Promote your glider operation
Ten out of 350 sounds like a good conversion rate.
While 1 in 35 sounds may sound weak, it is not completely out of line,
it can depend on the "filter" that is put IN FRONT of "the ride" (as
well as AFTER). By "filter" I mean how/where did you recruit this
group for rides...general public, airshow, or Boy Scouts? Each group
has a different natural maximum conversion rate. From your message it
sounds like they came from the general public, so from my experience
your conversion rate is as expected...and 10 new members all at once
would have choked my small club's training program (aka "The problem
I'd like to have")!
IMHO (experts may differ...) we need to accept the low conversion rate
as a "given" in our marketing plans...thus the need for a relatively
high number of "trials" in order to achieve success in "new
membership". You either accept it or work various schemes, pre/during/
post "ride". OCSA's technique has been to go fishing where the fish
are as we were not set up to handle a large number of rides...thus we
use "booths at airshows" to create an email list of potential members,
we do a low-cost ground school as a secondary filter...the result is a
high conversion rate with a fairly low trial rate. In OCSA's case we
were precluded from doing "rides" at our airfield by the FBO...rather
than gripe about it, we worked around it...also we derived no revenue
from the FBO's toplane ops.
The use of a "pre-ride filter" may be of benefit if the goal is new
pilots rather than ride revenue...the club's marketing plan is built
around its goals, opportunities and capacities. We are all the same
and different...examine your process waterfall "as is" and "could be".
Close the gap.
Happy Holidays,
LT
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