Growth and Retention

BY ED YOUNGLOVE PSIA-NW PRESIDENT

I attended the Pacific Northwest Ski Areas Association annual meeting in Portland on September 15th. Communication with the ski area owners is a vital part of our organization’s viability. The featured speaker was Michael Barry, President of the National Ski Areas Association. Many of you are familiar with Barry’s model for growth. Some of you will undoubtedly recall that he personally presented the model at our fall Seminar several years ago.

Barry’s premise was that if just a small percentage of persons who try the sport for the first time convert into skiers/riders, the industry would grow. Instructors were an important part of that model because they probably have more to do with that first experience than anyone else the first-time skier/rider encounters. Barry’s presentation in Portland was Phase 2 of the growth model. The principal addition, as I understood it, was the concept that in addition to converting first-timers, some skiers/ riders that demographic data tells us are leaving the sport need to be retained. The model’s components are thus conversion (growth) and retention.

On October 6th I left for a meeting of the Division Presidents in Denver. One of our agenda topics was “Marketing, Growth and Retention”. As Yogi Berra must have said, “it’s obvious once you see it”. Well, I’m seeing the concept of growth and retention all around us. Ski areas, snowsport schools and our national organization are all struggling with the same opportunities.

If our division is going to grow by attracting (converting) new members to the organization and by retaining current members, I believe we need to focus on two components. These are the same focuses most businesses have: (1) produce good quality products/services, while constantly working to maintain and improve that quality; and (2) market the products/services so that the customer is aware of their high quality and availability.

I am convinced of the superior quality of our products and services and of our commitment to constantly improve that quality in producing cutting-edge clinics and materials. The hiring of our new Education and Programs Director, Kirsten Huotte, is just one reflection of that commitment.

To market our products and services, we need to first know who our .customers. are. Obviously, you, the member, are the primary consumer of the educational products and services the organization provides. Instructors who are not members are potential customers. Other, indirect consumers, also include schools and ski areas, where instructors utilize the educational products and services that they get from the organization in providing lessons. The ski areas and snowsport schools are also our partners. Ultimately, we share with them, as “customers” the skier or rider who takes a lesson from one of our members through a school at a ski area. It is important that all of these “customers” see the quality in the educational products and services we provide, if not by experiencing that quality directly, then by experiencing the result. For the school/area this means more frequent skier visits, and for the skier/rider it means a better, more effective lesson and a more fun experience.

To grow (i.e., convert more instructors to members of the organization), the key lies in instructors seeing the value of becoming a member. They must see the relevance of our services and products to their profession as an instructor. It may be that they will see the value better if the area and the school are somehow sending them the signal that membership in our organization and participation in our events will help them in getting, keeping and doing a better job. This is one reason our relationship with the ski areas and schools is a vital component of our growth.

To solve the retention problem, we need to ask why we lose members. (Since the concept of retention includes member participation, our retention problem also includes lack of member participation in educational events and products.) If it is a young instructor who leaves the organization, it may be because they are going off to school; or they are starting a family; or they cannot afford to participate (this does not mean just the payment of dues). If it is an older instructor who leaves, maybe it is because they feel they have lost some of their physical ability; or their skills have deteriorated; or maybe they do not feel some of our focuses teaching park and pipe are relevant to them. Many of the instructors who leave have been with us for only five or six years and are physically in their prime. Maybe they leave because they do not feel challenged, or maybe it is precisely because they feel that they are in their prime and that they have reached the peak of their advancement within the organization, whether it is a particular certification level or something else, and do not feel capable of accomplishing anything further. Obviously, there are many other reasons why people leave the organization. Some we can do something about and some we cannot. We need to figure out which is which, and focus on the ones we can do something about which will be the most effective in retaining members.

So where do we begin? At our recent fall board meeting (between my trips to Portland and Denver), I appointed a committee of board members to develop a five-year fiscal plan for the organization. Growth and retention projections will be an important part of this financial model. For that reason, I appointed a second committee to create a scenario for the spring board meeting that will allow the board to identify and implement specific ways the organization can attract and retain members to meet the membership and participation goals set in the five-year plan.

Financially, our organization has a window of time, which I do not reasonably believe exceeds five years, within which to grow by both attracting and keeping members. This growth and retention is necessary if we are going to be able to continue to provide the highest quality educational products and services, and not only maintain but improve that quality, while at the same time keeping membership participation reasonably affordable. During this last term as President of PSIA-NW, it is my intention to focus the board’s efforts on our growth and retention opportunities.