Buying the membership on-site requires filling out a form from which the organizer and attendee each retain a portion. The organizer manually builds a summary of the event and mails this info to SCCA National where someone enters the information by hand into the membership system. In the event that the weekend member becomes a full member, they will receive a $15 discount off their yearly dues.
This isn't the worst process in the world but it's certainly tedious. It also further back-loads organizers with more work on the day of the event instead of less. Particularly for single-day events like Autocross, RallyCross or Rallies, this can be a considerable burden. As a new program, it also means another training burden for volunteers and workers.
Enter the MotorsportReg.com Weekend Membership remittance system. We released the feature in September to electronically remit SCCA weekend memberships. It was along with about fifty other changes so I wanted to take a moment to explain how our system is unique and how it benefits your region.
Going beyond automation
Eliminating all of the manual process was the first part of our solution. Using an inventory item for weekend memberships, organizers can quickly transmit the required data to SCCA National on demand before or after the event. The member profiles are automatically updated with the temporary membership number and expiration date. The region will receive their invoice from SCCA National without having to open a spreadsheet, lick a stamp or go to the post office.
We could have stopped there but with inspiration from Regional Executive Nick Hallman at SCCA South Carolina Region, we combined the remittance process with a call to action to help convert the weekend members to become full members. While fast cars and driving fast is an easy "product" to market, many car clubs struggle with moving candidates to members.
We automatically generate a certificate that highlights the benefits of becoming a member and how to redeem their weekend membership for a discount. Any attendee with a valid email address entered in MotorsportReg.com will receive an email like this if their weekend membership is remitted electronically.
We passed this by SCCA National for review and their comment was brief: "Looks good. Actually WOW, I'm impressed."
Try it on your next event and let us know how it works for you. Please pass us any feedback from attendees and we'll continue to improve it to help bolster your member numbers as we work to make your volunteer roles easier and more fun (and more effective!)
Get the Blog Feed
