What hooks can we add to our membership?

[JeffSurdej]

We all know we are a competition only membership organization, its time to change that business model or we will be out of business. So what "hooks" can we offer in our membership package that would entice the millions of recreational waterskiers who enjoy #lifeonthewater?

[disland]

@JeffSurdej Why do we have to be a certain size to "be in business"

 

It seems to me the only expense that may be a function of size is the insurance.

 

Lets embrace that we are a competition organization and work on retaining and growing that.

[Horton]

@JeffSurdej

 

@krista talked the idea of affinity groups. https://goo.gl/Fu12iw

 

Making membership like a Brotherhood or a fraternity. It's not actually a benefit it's a marketing strategy.

[Boo]

In addition to access to sanctioned tournaments, one of the secondary benefits (or hooks) of membership are travel discounts--especially discounts for hotels. I've gotten really good prices for Hilton hotels (e.g., Hampton, Double Tree) which alone has made up for the cost of the annual membership. Unfortunately, I just looked at the USA waterski website and noticed that although discounts are available for the Choice Hotels chains, the Hilton Hotels are no longer listed. Sad. @Jeffsurdej bring in back!!!

[ToddL]

Hook products for water skiers -

sunscreen

sunglasses

sun-shirts/hoodies

portable shades/shelters/chairs

energy bars/drinks

 

And with so many of us staying competitive at all ages...

aches and pains products (braces, wraps, analgesics, etc.)

health and wellness products (foam rollers, arrosti, PT)

recorvery products (picklejuice, etc.)

MRI discounts - LOL

 

Finally, legislative assistance -

fund research to fight unfounded water way restrictions

lobby support team

provide means for mobilizing membership's voice to protect public water skiing

[Horton]

@JeffSurdej My question is why has insurance been pushed as a benefit? I have been told for years that one of the major costs and benefits of membership is the insurance. I have also been told that one of the reasons that AWSA needs USAWS is so we call get a better group rate on insurance.

 

Skiers, boat owners and lake owners should all be insured on their own and the USAWS insurance is a secondary insurance anyway. If AWSA want to require skiers, boat owners and lake owners to carry bigger policies to ski sanctioned events I would be happier about that then having the association charge me more in fees and provide the insurance.

 

Am I just misinformed or could we get out of the insurance business and lower the costs of membership and fees?

[ForrestGump]

USA BMX has their own hotel service through a major travel agency that they call BMX Hotels. If I'm going to a big race, I use them. But the prices are awesome. I'm staying in a really nice Hyatt Regency this next weekend for Sooner Nationals for $79 a night.

[sunperch]

Improve the benefits you get from membership: partner with non waterski products to improve member discounts. How many kids come back to waterski tournaments with slushies from Sonic. Discounts at more hotel chains. Health club membership partnerships. AAA. Sunscreen companies. Advil. Restaurants. Quik Trip. Think AARP, does anyone join to be in a club with other old people or for the discounts?

[Horton]

@sunperch respectfully no. If you want a discount on your hotels join AAA. Give skiers a more compelling experience in regards to water skiing and you'll grow the membership. It's about water skiing it's not about slushies and sunscreen.

 

Giving them an ugly hat and a free bowl of soup is not going to win any new membership. If anything you are just muddying the water and wasting effort.

 

I would prefer that we get rid of any and all non-core superfluous efforts. Make water skiing fun. Make events interesting. Capture the people that ski but don't belong to the association.

 

[TravisNW]

I Ski and my girlfriend doesn't but she helps out at tournaments and has become a rated scorer. Two things come from this, first off we aren't married but have been together for 7 years, our generation just doesn't look at marriage the same way but our relationship is just as meaningful and from this organization there is no membership option we both have to get an individual membership. Secondly she has to pay the full price and doesn't even compete. In fact an active individual membership is required for her to judge therefore she has to pay in order to help us run our tournaments! I think this should be up for review, I know there are others in similar situations.

[Orlando76]

Between AAA and my numerous insurance companies I am offered enough discounts for the one night a year I stay in a hotel and a milk shake doesn't effect my wallet.

 

What I need is more opportunity to ski.Somehow public lake ski courses need to become more available, lobby a private lake to open doors to waterskiers even if it's only certain days. Maybe work discounts with ski coaches and facilities to members so it's more affordable to do it more frequently. So many times I'm available to ski with my boat but don't have a driver so maybe some way to bring driverless skiers together. I have no need to join a competition based organization. Also can't turn down a waterski tee shirt.

[perfski]

@JeffSurdej As someone in the industry and a life long boat owner....I think the ideas above have merit. Bottom Line is you need to create "Value" for joining and give people a reason they "want to" or "need to" join. Sometimes stepping back from this and flipping the situation: Ask yourself: "Why should I join up?" If you can't create real world value for recreational and tournament boat users they simply aren't going to spend the money when its tight.

