Expert Advice

The Goal: Farmington Country Club wanted to create a Home Improvement Seminar, as a value-added service that would give members another reason to come to the club.

by C&RB Staff (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
April 2008
 

Expert Advice The Goal: Farmington Country Club wanted to create a Home Improvement Seminar, as a value-added service that would give members another reason to come to the club. The Plan: Tap into in-house staff expertise to create a free seminar series that addresses various common household problems and suggests easy fixes. The Payoff: Overflow attendance and an “amazing amount” of positive feedback, with several members coming back after the seminar with more questions.

Looking to offer a value-added seminar to its event calendar, management at Farmington Country Club in Charlottesville, Va. turned to a handy pool of staff members for help—its maintenance department.

“We’ve done gardening and lawn care seminars before,” says Wayne Hall, Assistant General Manager. “The Home Improvement Seminar started as an offshoot from those programs.”

The club’s House Maintenance Director and staff shared simple fixes to common household problems with members, drawing on their individual expertise in areas such as plumbing and drywall construction.

Darryl Lawson, the club’s House Maintenance Director, and the other members of his team each boast a laundry list of individual specialties. So the club looked to capitalize on those skill sets while also giving people on the maintenance staff, who typically remain behind the scenes, some time in the limelight.

When charged with developing the seminar, Lawson put together an easy-to-follow manual that would be given to each member who attended the two-hour program, and created a mock bathroom and drywall setup, for hands-on instruction.

The seminar was advertised in club newsletters and through e-mail blasts to members. No reservations were required. And when 29 people showed up for the first seminar, which was held in Farmington’s 1,000-sq. ft. maintenance building, it was obvious that the idea was a home run.

“Because our staff is already well-versed in these types of home repair problems and solutions, there is no extra training required,” notes Hall. And the seminar has enhanced club operations, he adds, by helping to introduce more members to the house maintenance staff, and vice versa.

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