Membership
September 12, 2008
A Few Random Posts I’ve Been Meaning to Expand Upon, But, Really, Who Has Time?
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Most of my little posts go in the “asides” here on the blog, and most of them are fairly inconsequential (okay, okay, I know that all my posts are inconsequential, but roll with me here).
Then there are other thoughts that I jot down on occasion in draft form because they’re small but I think they merit some fleshing out. Of course, when I’m totally honest with myself, I have to concede that most of them probably won’t get fleshed out because I just don’t have that much time to spend on this blog.
So, here are a few of them — I may revisit them in longer form at some point, but here they are anyway:
Time shifting. The DVR hasn’t just changed television, it’s changed everything. (Well, really it’s just one aspect of a larger change.) People expect their consumption of media to revolve around their own schedule. But I wonder, should this mean more than just offering recordings of live events? What does “live” mean anymore? (And speaking of DVRs, I need to remember to set mine because It’s Always Sunny is coming back next Thursday.)
There are no legacies. Call it a paradox: the nature of associations are such that they tend to attract leaders who are very interested in grand gestures, big footprints, and lasting legacies; and it is also the nature of associations and their rapidly-shifting structures that such things are often quickly forgotten.
It’s okay to have an agenda. Why do so many people pretend that they don’t have one? Partnerships, collaborations, and organizations of all stripes at all levels would work much better if everyone was just honest about what they want, in my opinion.
Meet the We Bees. Around the country, former proponents of term limits are seeking to overturn (or at least lengthen) them, in part because, according to the NYT on Wednesday, they believe they “leave too much power in the hands of civil servants.” One elected official said, “We call those folks the We Bees, as in, ‘We be here when he’s gone.’” Does that make staff the We Bees of the association world, and what are the implications of that kind of sentiment?
True “ownership.” Staff don’t and can’t “own” an association, but the associations that are the most innovative and fastest-growing are those whose staff feel like they have a personal stake in its success. They “take ownership,” so to speak. But the successful association executive learns to feel like an owner without losing sight of who the real owners are. Sometimes that means letting go of strategies or tactics that you feel very strongly about, and sometimes it means doing something that you might not personally think is the best way to go. All without letting it impact your ability to keep creating, innovating, and “owning.” It’s a hard lesson to learn but probably the most important one in association management.
There are some more, but I’ll save them for another rainy day. (Oh, earlier I’d promised some news from the Event Technology Expo this week — unfortunately, something came up and I wasn’t able to make it.)
August 8, 2008
How to Grow in a (Shrinking?) Economy
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I’ll leave it up to the so-called “experts” on what the economy is really doing at the macro level, but it’s only stating the obvious to point out that the last year has been a hard one for certain industries. So the question is, How can an association achieve revenue growth in a year when its members are facing economic challenges?
With the recent closing of our most recent fiscal year, I finally feel comfortable addressing this question with a few tips and thoughts based on our own experience doing so.
Create new products for your core market that meet a real need. Our core products are the standards and technical manuals that lay out how our industry is supposed to do its work. One of the things we hear most often from members and non-members is that the standards are very difficult to understand and require outside training. In late 2007 I worked with an industry trainer and launched a new series of computer-based training sessions that take the concepts and explain them in plain English in bite-sized, self-directed segments. The first three packages in this series produced a brand new six-figure revenue stream. My tips:
Make sure you are listening to members and exploit what they are telling you about your products, and about potential new products.
Look at your bestselling products and create ancillary products around them. For example, if you sell books, create training programs that explain them or demonstrate how to use them, or create audio versions if they lend themselves to that sort of treatment. The key is to look at what’s working and build on it.
Now is not the time to cut back on marketing. In addition to our usual product catalog and email marketing, we upped the ante with new monthly product mailings and an even more aggressive but targeted series of promotional emails. We experimented with landing pages, fax broadcasts, telemarketing, and even Google advertising. By being smart about how we spent our money, we were able to do “more” marketing (with significantly better results) at less expense. My tips:
It’s very possible to reduce printing and mailing expenses significantly while still producing high quality product through such things as paper choice, printing technologies, layout and “fold” (for example, take advantage of the new postal regulations and avoid flats).
