Category: membership

Is It Time for a New Model of Membership?

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE | 5 Comments on Is It Time for a New Model of Membership?

I recently spoke on this topic as part of the April Alexandria Brown Bag focusing on Grassroots Membership Strategies, where I shared the story of my fab client the American Medical Student Association. About a year ago, they switched to a free membership model (disclaimer – I cannot claim any credit for this, as we started working together in the aftermath of the switch). They’ve had some really interesting outcomes, as I’m sure you can imagine.

At the same time, there’s recently been a big discussion about membership models on ASAE’s Collaborate community, which frankly, got a little chippy. I think the reason for it resulted from a fundamental misunderstanding: one, considering new membership models doesn’t automatically mean an organization is going to switch; and two, “new membership model” does not automatically mean “free membership” (despite the fact that it’s been garnering a fair amount of attention recently).

In fact, I’m currently working with another client on looking at their membership model with an eye towards a potential change, and we’re not even considering free membership as a possibility.

If you are considering doing the same, there are a few key things you need to think about:

  1. You need to make an accurate and clear-eyed assessment of your association’s financial picture. No rose colored glasses, no overly optimistic assessments of future increases in revenue or decreases in expenses, review of your investments, review of your reserves and what you are and are not willing to use them for, how big a change in revenue or expense you can absorb and for how long, etc.
  2. You need to know where your revenue comes from and where the potential for growth lies.
  3. You need to have an open and honest conversation with your Board and your senior staff about potential risks, what you will do to ameliorate them, and how you would handle the worst case scenario, should it arrive.
  4. You need to be CRYSTAL clear about your goals and be certain about how you’ll know you did or did not achieve them.
  5. You need to be willing and able to give it time.

 

What Is Cost to Serve?

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE | 1 Comment on What Is Cost to Serve?

And why does it matter?

Every membership organization faces this sooner or later, and the answer, while simple, is not easy.

At its most basic level:

Revenue per member – Expenses per member = Cost to serve a member

Simple, right?

“If membership is $100 a year, and it costs us $60 a year to mail each member our journal, that’s our cost to serve, and we bring in $40 a year in revenue per member. Go us!”

Not so fast, Sparky.

  • What do you mean by “member”? (Is it just people who pay full fare dues? What about consistent audiences like your corporate supporters?)
  • How much revenue does each member actually contribute to the organization? (Do they ALL pay $100?)
  • What does it cost to recruit and retain each member? (It’s probably not $0.)
  • What’s the FULL list services all members use? (It’s probably more than just your journal.)
  • What services do only some members use?  (Hello, annual meeting.)
  • Which services are used by audiences outside the membership? (Website? Advocacy programs? People LOVE to free ride on that stuff.)
  • What do all services actually cost to provide, in both direct and indirect costs? (Oh noes! Staff costs!)
  • How are the revenues from those services really allocated? (What percentage goes to the board’s current pet project?)

In order to remain financially healthy, membership organizations must know how much additional revenue or expense each member brings to the organization.

Knowing how much revenue each additional member brings helps an organization understand more clearly how much is reasonable to spend on member acquisition.

Knowing how much expense each additional member brings helps an organization understand how to price dues and make decisions about which programs, products, and services should – or should not – be revenue generating and, in the case of programs, products, and services that are consciously chosen to lose money, how those losses can be offset.

So: what DOES it cost to serve your members? The answer may not be what you think it is.

Is It Ever OK to Fire a Member?

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE

Of course you know I’m going to say “yes,” right?

So the real question is: when? And how do you do it without creating a PR nightmare in a social world?

(Here’s one tip: don’t use a post-it.)

We all have “problem” members. You know – the person who calls or emails constantly to complain. She’s never happy with what the association provides. He doesn’t feel that you respond appropriately to his complaints. Sometimes she’s on the board or in a volunteer leadership position, and the association never does anything right. He not only complains to the staff, he complains to other members (and, in fact, anyone who will listen). God help you when she attends a face to face event – she’ll park herself somewhere and gather a crowd while she moans about everything from the temperature of the rooms to the content of the educational programs to the qualifications of the plenary speakers to the food at lunch.

