Special Discounts for Outsiders

gkotlin

gkotlin

New Member
geekmug;134936 wrote: I spent a majority of Sunday practicing passing as it seemed to be a packed day -- my g/f counted ~35 bikes in the B group Sunday..

I understand that deals like this are offered to expose riders to the NESBA experience, but I think this is the first time I have personally been aware of that exposure being to the detriment of the membership. I don't know if there have been other discounts like this before (I would effectively call this my first year with NESBA), but I don't like that I am now paranoid about it. I'm not saying that I don't think the normal rate ($155/day) is a fair sum to pay (it is!), but I don't know that I agree with how this discount was offered and the ultimate result (packing B group to the brim with a lot of inexperienced riders who did not pay full price to be there). I'm not sure how it served anyone's best interests.
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Isn't it great! Only 35 riders in B group! Thats one good thing about Nesba. When we're full, we're full. We don't over sell the group or add another group to accommodate. We have tried larger and smaller groups. 35 seems to be a good number right now.

When there is only 10 riders in a group, it's terribly boring. There are very few passing opportunities and riding alone gets old after a while. At least for me.

I once was in I group and frustrated that there were packs of riders holding me up. I figured, "it's time to practice passing." I pass someone as soon as I safely can and practice getting around other riders. The session after that was the most fun and rewarding session I'd had on the track to that point. Then Ron Hix comes over to speak with me. He tells me "that stuff (the way I was riding) just isn't going to fly in the :i: group." I tried to apologize. Maybe I had to much fun? He told me to quit the excuses, I only had less then 20 minutes till my first :a: session, so go get ready. Thats the kind of riding I need to keep doing in the advanced group.

I would hope we would always sell out to our maximum. If those Ohio riders enjoy themselves and start bringing friends, that would be the best thing in the world. Oh no. We're sold out again? Gee, I guess we need to offer more weekends and try to get more new tracks for variety. What a terrible problem to have. Should I go this weekend or next weekend with Nesba. I just can't decide. They have so many dates, I can't decide. Oh to dream :first:
 
A

alphamale

New Member
I don't know about the bible study going on, but I look at it like this. You paid extra and got a reservation, sometimes it's worth the extra money to know you got a spot on the airplane. Sometimes last minute tickets go for nothing, sometimes that last seat goes for a ridiculous sum. You can't be mad, you saw value, so you paid it.

I still think NESBA should have a number next to each group during registration so you know how many spots are left. That way you can convince your friends to come if there are 5 spots left. Or you can rush if there are only 2 spots left, rather than wait to find out that the wife is trying to make plans for your weekend.

You didn't expect to get the track to yourself did you? (not intended to be a flame, just saying you should be happy you got a chance to boost your ego on some newbies. :-D )
 
slowpoke

slowpoke

New Member
Is that attrition rate specific to the MW or all nesba regions? what about other orgs?

I'd be curious as to what strategies are also in place to keep members with nesba as much as bringing in new ones to fill the empty spots.

+1 on Judy coming to Jennings - just stay away from Dave in the winter b/c he turns into a lush:D
 
JGardy_781

JGardy_781

Member
slowpoke;136151 wrote: Is that attrition rate specific to the MW or all nesba regions? what about other orgs?

I'd be curious as to what strategies are also in place to keep members with nesba as much as bringing in new ones to fill the empty spots.
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hard to say about other orgs (I guarantee they're not going to share data with you), but there's enough transactional history in the 'ol NESBA DB, I'd wager, to start to determine patterns within the membership... You know when people join, when their first trackday was, rates at which they participate (days/month, days/year over some period, rates of retention from one year to the next, etc.), you know what classes they operate within, and you know when they stop riding, and you can recognize gaps inside their participation history.

With that, and potentially some survey information, I'd wager that you can start to create a model of some typical member groups within the member population as a whole, and use survey data to start to develop a profile that describes why people leave (dislike of the class structure, injury, money, deployment to hostile places, housing bubbles, lack of interest, etc.).

With the two of those things, you could start to piece together a strategy to, say, target offers to riders, say, who've been in "B" or "I" too long (statistically speaking) and represent a "flight risk" to another org's "A" group equivalent, maybe offering them a reduced-price SED day to get them skills to get bumped before they run out fed up with the class structure and move on on their own. Or maybe you find out that factors beyond your control (economy, job moves, etc.) are pulling your members away.

Anyway, there's likely plenty of data and marketing know-how within the org to create a plan to acquire and retain members; hell, from the detail above, there's already some action being undertaken to draw new blood into the group...

/j
 
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