By servicing maintenance club members during the slow "shoulder season," businesses free up their schedules. This creates capacity to take on new, high-margin customers when demand inevitably spikes, maximizing growth opportunities instead of just servicing existing clients.
Focus new customer acquisition on low-barrier-of-entry offers. The primary goal for technicians on these initial calls should not be the one-off service, but converting that new customer into a recurring maintenance club member, maximizing their lifetime value from the first interaction.
Businesses often create multi-tiered maintenance plans, believing more options are better. However, this complexity overwhelms consumers and makes it harder for technicians to sell. A simplified, single-option plan often leads to higher adoption rates because it's easier to understand and pitch.
To gauge the success of your maintenance club, use the benchmark of 1,000 members for every million dollars in annual *service* revenue (excluding replacements). This provides a clear, quantifiable target for business owners and managers to strive for, turning a vague goal into a concrete KPI.
Go beyond transactional perks. Unexpected, tangible gifts—like a pumpkin delivered in the fall—create a powerful emotional connection. This "surprise and delight" strategy fosters extreme loyalty and word-of-mouth marketing that a standard service call, no matter how perfect, cannot replicate.
Offering cheap one-off tune-ups can devalue a maintenance club. To justify a recurring subscription, the club must provide exclusive perks like priority service or loyalty credits toward new systems. This creates a clear value proposition and makes members feel like true VIPs.