From memory there tends to be a decent churn rate (10%?) of members each year. My proposal would be to offer a 1% discount per consecutive year of membership (non-retrospective though)

ie
2007 - full price
2008 - 1% discount
2017 - 10% discount
2057 - 50% discount
2107 - 100% discount (ie membership is free)

Whilst it would be unfair on those that have been members for say the past 30yrs there are a couple of reasons why you wouldnt make it retrsopective
1. the club needs the money now
2. book keeping - everything can be readily entered into a database as of now which can be readily accessed in the future (as opposed to having to trawl through paper files of yesteryear - if they still exist).

As an option, te concept wouldnt necessarily have to be for consecutive years - whilst consecutive years of membership is great, its necessary to acknowledge that it isnt always financially viable to pay up each year.

Perhaps as an option
for consecutive years - the discount is 1.5% (u lose the 0.5% loading if you lapse your membership but still retain the accumulated 1%/year). Provided that records are kept electronically and accurately, workng out a person's discount level should be fairly easy (guessing that you can develop a program in an afternoon for that purpose).

For mine it would encourage a lot more parents of new borns to sign up their young children to a carlton membership.

Thoughts?

The price of the membership isn't the reason why people haven't signed up.

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"We used to sit around and talk about how bad the game plan was." Anthony Koutoufides

not referring to this year in particular with the idea - just as a general thing going forward. A 1% discount isnt going to entice many people to consider signing up - long term though 20% might entice someone to stay on

another idea would be to provide members with the merchandise other clubs provide. i think we've improved in this department heaps in the last few years but still arent as good as some other clubs, just little things that they've been giving out could be improved such as our hats, keychains, cards etc. i hear a lot of people complaining about this i dunno why it doesnt really bother me but seems to have popularity amongst other young supporters.

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Last edited by true_blue3 on Mon Sep 26, 1981 5:07 pm; edited 92 times in total

Hopefully the club realises this.

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

I like the idea, especially the incentive it provides to get members while they are young.

I bought my 6 year old niece a membership this year and she just loved it. Took the membership card into show and tell at school, they live in Ballarat so have only seen two games this year, but all the paraphernalia associated with a membership can have a big impact on little kids making them feel like they belong to something.

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|♥♥♥♥♥♥| http://www.blueseum.org |♥♥♥♥♥♥|

The concept has merit. An ongoing 50% discount after 25 continuous years might persuade members to 'stick fat' during the tough times.

Nice work Chicken, make sure the club hears about it.

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Patrick Smith - Just another reason to HATE Essendon*!

The easy answer is to win a few games of footy!!

We need to build something people want to be a part of. To be a member should be more than just a hat, magazine and a voting slip. I dont know about the rest of you but I pay up to feel like I am part of the club. I buy both my sons memberships in the hope that I can indoctrinate them to follow the blues as well.

Whether its merchandise, discounts/whatever the club should find a way to make members feel like they are 'Carlton people'. Value for money is less important to me than the feeling that I am 'part of the club'. That said however, i dont want to feel like I am just another 'punter' standing in line to be fleeced for poor quality and service. I rarely get to games so the game entry is less important to me than the feeling that I am more than just another punter in a blue windcheater.

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"Who discovered we could get milk from cows, and what did he think he was doing at the time?" Billy Connolly

1. Fixing up the membership pages on the website to make them more user friendly for first timers. Every year I toss around giving up my MCC membership and buying a CFC one instead, and find the website hopeless...

2. Instead of waiting for 100 years to qualify for a free membership, existing members should get a discount for introducing a new member to the club. A "bring a friend" approach, if you will...

3. Every spare Carlton player should be at Auskick sessions EVERY WEEK in different parts of Melbourne. My boys go to the biggest Asukick in the state and have yet to see a player in attendance (except Rodney Eade, who was fantastic with everybody). Our kids are wearing too many Essendon* jumpers for my liking!!

4. Speaking of which, we need to target the youth vote. I got Kouta to record a message into my phone to get my kids to barrack for Carlton. I've since shown it to dozens of people who think it's the greatest thing they have ever seen.

5. You should be able to download more fun stuff from our pathetic website. You should be able to download a Kouta message (above), a decent screensaver montage etc. Heck, last season there was wallpaper that featured the Carlton fixture - WHERE IS THIS YEARS???

