The Business We're Really In

This article is reproduced with the permission of its author, Gregg Patterson

What Are We Really Selling?

Clubs are in the business of selling community. Prospective members talk about buying?“stuff”---a clubhouse, dining room or golf course---but what they really want to buy is community. The rest are just details, “stuff”?used as an excuse to experience community. Huh???

This truth was dramatized to me recently when a family of five, already a member of an?area club similar in “stuff” to our own, decided to join our club---a two-year process--- and to release their other membership once accepted. During my new member orientation (which included mother, father and three young children and is required before activating a club membership) I asked them why they joined our club given their long relationship with our rival. Easy decision they said---the member community and the special member/staff relationship at our club?provided the “warm embrace” that they were seeking for their growing family. Our “stuff” was good, as were their other clubs,?but our community was better. They were buying community.

Why Do People Buy?

The fundamental building blocks of the club community are the need to belong to a group with a commonality of interest and a basic alignment of core values amongst the participants. People naturally want to be with others who share an interest in the same activities---be it golf or books. They seek out a tribe that supports their values.

We in the club business tend to focus on externalities, the tangible “stuff” of buildings,?menus, driveways and irrigation systems. But all of?this “stuff” is?there to facilitate relationships---on the golf course, in the clubhouse, over dinner. These relationships satisfy the psychic needs of people everywhere, the need for tribe, the need for team, and the need for community. Those relationships are the ultimate magnet for new members, the ultimate cement for member loyalty.

People may join clubs initially for “stuff” but they stay because of people reasons, that is, they genuinely enjoy the company of their fellow members, they like the way they think on critical issues and they enjoy the service community that’s been assembled. Bricks and mortar attract but do not sustain. In the final analysis, the sense of community wins.

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