YOUR MEMBERS
FROM THE PRESIDENT
Rick Ladendorf
RELEVANCY
This month’s issue focuses on the importance of RELEVANCY and the importance of offering wellness programs
and value-added services to help with recruitment and retention strategies.
Fitness related activities bring a lot of
people to the club which means more
usage and better utilization, builds membership satisfaction and strong financial
performance. As the Executive Producer
of AMERICA’S HEALTHIEST CLUBS® rating
service, I am happy to report that clubs
that “embrace wellness” as a strategy,
have seen sustainable increases in both
recruitment and usage revenues as they
meet the needs of the senior member and
the health conscious younger families.
According to Dirk Zander, general
manager of the PALO A LTO G OLF &
C OUNTRY C LUB , “95 percent of the new
members over the last two years joined
primarily because of the fitness and family focused programs we offer”.
Scott Bremer, general manager of the
Lafayette Club in Minnetonka, MN has
seen an annual increase of 4,000 new
covers as a result of adding healthier
menu items.
CONCLUSION
To stay relevant clubs must be proactive
by offering programs, incentives, activities, events, challenges, education, healthy
menus and adequate facilities to meet the
needs of current and new members, or
they face a slow and painful death.
Name recognition is great but…Have you
isolated how each member uses your club &
what drives club engagement most? Why are
certain members not using your club like last
year? As a general rule, most managers only
truly know their top 20 to 30 percent membership. These are the most active club members
who typically serve on committees & boards,
use the fitness center, play golf frequently and
use dining rooms regularly. Unfortunately,
managers are also in touch with the bottom 5
to 10 percent of the membership who have expressed they are no longer using the club and
contemplating leaving.
are among the most engaged members, this
shift may go unnoticed. After further investigation, and based on the average total spending, this change suggested a loss of $8,400 per
month for a total loss of $100,800 per year!
Increasing member activity should be a coordinated effort among all department heads.
Once fading members are identified, work
through “target list” as a team and leverage personal relationships to understand changes in
each member’s use of the club. Make personal
contact in casual settings to investigate changes
that have taken place outside of the club which
affected their use of the club. As a team, use
What about the middle 60 percent of your
membership? Do you know who is at the top
of this group and who is trending towards the
bottom? Early focus on identifying members
trending from top 20 percent to middle 60 percent is crucial. Understanding why this trend is
occurring is the foundation for designing more
targeted member engagement programming
which includes group activities, one-on-one
training/coaching, off-site activities, clubwithin-a-club groups, education and other wellness related value-added services.
In a recent case study conducted at a full
service private country club, we identified 26
members who had dropped out of the top 30
percent from one year to the next but remained
among the top 50 percent. Because they still
this knowledge to develop individual strategies
for re-engaging these members.
Begin with a member survey which focuses
on learning more about lifestyle and lifestage
interests. Learn more about their interests, activities and attitudes so you can design programs which meet the member’s needs. Invite
the non-fitness / non-active population in for a
free body composition assessment, tour, massage and free lunch and offer programs which
inspire and engage. Early detection of changes
in member usage is vital to being proactive in
member retention.
Begin with a member survey which focuses on learning more about lifestyle and
lifestage interests. Learn more about their interests, activities and attitudes so you
can design programs which meet the member’s needs.
Tom Coburn, PGA is the Principal Advisor of CTU
Advisors, LLC. “CTU Advisors, LLC is the exclusive
provider of Club Member Index™ (CMI), a unique
method for measuring club member engagement.”
NUTRITIONAL BITES
BRAND IT AND THEY WILL COME!
Branding is the use of a name, term, symbol or design to give a product or service a
unique identity. Think of a swoosh and Nike comes to mind. But when it comes to branding
healthful menu items very few clubs do it better than O CEAN R EEF C LUB , a magnificent
gated community located in Key Largo Florida.