6. Did I mention how BAD the website is?? Where is the goss on players, training etc. I get more up to the minute info here at TC in a day than what our dumbo website delivers in a season.

I could go on, but I'd have to send the club an invoice...just don't get me started...

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"...that's the thing about opinion - you don't have to know anything to have one..." Andre Agassi commenting on Pat Cash 2004
"...the less you know - the more you believe..." - Bono 2006

Agree. Its something that has irritated me for a while. This year is my tenth consecutive year of membership. I'm not asking for them to write my name in the sky or give me Kouta for the night but would it kill them to send out a special bumper sticker or something similar. I like the Hawks scarf that shows the years of membership - surely we can come up with our own, relatively inexpensive, ideas.

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"Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot about puppies." - Gene Hill

CFC's had a problem of looking like Carzy Clark's for a while now. The way to build a profitable long term business is not to go around throwing discounts at your most loyal customers - they're the ones you should be milking!

I've got no problem with throwing additional goodies at people but offering reductions in the price of membership is crazy talk. None of us can tell what the structure of football might be in 30 years time. To tie the club into some long term arrangement that potentially reduces our strongest revenue stream (diehards) is commercial suicide.

Perhaps a system where you get a prize at certain milestones in the way that the players get the matchball for significant games. 5 years consecutive membership gets you a signed photo of the team, 10 years gets you a picture of yourself with your favourite player and 20 years and you get to go to the Tunnel with him and cruise...

Whatever the rewards may be we need to be looking at adding value not reducing income.

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“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus.”
Turkish Proverb

Damn straight GWS! The idea of a membership is to bring revenue into the club. We've probably got 10,000 members who would pay double what they do.

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"We used to sit around and talk about how bad the game plan was." Anthony Koutoufides

Gen Blue is a good start. I donated $60 this year and dont expect to end up getting anything from it. Thats not a complaint as I haven't taken advantage of the functions they have had.

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"The ability to speak doesn't make you intelligent." Qui-Gon Jinn 15-05-2005

"there’s more chance of me becoming the full forward for the [Western Bulldogs] than there is of any change in the Labor Party." Julia Gillard 18-05-2010

I've got an idea on how to keep members and grow membership . It's a good idea and works 100% of the time


WIN!!!!!!!

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

I agree with this idea....

You could personalise it. A match ball after 10 or 20 years signed by the team with a "Thanks KK for being with us so long" kind of thing.

I've been a member since 95, and speaking as someone who gets little to no value from the membership, living in Sydney, a little thought to long-termers (not that I consider myself one yet) would go a long way.

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

that last bit about hawthorn's scarves i've seen them too and what else could make you want to be a member for as many years as you could be, for every year that you are a member that number gets 1 added to it i know that if i had a membership i'd want to be able to show everyone that i've been loyal to my club by showing how many i've been a member for, its a really small thing but could change so many people's minds.

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Last edited by true_blue3 on Mon Sep 26, 1981 5:07 pm; edited 92 times in total

I think memberships are to expensive for what you get. The Silver Membership gets you sweet fa at the dome and the social and gold is to expensive IMO.

I compare this with packages offered by Richmond (my brother is a member) and we haven't really been getting good value for a while. Probably wasn't so bad when the club was winning consistently but Richmond has had to work hard to get members signing up over the last 10 or more years.

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The great are great to us only because we are on our knees. Let us arise.
--Robert Collier

Ask not what your club can do for you...

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“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus.”
Turkish Proverb

Nice sentiment GWS but you have to be realistic, many wouldn't post their thoughts just vote with their feet.

I couldn't afford a Gold or Social this year but still went with Silver. I haven't been to many games with work comittments and alike but would almost prefer to watch it on TV as a I get a better seat that what Silver membership offers me at the Dome.

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The great are great to us only because we are on our knees. Let us arise.
--Robert Collier

Silver member ship isn't too expensive, really. You get admission to all our home games, and that's pretty much what you pay for. You also get some lovely trinkets...
And the dedicated Silver-member section on the 3rd level of the Dome a good place to watch the footy. You get to sit dead centre on the city-side wing, with a full view of the ground.
And, best of all, because you get to walk straight in, you can avoid the hellish queues that pile up at the ticket-windows.
It's true you don't get anything fancy - but you certainly get what you pay for.