National Lido Conference 2016

A first analysis of survey data and data pulled from sets of Report & Accounts

Transcript

1. Are you turning on the tap or is the bucket leaking?
3. Overview: •  Who am I? •  What have I been looking at? •  A few basics •  Where does your money come from? •  What do you spend your money on? •  Sector strengths and weaknesses •  Common business model vulnerabilities •  How can we address these challenges & where are the opportunities? •  What next? •  Thanks & contact details
5. Who am I? •  A strategist and consultant •  Specialist in changing business models in the non-profit sector to help organisations become more sustainable •  A data nerd with a love of profit & loss accounts – look up Culture Benchmark if you want to see how this operates in my day job •  A lido swimmer (@lidolovelies on facebook tracks my progress around the UK lidos and a few others for good measure – I’ve swum 84 UK ones so far) •  A contributor to the UK Lido Guide sarah@sarahthelwall.co.uk
7. So what have I been looking at? •  Annual accounts sourced from the Charity Commission and/or supplied by the lidos I’ve been talking to •  Data from the online survey you completed – thankyou for that :) •  Copies of insurance documents supplied by lidos •  The activities of Power to Change And by the way I roped in a few people along the way but particularly Aristide Varvounis so individual thanks to him
8. A few basics … •  Ownership structures •  Months open •  Swims sold/year •  Other pool users •  Importance as a community facility •  How is the future looking?
9. Ownership structures? 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 Local Authority Charity CIC Other 23 Lidos responded – thankyou!
10. Which months are you open? 0 5 10 15 20 25
11. How many swims a year? <1000 1,000-5,000 5,000-20,000 >20,000
12. Who has what population? 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% <5,000 5-15,000 15-50,000 >50,000
13. Who else uses the pool? 0 5 10 15 20 25 Schools Youth Groups Sub-aqua Aquarobics/fitness Swimming Lessons Water polo Triathlon club
14. In terms of how you fit into your community facilities … PreOy much the sports facility within easy reach One of a handful of core services We are really well served thanks Other
15. What does the future look like? 0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% All well and rosy Doing ok but not sure how long we can sustain things? At risk of closure Other
16. A few basics - take home points: • Valuable local resource • Used for more than just swimming • Often financially insecure • Working within a short window of income generation each year
19. Where does your money comes from?
20. How can we cluster you in terms of business model? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 <£40k £40-200k >£200k
21. % of Total Income from: 2013 2014 2015 Local Authority 6.4 8.4 Grants 18.3 13.4 16.4 Tickets 58.4 53.7 40.6 Shop & Retail 15.1 12.7 15.7 Café & Catering 8.8 8.3 9.9 Hires 12.0 11.0 7.2 Dona^ons & Sponsorship 6.5 7.6 7.3 Services/consultancy 9.8 7.9 8.0 Events 13.5 29.0 30.8 Subs & members 8.3 20.0 21.5
22. What do you charge? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 <£3 £3-3.99 £4-4.99 >£5 Adult Child Concession
23. …and for a season ticket? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 <£50 £51 - £90 £91 - 120 £121 - £175 >£175 Adult Child Concession Family
24. Other on-site income … 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Yes No/other Café Shop Hires
25. Income – take home points: •  There are lots of examples out there in terms of approaches to income diversification •  The question of pricing is worth looking in to •  There are trends in the income mix according to whether you are S, M or L in your total turnover •  Look at best in class for inspiration but look at the average when setting targets for new things •  Consider your assets and what else you could do with them
27. What do you spend your money on?
28. % of Total Income spent on: 2013 2014 2015 Chemicals & materials 4.3 7.4 11.7 Café, catering, shop stock 12.8 15.1 10.3 Salaries 29.6 32.9 28.0 Rent 4.9 5.7 5.1 Insurance 3.1 3.3 3.9 U^li^es 16.3 17.6 15.9 Marke^ng 2.6 1.0 2.0 Buildings maintenance 12.3 16.7 20.7 Professional fees 0.7 1.0 2.0 Governance 0.2 1.1 1.1
29. Lifeguarding provision Staff Freelance Volunteer
30. Costs – take home points •  Are you buying efficiently? •  Chemicals •  Utilities •  Insurance •  Who can you learn from re marketing? •  If you bid for capital funding can you add in some revenue cover for things like marketing to make the most of a capital refurb?
32. Sector strengths & weaknesses
33. As a sector we’re great at… •  Keeping going in a generally difficult climate •  Making something work on a very narrow income window •  Rallying volunteers and running things on a shoe-string •  Meeting legal requirements re health & safety, submission of accounts etc •  Keeping lidos in the local and national news each year and driving a resurgence (with an associated cool factor in some customer segments) •  Providing a vital local resource even in areas of low population density •  Refurbishing pools and relaunching them
