Full Member Numbers

[Starfish]

morning,

at this stage the figures are still to be audited so to speak, at this stage we are over the 1,000 mark of what we classify as 'full members'.

Cannot stress enough - we are hear to listen, we want to maintain and ideally grow the number of Members that we have. Your constructive feedback is vital.

Thanks in advance.

[essexfan548]

There's a simple way to get more members ... improve the quality of the cricket!

I've followed Essex since 1971 - we didn't always win in those days but matches were competitive and the team played with an obvious enjoyment of playing. I then moved out of Essex because of work but still followed matches throughout the south east. I didn't mind travelling because a good match was worth it - win or lose.

Now I think twice if it's a long journey ....

[squarelegumpire]

Thanks, Danny. Can well understand if memberships come in throughout the year.

However, I wonder if you could find out for me how many ballot forms were issued for the Committee elections earlier this year. As I’ve posted before, on the figures stated the rate of return seems very high indeed.

If correct of course, then it reflects great credit on the membership and their interest in the Club’s affairs!

PM me by all means if you prefer. Otherwise I expect, weather permitting, to be at the Gloucs match on Monday. (Can’t come Sunday; family occasion!)

[Mick]

morning,

at this stage the figures are still to be audited so to speak, at this stage we are over the 1,000 mark of what we classify as 'full members'.

Cannot stress enough - we are hear to listen, we want to maintain and ideally grow the number of Members that we have. Your constructive feedback is vital.

Thanks in advance.

So there we have it. A thousand members paying, say, just £150,000 between. Barely a couple of executive salaries !! That figure could be matched or exceeded from a couple of T20 matches and people wonder why the club is so T20-centric !

What we really need is a bit of honesty and transparency.

Instead of stating that County Championship Cricket "is a priority", a statement along the lines of:

"County Championship Cricket is really a flawed business model and it matters not greatly where we finish in the league given that we can't go down and going up would bring a number of unwelcome challenges. Despite this we will do our best to be as competitive as possible in the longer game, bearing in mind we have a squad assembled primarily to excel in the one day (and shorter) format. Against this background, members should appreciate that occasionally things won't go too well and adverse records which have stood since the days of W G Grace may well be broken year on year. Also do not expect too many challenging and risky declarations in pursuit of winning points; we will at least be able to say we have lost less than half our games."

           would more accurately reflect the situation but maybe wouldn't do so well on the marketing front.

[Andy]

Like it Mick.  As with all satire, some truths in your statement - attacking the ECB and unrealistic members as well as the ECCC mgt. Some phrases are similar to what I've said: being competitative in all formats (although realistically more likely to succeed in certain ones) is one that they could use - although we wouldn't expect them to explicitly state the whole of that point.

I still feel that despite Derbys travails this past couple of seasons, their CEO's comment that 'we've got a plan that we think is realistic although ambitious about getting into D1' treats members like grown-ups and ultimately brings less criticism when things go sour.

[Perov]

Danny, just going back to the Lancashire 50 over home game, which was listed as a floodlight game in the Year book and the official fixture card (with a provisional against it), was it Lancashire who pushed for  a day only game or did the request come from Essex?

[Mog]

Thanks for post and interest.

We, like nearly every County we have spoken to, have seen a decline in Membership numbers in recent years. To date, for 2014, we are approx. 5% down across all categories. Membership uptake within the Junior / Teen / Young Adult and Premier Suite as well as new life Members are certainly encouraging to date.

The main overriding reason for non renewal (shown via our telephone calls) is sadly ill health and their ability to get to games.

Obviously we have all of the one-day competition to come and the Colchester Festival, both usually generate a modest flurry of Memberships. We are starting work now on gathering feedback, listening to lapsed, current and potential Members for us to build the Membership packages for 2015.

We are striving to add further value and benefits of being an Essex County Cricket Club Member. Obviously this is a key focus for all at the Club. With the above in mind if you would like to send your suggestions for how we can maintain and ideally increase Membership numbers: danny.macklin@essexcricket.org.uk / 01245 254039 or in person at an upcoming game.

Kind regards, Danny

One suggestion, today, at my final visit at Chelmsford, (certainly on a weekend), one of my friends noticed that today's play is indeed the very last day of weekend cricket at the FCG this season. If the Club has any interest attracting new members, retaining the dwindling number of those they currently possess and getting those lapsed members to rejoin, perhaps they should put some effort into having some weekend cricket!?
I appreciate the Club are to a greater or lesser degree beholden to the ECB for fixture scheduling, however other Club's appear to have no problem scheduling weekend cricket post the end of June! (Derbys and Worcs. for e.g. in their 50 over fixtures with ECCC).
Do you not find it utterly ludicrous that at the half-way point of the cricket season calendar, there is not a single Saturday or Sunday at Chelmsford throughout July, August and September?

[Valentines Park]

Do you not find it utterly ludicrous that at the half-way point of the cricket season calendar, there is not a single Saturday or Sunday at Chelmsford throughout July, August and September?