You have to create REAL value that translates to real savings - real value for people. You might reach out to the WSIA to join you in this mission with the insurance companies. Obviously insurance is something EVERY boat owner needs...and real world savings here will be a great calling card. As a retailer...if you could demonstrate that you could bring me new customers who spent money with us...would I offer discount coupons to offset the expense of membership? Heck yeah I would...but again, you can just say you'll do it, you have to get a strategy and have a thoughtful strategic plan. Again, create real value to be a member....and it will help grow your membership. But your ability to communicate this value to potential consumers and ensure the value is real needs to be your mission statement. #my2cents

[buski]

I realized after I got my first boat that I love slalom. Sold it and bought a RLXi. Go every free weekend that I'm able to on the water with friends. Dry suits in March/April, ski until Nov. Worked on the course like crazy until I could run it, worked up to max speed & shortened at least a little. Am hooked and don't see that ending anytime soon. Imagine there are a lot of people like me. If I can't find a reason to join I think it would be hard to hook people even further away from the fence.

 

When I think about joining, what I think of is

- Everybody here always complaining about something (rules, growth, no growth, class a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,r,q, judging, no judging, awsa, uswas, some other acronyms, etc). Sounds like a headache.

- Going to a tournament would mean traveling 1.5h+, probably missing my gate twice and driving home, compared to another fun day on the water with my kids & friends.

- Competing for what? Age based even if I ski my best and actually hit my gates, am still just a 22off guy so I don't really care how it would look on the rankings. Ability based, maybe it would a little more fun? I've looked at INT and if there were tournaments in my area I would probably try those before awsa.

- What else would I join for? Insurance? I don't even know why I would need it. Maybe if we had a club and club level insurance, or we ran tournaments and needed insurance for that, but I'm already otherwise insured on my own and don't know what I'd get out of paying for membership.

 

If not joining for tournaments & competition though I don't understand what else it would even get me? If anything?

 

Things that made me my ears perk up a little

- Gordon's gate proposal. Don't need to rehash it but I don't really "train", just ski and probably miss 50% or more of my gates, but I don't really care. I guess if I wanted to compete I would spend more time on it but who wants to do that unless you're really into it?

- New zbs rule. I try to get to max speed as often as I can but being able to shorten a little slower might make it a bit more fun if I were to make it to a tournament. I don't know if that would get me out there this year though.

 

Things that sound like something I'd join for but probably hard to do in practice:

- Regular coaching/clinic opportunities. I'd much sooner drive that 1.5h+ 2-3 times a season if it meant a day of coaching, meeting new people, etc. If being a member meant I knew that a couple times a season I would get access to reasonably nearby, reasonably priced clinics of 2-3 sets with a great coach, I'd probably do that. I bet there are even opportunities at some nearby sites already, but they're locally coordinated or just coordinated by private groups so we never even hear about them. A few years back when Wade did his little tour of clinics I happened to see in WSM that he was doing one not too far from me. I signed up, had a great day, but never saw anything like it again.

- Even coached sets at a tournament instead of competing might make me go but I could see that being difficult to manage. Not a bad gateway to get people on-site to watch the tournament while waiting between their sets and eventually want to try it out, though.

- Some program to 'guarantee' sets at other sites. I know if I'm traveling somewhere, I could ask around for a pull and have done it before, but always feel like I'm imposing. Usually it's people who don't need me around and were just out for their sets anyway, so even if I chip in/help out/etc just feel like I'm taking up their time. If there were some well publicized clubs where having my membership card meant I could easily just coordinate a few sets without feeling like I'm putting people out of their way, hunting down names and email addresses,etc , I might join for that.

 

[ski6jones]

Looking at this question a different way I listed the reasons I join each year and was pretty surprised.

 

- Meeting new people/seeing old friends at tournaments (participation requires membership)

 

a distant 2nd and 3rd place going to;

 

- Measuring my performance – skiing tournament in controlled conditions.

- Supplementary insurance skiing at home – a nice bit of added coverage.

 

What's worse for the question you asked is I didn't even know about the first reason above when I joined and skied my first tournament.

 

And I'm with @TravisNW on the membership requirement to hold a rating. My wife is a regular Judge and Scorer but doesn't ski. We buy a family membership only so she can help at tournaments. That needs to change.

 

 

[LeonL]

@Boo I just got my new membership card and here is what is listed in the packet: Hilton 15% within the Hilton HHonors portfolio; United Airlines up to 15% to select sanctioned events; Choice Hotels up to 15% within Choice portfolio; Geico just says "members save on home and auto insurance"; Connelly. USA Water Ski Collegiate and show ski team members receive select water ski product discounts (I guess regular members who 3 event get squat). Masterline. 15% off first order. ( I guess once in a lifetime). So, there are the discounts per the insert with my membership card.

