Open Letter to the Board – Marketing
By Lloyd Sherman, February 1, 2020 – Published February 3, 2020
I’m pretty sure that seeing this document coming at you has already evoked a comment from board members, saying, “Here is that chronic complainer Lloyd Sherman again,” To which I could only respond: “That is probably true for anyone who doesn’t want to listen to property owners, those who don’t want to hear or accept the truth, or those whose minds are simply closed.”
My input today is followed by a Plea to you that deals only with Marketing of the Village. I support that we should market this wonderful place we have chosen to call home. But I often wonder why we appear to make it so difficult, especially since the introduction of the CMP. The POA/BOD seems hell-bent on changing what the Village has been for the last 50 years. We are an active lifestyle community primarily composed of retirees. Period! We are not a resort destination. However, we are a destination that some come to on vacation. We need long-term residents to sustain what we have. So, why do we continue to see documents that have a component in them attempting to determine who our target market is? How much more strategic input do we need before a MARKETING IMPLEMENTATION PLAN gets put in place. This is not rocket science.
We recently have confirmation that yet another committee, which had done thorough and complete work and documentation, had their report intentionally withheld from the Board. Why so? Was there something in this report untrue? NO! So, you have to ask yourself, why the intentional deception. I hate to say it, but if you know the information is available, and you are not demanding to see it, that is simply shirking your responsibility as a Board member.
In the last six or eight months we have added a CMEO who we were told was bringing marketing DNA to the table. Then a Marketing Manager was hired. Now a proposal has been suggested for the SELLS Agency to add another expense of $84K annually for what appears to be more ‘strategic planning’. I could see an agency providing support by training resources within the POA staff on how to actually do marketing if that doesn’t currently exist. Providing more ‘strategic planning’ is just a waste of money.
An organization of our size and type should be spending somewhere between 5-8% of their revenue budget on marketing. The Marketing Sub-committee was aware that what we have been doing isn’t working and the money we have been spending was basically pouring money into a bottomless pit. The results should have been a clear enough message, but apparently not. We are spending only between 1-2%, depending on what you decide to include or exclude. While we probably need to spend more, it needs to be spent wisely and effectively.
We cannot keep sugar-coating the reality that significant changes are required in the way we operate. Today I am imploring the Board to take their leadership role seriously and get this ineffective marketing campaign on the right track. My Plea To You today: Do not allow another long-term contract to be let for marketing (or any other purpose) without knowing specifically how it is going to improve our revenues. If you decide to allow SELLS the opportunity to show us what they can do, give them a six-month contract that is renewable under measurable benchmarks. We should not accept any target less than a 4-5% growth in revenues as a result of any marketing efforts expended. If they can’t provide those kinds of growth rates, then why are we engaging them?
I have personally discussed the pending proposal with several veteran marketing people. Their concern is that this firm does not have the necessary skills to accomplish what needs to be done. Print media is all but dead and digital marketing is the wave that will carry us into the future. We do not see anything of significance exhibited in their proposal other than a mere mention about digital. We need implementation; not strategy.
Our target market is RETIREES (especially those who play GOLF) and MILITARY. Address all the amenities we have in our marketing efforts, but target those potential new buyers who will use our number one revenue amenity, GOLF. Failure to do this will result in golf revenues continuing to decline.
Sincerely,
Lloyd Sherman
Published February 3, 2020
Chipmunk
02/03/2020 — 2:54 pm
I hope you are going to post their answer(s), if any, to this open letter.
Lynda Narug
02/03/2020 — 2:58 pm
Do you have a ball-park figure on what the Marketing Dept. spends per year? I have a very close family member who works at Smith Bucklin, a marketing firm in Chicago, his specialty is associations. When I asked him about HSV hiring them for a time, his reply was “We can’t afford them”. But maybe we could, depending on what we waste annually anyway.
Andy Kramek
02/03/2020 — 3:18 pm
According to the 2020 Approved Budget, the total budgeted expense for the Marketing department is $636,979. Of that $395,000 are identified for “operations” (the rest being for salaries and expenses). Of course the proposed contract with Sells will drain $84,000 from the operations budget (with no clearly defined or measurable objectives) so that will leave just over $300k for everything else.
Lloyd Sherman
02/03/2020 — 3:18 pm
In response to Chipmunk, I heard almost immediately from Ms. Nalley. Nothing from the Board.
I think our outside budget is something like $385K and then that is combined with the inside expense for the marketing functions (compensation, etc). The amount currently being spent is not adequate and another example of the emphasis being placed in the wrong direction to support GROWTH. I have been told by people from the marketing industry that we need a budget more in the 5-8% of revenue range. Difficult to do when growth is stagnant and we keep kicking the can down the road on infrastructure.
Cynthia
02/03/2020 — 3:30 pm
I totally agree with Lloyd! Seems the BOD is bent on driving the “retirees” out and turning the Village into another ‘city’ where people can no longer afford to live!! Stop trying to transform the Village from the wonderful and used to be affordable place to live into some golf haven!
