HAREWOOD HOUSE
When Sibh joined Harewood, Annual Membership was at an all-time low. For a predominantly outdoor attraction, this ‘weather-proof’ income stream was crucial to the business and needed to be recovered.
The following year membership and income had gone up 19% - what was the secret?
First of all, recruitment. A plan was put in place to combine sales training, sales targets, promotional initiatives and mapping the visitor journey to improve onsite communication – especially on event days. This integrated approach led to a swift uplift in the number of new members.
Then retention. It was all very well recruiting members but keeping them was another matter; how to mend the ‘leaky bucket’? Talking to members about what they wanted, providing a greater sense of belonging with exclusive member events and newsletters and dedicated staff, developing a member contact plan to communicate the right messages at the right time and counteracting renewal apathy by introducing direct debit all combined to increase the retention rate to 80%. Renewals replaced complaints in terms of staff time and the overall levels of visitor satisfaction increased too.
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Sibh has also worked for other Membership organisations including The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, Castle Park Golf Club and Visit Harrogate.