O CEAN R EEF C LUB has 13 restaurants on property, each having a dedicated chef and
very distinct menus. But look closer and each of the menus all share one thing in common
– they all feature the Fit and Sound branded menu items, all of which meet very specific
nutritional guidelines which are listed at the bottom of the menu. In addition, members can
request the very popular Wellness Menu which offers a complete listing of all the Fit &
Sound, Heart-Healthy, Gluten-Free, Vegan and Vegetarian items.
Last but not least, O CEAN R EEF C LUB offers
Fit & Sound Dinners which feature a visiting
chef and Registered Dieticians. Fit & Sound Dinners include a healthy multi-course dinner, a bit
of education and most importantly interaction
with the chefs. The following day, the guest chef
conducts interactive and lively cooking classes
which help to further educate the member on the
importance of nutrition as part of their healthy
lifestyle. Now that’s what I call branding…
Fit & Sound Dinners include a healthy multi-course dinner, a bit of education
and most importantly interaction with the chefs. The following day, the guest
chef conducts interactive and lively cooking classes which help to further educate the member on the importance of nutrition as part of their healthy
lifestyle. Now that’s what I call branding…
Angelina Andreoni, O CEAN R EEF C LUB ’s wellness manager says “our members have
beautiful kitchens in their homes and yet they come to the club for most of their meals.
They love the Fit & Sound Dinners which tend to sell-out weeks in advance.”
To qualify as a Fit & Sound item it must be Under 450 calories, Less than 20 percent fat,
Under 225 mg sodium, low sugar, five oz. of lean animal protein, and whole grains. The
nutritional guidelines were created in collaboration with Philleppe Reynaud, executive chef
and a registered dietician /nutritionist. The Fit & Sound menu items go through an extensive
process where staff and committee members evaluate appearance, texture, taste and nutritional value before it makes it on the menu.
Branding a nutritional program goes beyond placing an asterisk on the menu and labeling
it Heart-Healthy or Gluten-Free. O CEAN R EEF C LUB is one of few private clubs in the
country that have branded a nutritional program and much can be learned from their success.
So regardless of the size of your
club, the geographical location or
your membership demographics,
we believe all private clubs should
consider branding the wellness initiative to include a nutritional strategy, which will in turn increase
usage, help your members stay
healthy and by all means help the
club stay relevant.
ASSOCIATES CORNER
HEALTHY EMPLOYEES LOWER
HEALTH CARE COSTS
Numerous studies have proven a healthy employee will reduce workers comp claims, improve
productivity, reduce absenteeism, reduce presenteeism and improve overall morale. But unfortunately there is not much you can do to affect your
premiums unless your club is self-insured (more
on this later). And according to WELCOA, every
dollar invested in workplace wellness programs
returns an average of $5.61 in savings.
Furthermore, your health plan offers free wellness portals to all employers free of charge which
include health risk assessments, prescriptive and
personalized tools which help educate and motivate employees to live healthier and happier lives.
The portals generally come with aggregate reporting tools which help you to understand your health
population which helps determine the types of
programs, activities and events you should offer
your employees. In addition, many health plans
provide incentives, credits and rebates to employers to help pay for health fairs, challenges and
other preventative wellness programs.
Talk to you broker or insurance carrier directly
to find out more about the wellness portals, incentives and content is available from your health
plan. If your Broker is not providing the level of
service that you need, contact Prevo Health Solutions and we would be happy to connect you with
an agency that will.
FACILITIES & AMENITIES
PRESIDENT & CEO
Rick Ladendorf
[email protected]
EDITOR
Melissa Fox
[email protected]
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
BoardRoom Connexions
www.BoardRoomConnexions.com
CONTACT
Prevo Health Solutions
29232 Country Hills Road
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675
888-321-1804
www.prevohealth.com
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DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES
TO BE ONE OF AMERICA’S
HEALTHIEST PRIVATE CLUBS?
