Meeting with Matt Finnis

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GJD23 said:
MEMBERSHIP
. Putting together membership Christmas packages for supporters who haven’t signed on yet.

. ’31 by 31’ membership campaign, similar to what we did last year but this time have 31,000 members by Dec. 31st. Getting players to call members who haven’t re-signed for 2016. Going by our numbers last year we had 25,000 by Christmas and then only 7,000 after that. If we are looking to hit 40,000 members in 2016 we would need roughly 32,000 signed by the end of the year.

“‘Dob in a friend’ membership campaign (or something that sounds nicer than that!) where existing members can give the club a contact number of a supporter who hasn'tsigned up as a member yet. I saw them do this on Facebook two years ago and I gave them a mates number and he got a call later that day from Sam Fisher to sign him up (which worked). Perhaps some privacy issues here, but not many Sainters will mind having a player give them a call. I know the players call up members who haven't resigned a bit closer to the start of season. I think it would be a good idea.”

I think a supporter activation initiative could help the club identify more potential members. Whilst it would be difficult to do a complete assessment of this, it would be possible to utilise social media to gain an idea as to how many supporters we have that are actively using a social media forum and then use that information to compare that to our number of members. Upon doing so, we would be able to identify which of these supporters could be targeted to increase membership at the club. For instance, the Facebook page has over 138,000 likes but we've only just ticked over 20,000 members for next year. There's a massive gap in the market that we could be directly targeting through specific marketing. I know there's been a huge emphasis on making the club more transparent and trying to become the 'people's club' but at the same time, we seem to have missed an opportunity to promote memberships to both potential and past members. While a couple of reminder emails can work for a portion of the market, there needs to be a more direct approach to try and prompt renewal. The previous years members should be the platform for the next year, which we then build on. But it seems that we regularly fluctuate between 30-40k.Plenty of room for improvement in this area, which is exciting for the club's potential growth! Retention needs to occur regardless of our performance.

. ‘Backpackers’ game day experience – We have plenty of backpackers staying in Melbourne during the year and a campaign around these people would be great! Game day package, bus from Fitzroy St, game, pie, beer, 'saint for life' card and a special email newsletter from thence on.They would then potentially spread the word overseas. Check it out with the tourist operators as they would be getting an ‘ultimate Melbourne experience’
Click to expand...

I don't know if other people had this issue. I was unable to pay for multiple memberships at once as I gift Brother and Dad with there 3 game membership. Probably goes back to the website being more user friendly, however when I called they couldn't put it through 1 transaction either.
 
GJD23 said:
Hey boys!

Cheers for all your suggestions over the past two weeks.

Our work lines were down all day so I've decided to compile the list today lol.

Here it is...if you think I should alter anything, let me know! We've got shitloads of ideas for them. Great stuff. If you have any ideas to add to any of these sections just post them here!
______________________________________


COMMUNITY
. Events being put on near the St.Kilda area are much appreciated. More of a push to get St.Kilda players down to football clinics in Southern Metro Junior Football clubs would be good, as the Caulfield Bears junior football club get Collingwood players down each year to run training and as a club we have plenty of support in the bayside/south-east of Melbourne.


SOCIAL MEDIA
. 2min skills videos each week on the Saints website/Twitter/Facebook. Similar to what we did last year with the ‘Engine Room’
. Weekly ‘Saints Radio’ program on all social media channels, with interviews with staff/coaches/players, maybe turn it into a podcast.


MOORABBIN
. From what I have gathered I think there is genuine interest in helping the club donate towards the funding of the Moorabbin redevelopment with something similar to what Richmond did to clear their debt.

. On the topic of the redevelopment, I think introducing a scheme where supporters can pay $1000 to the club to get their name engraved on a brick that will be used for the redevelopment. ‘Buy a Brick’ campaign, or something that sounds more flashy!

. Statues of our greats outside of the ground. Lockett, Barker, Baldock, etc.

. Turning it into a really family friendly ground would be great. For example, having a playground as part of it so parents can bring their kids and let them play on the equipment while they watch the footy.



MEMBERSHIP
. Putting together membership Christmas packages for supporters who haven’t signed on yet.

. ’31 by 31’ membership campaign, similar to what we did last year but this time have 31,000 members by Dec. 31st. Getting players to call members who haven’t re-signed for 2016. Going by our numbers last year we had 25,000 by Christmas and then only 7,000 after that. If we are looking to hit 40,000 members in 2016 we would need roughly 32,000 signed by the end of the year.

