Membership Is a Challenge
As a chapter, state association, and/or membership director,
you face a variety of challenges that demand different
skills and abilities. You are expected to develop
and carry out plans to attract new members, retain current
members, maintain accurate records, gather information,
respond to member inquiries, explore ideas for new member
services, and a lot more! You need to be a “jack
of all trades” who works well with words, numbers, ideas,
and people.
Let’s start with recruiting new members. Attracting
new members is on the most important functions each chapter,
state association, and membership director faces. And
how do associations recruit new members? Methods
vary by situation and resources available. Some basic
techniques of membership recruitment are direct mail, telephone
solicitation, and we have all been personally approached
by someone trying to sell us something.
Direct mail is used so often because you can reach your
audience at a relatively low cost. The first rule
of direct mail is don’t mail your package to people who
don’t want to read it. A great letter and a great
brochure will not produce results if the recipient throws
out the letter unopened. One way to achieve this
is to create your own mailing list. Use meeting attendees,
referrals from others, and other sources to build your
list. A list you put together yourself is often your
most responsive list.
What should you say in the mailing? This question
is central to the success of your mailing, and there is
no right answer. You must establish that the membership
has value and that by joining they are better off, and
you must prove this to the potential member. Create
a list of services or programs your association offers
that you think are attractive to members. Next to
each one write a brief description of how the member benefits,
then rank the importance of each service or program with
your core members. The benefits with the highest
ranks should be emphasized in the mailings to potential
members.
Another option in making contact with potential members
is through telephone solicitation. A good idea is
to use this technique after the direct mailing. Usually
allow a good week (possibly two) in order for the recipient
to obtain the direct mailing and review it. Once
that time has lapsed, telephone the potential member by
introducing yourself to them and asking them if they have
received your package of information about your association. Make
it appoint to ask a few simple questions and invite them
to your next meeting. Let that contact know just
a few things about your upcoming meeting in order to entice
their attendance, as well reminding them that you will
be there and look forward to seeing them. This tells
the potential member that they will know at least one individual
at the meeting.
Sometimes personal visits work very well. This
technique might be beneficial after the direct mailing
and the telephone solicitation. A brief visit with
the potential member usually gives a personal touch in
putting a name and face together—not to mention that it’s
harder to turn individuals down when in person. Whatever
your preference in contacting potential members, statistics
show that it takes at least seven contacts with one potential
member in order for them to become a member—so keep making
contact!
Let’s switch gears to membership retention. Is your
chapter/state association struggling to retain members? One
question you need to ask, “Is our chapter/state association
meeting the “needs” or “objectives” of our members?” If
you are not sure of the answer to this question, then it’s
time to reevaluate your chapter/state association’s objectives. And
with the new year, it’s the perfect time to review, refresh,
and reevaluate those objectives. There are several
ways chapters and state associations can achieve this either
through board retreats, surveys, and/or just by listening
to members at meetings.
Plan a board retreat to focus on obtaining shared needs
of the members such as education and training, information,
networking, certification, to name a few. Not all
retreats have to be overnight. Most chapters set
time aside each year for one-day retreats, usually at someone’s
home to work out goals and objectives for the year. While
most state associations plan weekend retreats because state
goals/agendas are a little more time consuming and need
more time to plan. Whether you’re a chapter or state,
the idea is to work on creating a plan in order to meet
members’ needs.
If you want to hear from your members in what their ideas,
goals, and objectives of membership might be, remember
that surveys are a wonderful tool in obtaining this information. Obtaining
this information prior to your retreat will be helpful
in planning your retreat. Getting your chapter/state
association’s objectives outlined in the form of a plan
is the first step to a successful year. Each chapter/state
should have a plan of action. If your chapter/state
does not have a plan, then you need to work on getting
one, and quick!
As a reminder, the NALS Membership Committee is here to help
you in all your endeavors. Please feel free to contact
anyone of us. Happy trails and remember—Members are
Important!
