Rip the Band-Aid Off

More Money for More Mission Delivery

Over the past few months, we have supported the realignment and optimization of the admissions and membership fees and programs for several colleagues. This critically important process has helped our clients identify new sources of operating revenues even without increases in visitation.

We recently facilitated this Pricing Optimization Assessment for Membership on behalf of the Dallas Zoo. Through this process, the Dallas Zoo is positioned to realize:

• A more than 40% increase in their membership revenues.
  
  
• An additional 35% increase in admissions revenues with their new flexible admission

prices and strategies.

Recognizing the importance of a strong and sound membership program that closely complements admissions, the Dallas Zoo leadership team worked to realign the membership program as a critical component of its overall financial stability. RS&S worked with the Dallas Zoo leadership team to facilitate this realignment with a focus on optimizing the interplay of membership and admissions. Using both qualitative and quantitative data, we facilitated a process that served to:

• Collectively confirm the imbalance between admissions and membership and the resulting positive revenue implications on the Zoo’s overall financial model.
  
  
• Develop planning assumptions and identify strategic priorities around the membership program and how membership operates.
  
  
• Identify and test various membership models that took into consideration profit & loss (P/L) analysis, utilization analysis, the ability to maximize sales year over year (upgrading), and mission engagement and impact.

Armed with their new membership model, the Dallas Zoo has started to roll-out their newly aligned and optimized membership program. While this new approach will ensure that the Zoo is fully leveraging the program both for members and in support of the business model, the process also yielded several other benefits:

• Convening the leadership team throughout the process helped confirm and affirm the value of membership.
  
  
• The process offered a platform for open dialogue around membership and for staff to better understand the various perceptions around the program.

Building consensus helped to break down silos and create a more collegial dynamic between guest services and membership while simultaneously generating greater excitement around and support for driving membership.

Efforts to realign, optimize, and coordinate the admission and membership fees and programs will result in the maximization of your earned revenues. We encourage you to engage in a similar process. Now is the ideal time to ensure that you are not leaving “money on the table” when it is needed more than ever AND also to leverage the public’s deeper understanding that the fees they pay support the sustainability of their most treasured community assets.

Email us at cgrace@rssconsultantsllc.com and we would be happy to provide greater detail on the specific Membership Study process used to “realign and optimize” the Dallas Zoo’s admissions and membership fees and programs.