“‘Dob in a friend’ membership campaign (or something that sounds nicer than that!) where existing members can give the club a contact number of a supporter who hasn'tsigned up as a member yet. I saw them do this on Facebook two years ago and I gave them a mates number and he got a call later that day from Sam Fisher to sign him up (which worked). Perhaps some privacy issues here, but not many Sainters will mind having a player give them a call. I know the players call up members who haven't resigned a bit closer to the start of season. I think it would be a good idea.”

I think a supporter activation initiative could help the club identify more potential members. Whilst it would be difficult to do a complete assessment of this, it would be possible to utilise social media to gain an idea as to how many supporters we have that are actively using a social media forum and then use that information to compare that to our number of members. Upon doing so, we would be able to identify which of these supporters could be targeted to increase membership at the club. For instance, the Facebook page has over 138,000 likes but we've only just ticked over 20,000 members for next year. There's a massive gap in the market that we could be directly targeting through specific marketing. I know there's been a huge emphasis on making the club more transparent and trying to become the 'people's club' but at the same time, we seem to have missed an opportunity to promote memberships to both potential and past members. While a couple of reminder emails can work for a portion of the market, there needs to be a more direct approach to try and prompt renewal. The previous years members should be the platform for the next year, which we then build on. But it seems that we regularly fluctuate between 30-40k.Plenty of room for improvement in this area, which is exciting for the club's potential growth! Retention needs to occur regardless of our performance.

. ‘Backpackers’ game day experience – We have plenty of backpackers staying in Melbourne during the year and a campaign around these people would be great! Game day package, bus from Fitzroy St, game, pie, beer, 'saint for life' card and a special email newsletter from thence on.They would then potentially spread the word overseas. Check it out with the tourist operators as they would be getting an ‘ultimate Melbourne experience’


GAMEDAY
. Introduce some of our legends at each/some home games. A circuit around the ground and a highlights reel on the big screen would remind us of our great history and players – especially given the fact it’s the 50th year since the ’66 flag.

. Getting some of the players who are not best 22 and/or emergency to do giveaways or sign autographs around the boundary BEFORE the game when scheduling allows it.

. We all know the Premier League is the best regarding crowd chants, songs etc. I think it would be really good if we could get a Tottenham Hotspur esq' long version of "Oh When The Saints... Go Marching In" with a really slow, long drawn out clap.

. Suggestions on the cheer squad being improved/more of a ‘dominance’ at home games via either lots of fun or part of something really powerful and intimidating for the opposition. Absolute MUST to create a banner for the cheersquad that reads "That was SIGNIFICANTLY PLEASING" as a tip of the hat to Richo.

Get the marketing guys to go to A-League games and see how the crowd chants and sings motivational songs throughout.


Suggestion came through about getting a bayside school to create the banner for each home game with an idea to have students (20 or so) involved in the coin toss, warm ups, half time etc. Country supporters group for night games. Special interest groups ie war heroes, LGBT, etc being the focus for specific home games (although we do have the pride match v Sydney).

. Information about what Geelong do on game day – “They have brass bands playing as you walk in to the ground, LifeSize pictures of the players on the wall to stand next to and compare how tall they are compared to you etc. it has a real carnival feeling. Whilst I appreciate it’s their ground and they don't have to share, there's got to be some portability about what they produce.”
“I love the presentation of the footy to kids, but maybe just stop and chat for ten seconds. It would mean so much to the kids (and us parents) to get to have a quick chat or even a quick photo with the guys.”
“I thought with the pride match, we should invite gay and lesbian players from around the country to come in their club colours and they can have a kick or something on the ground at half time. It will show our support for them, and may even help some "come out" in a supportive environment.“

. Quality food options are a must IMO. I think the easiest way to get that is to set up a an area for decent food trucks. While this might take some money away from the Saints provided food, they should derive some rent from it and having quality food will get more people to go to the games. Something similar to https://www.instagram.com/the_foodtruck_park/on game days.


SPONSORSHIPS
. Forming a partnership with an NRL club. Working together through the pre-season, hosting each other when we play interstate and they play in Melbourne. Could be a massive niche for us there to promote the game in other states and pickup members along the way.

. Work with the council in St.Kilda and surrounding suburbs to have the club ‘built’ into the city, similar to what Fremantle have done with approval from the Fremantle council. Paint the city red/white/black during finals (if participating), paint the medium strips, flags, banners, etc.