Of course, it’s always more than one, and you certainly don’t want to throw over anyone who demonstrates the first sign of being unhappy with something. Not only will it kill your reputation, it will kill your retention rate.

So how do you identify when someone has crossed from “problem” to “cancer”?

First, listen openly to her complaints and honestly assess whether they’re valid. No association is perfect, and while sometimes the squeaky wheel is just being a pain in the ass, sometimes she’s the canary in the coal mine.

Second, think about how he expresses his displeasure. Is he respectful? Does he share things with association staff who are in a position to do something about his issues, or does he just yell at the receptionist? Does he offer suggestions to fix the problem? Is he willing to compromise on a solution? In other words, will you EVER be able to make him happy?

Third, measure how much time, energy, effort she’s really consuming. Is this member a regular time suck? For how many staff people? Out of how many total members?

Finally, assess how prominent he is. Yeah, I’m advising that if someone is well-known and well-connected, go more extra miles for him. We all tell ourselves that all our members are equal, but that’s not *really* true. This is one of those cases where who you are matters.

So let’s say that the person’s complaints aren’t valid, she expresses them inappropriately and is never happy, no matter what you try, she’s taking up far more than her share of everyone’s resources, and she’s not the Board chair who is also the CEO of the largest, most respected company in your industry. In other words, you *can* fire her.

So how do you do it?

Aside from “carefully,” it requires an actual conversation with the problem member in which you calmly lay out the facts of his unsatisfactory interactions with the association and explain that you’re terribly sorry that you are unable to meet his expectations. Then you explain that you will be refunding his dues for the most recent dues period and that when his membership term is up, you will not be bothering him with a renewal invoice (so yes, you’re giving him back this year’s dues but not canceling the membership). Then you wish him well, and encourage him to think about checking out the organization again in a few years. Throughout the conversation, you walk the fine line of polite but firm.

Yes I have done this and it did work. Anyone else?

Think I’m crazy? Tell me in the comments.

Membership Marketing on a Shoestring

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE

I’m presenting on the topic above at the Events By Design Small Staff Association workshop today, and while it’s too late to join us, I thought I could share my best membership marketing tips for small staff associations (aka “the handout”) with everyone.

Barter! 
Find a complimentary organization or two, and swap member lists, swap magazine ads, swap e-newsletter promotions, swap banner ads, swap conference attendance/booths/speaking spots, etc.

Email! 
It takes time, but you can do personalized, segmented HTML emails using some very simple shareware tools, some skill, and a little legwork. It doesn’t require subscription to RealMagnet or Constant Contact, etc. (although that does make things WAY easier).

Word of Mouth! 
Who are your passionate members and volunteers? If you know, ask them to spread the word about the exciting things you’re doing (you are doing exciting things for them, right?). If you don’t know, FIND OUT!

Customer Service! 
Don’t underestimate the value of excellent customer service at every level, from the CEO to the mail clerk. Retention is even more important than recruitment – it’s a much lower cost, higher value transaction. “How can we serve our members better today than we did yesterday?”

Little Things Mean a Lot! 
Get the invoices out on time. Track who’s paid and who hasn’t paid. Proof read all written communications. Test your emails to make sure your links work. Double-check to make sure your return address (snail- or email) is correct in your marketing materials.

It’s Not About the Notices

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE

Membership retention isn’t about renewal invoices: how many you send, when, in what format.

Or at least, it isn’t ONLY about the invoices.

When someone decides to join your association, she’s responding to a promise made – your brand promise.

Your association has promised her a certain experience with your communications, your staff, and your events. You’ve promised to make her professional life better in tangible ways.  You’ve promised to connect her with other professionals who share her goals and passion, who can help her become a better professional, and who she, in turn, can help in the same endeavor. You promised to make her investment of time and money in your organization worth her while. Are you delivering?

Do you know what your brand promise is? Because it doesn’t matter what you think it is. What matters is what your audiences think it is, and how they translate their experiences with your organization.

Are you living up to it? Because if you’re not, it won’t matter how awesome your renewal pitch is, or when you send it, or how many times, or in what format. People will leave. Sure, not all of them – there are some members who will renew virtually no matter what. But everyone else – and believe me, that’s the majority of your members – is at risk.