[JeffSurdej]

@Horton I didnt know I was going to have quit my job to keep up with these post :). I have been reading it all and pasting and copying all the ideas into my trello presidential list. So keep them coming. The insurance part is a great debate. I dont think any individuals care much about the insurance, at least not enough that we can make it our main sell. But I wonder how much the lake owners and tournament host value the fact that if any officials, spectator, skiers gets hurt on their site they are covered. I would imagine that the value in that is huge, Considering we have had 4 deaths in the recent decade and millions in insurance claims perhaps there is value to the person that is having all these skeirs on their property. If there is not then we should debate getting out of the expenisve insurance game. Quick story, ironman left usatriathon, got sued for millions and came crawling back. maybe a new thread on how much LOC value the fact that all skiers in their events are insured?

[mnewth]

@LeonL There should be some other discounts on the back of that insert, right?

[Horton]

@JeffSurdej Two things...

 

1 ) you are the crazy man who started 4 hot button threads in one day. You wanted input the Ballers are here for you

 

2 ) No questions all need good insurance. Perhaps the USAWS insurance is the best solution. I question it because I would prefer a lean organization that does less things and does them better.

 

[jpwhit]

I've been involved in competitive mountain biking for many years and think there are some useful parallels between the organizations in that space and in water skiing. In the early 1980s the National Mountain Bike Association (NORBA) was formed and was the governing body most closely associated with mtb competitions, licenses, and insurance for competitions. But NORBA really never expanded beyond that competition focus.

 

In the late 1980s, the International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) was formed with a focus on trail access issues for the MTB community. NORBA did well as long as mtb competition was growing endeavor, but as that aspect of mountain biking stop growing, and riders started to care more about other aspects of mountain biking, NORBA had trouble maintaining membership and was eventually absorbed into USA Cycling in lieu of just totally disappearing. IMBA is still going strong and is approaching 50,000 members now because access issues are a real and tangible benefit for all mountain bikers.

 

I think water skiing is really suffering from the same kind of access issues as mountain biking, yet there doesn't seem to be an organization with access issues as a core part of it's charter. I would certainly be more inclined to keep up a USAWS membership if the organization showed real progress in this area.

 

When I say access issues I'm referring to things like permitting issues for courses on public waters, access and availability of private ski sites, improvement to rules and regulations around the use of portable courses, better ways to deal with conflict between water skiing, wake boarding, jet skis, fishermen.

 

I know some folks will say well that's just too hard. But solving hard issues is what creates value for its members. People said the same thing in the early days of IMBA as well. But IMBA has made great strides in difficult land access issues as well as user interactions issue between mountain bikers, hikers, and equestrians.

[Jody_Seal]

"Hooks" should not be an attribute for membership. Services should be.

Bang for the buck!!

Had a gentleman in my shop today. Became a member for the first time in 2016, skied a couple tournaments however he is struggling to try and justify why continue in 2017. What did being a member do for him in 2016? He got a few glossy magazines with wake hoppers and Corky!!

 

Maybe being a member could get decent discounts for ski equipment, boats or boating related items from Overtons or Barts!! discounts for Chick-Fl-A or if the USAWS waterski wants to be in the insurance industry provide affordable group health insurance! Something!!

 

Ever utilize the online sanctioning and online payment set up for tournaments? Whew is that a cluster.

 

 

[klindy]

@JeffSurdej It would be a useful exercise to literally list "what benefits does USAWS provide a member". Same for AWSA. Personally things like magazine, regional guide and insurance are of little or no perceived value for me. However in 2015/2016 those three items were a combined $36 of cost to USAWS ($23 for insurance, $8 for the magazine and $5 for the regional guide).

 

As it is, we're all members of USAWS with most of us declaring a preference for AWSA as a sport division. That said, what does USAWS provide that attracts new members? What does USAWS provide to retain current members? Basically, if you want to ski in a tournament, you have little other reason to join and you have no choice but to join if you do want to ski in a tournament. So the "relationship" essentially starts out adversarial from the beginning. "I have to pay what to join just to ski a couple rounds??" Things would be MUCH better if folks were compelled to join USAWS for other reasons and happened to learn that (because of their membership) they could ski in tournaments!

 

I believe @jpwhit hit the nail directly above discussing "access issues". Why isn't there a complete and up to date database of slalom courses maintained by USAWS? Or more accurately AWSA? If you want to solve the "access issue" for new skiers, casual skiers or even hard core folks that happen to move to a new location, USAWS should be the number 1 source for that information. There are more 'private' sites today than ever and I suspect that no one in USAWS or AWSA can produce anything close to an complete list (with contact info) of potential "access" locations. The Google Earth data is the closest we have and as good as it is, it's far from complete and has vitually no contact info in it. If "access" is defined as a problem (and it is!) then here's a clear vacuum that USAWS can fill. At a minimum give me someone to call to see if I can get connected locally.