. Get small business on board. Canvassing them with support packages like local footy clubs do you would get a heap of little $200 to $2000 dollar donations for the price of printing a thank you certificate for them to hang up and maybe a small discrete window sticker for retail and cafe businesses that say "sponsor 2016" or something.



MERCHANDISE
“I'd overhaul the merchandising. Things are never in stock and there's few options. More stuff for kids. More stuff for girls. Games and collectables, I'd do top trumps - I'd love the kids (and me) having a set of saints top trumps, card collections, more retro stuff and for the love of god have all the xl's etc the same or have the sizes for each item on the page. I'd have seasonal review DVDs with commentary of games from Richo, coaches and players. Real insider stuff. Iconic framed pictures, autographed stuff, long sleeved versions of guernseys”

. Donate a percentage of income we get from the Pride match to a similar cause/charity. This story from The Guardian is about Rayo Vallecano in the Spanish football league, who are pretty much the most progressive football club in Europe and it seems that we would like the Saints to be the same.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jul/01/rayo-vallecano-rainbow-kit-supports-lgbt-rights


POSITIVES
. Social media is ‘the best in the league’
. Clash Guernsey has been extremely popular amongst supporters.
. Reconnecting with supporters has improved tremendously.
. Game day experience is good but needs to continually be improved.
. Transparency within all facets of the club.
. Rapt with the new management and culture.


INTERSTATE SUPPORTERS
. Quote from a supporter in WA regarding membership & game-day experience;
1) The premium interstate membership band provides little value for money; it’s why I cancelled mine. Over here in WA we have a pre-game function. It costs $20 entry and is funded by the western saints and sometimes their sponsors. Surely if you buy the premium interstate membership, you shouldn’t have to fork out the extra $20, however the same functions in Tasmania are free entry to members?

2) There is no membership band available for a junior interstate member. They buy the exact same membership is a junior based in Melbourne, just without any of the benefits. There’s no kid clinic unless you fly over etc. (the number that would fly over would be very low)... we are basically pricing out or giving interstate members a reason NOT to sign up. just doesn’t seem right that juniors pay the exact same price, even if the interstate ones cant receive all of the benefits

3) Added to the above, there is no membership band that gives an interstate junior access to grand final tickets. Our membership department response was "you have to buy the standard 11 game junior membership plus the extra membership that gives you access to it" this to me is vastly unfair; given NO junior is going to attend all 11 games if they live interstate! So the only option is to buy the premium interstate membership I mentioned above that is really poor value for money. if we do make a grand final, the family with the junior is already going to be paying for over-priced flights and accommodation to make the event

4) 1 game interstate membership is $30 more expensive than a 3 game membership... how does this happen? Given interstate members require less work and you actually pay for less tickets... now tickets at Subiaco are slightly more expensive than Etihad tickets but not by 3x the amount.

5) New membership website is extremely confusing and hard to find what membership is useful for your circumstance for interstate members.
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Please make sure you also include this in your list......
One 2 Roo said: ↑
Can you ask how we plan to fend off the Hawthorn invasion in to what is regarded as Saints territory? ATM they are a machine, with power and money, and it seems that they are keen to lock into our turf for 100 years (according to the press release) with three ovals and what not. How are we planning to compete with that? Is the move to Morrabbin short sighted? Is there room for future expansion?

Also - I note in their release, that they are paying cash for the land ($7m) with most revenue raised from profit, however a further $2.5m raised from donations. I can understand the profit, on the back of a very successful era, what I can't understand is the $2.5m in donations, how we can we lean on our supporter base to continue to drive revenue further? What other avenues are we exploring to increase our revenue streams?

The above is a real threat to us. A very real threat. This is why I posted the below back on the 26th of November. I hope Matt and St Kilda are looking at this very seriously and ensure that we go back to NZ and make it work.....

I really hope Matt and the Saints do not give up on New Zealand. Just a little background first.....My name is Nick and I was at the AGM all those years ago when (BUTTHEAD) Rod Butters announced that St Kilda were abandoning Tassie. During the Q&A I put my hand up to speak and to my surprise I was selected. I told BUTTHEAD that this was a very short sighted decision by the club and would one day come back to haunt us $$$$ wise. I mentioned that this would be a huge bonus for Hawthorn and pleaded for the decision to be reversed. Of course he just fobbed me off and said the players and coaches don't like playing there and went to the next person's question.

