December 2014

We hope that 2014 has been a successful and satisfying year for all of you. As we take a moment to express our sincere gratitude for your continued support, we also want to renew our commitment to providing you with the most accurate and reliable information and tools available. In the coming year, we will be reaching out to you, our subscribers, to learn more about how you're using Club Benchmarking and what we can do to enhance that experience. We also look forward to seeing many of you in person at the 2015 CMAA World Conference in March and as we travel across the country to present Manager, Controller and Board education.

MEMBERSHIP METRICS: NON-FINANCIAL DATA TELLS THE STORY

The Club Benchmarking database contains a wide range of individual metrics related to the financial and operational health of your club, but the true power of CB is the ratios and key performance indicators that provide context and insight by bringing those individual data points together. A club with incomplete data in non-financial sections of their account may not be fully leveraging that power.

As an example, login to your dashboard and click on "Finance & Operations." Select the "Membership" section and spend just a few minutes entering basic information like year-end member counts and member fees. If you haven't done that yet for 2013, start there. When you're ready to do 2014, you can always use the "Copy Prior Year Data" button to bring that information forward and edit as needed. Take 10 minutes to fill out as much of that data as possible and you will see an immediate benefit in your reports. Examples include ratios like "Net Available Cash per Full Member Equivalent" and "Dues per FME" in the Available Cash/KPI Report, and "Full Member Turnover Percentage" and "Membership Marketing Expense per FME" in the Membership Report. If you have questions or would like assistance, please email support@clubbenchmarking.com.

In a special "Fast Facts" webinar last week, Club Benchmarking COO Russ Conde addressed the issue of "capital starvation" and called it a common condition in the club industry. In order to make progress in the ongoing battle for member recruitment and retention, clubs must have adequate capital to keep facilities up-to-date, but Conde said industry data confirms that for most clubs, initiation fees just aren't enough and other sources must be identified. Click Here to Watch the Recorded Webinar

BASIC TRAINING THIS WEEK:
MANAGING YOUR YEAR-END ACCOUNT UPDATE

Whether you run on a calendar year or still have a few months to go before your fiscal year end, make sure at least one member of your staff is registered for this webinar. In this session, Director of Member Services Jim Boyle will explain the fiscal year end account update process and give tips on how to make it easier and more efficient. This free training webinar is just one more benefit of your Club Benchmarking subscription .Thursday, December 11th at 2:00 PM Eastern.

In the month of November, we welcomed 18 new clubs and 67 new users to the Club Benchmarking community. With each new member club, the CB database grows more robust. That enhances your reporting capabilities and improves our ability to analyze and understand the club industry. To see which clubs subscribe, check out the complete MEMBER LIST