 

Closely coupled with that is the issue of permitting or other rules and regulations limiting access to the use of public (or even private) waterways. Where's the USAWS postion on the "Waters of the US" memo as part of the Clean Water Act and what's the potential risks or restrictions on members? Where are there "how-to" examples, or permit templates for those who might want to permit a course? What about local/state/federal contact information along with a list of relevant laws and regulations that affect how or if I can ski (in a course or not). Where's the advocacy component of USAWS and what has the organization done to help me live "life on the water"?

 

These are the types of things that add value to my membership. They are also the things that the collective power of an organization can make a real difference with.

 

[Jody_Seal]

@klindy They used to call it a reference guide.

 

[klindy]

@Jody_Seal and where is it? Did it all of a sudden become unimportant?

[Zman]

Jeff,

One other thought....

Most of my waterski years was non-competitive, just lots of recreational skiing of all varieties. And, what I liked about joining AWSA was the magazine (pre-internet) and the pro events of the time that allowed us enthusiastic recreational skiers to sort of get to know the pros and some of the movers and shakers in the industry. Clearly, it is a different world today, but anything we can do to help recreational skiers get to know more about the pros and somehow connect with today's movers and shakers might help bring in more members. Us tourny guys gotta join. We need to explore what perks up the interest of the larger mass of skiers, the recreational crowd.

Just my 2 cents.

 

 

 

 

 

[LeonL]

@mnewth I don't know. I've already tossed it.

[PurdueSkier]

@jpwhit posted a great point about access. I have skied on public lakes all my life, and still do. Until my recent move last year, I helped maintain a course on a public lake. Those courses are few and far between. The DNR and now EPA are becoming more strict on what you can do on public waterways. We need an organization that is actively promoting access and organizing the efforts of others. If our organization is currently doing that, it is not being well advertised. If this becomes are focus, then people who currently aren't tournament skiers may look to support the organization, without needing an event, or a magazine, or shirt. Look at the NRA. Yes, very different organization, but they have over 5 million members (according to Google). I do not know the stat, but I would bet a very large number of those members send in their money, not because of events or competition the NRA puts on, but instead to support the cause. Regardless of your position on the subject, you can't deny the NRA's action towards a goal and the support they have gained.

[JeffSurdej]

https://www.usawaterski.org/Discounts/

[DW]

One item not to lose sight of, this group is a well informed and active within the sport. To @JeffSurdej question, perhaps the first order of business is to assist the boat and product manufacturers, local dealers, boat show staffs (booths?), and promo boat sellers (others?) to market/sell/inform the recreational public sector about AWSA so at least they go to the website and start to gain information on how to be a member / costs / benefits. This would be followed closely by determining and adding beneficial or value perceived services / offerings. It does appear that several of the posts indicate a low value rating for membership cost outlay.

 

USAWS is not alone in declining membership or event participation, the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) is undergoing a similar issue with membership and race participation. They are in the same mode of transforming the business model to attract new or regain previous members.

[mateja]

Waiving the entrance fee for your first tournament might be enough to get more recreational skiers interested in joining and giving a tournament a try. As someone who skis recreationally on a public course myself, I have honestly never considered joining other than the possibility of someday trying a tournament. But throwing in that first tournament skiing experience for free might be just enough push some skiers need.

[ski6jones]

Why not allow a non-member to purchase a membership same day at a tournament and get the first tournament for free, limit one per customer. That would eliminate the double hit the first time you ski a tournament. USAWS kicks back some part of the membership fee to the club to cover fuel and waives whatever head count fees for the new membership on that tournament.

[LeonL]

I've mentioned this before, but here it is again. We offer free entry to any first time tournament skier. The only requirement is that you be at least a Grass Roots level USAWS member. That I can't cover and avoid a major potential loss.

[ski6jones]

@LeonL, can the Grass Roots membership be done on site the day of?

[JeffSurdej]

@ski6jones yes it can

[osuskiiershea]

Could offer some kind of water ski "uber" service. If you are an AWSA member you get access to an app or website that allows members to connect and find ski partners or pay each other reasonable cash (gas money + some) to ski. Does not have to be linked directly to competitive skiing so it could be beneficial to a larger group of people.

 

I could see people without access using this, people who travel using it when they travel, and college kids using it to gain access when at home or during an internship or when they get their first job.

 

I think a lot of people need a reason to join that it not linked to tournament skiing (ski access, tip/instructional videos, etc.). Could rope these people into tournament skiing after connecting them with tournament skiers via "ski uber."

[ALPJr]

Combine slalom and wake events in local level tourneys.

[ALPJr]

@osuskiiershea I like that idea.