Please make sure that Matt doesn't make the same mistake with New Zealand. NZ is the best way to grow our club and potentially could make us as big as Hawthorn and Collingwood (if done right). Find out if the AFL will help fund the re-configuration of Eden Park for AFL. If they don't plan to then make them!! If we could play 2 home games and a NAB cup game there each year that would transform our club into a Power House. Will it happen overnight? No. Will it be easy to win the hearts and minds of the Kiwis? No. However if we do it right and stick to it I see no reason why we couldn't have 10,000 Kiwi members within 10 years. Not to mention all the flow on effect, eg. Kiwi's migrating to Australia automatically barracking for St Kilda.
 

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I think the meeting was happening today but I drove past the St Kilda Police Youth Club or what ever it's called. They do a gym and sports for the commission flats kids in Inkerman Street. We should get players involved and hopefully get some wayward youth back on track.
 
Tommy Wigs said:
That's pretty impressive. And good on you for sharing / requesting for inputs.
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Thanks mate :) Hopefully it gives him some pretty good insight. I know the club does surveys but usually everyone just selects 'good' or 'ok' and the club never really get true feedback. Really good suggestions made in this thread too.
 
Hey boys!!!!

Just got home after a long day. Meeting went for an hour and a half and first and foremost I gotta say thanks to the St.Kilda footy club and Matt Finnis. My first impressions of him are that he is an extremely laid back, down to earth bloke who genuinely gives two shits about where we are traveling as a footy club. He has grown up in the bayside area and understands how Saints fans feel. It was really good to sit down with him and talk football, club, etc. I have linked him to this thread and he wanted to thank you all for your suggestions/support/ideas, and he is forwarding our ideas onto the specific areas.

Got a few things to run through with you guys too!

I spoke with Matt about the whole Hawthorn to Dingley move and he isn't worried in the slightest. What he has said to me is that Hawthorn's Dingley oval is in the middle of nowhere. For fans it's difficult getting there via public transport so the move wasn't about creating a bigger club or getting more supporters, it was purely a move to create a 'breeding ground' for Hawks players, so when they arrive at the ground they have everything they need to do their job. It was a mould built on the ideas of various premier league teams in England. So I guess we can all rest assured that Hawthorn to Dingley isn't going to impact us. Matt spoke about how the Hawks and us both had the same 'blueprint' for what they wanted to do with their training ovals but we wanted to be more inclusive and create a central hub for everyone to get involved.

We then spoke about membership and retention and he mentioned to me that all the key indicators are looking onwards and upwards. They are set on striving for 30,000 members before the end of this year. 12 days of christmas campaign is soon ending so his membership team are looking at new ways to get more members on board before dec 31st. Our suggestions will definitely help him out I'm sure of it.

From looking at the numbers, it looks as though the reason supporters weren't turning into members was because of a lack of confidence about the club. People thought (and still think) that the club isn't governed properly; as if it's a boys club and everyone just stuffs around. Matt has made it very clear that at St.Kilda they are trying to move away from that perception as much as possible. Basically, they need our help guys. For anyone reading this that hasn't signed on for 2016, please do it. Even if it's just a $90 membership. With Easypay it's $10 a month. We are nothing like the 'old St.Kilda', and my hour and half with him has made that very clear. I already had a lot of faith in the club before today but this has really hit home about how much the people mean to the club. He showed me some figures about historical membership data and in 2010 we had 40,000 members, Richmond had 35,000. Yeah...35,000 lol. And now Richmond are pushing 70,000.

On the Jake Carlisle 'saga', Matt explained that the club was obviously frustrated. But also made it clear to me that the club wanted to put it behind them and get on with the job. Jake is an important player for us and has been working hard since the story broke.

I'm sure there's more but I can't remember it now lol, if you guys want to ask me anything I'll let you know if we discussed it or not.

Oh btw there's a massive announcement coming this Sunday, so stay tuned....Saints supporters will be very happy :D

Cheers again lads. Matt was super impressed. I'll continue doing these throughout the year as he gave me his business card.


Thanks lads! Go Saints!
 

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BTW, the announcement on Sunday ties into other things we talked about in this thread that you guys wanted me to ask him about, so when it breaks I'll let you guys know more intricacies. I'll let the club have the honor to let people know lol.
 
GJD23 said:
Hey boys!!!!