Got churn? Declining membership? Before you freak out about “should we send 4 or 5 notices?” or “should we start sending them 3 or 4 months in advance?” ask yourself: “are we keeping our promise to our members?”

Yeah, it’s a bigger question and may be a harder problem to solve, but unlike sending an additional notice, it will actually cure the disease rather than slapping on a band-aid.

The Power of the Beta

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE | 2 Comments on The Power of the Beta

One of the reasons we in the association world can be afraid to try new things is that we worry that if it’s not perfect, the members will freak out.

And for some of your members, that’s probably true.

But it’s not true for all of them.

Some of them would LOVE to be invited to sneak preview a new program, product, service, offer, etc. and provide their feedback.

So what are you waiting for? Go find them!

And when you do, make sure you have ONE new thing ready for them to try out right away, get their feedback immediately, let them know how you used it, and be sure to credit them with helping you in the development stage when you actually roll it out to your full membership.

Your new offering will be better for it, and that member? She knows you love her now, and that equals loyalty.

Is Membership Really Dying?

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE | 3 Comments on Is Membership Really Dying?

Or is it just changing?

Why do we assume that all our members want and need to have the exact same relationship with us?

We understand this concept in our personal lives. We have different circles – hell, Google+ is built on it – and they aren’t all our BFFs.

The large majority of members in the typical association are “mailbox members.” They send you a check, you send them some magazines, everyone’s happy.

Except the association usually isn’t. We spend large amounts of our scarce resources fretting about why those “mailbox members” aren’t more involved and trying to force them to be.

What if we viewed them as what they really are: subscribers?

I’ve subscribed to MIT’s Technology Review for eight years. And I LOVE the publication, which you probably already knew, since I give them regular shout-outs here. Do they spend time, energy and money trying to get me to participate in their online community and attend their events and become a volunteer? No – although all those things are, in fact, available. But they aren’t right for me, and MIT doesn’t waste time trying to convince me that they are.

Let’s do some math.

Assume you have 10,000 members. Your annual meeting regularly sees 500 attendees, at $500 a pop. Based on past attendance, your actual number of prospective attendees is about 1,000. And you have a $10,000 marketing budget.

Most of us proceed to blast undifferentiated messages out to the entire 10,000 members. Which means we can spend $1 per member trying to get people to our conference. What if, instead, we focused that $10,000 and our staff time ONLY on the 1000 prospects who are likely to attend? All of a sudden, we’re only managing 1000 contacts, not 10,000, and we have $10 per prospect to market the conference. What if those focused, high-impact messages aimed only at truly likely attendees could increase conference attendance from 500 to 700? At $500 a head, that’s an additional $100,000.

I’m not saying don’t tell the other 9000 members that the conference is happening. They can find out about it on your website or as an item in your weekly enewsletter or association news in your magazine. I’m just saying don’t do any direct outreach to them. They aren’t coming, and you’re wasting your money.

Not everyone is actually a prospect for everything. Invest your resources where you’re going to get a return.

Big Risk, Big Reward

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE | 2 Comments on Big Risk, Big Reward

This is IT. You’ve just come up with THE game-changing idea for your organization. It’s going to transform membership, and through it, your profession or industry.

Upside: potential HUGE reward.

Downside: equally HUGE risk.

But we’re associations. We’re risk-averse. So don’t do it, right?

WRONG.

Part of making a big impact is being willing to make a big bet. But be smart about it. Do your homework on your audiences. Run a beta test. Get member input, and not just from your board. Invest. Determine in advance how much you can invest before you need to start seeing a return. Have a plan B and a plan C. Define what success looks like. Be ready to capture what you learned, whether it works or not. Iterate. Know what your exit strategy is.

You only get so many opportunities to take the big leap, so choose carefully. If you do, you’ll start a virtuous circle where you get MORE opportunities to take those game-changing risks because you know how succeed AND fail well.