As long as there is plenty of Crash-Bang-Wallop on a Friday they could care less.

[Starfish]

Thanks for post and interest.

We, like nearly every County we have spoken to, have seen a decline in Membership numbers in recent years. To date, for 2014, we are approx. 5% down across all categories. Membership uptake within the Junior / Teen / Young Adult and Premier Suite as well as new life Members are certainly encouraging to date.

The main overriding reason for non renewal (shown via our telephone calls) is sadly ill health and their ability to get to games.

Obviously we have all of the one-day competition to come and the Colchester Festival, both usually generate a modest flurry of Memberships. We are starting work now on gathering feedback, listening to lapsed, current and potential Members for us to build the Membership packages for 2015.

We are striving to add further value and benefits of being an Essex County Cricket Club Member. Obviously this is a key focus for all at the Club. With the above in mind if you would like to send your suggestions for how we can maintain and ideally increase Membership numbers: danny.macklin@essexcricket.org.uk / 01245 254039 or in person at an upcoming game.

Kind regards, Danny

One suggestion, today, at my final visit at Chelmsford, (certainly on a weekend), one of my friends noticed that today's play is indeed the very last day of weekend cricket at the FCG this season. If the Club has any interest attracting new members, retaining the dwindling number of  have those they currently possess and getting those lapsed members to rejoin, perhaps they should put some effort into having some weekend cricket!?
I appreciate the Club are to a greater or lesser degree beholden to the ECB for fixture scheduling, however other Club's appear to have no problem scheduling weekend cricket post the end of June! (Derbys and Worcs. for e.g. in their 50 over fixtures with ECCC).
Do you not find it utterly ludicrous that at the half-way point of the cricket season calendar, there is not a single Saturday or Sunday at Chelmsford throughout July, August and September?

Thanks for post, we have very little say on fixture schedule I am afraid, ideally yes we would have more weekend cricket between now and season end. Thanks

[Slogger]

My school age son went to his last cricket of the season yesterday at Chelmsford. The school summer holidays are 3 weeks away! He'll probably get to Colchester on the Sunday after playing in the morning but everything else is now during the week in school term. T20 doesn't work for him - he trains with his club on Friday evenings and the 50 over games are clustered in a period when we're on holiday. He's hoping to see the seconds at Halstead and Coggeshall in the school holidays. It's not just the children of course. A very good friend and Essex member living in the north is a school teacher. There's very little left for him too. Surely something an be done to play more cricket in those 6 weeks? Too many slots are taken out of the schedule by T20 knock out games and the ECB should ensure there's some tourist fixtures (A teams/Under 19 games?) so the counties not playing in a championship round should have some sort of fixture? Some of the scheduling beggars belief. It seems bizarre that we get so many dead periods and then end up ramming in 50 over games - has anyone noticed we're playing at Derby and Scarborough on successive days?

[stickyboy]

The issue for me with membership has been the reduction in 1 day matches. Used to be 8 games (40/50 overs). We are now down to just 4 this season but the prices have still gone up. I do get to some Championship cricket but not enough to make it worthwhile The only benefit of having a membership for me is the discounted T20 tickets for me and friends.

[BlueEagles]

morning,

at this stage the figures are still to be audited so to speak, at this stage we are over the 1,000 mark of what we classify as 'full members'.

Cannot stress enough - we are hear to listen, we want to maintain and ideally grow the number of Members that we have. Your constructive feedback is vital.

Thanks in advance.

Only ECCC can recruit a 'Membership & Customer Engagement Manager,' then subsequently see their 'Full Members' volumes DECREASE by circa 17%!!!

No wonder the club lost circa £70k last year and now have the temerity to charge us longer suffering Members to park!!

[Starfish]

Evening, as always we want to hear from members on ways we can add value. Please see above as to reasons for parking.

Thanks, Danny

[Mick]

Evening, as always we want to hear from members on ways we can add value.
Thanks, Danny

Tricky one that. To add value you have to give more for the same price or give the same for a lower price.

Identifying what most members want can't be too difficult: decent cricket played at appropriate times (i.e. summer as well as spring and autumn), and decent facilities (seating, catering and, importantly, parking). It would appear your hands are tied on just about all those points so the only realistic way you can add value is to charge less.

All these voucher offers are trifling irrelevancies and your sterling work in these areas is likely to fall on stony ground.

[nat]

Evening, as always we want to hear from members on ways we can add value.
Thanks, Danny

Tricky one that. To add value you have to give more for the same price or give the same for a lower price.

Identifying what most members want can't be too difficult: decent cricket played at appropriate times (i.e. summer as well as spring and autumn), and decent facilities (seating, catering and, importantly, parking). It would appear your hands are tied on just about all those points so the only realistic way you can add value is to charge less.

All these voucher offers are trifling irrelevancies and your sterling work in these areas is likely to fall on stony ground.

Agree. Membership value should be centred around the cricket on offer.