2015 Saints Memberships

[HayesTheChamp]

I've a little boy due at the end of April and he'll be signed up the day he's born so there's a +1

Congratulations!

 

[VDS66]

25 in 25 was pure marketing 101...

A great move IMO. Give people a target and they'll move towards it.

 

[ike2112]

I voiced my concern at the time that 25 by 25 was all show.

If it doesn't actually result in getting a chunk of new sign ups on the back of the wave of positivity it manufactured, then it's actually failed...

 

[VDS66]

I voiced my concern at the time that 25 by 25 was all show.

If it doesn't actually result in getting a chunk of new sign ups on the back of the wave of positivity it manufactured, then it's actually failed...

So what if it was all show? It gave us a boost coming into the New Year. Supporters obviously got behind it.

The final number will - I suspect - hang on how we start the season.

 

[ike2112]

But my point is that other than a warm feeling, it looks like it didn't actually give us a boost. If it gave us a boost, the numbers wouldn't have dried up. Supporters obviously didn't get behind it, or we'd have a bigger number. People who would have signed up anyway, got behind it, so our numbers aren't any better they just happened earlier.
They should have followed 25 by 25 immediately by then going after their harder leads and trying to convert more members. Instead they took a fortnight off. Partly a consequence of having a target that ends in a holiday period.
But they had players making calls, big pushes for sign-up in early and mid-December, but we were going after those easy leads who were very likely to sign up anyway. Its actually a waste of resource. Those mini pushes for numbers should have focused on harder but more valuable links, even corporate multi-member sign ups.

**spoiler below**

Getting pumped off the premiers isn't going to help either...

 

[Pakenhamsaint]

Tonight's game will just about guarantee that member number won't be moving much more.

 

[Persevering Saint]

Tonight's game will just about guarantee that member number won't be moving much more.

I thought that, but now I'm thinking, why? We lost by a hundred to the premiers in a scratch match... with five or six of our best 22 out. Big deal.

I spoke to my boss today, and he didn't even know the NAB was on. There are tons of supporters who are still waking up to the season starting. The games have been on Foxtel remember.

The Saints admin aren't selling winning games. They're selling being part of the Bayside community, and contributions like clinics, etc. Members sign up to be part of building something, not being something yet.

 

[psychosaints]

I've a little boy due at the end of April and he'll be signed up the day he's born so there's a +1

WOW! I think that's the most likes/responses, I've had on here. Thanks guys!

 

[Defacto]

I voiced my concern at the time that 25 by 25 was all show.

If it doesn't actually result in getting a chunk of new sign ups on the back of the wave of positivity it manufactured, then it's actually failed...

Exposure. Happiness in its supporter base. Increased membership on this time last year

How do you know it didn't contribute towards the recent sponsorship signings

 

[BrianSpeaking]

Re our membership, having that many numbers by Christmas allowed us to project ahead with real cash in the bank, and then go ahead and spend that cash in areas that were needed.
Wayne Hughes being hired was a direct result of us having money in the bank.
You young supporters have nothing to bitch about, at least this competition allows us to draft our way back to the top along with free agents. Just over four years ago we played in a Grand Final, so get a grip.
When I was young, if you weren't Essendon, Hawthorn, Collingwood or Carlton you were just making up the numbers. Now THEY were dark days.

 

[ike2112]

You young supporters have nothing to bitch about, at least this competition allows us to draft our way back to the top along with free agents. Just over four years ago we played in a Grand Final, so get a grip.

I'm not bitching, and I'm fully aware the recent past hasn't been that bad - I was making the same point myself (and losing) to the masses of raging 'supporters' on the club's facebook page following today's game.

I just pointed out at the time, as a campaign to get sign-ups, the 25 by 25 were taking the easy route to a landmark target. But it wasn't the end target (which is our actual member number). I had a concern that it was all for show, and not actually increasing our reach nor income. Now that seems more and more likely, it's now being shrugged off.
Yes however it may well, along with the other positive things the club has been pushing out in the last 12 months, have led to sponsor progress.

 

[Sunshine Saint]

But my point is that other than a warm feeling, it looks like it didn't actually give us a boost. If it gave us a boost, the numbers wouldn't have dried up. Supporters obviously didn't get behind it, or we'd have a bigger number. People who would have signed up anyway, got behind it, so our numbers aren't any better they just happened earlier.
They should have followed 25 by 25 immediately by then going after their harder leads and trying to convert more members. Instead they took a fortnight off. Partly a consequence of having a target that ends in a holiday period.
But they had players making calls, big pushes for sign-up in early and mid-December, but we were going after those easy leads who were very likely to sign up anyway. Its actually a waste of resource. Those mini pushes for numbers should have focused on harder but more valuable links, even corporate multi-member sign ups.

**spoiler below**

Getting pumped off the premiers isn't going to help either...

You are assuming that it hasn't been a success because our numbers aren't dramatically up. For a team that finished last wouldn't a better measure be that we haven't had a dramatic drop off? At this stage we are up or level with last year and in the context of being wooden spooners and this year being possibly worse, I think its an amazing result.