Reaching Detente With Your Chapters

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE | 3 Comments on Reaching Detente With Your Chapters

One of the truisms of association management is that national/chapter relationships are often…fraught. Even though we’re all ostensibly on the same side, it doesn’t always feel that way. Each side feels like the other is holding out on the them or trying to gain advantage, and the lack of trust that results makes it hard to communicate and to work together for the good of the organization as a whole and, ultimately, the profession or industry you serve.

How do you get past this?

I was recently chatting with some colleagues who were working through this exact problem. Details concealed, of course, but a little background. The organization has chapters in every state. As is common, some are quite strong and many are less so. The national provides staff support for chapters, but it’s in the form of two staff members who are both in DC (and in the eastern time zone).

The national wants to switch to an “account executive” model, dividing the country into regions and locating a regional chapter support manager in each of them. Those regional managers would still report to the national membership director, but they would work remotely and be charged solely with supporting the chapters in their region (so they would really work FOR the chapters).

Sounds great, right? Unless you’re a strong chapter that’s worried that this is a power grab by the national. And there is one chapter in particular with a strong, nationally-known executive and a full staff of their own. The national staff is concerned that she will lead the revolt that will doom their plan to help struggling chapters by providing better overall support and coordination.

What we realized is that this apparent negative could actually be a huge advantage. But it would all depend on the approach. Going to the strong chapter executive with, “This is the plan that we, the national, in our great and mighty wisdom, have devised for you, the poor little chapters, and you’ll accept it whether you want to or not!” would result in disaster. It turns her into an opponent immediately. “My chapter is just fine, and we don’t need your help/interference, thanks.”

But, if the national approached the strong chapter executive with this as a POSSIBLE idea to provide better support for the chapters that they’d very much like her to PILOT for them before they consider rolling it out to all the chapters, suddenly, we’re on the same side of the table working together to solve a problem.

Of course, the national has to be genuine. The program really IS a pilot and is open to modification – or even being dumped – based on the experiences of the beta group, which should probably consist of some or all of chapters in the strong chapter executive’s region. The staff person would remain at the national headquarters during the pilot, but he would switch his work schedule to better align with the region’s time zone. And if the beta testers came up with a better idea, the national would pilot that as well.

What kind of tiger-style management-fu can you deploy to start standing next to your chapters facing issues together rather than standing opposite them and *being* the issue?

You Say You Want a Revolution

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE | 8 Comments on You Say You Want a Revolution

There’s a bit of a fracas currently occurring around the selection of James Carville and Karl Rove as opening keynoters for the 2012 ASAE Annual Meeting. To me, it raises a much larger question: how does a member change the direction of the organizational ship, if s/he’s not happy with where it’s going?

In every protest movement, from the largest (the Occupy movement, justice for Trayvon Martin) to the current ASAE contretemps, there’s the initial, “I’m outraged! Who’s with me?” moment.

And the “rabble rousing” portion is vital, because you have to figure out how big your cohort is.

But you have to move on to campaign stage, or you just get mired in complaining.

There are two key questions any protest group must answer:

  • What do we really want? (aka, What would fix the problem or compensate for the harm?)
  • What are we willing to give up to get it?

Then you have to calculate your “n” to figure out how many supporters you need before it’s worth the institution’s time to pay attention.

So using the Carville/Rove situation, let’s look at some examples:

Small “n” resolution: Let’s say the group of displeased members wants, in the future, for keynote speakers to be selected by a representative group of members, or at least for that group of members to provide a list of choices or to vet ASAE’s list of choices. Since that would come at virtually no cost to ASAE, the group of members wouldn’t have to risk/threaten much, and the “n” required to support the proposal in order to get the institution to pay attention would be relatively small.

Large “n” resolution:  Let’s say the group of displeased members wants ASAE to provide an alternative keynoter or at least space and promotion if the disaffected group secures an alternative keynoter (maybe someone like Gwen Ifill?). That’s a significant cost, in money, hassle/logistics, and damage to reputation, so the group would need a large “n” that’s willing to threaten/risk something fairly major, like paying for the keynoter themselves, or canceling registrations and demanding a refund, in order to get the institution to pay attention.

But in the end, what each person has to ask her/himself is this: how much does this mean to me? Am I willing to die on this hill? And then put up, or shut up.