You must have a way to easily segment and target emails. If you send emails to everyone, or even if you send emails to certain broad channels (”newsletters” or “product specials”), then you are not getting the most out of email marketing. You must have a way to send emails, for example, to everyone who opted into receiving product specials, *AND* who also purchased a particular product, registered for an event, etc. (and just as importantly, who *DIDN’T* purchase, register, etc.)
Do not rely on one marketing channel! Hit your markets in multiple ways.
Repeat, repeat, repeat! I think it’s a waste of time, for example, to mail a promotional flyer once. It’s more effective if you mail it twice, or three times, to the same audience. I also have decided it’s a waste of time to send “building” campaigns (for example, a series of postcards that “build” on a particular theme), unless the campaign is REALLY clever. Send the same thing, repeated.
Retention is always important, but especially so when an industry is facing economic turmoil. Many associations think the key to improving retention is to remind members of the value that membership offers. However, we have found that the key to improving retention is to remind members that they owe money. With members expiring throughout the year, we begin our dues renewal process (both paper and email) five months out from expiration. Our retention rate held at around 90% this year. My tips:
The number one reason given for not renewing is “I didn’t realize I had expired.” Take away this excuse! Don’t be afraid to be persistent, almost annoying. Do not wait until the last minute to begin the renewal invoicing process.
Reach deeper into your core marketplace to find new audiences. I’ve talked ad nauseam about my belief that successful associations focus their efforts on expanding products and services for their core market, rather than take what they’re already doing and seek new markets. Part of exploiting the core market, though, is finding new decision makers within that marketplace. For example, we are launching a little two-day conference this October aimed specifically at a common lower-level management position among our members (as opposed to the owner or top-level position who is our usual audience). By early July we’d already surpassed our budgeted attendance expectations for this new conference, and added an overflow hotel; now we expect the event to completely sell out. My tips:
Look at your membership base (particularly if you are a trade association) and find new audiences within that base who may be interested in new educational or product offerings. First, you have to know what (and who) they are. This means being very familiar with typical member operations and being aggressive about collecting names and email addresses. (For example, our member “primary contacts” can login through our website at any time and add other employees to their account, giving us access to these valuable contacts and their job titles.)
Add niche events and mini-conferences to your schedule. Some associations try to bring in new people from their market by constantly adding new “tracks” to their annual meeting or coming up with alternate marketing approaches. I’ve found this to have mixed results. People in specific operational or professional segments will be drawn more to a an event that is specifically for them than they will by a new workshop series at a bigger event. And the niche event can bring in new sponsorship and exhibitor dollars at a higher price since the audience is so targeted.
Don’t stop experimenting, and take risks. Not everything will work; for example, we tried a regional one-day marketing seminar this year that was not successful enough to try again. This doesn’t stop us from innovating and experimenting. This fall we will be launching some new subscription-based online applications quite different from anything we’ve tried before. And we are building on the series of CDs mentioned above, with four new packages slated to be released in September and October. Another niche event will be launched next spring. My tips:
Stop thinking that you are in the business of doing whatever it is you happen to do now. Move in new directions.
Embrace a “guerilla” approach to media and technology for producing these new products and programs. None of the things we did this year that brought in high revenue cost us very much at all.
As you can tell by now, I believe strongly in product, product, product. Products are key to growing an association and making it possible for it to continually enhance services and advocacy for the industry it represents, no matter what the economy is doing (and none of the things we did this year were done specifically in response to the economy).
If the only things you sell are membership and meetings, then you’ve focused your model around two things that are most likely to be scrutinized, and possibly abandoned, by companies and people whose confidence in the economy is shaken.
May 12, 2008
You’re Only As Good As Your Guarantee
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Mickie Rops asked a question on the ASAE listserve last week, and a few of the responses have left me scratching my head. She wanted to know if associations offer refunds for webinars or web conferences, in particular if someone claimed a technical difficulty.
A few of the responses have seemed near apoplectic at the idea of ever giving someone a refund.
I say — big mistake. You should be offering a 100% satisfaction guarantee on everything you do and sell (including membership). You should be offering refunds cheerfully and happily, without requiring people to jump through hoops to get them.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ask questions — offer options (a free something, or a credit of some sort) — but ultimately, if someone is asking for a refund (or even if they’re just casually mentioning that they didn’t like something), that means that they are unhappy and your goal should be to make them happy. Give them a refund.
Remember, we are not in the transaction business, we are in the relationship business. Guarding over the money you’ve been given to perform a service or provide a product means that you are obsessing over a transaction and hurting the relationship. You may win the battle and lose the war.
