| Editor’s Welcome |
The world has changed. That much is clear. In the past, our industry evolved and grew in response to factors such as demographic shifts, emerging trends, consumer expectations, new technology, and ups-and-downs in the economy. But now, it’s not factors that are morphing. It’s the world.
The recession is a convenient scapegoat, but the list of causes that have contributed to the current situation is long: bank failures; globalization; Hurricane Katrina; two wars; Wall Street’s collapse; healthcare reform; global warming; government gridlock; cultural conflicts; the BP oil spill… Many of the results are painfully obvious—e.g., record foreclosures,
high unemployment, tight credit—but others are incredibly subtle and just now beginning to be felt, appreciated, and understood. Today, the global mindset is more cautious, skeptical, and conservative than ever before in recent memory. People have become suspicious about the morals, motives, capabilities, and competence of government, big business, the legal system, and, even, basic financial models. CBI Contributing Editor Jean Suffin sums up
many of the concerns in a question she put to Ed Williams, the president and CEO of Wellbridge, a Denver-based chain of 17 upscale facilities (see Q&A, pg. 31). “There’s been a lot of speculation that the industry is now dealing with a new type of consumer,” she noted. “In what ways do you think the recession has changed the market for club memberships?” Williams was candid in his response: “I don’t
know,” he told her. “One of the things that I’m struggling with is: How has the buyer changed? Has this downturn really affected the buyer and their decision-making?”
But Williams and his colleagues at Wellbridge have done a lot of
thinking about the radically transformed economic/psychological landscape, and have developed some useful theories. Consumers, he suggests, are “less inclined to indulge in an impulse buy. In the past,” he explains, “they were quicker to sign on the dotted line, but, today, they think about things more. Now, we really have to sell ourselves, sell the value of our clubs. We all have the same treadmills and weights, so we have to spend an extra half hour explaining why we’re different, and making sure they understand what our unique value proposition is—our expertise and the qual- ity of our service, staff, instruction, and training.” Williams isn’t alone in his sense that the winds, the atmosphere,
the climate, of the marketplace have changed in a significant and, possibly, indelible way. And he isn’t alone in formulating effective responses. Flip through this issue of CBI, and you’ll find numerous examples of club and supplier companies that have acknowledged and accepted the new reality, and are now reacting in appropriate, productive, and profitable ways. The fact that the world has changed is no problem for people who are determined to change the world. —|
4 Club Business Internat ional | OCTOBER 2010 | www.
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VOLUME 30, ISSUE 10
Kerry Brett
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