Melissa Hansen: Elevating Private Clubs One Membership Professional at a Time

Not long ago, a club’s membership director was the receptionist at the front desk. As it related to new member acquisition, that person’s primary job was to provide and receive, membership applications. In some cases, they may also be asked to provide a club tour. However, the idea of the membership director also acting as a salesperson was not only foreign, it was considered tacky and frowned upon. After all, any club worth its salt should never “sell” memberships. Then the recession happened in 2008 and the private club industry had to adapt.

It took time and, later, a pandemic to turn the tables on the downward trend, but as clubs rebounded through the 2010s, some clubs struggled and started to revise their perspective on recruiting new members. Emotionally tethered to their past ideas of exclusivity, prestige, and privilege, some clubs were forced to reinvent themselves. 

It was during this time that Melissa Hansen entered the private club industry as the Director of Marketing and Membership at Hammock Bay Golf & Country Club. A lifelong learner and networker, Melissa became a member of the Membership Directors of Southwest Florida (MDASF) and launched her career as a membership professional. Today, Melissa is the Director of Marketing and Membership at a private club in Naples, where she has been since 2011. She’s also a consultant and educator to membership professionals providing content and Masterclasses to those eager to transform their careers. Melissa routinely fills her classes and online training sessions with helpful content geared towards people entering the industry as well as those who are more seasoned. 

Melissa points to her hunger to learn as the foundation for her consulting work and her desire to help educate those who are new to the industry. 

“The goal has always been to educate membership directors on best practices and innovative approaches in the club industry. With everything changing rapidly, it's crucial to stay informed about what we can implement to improve our members' experiences.” Today, Melissa works with about 350 clubs across the country. “I started local and now it’s gone national.” 

Students, as Melissa refers to her followers, have the opportunity to take deep dives into a variety of topics from Email marketing to prospective members to social media best practices to recognizing the importance of sales CRM (customer relationship management) tools. Hansen’s ultimate goal is to help elevate her profession through education. 

Make it Easy to Learn About Your Club

Foundationally, Melissa recognizes that it’s important for membership directors to learn how to make it easy for prospective members to learn about their clubs. With so many people researching online before making a buying decision, Melissa believes membership directors have an opportunity to make the education process easy for prospective members. The interested individual, or couple, wants to know what club life looks like and whether they would fit in. The first point of contact is the membership director and if they aren’t comfortable with that person, there’s a good chance they won’t be comfortable with the club.

“As membership professionals, we need to be the face of our club. The biggest pet peeve of mine is when I go to the membership pages of these club websites and it simply states, ‘contact our membership department’. I want to see what the membership professional looks like,” explains Hansen. “I’m joining a club. This is my lifestyle. I want to connect with someone.”

Technology as a Membership Tool

Hansen will be the first to admit that change is difficult and takes time. It begins with education and learning best practices so membership directors can prioritize their tactics. While many have adopted social media as a communication tool, fewer have embraced CRM platforms like HubSpot for private clubs to enhance member acquisition. When used correctly, HubSpot can efficiently capture new member inquiries and track prospects through their decision-making process, significantly improving member acquisition and club management. After all, not every person interested in membership is ready to join immediately, and these prospects can easily be neglected if not properly tracked.

“I would say that the number one mistake that I see in clubs is the lack of utilization of a good CRM system.” Without this tool, Hansen recognizes clubs are missing out on valuable reporting and monitoring tools that can inform better decision-making as it relates to member acquisition, waitlists, and management of initiation fees. Of course, each club has different needs and priorities, so it’s important to identify the specific club needs and then schedule training and implementation plans.

Club Communication for Prospective Members

Many clubs today use social media with varying levels of commitment. While some clubs prefer a privacy setting on their social media accounts, limiting access to members only, others leverage social media as a marketing tool that helps attract non-members to their clubs. Of all the questions Melissa fields from her students, this tops the list. She understands the need for privacy and exclusivity yet she’s in favor of sharing social media channels with the public.

“I think everyone wants a bit of a peek inside. Clubs need to create that fear of missing out.” Posting to social media channels every day is not critical, instead, Melissa recommends creating a schedule and consistently posting based on that schedule.

“FOMO is real,” she adds, “when you see your friends and your family having fun, it’s something inside our souls that we want to be part of too.”

Start with Your People

Blogging is another channel that Melissa uses for her consultancy and recommends clubs develop as another way to provide a “peek” inside a club. By sharing member and staff stories, prospective members can get a sense of a club and determine if a club’s culture matches their personal or family values. 

Nevertheless, blogging, like social media, CRM management, and the other various aspects of digital marketing, takes strategic vision, execution, and, of course, time - something that is in short supply for most membership directors. Hansen believes it’s important for club leaders to be willing to take that first step and realize that change won’t happen overnight and that some of the tactics she promotes take time to learn. This is why she is a proponent of investing in people - even before spending money on technology.

“Give them the opportunity to learn and grow from the people that are doing it right.” 

Melissa tries to leverage content provided in conferences hosted by MDASF and CMAA and is branching into other non-club industry opportunities as well, like HubSpot’s INBOUND conference in Boston. As a best practice, she recommends club leaders ask their conference-going representatives to share what they’ve learned with the team upon their return and make recommendations.

“And then, just being in that spot where you have management and your board supporting your growth as an employee. That is just everything.” 

Learn more about Melissa’s work at melissahansen.com.