Have you ever found yourself struggling to grow your club membership base? If so, you're not alone. I faced the same challenge at my company. We were stuck at the same level for over two years. Until, one day, I decided the stagnation wasn’t going to cut it, and we needed to grow. I knew memberships were the key to our developing new technicians and steady work year-round as well as generating revenue at a reduced marketing spend. We took massive action and in less than eight months doubled our memberships. It continued to skyrocket from there! How did we achieve this feat?

It was actually pretty simple. We knew what we were doing wasn’t working, and we needed to rethink the whole approach. The key was to analyze the roadblocks and take massive action on the solutions to fix them.

It was pretty clear that a lack of systems, financial barriers, uninspiring offers, inconsistent technician performance, and unclear communication of value were at the top of the list of items we needed to address.

The solution? Developing the plan with these five key strategies in mind.

1. Minimize the Money: Make investing in your membership plan more accessible by offering a perpetual-style membership with a small monthly fee instead of an upfront cost.
2. Eliminate the Fine Print: Create a standout membership offering by providing a no breakdown guarantee tune-up, which is simple, credible, and risk-free for the homeowner.
3. Identify Opportunities: Optimize ServiceTitan to recognize and maximize opportunities for membership growth and streamlined processes.
4. Reward the Team: Set performance standards for technician and customer service rep. conversion rates, and tie them to performance pay bonuses to hold them accountable.
5. Show and Demonstrate Value: Continually communicate the value of the program to customers and technicians. We have to believe in what we are doing.

There were also some essential systems that we needed and accompanying training plans to go with them.

Six Essential Systems for Club Membership Growth

1. The Perfect Service Call with Complete Inspection: Implement a systematic process for handling on-demand service calls and consistently offering club memberships.
2. The Perfect Tune-Up and Checklist: Equip technicians with a systematic approach and detailed checklist for conducting tune-ups, ensuring high-quality service, and maintaining minimal callbacks.
3. Schedule Tune-Ups Strategically and Contact Customers: Reverse engineer how many calls will be needed in the shoulder seasons. Fill capacity with membership visits and have them done before peak season arrives. Automate SMS for recurring services to make it easy for customers to schedule.
4. Recover Expiring Memberships: Designate someone in the office to handle expiring memberships monthly, ensuring no valuable customers are lost.
5. Address Failed Recurring Charges Each Month: Contact members with failed charges to keep their memberships active, and use this opportunity to upsell and remind them of their plan benefits. Utilize the membership renewal protection feature in ServiceTitan to help reduce failed charges as well.
6. Follow Up With Customers Who Did Not Invest in a Membership: Have a dedicated person follow up to learn why customers didn't invest in a membership. On the call, remind them of the benefits and the savings that are available. Oftentimes, this follow up leads to a membership along with closing of previous estimates.

If you want to skyrocket your membership growth, use these proven strategies and systems. Focus on offering a simple, accessible, and valuable membership plan while continuously demonstrating its benefits. Empower your team with the tools they need to succeed and hold them accountable for meeting performance standards. Take massive action and continue to refine your process. If so, you too can break through the barriers that have hindered your company's growth. It’s go time!