 

[ike2112]

You are assuming that it hasn't been a success because our numbers aren't dramatically up. For a team that finished last wouldn't a better measure be that we haven't had a dramatic drop off? At this stage we are up or level with last year and in the context of being wooden spooners and this year being possibly worse, I think its an amazing result.

As I say, as someone who worked quite a few years in this type of sales, if their aim is to get as many members as possible, their strategy was flawed. They were calling the wrong people at the wrong time with the players available. They were all about hitting that 25k and then the big warm feeling it would give.
To me they would have been better targeting harder leads with the more useful resource available. But then it wouldn't have had the catchy ring to it of 25 by 25. If the aim was just to get 25,000 members as soon as possible and put out a positive story and use that as another bit of evidence for sponsor wooing, then its fair enough.

 

[Verdun66]

Re our membership, having that many numbers by Christmas allowed us to project ahead with real cash in the bank, and then go ahead and spend that cash in areas that were needed.
Wayne Hughes being hired was a direct result of us having money in the bank.
You young supporters have nothing to bitch about, at least this competition allows us to draft our way back to the top along with free agents. Just over four years ago we played in a Grand Final, so get a grip.
When I was young, if you weren't Essendon, Hawthorn, Collingwood or Carlton you were just making up the numbers. Now THEY were dark days.

Remember it well unfortunately. Season after season. Was heartbreaking. My Carlton mates used to rub my face in it. That's why the long run of beating them was so good.

From what I recall this was meant to be our worst year in the 'Pelican Plan'. Just got to enjoy the small victories of seeing some young guys develop, and have the occasional great day.

 

[sverik25]

I wonder what might have happened though if we hadn't signed as many members early in the piece. If say, we only had 27,000 like this stage last year and bad results started filing through, like last night's, members who this year have signed up earlier may not have signed up at all. At least we've got the members in the bank.

 

[Persevering Saint]

Exactly. The time to entice members was December, on the back of player re-signings and the draft. It sure as heckling wasn't in March or April when getting thrashed.

 

[Defacto]

Without 25/25 or the attention put into opening our club up and generating enthusiasm I reckon we'd be struggling to get 29k members by the end of this season

People would have been dropping off. I know many new renewals or previously unsigned or leaving members. Been a success in my eyes


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[BrianSpeaking]

Correct Defacto, 100%, we aren't going to sign many once people remember how s**t we are at the moment, so we seized the day and have hit almost 30K already.

That's money in the bank, people can't ask for it back, although I guarantee you a lot will want do by end of year.

 

[Saint Luke]

I don't understand criticism of this program. It can only help in a multitude of ways.

- First, and most important it ensures the re-signing of existing members because they are still connected with the club and may have received a phone call from a player or a cake on their doorstep. That kind of initiative basically guarantees that barring financial constraint, the vast majority of people will sign up. I worked in hospitality for many years, and I know we don't like to think of members as customers, in a way that relationship is very much in that fashion. A shareholder to a CEO is still a customer. We are maybe not even at the bottom of performance for our team yet, and simply having the same amount of members as last year would be a huge win to me. This program seems to be able to guarantee new ones though.

- With existing members sufficiently wooed and resigned in quick time, this gives you a dramatic amount of time to convince new ones. Another fantastic benefit from getting people to sign up so quickly. We have all seen even on this board but also many tweets and facebook posts of people saying they hadn't been a member for a few years but were resigning up to help. People feel an obligation to support.

- A call to action in this day and age is one of the most powerful tools you can use. People feel belonging to the concept, they believe they are contributing to something great, they feel entrenched with the club and it's goals, they celebrate when the goal is achieved. For that portion of this program alone our admin needs a huge round of applause. That is precisely how you rally people in business, in politics, and yes in sport.

- Finally, and this is once more the beauty of someone that understands how this world works is that it gives St. Kilda a story, or a bulletpoint. You see time and time again that it's used at the end of press releases and press conferences to remind everybody that there is a series of successes. When you go to sponsors, as we have already seen, able to say that your members have re-signed in droves and also you have been getting outstandingly good press for months now then you have a very strong case to not only sponsors but detractors, the media, etc. Being able to achieve a membership record when you are the wooden spoon team is an achievement and got a lot of coverage.

This also sets up the ability to make this a regular achievement. It might by 30 by the 30th next year, who knows.

Really, we should be happy with even 1 extra member than last year after having our worst year in a decade or so. I really don't foresee even a single consequence to this promotion.

 

[Sunshine Saint]

Outstanding post. Saint Luke you are spot on with this

 

[Persevering Saint]

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

 

[sverik25]

Only 25 more needed for 30,000!

29,975.

 

[Periphery]

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

How big is the bush? Does it produce any fruit or have any other marketable qualities?

 

[VDS66]

Correct Defacto, 100%, we aren't going to sign many once people remember how s**t we are at the moment, so we seized the day and have hit almost 30K already.

That's money in the bank, people can't ask for it back, although I guarantee you a lot will want do by end of year.

First rule of business: Customer retention. Never take your customers for granted. Get them locked away and then focus on expanding your customer base.

Last thing we needed was more lapsed members!

 

[Saint Luke]

Nearly 900 new members in the last week. Those are great numbers.