Trust me, I know that there are people out there who will try to game the system and complain over every little thing in hopes of scraping back every nickel and dime. But they are the exception, and they can be dealt with (you should have some way of identifying repeat offenders in your system). A better plan is to identify the game players and then bar them from participating altogether. Don’t treat all your customers like the exception.
(By the way, I am assuming that what you are offering is of high enough quality that refund requests are relatively rare. If everybody’s asking for a refund — then they definitely deserve one, and you should rethink a lot of things.)
April 27, 2008
What Do Your Members Really DO?
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I always talk a lot about knowing your market, serving your market, not trying to be too broad for fear of losing your market, etc. But Tony Rossell’s comment on my last post made me think that I want to make sure I’m not sending the wrong message here.
When I say you should know who your core market is, fundamental to that is that you should know what it is they REALLY “DO” … perhaps better than some of them even know it.
To use a silly example, if there had been a Horse & Buggy Association way back in the day, and if they’d paid close attention to what their market really DOES, then they’d still be around today … even though horse-and-buggys certainly aren’t.
Similarly, if railroads had believed that they were in the business of moving freight rather than in the business of running railroads, then the trucking industry would look very different today. (I know, I know, there are lots of intricacies involved in the history of interstate commerce and the regulation thereof, but allow me this one simplistic example.)
Anyway … believing fervently in your market and your ability to serve it requires that you understand what it really DOES. It’s key for the success of your association, but even more importantly, pretty darn key for the success of your members.
April 24, 2008
What’s Your Sweet Spot?
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You’ve got a “sweet spot.” EVERYONE does.
I know, as associations, we represent a whole industry or a whole profession. But the fact is, trying to be equally pleasing and equally valuable to an entire large group can be a recipe for madness. You’ll waste precious moments and resources trying to make everybody happy so they’ll join or renew, and at the end of the day, only certain types of members will find you pleasing or valuable enough to not only “belong” but also participate in programs and invest in other services and products …. while you desperately try to get other types to do the same thing.
We finally figured out last year, through a variety of data mining projects, exactly what our sweet spot was. A type of company that provides the biggest return to the organization, both through participation in programs and purchasing of services and products. It is luckily a sweet spot with plenty of room for growth.
When you evaluate your members with a hard nose and solid data, it will become quite clear to you that not all members are created equal. When you stop looking at members as “people who pay dues” and start looking at them as “people who participate and engage and purchase other products and services,” you’ll find a remarkably clear path to new services, products and benefits that will make those members happier — and bring in more of the same.
To get there you must have the courage to say, “THESE are the members we want … and THOSE are the ones we don’t.” But first you have to figure out which is which.
UPDATE: Just want to make sure you read the comments to this post if you’re coming here from somewhere else, as several people have had some very interesting insights and clarifications on this topic.
April 21, 2008
Bills Get Paid, Letters Get “Filed”
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Over coffee with Vinay Kumar today, he reminded me of an issue I’ve mentioned on the ASAE listserves a couple times but I don’t think I’ve posted about it here.
The question that usually comes up is, “Should we send a letter out with our membership invoices (renewal statements or whatever you want to call them) that explain the benefits that the member gets?”
This is another thing that many associations do. (It’s almost as if we are embarrassed to be asking for money.) We used to do it in my organization as well and it still comes up occasionally. When we stopped doing it several years ago, the rate at which we received renewals increased rapidly. We send membership statements that look like bills, including nothing but the return envelope, and get the renewals back very quickly. This year our retention for our December 31 renewals hit 60% — in September. (They ended up over 90%.)
My theory for this is: “Invoices go in the ‘to be paid’ pile, letters go in the ‘to be read’ pile.” As usual I have no scientific data to support this other than my own experience.
Personally, when I get a bill it goes right into our check request process for my later review and signature. If there’s a letter with it, I usually just throw it away.
Sometimes, however, it seems like a really interesting letter, so it (along with the enclosed bill) goes into the pile of things “to be read” on my desk. Then, once a month or so, I get irritated at the amount of paper on my desk and throw it all away, assuming that if there’s anything important, I’ve probably given a copy of it to someone else.
The moral of the story: If you must send a letter with your renewal statement, don’t make it very interesting.
(And as always — TEST to discover what works best for your organization.)