34. We are patchily brilliant at … •  Thinking up new ways to package the offer to sell to different user groups •  Raising grant funds for capital costs •  Marketing •  Selling season tickets and other things that bring in money early in the season •  Fighting unhelpful Local Authorities and winning •  Raising grants for increasing engagement
35. But we’re not great at … •  Knowing how big the sector is and referring customers to other lidos around the country (ie cross-marketing) •  Upselling – to a season ticket, to a package that includes other things (meal, tea/coffee, merchandise) •  Selling merchandise •  Buying resources such as chemicals, utilities, insurance and other boring stuff cost effectively (because each pool operates as a separate company and doesn’t club together to negotiate a better deal)
36. Most common problem? We’re running these businesses with a non-profit mindset … Which tends to mean focussing on getting more people swimming … But not spending enough time focussing on high earning customer segments or being more cost efficient
37. Ask yourself … What would more money in the lido bank account enable you to do more of?
39. What are the most common vulnerabilities in the business model?
40. Income •  Lack of customer research skills •  Lack of skills in price setting (leading to low prices •  Little forward selling •  Limited up-selling •  Insufficient revenue diversification •  Lack of money to invest in capital projects which would increase turnover Cost •  Lack of substantial volume discounts for: •  Chemicals •  Utilities •  Insurance •  Paucity of specialist skills in: •  Marketing •  Financial management •  Selling •  Product range development
41. Not helped by reliance on volunteer management .. Which has little time to •  Undertake proper research into its customer base and what they do/don’t/might want •  Model or test the impact of changes in income/costs •  Struggles to take risks which would affect the financial status quo •  Keep up to date with the legal framework and changes in things like health & safety etc •  Shop around for a better deal
43. Where are the opportunities? How can we address your challenges?
44. Income Diversification Free •  Knowledge exchange at events like this •  Knowledge exchange via the facebook group •  Buy the Lido Guide and visit other pools •  Take top tips from presentations like this and apply to your org Budget required •  1:1 consultancy, mentoring, business model improvement etc •  Workshops to do the above (lower cost per organisation but less bespoke) •  Annual benchmarking and analysis of the sector
45. Cost management Free •  Take the benchmark headlines and compare yourself off line •  Contact your suppliers and negotiate a better deal •  Join a group insurance scheme (that NLG could set up) •  Join a buying group to negotiate discounts for NLG members Budget required •  Detailed benchmarking of your org. and indentification of areas to improve •  Expert visits + consultancy
46. Joint marketing Free •  Make the most of your write up in the Lido Guide •  Participate in locally delivered SME programmes of support & development •  Knowledge exchange Budget required •  Design & production of really great merchandise •  A campaign to encourage #lidoroadtrip •  Hire specialist marketing folks either for an individual lido or as a group
47. And where might this mythical ‘budget’ come from? •  Pots of grant funding cash appear and disappear it is mostly a case of searching for what is around at the moment •  You are looking for funding for sustainability – this may or may not be capital funds … if it is capital you need to make the case for short to medium term revenue funding for related activities e.g. A marketing person part time •  I’m interested in what Power to Change are doing ... a spend down trust which is supporting community businesses •  Though if we could increase the contribution to reserves by increasing sales and being more efficient at buying I think some of it could fund itself
48. Would it help to do more stuff together? If I was deciding then I’d focus on: •  A development programme which improved the skills needed to grow income •  A mechanism for designing and producing great merchandise to be sold in lidos (and which encourages #lidoroadtrip •  A buying group which negotiated deals on utilities, phones, chemicals etc •  An insurance scheme which reduced premiums by syndicating the risks
51. What next? … What would be useful to you?
52. With thanks to … Aristide Varvounis Parliament Hill Lido Ashburton Swimming Pool Droitwich Spa Lido Helmsley Open Air Pool Arundel Lido Bovey Tracey Swimming Pool Pools on the Park Highley Centre Chipping Norton Lido Lazonby Swimming Pool Abbey Meadow Outdoor Pool Moretonhampstead Swimming Pool Askham Swimming Pool Chagford Pool Ilkley Lido Peterborough Lido Clevedon Marine Lake Stonehaven Open Air Pool Hilsea Lido Stanhope Pool Woburn Lido Buckfastleigh Open Air Pool Portishead Open Air Pool Shoalstone Sea Pool
53. Wanna chat more? sarah@sarahthelwall.co.uk 0208 255 1309 07775 562 168
55. Would a National Lido Guild be useful?
57. Merchandise ideas …