BD Members - I'm running for Marketing Director

[chris_j]

Hello all,

I know there are a lot of British Dressage members on here & you might have clocked the news story on the front page of the BD website about nominations for the BD board. I'm running for the position of marketing director in the upcoming elections. As you will see from my profile document on the BD site, improved communication with members is one of the key issues I will focus on. My background is in digital marketing and tech is my second love after horses. So in the spirit of modern communication I have also posted the profile on my personal website at http://www.christinacarterjones.com/british-dressage/

At the end of the page on my site, there is a comments box where you can add your thoughts, questions and suggestions and I will respond to them in a public and transparent manner and hopefully we'll get some lively discussions going!

If you would prefer to contact me privately you can find my contact info here http://www.christinacarterjones.com/contact-me/ and I will also be at a number of the large UK dressage shows over the coming months and look forward to meeting even more of you in person.

Christina

P.S. If you aren't a member of BD but are a dressage fan, I'd be interested in hearing from you too as to why not.

 

[dianchi]

I want to be a BD member again however- there are no incentives for members returning like in BS so its full whack or nothing. No 6 months unless its winter and you are a BE or BRC member. If you want to encourage members back its worth looking at!

 

[alsxx]

Dianchi, I'm in the south east and they have been running have a go days here. For new or returning (lapsed) members its free horse membership. So they do offer some discount!

Not that I joined yet, horse not quite ready haha!!

 

[chris_j]

Hi Dianchi, Thanks for the feedback & I agree with you. I'll hold my hands up and say I haven't seen the detailed breakdown of membership funds from the different categories of members but it is certainly good marketing (& normally economic) sense to keep your existing customers rather than always be chasing new ones. It's also incredibly frustrating as a loyal customer with insurance companies etc. when you see new customers being offered better deals than are available to existing ones.

This is what I wrote in my "manifesto"

Initiatives such as the associate membership level and have a go days have been excellent at attracting newcomers into the sport. I would also like to ensure that existing members feel valued and continue to renew their memberships year after year which will only happen if they feel it offers value for money and competitive opportunities that aren’t available on the unaffiliated scene.

I'd be interested to hear specific ideas of what would keep you as a member or lure you back in. Certainly at times I would have appreciated being able to pay a monthly fee rather than find horse & rider membership in one go. The BHS have now introduced a monthly direct debit system for membership fees. Again, without the specific financials it may be that switching to this system would cause a cash flow gap for BD, but it's certainly something to examine.

 

[dianchi]

Yep monthly dd payments would be good!

Have a go good for new new members, but the cost of the day, travel to the one in your region soon uses up the "free horse membership"

 

[Red-1]

HI,

I am a member of BD, but find it very frustrating.

Firstly a local show venue tried to run BD shows, but were turned down as there was another local venue. Fair enough, but the other venue does not run very often, then stopped running altogether, but when the local venue re-enquired they were still turned down. My point being, for marketing, that the local venue has a lage and loyal client base, who are not "in" BD, but if this venue were to run some they could have been tempted, even to run in an Open Prelim class. This transfer of client base would have been well supported by the show venue, with advertising.

There would have been more new people trying BD. This area is not inundated with comps, there is only one within an hour of travelling.

The second point about BD, that frustrates me, is the antiquated tech!

For BE I can register, enter online, see my results which are posted online often before we even arrive home.

For BD I seem to be writing cheques, sending little envelopes with a form I print out and fill in. TBH it is just not convenient!

Recently for BD I wanted to check we were qualified for the regionals, the results were months out of date on the web site, so I rang. I was told that the office was too busy to put results on the internet, and it would be weeks before they got through the pile of work. I asked if they could just check for me weather I needed another competition, but they did not have that data.

I think that for many it is all just in the too had to do box. Besides, often with the bigger venues Unaffiliated is in the same ring, with the same judge, but it is cheaper to enter. If you are not looking for qualification and advancement, it is not a strong incentive. More venues may help, as many grassroots do not want to spend the money on registering just to find they have few choices where to compete and for the sake of saving diesel will still mainly compete unaffiliated anyway.

Also, with the tech, it is cool for people starting eventing (and more experienced competitors) to check their results and those of friends online. As well as BD being very out of date with the online thing, I think you have to be registered to see the results. I know a few people who have been encouraged to start BE by seeing online how their friends are doing.

I do not always like all of my mistakes posted online BE, I started when your results were your business, before computers were universal, but it is the same for everyone, and it is a great learning tool, and one that at the start of the season is a big motivator.

As an aside, for the freestyle D To Music, what on earth is wrong with songs with words in? I think more people would join in and go to the time, trouble and expense of sorting music and a floor plan if they could dance with their horse to their favourite music. There are "normal" tests for people who do not want music, could the DTM not be a bit more light hearted and fun?

If Top levels are governed by FEI as to not having music, could music be allowed with words at, say, elementary and below? A small change that could attract more competitors.

 

[abb123]

I am a member but haven't competed for a while for horse reasons.

When I do compete the main thing that puts me off is the entry system. Why can't you enter and pay online? It drives me mad having to fill in all the printed off slips and write a cheque and then have to post it all off. It's just a faff that is unnecessary and antiquated.

