Costco Just Did a Basic Move That Revolutionizes Its Guest Experience (and Your Club’s, Too)

What does Costco have to do with delivering a better guest experience in our Toastmasters clubs? Read how a small change can deliver explosive club membership growth. 

By Kevin Markl
District Director
District 57 Toastmasters

3 minute video or 3 minute read below:

If you’ve ever visited a Costco gas station, you’re often faced with an array of cars, lined up, waiting to tank up. Too often I see a vehicle fill up, drive away and the line just sit there until the other cars at the pump move away, often minutes later. How did Costco fix this behavior? Introduce a stop light that shows every vehicle when the gas pump is free for someone to pull up. You can read the article in full here.

By making it as easy as possible for Costco’s guests to find-a-pump, they are delivering a better guest experience. Similarly, our Toastmasters clubs must do 1 simple thing to make our clubs easier for our guests to find: Update your Find-a-Club Information

When potential members visit toastmasters.org and click Find a Club, they are presented with an array of clubs near them. What happens when the days you meet, the location or the contact information aren’t correct? Guests send an email into a blackhole never to hear anything back because it goes to the wrong person. Worse, they visit the club at the time and location listed, only to find a locked building or an empty room. According to Toastmasters International:

“[E]ach month 10,000 prospective members attempt to contact a club through Find a Club? In a recent survey, 60% of these prospective members had not attended a club meeting. When asked why, 70% stated that it was because no one from the club contacted them.”

Wow. 70% of prospective members who email our clubs never hear back. The stakes couldn’t be higher. At best, a guest will hopefully visit a different club that does reach out. At worst, a guest gives up completely on Toastmasters and never Experience Excellence by improving their communication, self-confidence and leadership skills.

Remember – the guest experience starts before a prospective member even visits our club. It’s incredibly easy for Club Presidents or Secretaries to update your Find-a-Club information so guests – your prospective members – can find and communicate with you. Simply login at toastmasters.org, go to Leadership Central > Club Central > click on Club Contact and Meeting Information and make your updates as you can see below.

 

Where to update your Club Contact and Meeting Information in Club Central:

Update your contact information, meeting location and more so guests can find your club:

 

Our club has enough members – say no one ever. Each and every member and club officer has a role to play to deliver a better guest and member experience. If we make it as easy as possible for prospective members to contact us and find our clubs, we’ll earn more visits, more opportunities to grow our clubs and deliver better quality meetings that keep our existing members engaged, learning and having fun longer. So what are you waiting for? Verify your Find-A-Club information here is accurate and make sure you can be found!