A Welcoming Rugby League Club

1
A Welcoming Rugby League Club

• Svend Elkjaer
• Sports Marketing Network
• RFL Community Congress
• 25th October 2008

2
Where is all this coming from

• Grow Your Club workshops for
• Rugby Football Union, Football Association,
  Sports Council Wales, England Squash, Scottish
  Association of Local Sports Councils,
  SkillsActive, Sport England, England Athletics,
  England Netball, Welsh Rugby Union, British
  Speedway, UniBond League, Universities, 12 County
  Sports Partnerships and 45 local authorities and
  almost 1,500 sports clubs
• Lots of good club visits, brilliant experiences
  and great peopleand some less so!

3
Unwelcoming clubsa word from the Secretary of
State

• Lets be honest, a lot of our clubs have got a
  very unwelcoming environment. They must develop a
  more supportive environment, making people feel
  more comfortable.  
• Andy Burnham, Secretary of State for Culture,
  Media and Sport, (England Netball magazine)

4
Welcoming clubs make more money

• Focus on your customers i.e. parents, players,
  supporters, sponsors, Council etc. and their
  needs and then work to attract and retain them to
  support your club
• Your revenue will grow and long-term you will
  have a winning club, both on and off the pitch.

5
The hard core is not enough

• If you retain 90 of your members/supporters per
  year, youll have lost more than one third in
  year 4
• If you retain 80 every year you will have lost
  almost 60

6
What is marketing

• listening to peoples lives
• everything you do
• You are all marketeers

7
Become vibrant, visible and viable

• A successful club is
• vibrant through the activities and events the
  club and centre creates
• visible through its communication with members,
  supporters, sponsors
• viable - with funding under pressure clubs must
  diversify their revenue streams

8
Skål
9
Club marketing so far

• Weve got somebody who does our marketing. We
  havent seen him for a while
• We printed some flyers last year, I think they
  are in that box over there
• Do we really want all these new people here, in
  MY club?
• I just want to play rugby league
• The Government/Council/RFL should give us some
  more money

10
A view from an English National League Rugby
Union Club

• I have to admit that trying to get the
  management team to agree that we need more
  community involvement is difficult. There
  are entrenched views and it is taking time to get
  long-standing members to realise there is no
  future for "just a rugby club
• Malcolm Tempest, ex-Commercial Manager
  (volunteer)
• Hull Ionians

11
The WHOLE experience

• Think of the whole experience of joining your
  club (Moment Mapping)
• Decision to attend
• Seek information
• Booking
• Transport
• Experience at your club
• Do you make them love you
• Follow up
• Ask/listen

12
Get the three 2s right

• 2 seconds
• 2 minutes
• 2 hours

13
Customer service

• A Welcoming Club
• More than just a sports club
• Would you have your birthday party at your club?
• Note change of pub landlord can mean 50
  increase in turnover
• Learn from Disney, Starbucks and Tesco
• Greet and welcome newcomers

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Dirty / Clean? Cheap / Quality?
15
Life is changing

• 25 of us work unsocial hours
• The family is disappearing
• We work longer hours and commute more
• WiiFit sold more 350,000 units at 60-70 in three
  weeks
• Individual sports are taking over

16
We are all differentcan you serve all these
types?

• Sportster
• Socialite
• Socialiser
• The Driven
• The Belonger
• The Boss
• The Goodie

17
Finding out by asking peopleyour members

• Does your club add value to your members lives?
• What is their overall satisfaction rating with
  the club. Only people who are regard their club
  as 9 or 10 out of 10 are true advocates
• Inform and Engage

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Finding out by asking peoplethe community

• Interview 25 people in your local high street/
  shopping centre. How big a percentage of them
  know your club exists? How many know where you
  are? How many have been?
• Invite ten people from your local community to
  come down to your club and do a bit of mystery
  shopping. What do they think of your club as a
  whole? How long do you have to stand there
  before anybody says hello? What do they think of
  your changing room and toilets? Would they want
  to come back?
• Contact ten recently lapsed members and ask them
  why they resigned

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Different membership typesdoes your club add
value to their lives?

• Moseley RUFCs Season Ticket pay for 16 games
  and get 18 tickets
• Students
• Women/men
• Off-peak
• WAG/friend
• Pay and Play
• Corporate
• Concessionary
• Heavy user

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Train in a roundabout!

• Combined training session with other local club
• Local charity link ups
• Invitations to local celebrities / MPs / MEPs /
  sporting personalities
• Schools visits photocalls
• Demonstration in town centre
• Train next to main roads
• Match against the media!
• Local restaurant and club openings / theatre and
  cinema events

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Simple, but will you do it?

• One third of your Committee members should be
  female
• Get your Juniors actively involved with running
  the club
• Communicate using mobile and social media such as
  Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, emails and texting

22
Action Points
23

• Man who doesnt smile should not run sports
  club
• Chinese proverb (from Yorkshire)

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Lets stay in touch

• Svend Elkjaer
• Sports Marketing Network
• 5 Station Terrace
• Boroughbridge, York
• YO51 9BU
• 01423 326 660
• svend_at_smnuk.com