Being recognized as one of A MERICA’ S
H EALTHIEST C LUBS ® is a distinction that is
awarded to a small percentage of private clubs. To qualify,
the club must achieve a Health Score of 800 or better on
a scale of 1,000 based on five categories; Fitness, Nutrition, Member, Staff and Facilities. This distinguished
third party validation recognizes the management team
and board for their commitment to wellness and for
achieving a healthy environment. A Health Report is issued within 30 days of the on-site assessment and contains recommendations and best-practices to help club
management define or further refine the club wellness
strategy. The health score evaluates two primary areas
across each category; Availability and Participation, and
we look at wellness programs for both staff and members.
Members of this elite club are able to use the service
marks and logos immediately upon receiving the Health
Report as a way of attracting new members, recruiting
health conscious staff, recognizing
key department heads and helping
to keep the members informed as
to how management is staying
relevant in the marketplace.
TO SCHEDULE YOUR ONSITE ASSESSMENT, PLEASE
CONTACT YOUR PREVO HEALTH REPRESENTATIVE.
WORK WITH WHAT YOU HAVE TO
INCREASE MEMBER USAGE…
According to the International Health Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA), only
15 percent of the adult population belong to a
health club or fitness facility. On the other
hand, early data received from qualified AMERICA’S HEALTHIEST CLUBS®, indicates the percentage of members that frequent the fitness or
wellness center at private clubs is averaging
closer to 36 percent and in one case a staggering 66 percent of the members were frequent
users of the fitness facility.
But not all private clubs have the financial
wherewithal to build a manned fitness facility,
so what can you do now to increase member
participation, usage and revenues?
First things first, survey the members and
learn more about their interests, wants and
needs. Next, create programming which meets
the needs of the majority populations by bringing in local experts which can offer classes, activities, workshops and educational programs.
Last but not least, capture member feedback,
review the member participation, evaluate and
build on the success. Present the findings to the
board and begin developing plans to expand
the facilities.
Most private clubs do not have the resources
on staff, are space constrained, have small unmanned fitness facilities and limited to no approved capital budget to expand any time soon.
But these should not be considered obstacles as
they are immediate opportunities to capitalize on.
Start by hosting/sponsoring a walking, running, biking, hiking or weight-loss club which
can be held on or off-site as a way of connecting members with like-minded interests. Select
a club associate to organize an activity, meet at
the club for a healthy breakfast, return to the
club and host a lunch n’ learn and write about
it in your monthly newsletter.
Making small programming changes will
help increase member usage and member satisfaction, which will ultimately lead to improved retention.
For more Wellness Best-Practices which inspire
member engagement and promote club usage, contact
your Prevo Health representative.
THE PREMIER WELLNESS SOLUTIONS
PROVIDER FOR THE PRIVATE CLUB INDUSTRY
P REVO H EALTH S OLUTIONS , I NC . is the
club industry’s premier wellness solutions
providers with expertise in workplace wellness
and member retention. Our mission is to improve the overall health of the private club industry through education and sharing of best
practices. Our team consists of health professionals, certified nutrition & fitness experts,
workplace wellness gurus and engagement specialists. We know what works in the workplace
and we know the club industry. We can help define the vision, design programs that engage
and assist in the execution.
Prevo Health has helped clubs design and
implement wellness strategies which have inspired staff and members to eat wise and exercise. We offer turn-key programs which:
1. Create sustainable increases in revenue
2. Produce ongoing lowering of operational costs
3. Provide a consistent increase in efficiencies and effectiveness.
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES WE OFFER
•
•
•
•
•
•
Strategic Wellness Plans.
Turn-key Wellness Programs.
Online Wellness Portal for Members.
Speakers and Educational Sources.
Wellness Focused Member-Survey.
Private-Labeled Employee Newsletter
(available in Spanish).
• Best-in-Class, Golf & Fitness Programs,
Products and Services.
• Prevention & Health Benefits Program.