Gary Puffer
02/03/2020 — 3:45 pm
There are many groups who still receives pensions such as already mentioned military, school teachers, police and fire department personnel, state and federal employees, etc. Let’s target all these groups.
Moe
02/03/2020 — 3:57 pm
We clearly are not getting anything from any of our marketing dollars…utter waste and complete failure…this is like watching a Saturday Night Live sketch, only it is our money that is being wasted and our community that is being torn asunder by these dishonest and incompetent people.
SAD – very sad indeed.
No wonder we can’t up “rooftops” with marketing like this!
Dolores
02/03/2020 — 4:29 pm
Keep the info coming Lloyd. We will never complain about your informative posts.
Russell
02/03/2020 — 5:07 pm
Listen up everyone! If you cannot wrap your head around the following statement then you just don’t have a clue about what HSV is all about.
Hot Springs Village is a an “active adult retirement community.”
That was its genesis. That’s what it’s been for nearly 50 years. And that’s where we should be targeting our marketing efforts for the future.
Can you repeat after me? ACTIVE ADULT RETIREMENT COMMUNITY!
VOTE LTD if you want our Village to survive!
Karen Daigle Lundberg
02/03/2020 — 8:34 pm
Excuse me, Lloyd, but did you happen to leave anything out of your title, because what I read is “Open Letter to the Board – Marketing”? Did you accidentally leave our “ceo’s” name off of the title, or was this letter sent to the “Board”? If you wrote the letter as an Open Letter to the Board, then why is Lesley Nalley having anything to do with its response? Why does our “ceo” constantly respond to letters written to the Board, and why does our Board continue to let her get away with it? Let’s get LTD on the Board. I am quite sure they nor Diana will allow Lesley to continue to answer their mail.
HSVP C
02/03/2020 — 8:55 pm
Buddy Dixon stated at a BOD meeting that the emails do not go to the CEO. Hmm, makes one wonder. Someone is sending them to her. Thanks, Karen. – Cheryl Dowden
Sam Taylor
02/04/2020 — 12:04 am
I guess they better correct the website then because it clearly states if you send one to all board members that LN receivers it also.
Lloyd Sherman
02/03/2020 — 9:19 pm
Karen Daigle Lundberg – No I didn’t leave anything out of the title but I’m guessing you knew that. The document was sent to the general “Board” email and then individually to the current six board members. I have to admit that I was surprised by receiving a response from a POA employee and not from a board member. The CEO is an ex-officio non-voting member of the Board, but I expected to hear from one of our elected officials. If I thought anybody from the POA would actually pay attention to input from property owners, I would have joined a committee a long time ago, but that proves to be nothing but an exercise in futility. I put my volunteer time into organizations and activities where I can see the results of my efforts.
Vicki Husted
02/03/2020 — 9:37 pm
Lloyd,
You’re right about Karen Lundberg being smart enough to pick that up, and wise to expend your efforts where there is a better chance of having them utilized. I suspect there might be an abundance of committee volunteers once you, Tucker and Dick are on the BOD with Diana – L.T.D. plus D! Hey! Two Ds! Maybe we’ll see some Due Diligence then!
Thanks for all you do!
george chelf
02/03/2020 — 11:44 pm
Need clarification . Is the LTD forum tomorrow in the Woodlands
HSVP C
02/04/2020 — 5:25 am
George Chelf, the Village Voice Forum for all 5 candidates is today, February 4, 2020 at the Woodlands from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. We would love for you to join us in the Facebook Group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/HSVPeople/
Julie
02/04/2020 — 5:15 am
I am certain the little “ceo” reads whatever she wants to read but will not admit to doing so as then she might have to come out from behind her little desk and actually deal with the homeowners and their concerns.
Everything about her is small except the salary.
The POA and the most of the board remind me of the Iowa caucuses-utter and complete ineptitude. And then no consequences. Sorry- we screwed up but let’s all keep our jobs and just continue on as if nothing happened.
I also maintain that things that are truly great will, to a large degree, sell themselves. This has been proven over and over in the marketplace. No marketing effort is ever going to overcome the run-down nature of HSV and the mismanagement of HSV. People looking here who do their homework keep on looking. Trust me on this. Ask any realtor.
How many ads were needed to sell hula hoops? How many grand schemes? How many “packages”. How many little committees whose recommendations will be ignored? How many grand plans with millions of wasted dollars?
Wake up people. You are all still failing to grasp that HSV is being totally destroyed from within while you argue about marketing.
Marketing right now is the very least of our problems.
Moe
02/04/2020 — 7:15 am
We should definitely market to retired military. They are used to top down management no questions asked. This place will be perfect!!!
Bunnyrabbit
03/02/2020 — 3:38 pm
To me, it seems the solution to ALL of these comments regarding spending, maintainience, marketing, etc. would be to get rid of NL. If enough residents rise up with sufficient unity of purpose to rid HSV of this overbearing person. There are enough experienced lawyers, business managers, financial experts who live within the village who would more than likely love to help without compensation just to get the management of the village back to the people who want the village to survive and prosper for another 50 years.