Just got home after a long day. Meeting went for an hour and a half and first and foremost I gotta say thanks to the St.Kilda footy club and Matt Finnis. My first impressions of him are that he is an extremely laid back, down to earth bloke who genuinely gives two shits about where we are traveling as a footy club. He has grown up in the bayside area and understands how Saints fans feel. It was really good to sit down with him and talk football, club, etc. I have linked him to this thread and he wanted to thank you all for your suggestions/support/ideas, and he is forwarding our ideas onto the specific areas.

Got a few things to run through with you guys too!

I spoke with Matt about the whole Hawthorn to Dingley move and he isn't worried in the slightest. What he has said to me is that Hawthorn's Dingley oval is in the middle of nowhere. For fans it's difficult getting there via public transport so the move wasn't about creating a bigger club or getting more supporters, it was purely a move to create a 'breeding ground' for Hawks players, so when they arrive at the ground they have everything they need to do their job. It was a mould built on the ideas of various premier league teams in England. So I guess we can all rest assured that Hawthorn to Dingley isn't going to impact us. Matt spoke about how the Hawks and us both had the same 'blueprint' for what they wanted to do with their training ovals but we wanted to be more inclusive and create a central hub for everyone to get involved.

We then spoke about membership and retention and he mentioned to me that all the key indicators are looking onwards and upwards. They are set on striving for 30,000 members before the end of this year. 12 days of christmas campaign is soon ending so his membership team are looking at new ways to get more members on board before dec 31st. Our suggestions will definitely help him out I'm sure of it.

From looking at the numbers, it looks as though the reason supporters weren't turning into members was because of a lack of confidence about the club. People thought (and still think) that the club isn't governed properly; as if it's a boys club and everyone just stuffs around. Matt has made it very clear that at St.Kilda they are trying to move away from that perception as much as possible. Basically, they need our help guys. For anyone reading this that hasn't signed on for 2016, please do it. Even if it's just a $90 membership. With Easypay it's $10 a month. We are nothing like the 'old St.Kilda', and my hour and half with him has made that very clear. I already had a lot of faith in the club before today but this has really hit home about how much the people mean to the club. He showed me some figures about historical membership data and in 2010 we had 40,000 members, Richmond had 35,000. Yeah...35,000 lol. And now Richmond are pushing 70,000.

On the Jake Carlisle 'saga', Matt explained that the club was obviously frustrated. But also made it clear to me that the club wanted to put it behind them and get on with the job. Jake is an important player for us and has been working hard since the story broke.

I'm sure there's more but I can't remember it now lol, if you guys want to ask me anything I'll let you know if we discussed it or not.

Oh btw there's a massive announcement coming this Sunday, so stay tuned....Saints supporters will be very happy :D

Cheers again lads. Matt was super impressed. I'll continue doing these throughout the year as he gave me his business card.


Thanks lads! Go Saints!
Click to expand...
great work mate!

for one who has started supporting the saints in the last few years i have to say i have no indication of "boys club" element at the saints....onwards and upwards!!
 
GJD23 said:
BTW, the announcement on Sunday ties into other things we talked about in this thread that you guys wanted me to ask him about, so when it breaks I'll let you guys know more intricacies. I'll let the club have the honor to let people know lol.
Click to expand...
So either Moorabin, Mccartin or another sponsor my guess
 
Oh yeah, Gresham was 12th on their draft board, White was 13th. So if Trout knows what he's doing (which he does) then we should expect big things out of both boys!
 
GJD23 said:
Oh yeah, Gresham was 12th on their draft board, White was 13th. So if Trout knows what he's doing (which he does) then we should expect big things out of both boys!
Click to expand...

If White was 13 th then that's one of the biggest steels of all time, bit odd that every other club didn't pick him up
 
We haven't really spoken about McCartin or a new sponsor in this thread so I'd say the announcement is about Moorabbin
 
GJD23 said:
BTW, the announcement on Sunday ties into other things we talked about in this thread that you guys wanted me to ask him about, so when it breaks I'll let you guys know more intricacies. I'll let the club have the honor to let people know lol.
Click to expand...

Moorabbin opening date would be amazing.

Or VFL standalone team.
 
GJD23 said:
Hey boys!!!!

(Great report)

Thanks lads! Go Saints!
Click to expand...

I'd just like to point out that a good many of our supporters (including posters here on this very board and even in this very thread) are female

I'm not criticizing you GJD23 - just reminding you of how important the female fans / membership are and will be in our rebuild
 
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