More venues. Similarly to Red-1, local venue turned down for no reason. There are no near venues that it would clash with and it has a fab brand new massive arena and great parking facilities.

 

[Gamebird]

I'd probably echo the points above. Firstly the DDs - I do other things as well as BD and when my mebership runs out it may be 3 or 4 months before I renew it so I don't have a continuous membership as such. If I paid by DD BD would be getting my money for every months of every year - there would be no gaps!

Secondly entries. I have just sent off an entry form and cheque for next week. I cannot tell you how much I hate this. Apart from anything else it is a pain remembering to keep the money in your account until the cheque goes out. It does seem to depend on the competition venue's own web set up though. I preferentially choose to compete at venues which accept on-line payments as I prefer to pay then and there. The same applies to regional training. I would do much more of this, except that you have to write a cheque, often for quite a lot of money and often for a date several months in the future, then remember about it and remember to leave the money in your account for that period of time as it is never clear when your cheque will be cashed. Our region has just sent out dates for training running up to November. I daren't send out a cheque for something so far away but if I wait until nearer the time they'll be sold out. If I could pay on-line I would book several sessions now! Tiny riding clubs can set up on-line payments for their rallies - why on earth can't BD manage??

And also the old results chestnut. I have several completely missing from my record (from classes where they should definitely have been recorded). I missed out on an AF last year because I just couldn't be bothered with getting them 'found' and added to my record. I did ring BD but they weren't very hopeful and made it sound like it would involve a lot of hard work to find them (and yes, I did have the sheets). I had a lot on my plate at the time so let it slide. I shan't be doing so this year!

 

[HeresHoping]

Congratulations on your proposal! I for one, from a business perspective, have several suggestions about BD but don't know whether your remit will cover direction of the magazine and website advertising and editorial as well?

If so, I'll p.m. you, please. I have a couple of clients who invest quite heavily in BD advertising, both web and magazine and we've hit a few issues. I won't put it on here because when I wear my other hat I work for a firm of solicitors and I know that if I were to list them publicly I'd be done for libel.

Many thanks.

HH

 

[Daytona]

My two bugbears are the same as someone else has suggested, out of date results on line, its now June and im waiting to see results from April for my horse and also the fact you cant just enter online.

 

[khalswitz]

My two bugbears are the same as someone else has suggested, out of date results on line, its now June and im waiting to see results from April for my horse and also the fact you cant just enter online.

Absolutely ditto this.

I've also been chatting to a 'new' BD venue where I've been competing, and the organiser did mention that they didn't get much support from BD in terms of how things were meant to be run - just got complaints. Supporting new venues to run the best shows possible from the outset is important.

 

[chris_j]

Great feedback all & yes the tech side is a major frustration - the never ending website delays & the sending cheques certainly don't make life easy as members. I'm not the popular choice in the BD hierarchy but bring strong marketing tech skills & the ability to get major projects launched on tight timescales & in budget, so promise that I'll rattle a few cages on behalf of the membership if you vote for me. Christina

 

[icestationzebra]

Another who finds the slow results very frustrating. Most BE results are up the same day and if they take a couple of days they are deemed 'slow'. My last BD results took 7 weeks to go online! When I have chased BD in the past they have blamed the show centres for not sending the results in, however when I had this conversation with the show organiser I was waiting results from, she said they were always sent to BD within 3 days of the competition, so the 7 weeks were certainly not a delay caused by her! Postal entries with cheques in this day and age is ludicrous and in the past I have not entered a show because I couldn't find my cheque book! Please someone bring the organisation up to date!

 

[ossy]

My two bugbears are the same as someone else has suggested, out of date results on line, its now June and im waiting to see results from April for my horse and also the fact you cant just enter online.

Yip these are the same for me too. I know you pay a lot more for BE so comparing the too isn't completely fair, but I've not had results go on since April either.

 

[chris_j]

The cheque thing is always an issue as I don't have a cheque book on my personal account any more & the only thing I ever need to pay for by cheque is horse show entries. Keep the feedback coming & get voting (preferably for me Christina Jones as the marketing director choice!)

 

[RobinHood]

Surely not accepting online entries is a fault of the venue not BD?

I'm a BD secretary and we take 99% of our entries online and our results are online within minutes of the competition finishing - it's really not hard.

 

[Nicnac]

Firstly - good luck! Not a member so can't vote for you.

Secondly, I think BD could take a leaf out of BE book when it comes to : online entries and subsequent tracking; transparency of results - non-BE members can view rider/horse results; timeliness of updating results and

Thirdly - flexibility of membership. My daughter events my horse but I do everything else with him including dressage (quite badly) and would love to affiliate as, similar to why we do affiliated eventing - consistency of judging, venues, ground etc. not because we're any good at it!

So daughter and horse are members of BE but I'm only an associate member so can't benefit from the BD 6 month membership for BE members however do I most of our dressage during the winter months unaffiliated. (and I will hereby shut up as just seen above that I can do this as am a BRC member so credit where credit's due - well done BD!)

 

[Jango]

I'm a member, I definitely agree online entries would make things much much easier! It also means you can enter slightly nearer the show date and avoid late entry fees so it is a massive help for people who work shifts/need childcare etc. Results being up to date is very important too, maybe max of a week to get the results up? Also the monthly direct debits are a great idea and would retain more members I think.