Increase novice retention

RamVennam · **Joined:** Thu Nov 11, 2010 7:31 pm **Posts:** 132

Belinda and I have been talking about this a lot, and we think that the club can have a higher novice retention rate if we tried harder to socialize with them and throw more activities into the event – like the Jimmy V.

Going to an autox for me is more than just being able to drive fast for a few minutes. It’s a spot where I hang out with my friends, make jokes and talk about cars.

Lots of people join a club to make friends, socialize, and do a fun activity. We're giving them the fun activity, but they might not be feeling super welcome on the friends and socializing point. We have to be wary about novices who look alone or bored. If they are not getting the social aspect of an autocross, they’ll get bored and not come back.

Some things we need to focus on:
When you see someone new, talk to them.
Show interest in their cars – give them advice.
Give them a ride in your car…I rode in Kevin’s car on my first day and that was a huge highlight.
If you go out to dinner or something afterwards, invite them.

What do you think?

JamesShort · **Posted:** Tue Jul 31, 2012 3:10 pm

One thing about novice retention that I've noticed is that frequently a lot of novices tend to have highly modified cars. Additionally, said highly modified cars tend to be in a difficult class all the while they are running the walmart special 500 treadwear tire despite having 300+ whp.

So given that car people are inherently egotistical, I think coming out to a autocross in a very powerful car and get demolished by stock Civics and Miatas has to be a major bummer and hit to their ego.

I'm not sure what percentage of non-retained novice that this applies to, but I'm sure it is non-zero.

Maybe during the novice meeting or drivers' meeting, we can emphasize that autocross is truly a sport of drivers and that power and modifications has little to do with speed? I don't know, I'm at a loss for how to handle this, granted like I said it might not be as big a deal as I'm making it out to be.

Jason Mauldin · **Posted:** Tue Jul 31, 2012 3:11 pm

Don't forget that some of the novices come to the monthly meetings. Make them stand up and sing a song or something.

Matt McGrain · **Posted:** Tue Jul 31, 2012 3:57 pm

RamVennam wrote:

Some things we need to focus on:
When you see someone new, talk to them.
Show interest in their cars – give them advice.

Best advice ever. I usually go up the to people with cars I have or have owned just to break the ice. Also, if you ride along, ask them if you want them to have in car instruction (i.e. turn this way, go around this..., look ahead, gas!, brake!, etc...) or ask if you want them if they'd like you to keep the comments quiet until after the run so they don't get distracted. This makes them more comfortable depending on their learning style.

When you're a first-timer, just having at least one person you feel like you can talk to and ask questions with, can make all the difference and the chance of them coming back has to increase.

We had a pretty good round of applause for the novices being the future of the club when Rodney did the "if this is your first event, please raise your hand" gesture at the Jimmy V. We should do that every driver's meeting for sure, plus they realize there are several others that are new too.

Kevin Allen · **Joined:** Thu Aug 28, 2003 6:42 pm **Posts:** 3479

I'm in for giving rides to novices. :twisted:

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Tue Jul 31, 2012 10:33 pm

Kevin Allen wrote:

I'm in for giving rides to novices. :twisted:

ummm, yeah, that's what scares me :shock:

RobLupella · **Posted:** Tue Jul 31, 2012 10:36 pm

JamesShort wrote:

One thing about novice retention that I've noticed is that frequently a lot of novices tend to have highly modified cars. Additionally, said highly modified cars tend to be in a difficult class all the while they are running the walmart special 500 treadwear tire despite having 300+ whp.

So given that car people are inherently egotistical, I think coming out to a autocross in a very powerful car and get demolished by stock Civics and Miatas has to be a major bummer and hit to their ego.

I'm not sure what percentage of non-retained novice that this applies to, but I'm sure it is non-zero.

Maybe during the novice meeting or drivers' meeting, we can emphasize that autocross is truly a sport of drivers and that power and modifications has little to do with speed? I don't know, I'm at a loss for how to handle this, granted like I said it might not be as big a deal as I'm making it out to be.

All of us who drive hairdresser cars need to throw some races to make them feel better..LOL

RobLupella · **Posted:** Tue Jul 31, 2012 10:38 pm

Trust me the rides help. I can explain what I want them to do but I find that a lot of them are like me and need visual learning. Half the time if I tell them to watch my eyes or how much earlier I brake or turn they finish the run and say they were watching something else and it helped.

Success is the best incentive to come back, They see an improvement and get encouraged.

I still like the idea of a survey of novices and new AX'ers to see why they stay or don't

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Tue Jul 31, 2012 10:39 pm

Ok, so novice retentions has been brought up many times since I've asked for feedback on club improvement. Lot's of great ideas and I'm glad to see everyone into this in order to have novices come back. That's simply what we need for the club to grow and groom new officers, but I digress....

So how about this. We've kicked around wearing shirts or some other way to allow the novices to seek out rides and/or advice. Why not make this the other way around. I say that a novice receives a simple additional white arm band to denote he/she is a novice. That's makes them easy to spot by anyone wanting to help them out and it flags them to other novices. Simple and quick. Just need to buy some white arm bands. I'll see if I can get some before the next event assuming this is the route we want to go.

Once the novices are east to spot, any willing club member can talk to them as they wish. I think this could get the job done.

Comments?

Cash Davidson · **Posted:** Wed Aug 01, 2012 9:01 am

RodneyWright wrote:

Once the novices are east to spot, any willing club member can talk to them as they wish. I think this could get the job done.

Comments?

I like it. Some will not feel confortable approaching us at their first event, but if we can readily ID them, we can take the initiative. :thumbsup:

Chris Halweg · **Posted:** Wed Aug 01, 2012 9:15 am

RodneyWright wrote:

Ok, so novice retentions has been brought up many times since I've asked for feedback on club improvement. Lot's of great ideas and I'm glad to see everyone into this in order to have novices come back. That's simply what we need for the club to grow and groom new officers, but I digress....

So how about this. We've kicked around wearing shirts or some other way to allow the novices to seek out rides and/or advice. Why not make this the other way around. I say that a novice receives a simple additional white arm band to denote he/she is a novice. That's makes them easy to spot by anyone wanting to help them out and it flags them to other novices. Simple and quick. Just need to buy some white arm bands. I'll see if I can get some before the next event assuming this is the route we want to go.

Once the novices are east to spot, any willing club member can talk to them as they wish. I think this could get the job done.

Comments?

Having novices wear white wrist bands might also help from a safety/operational stand point i.e. novices not riding with novices and not all novices at a work station.

JamesShort · **Posted:** Wed Aug 01, 2012 9:19 am

Ram, since Belinda is by and large the most extroverted/personable person that comes to our events, how about she serve some role to help chat up the novices and make them feel more comfortable and she can triage ride alongs to appropriate people etc

.

Matt McGrain · **Posted:** Wed Aug 01, 2012 10:27 am

Cash Davidson wrote:

RodneyWright wrote:

Once the novices are east to spot, any willing club member can talk to them as they wish. I think this could get the job done.

Comments?

I like it. Some will not feel confortable approaching us at their first event, but if we can readily ID them, we can take the initiative. :thumbsup:

I like this idea too. Just hand them out at the end of the novice meeting to those that may want to be approached by an instructor. We could probably get 100 in bulk pretty cheaply and try it for 3-4 events.

"Don't forget to bring your armband back to the NEXT event!"

RobLupella · **Posted:** Wed Aug 01, 2012 12:38 pm

Matt McGrain wrote:

Cash Davidson wrote:

RodneyWright wrote:

Once the novices are east to spot, any willing club member can talk to them as they wish. I think this could get the job done.

Comments?

I like it. Some will not feel confortable approaching us at their first event, but if we can readily ID them, we can take the initiative. :thumbsup:

I like this idea too. Just hand them out at the end of the novice meeting to those that may want to be approached by an instructor. We could probably get 100 in bulk pretty cheaply and try it for 3-4 events.

"Don't forget to bring your armband back to the NEXT event!"

We could make them walk around all day with the orange helmets on. :lol:

George Bright · **Posted:** Wed Aug 01, 2012 6:28 pm

Our members could wear these

Of course the flipside.

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Increase novice retention

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