{"id":3221,"date":"2014-09-29T11:00:12","date_gmt":"2014-09-29T15:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.naylor.com\/associationadviser\/?p=3221"},"modified":"2018-02-27T21:24:09","modified_gmt":"2018-02-27T21:24:09","slug":"weeding-members-pretenders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.naylor.com\/associationadviser\/weeding-members-pretenders\/","title":{"rendered":"Weeding Out Members From Pretenders"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_31\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31\" style=\"width: 100px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.naylor.com\/associationadviser\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/07\/Features-e1390339615618.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-31\" src=\"https:\/\/www.naylor.com\/associationadviser\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/07\/Features-e1390339615618.jpg\" alt=\"Hank Berkowitz\" width=\"100\" height=\"97\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-31\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Hank Berkowitz, Association Adviser<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\">Remember September of 2008?<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\">It was just about this time six years ago that the global financial crisis hit. Mighty Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, the housing market collapsed, the government had to bail out AIG insurance, and millions of Americans lost their jobs, their homes and many their retirement accounts. Economists called that period the longest and deepest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It was a scary time for many of us, and associations weren&#8217;t immune to the pain. Most took significant hits to their membership and non-dues revenue streams. Dues bills (like financial statements) were often tossed into the trash without being opened.<\/p>\n<p>Fast forward to 2014.<\/p>\n<p>Slowly but surely the job market, housing market and manufacturing sectors are recovering, but are associations? According to many thought leaders we asked, the answer is yes and no. Yes, things are looking better than they were a few years ago, but no, the absolute number of members is not what it used to be. Yes, the engagement level of members has improved. But, no, they\u2019re not always happy with their associations, and they\u2019re certainly more demanding than they used to be.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>Research tells us that member needs haven\u2019t changed. What has changed dramatically is how we deliver on those needs.<\/li>\n<li>An unengaged member is a member who\u2019s halfway out the door.<\/li>\n<li>In this kind of economy &#8220;We\u2019ve weeded out the pretenders, the non-engaged members, and have a much better quality of membership.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: #444444;\">Makes sense. Members are more likely to be paying their dues out of pocket, and with today\u2019s heavier workloads, time out of the office is at a premium. Remember that when you\u2019re asking a member to volunteer, attend your conferences or get onsite professional training from you. If you\u2019re not delivering\u2014and delivering ASAP\u2014they\u2019ll find the resources, networking opportunities and career development opportunities elsewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">John Graham<\/span>, president of the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.asaecenter.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">American Society of Association Executives (ASAE)<\/a>,\u00a0told us\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.naylor.com\/associationadviser\/index.php\/john-graham-mobile-association-careers-advocacy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">last month<\/a><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">:<\/span>&#8220;We\u2019re not\u00a0<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">all the way back<\/span>, but we\u2019ve bounced back to where we\u2019re going to be\u2014that\u2019s the new normal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\">A recent unscientific poll of\u00a0<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Association Adviser<\/span>\u00a0readers concurred. Only about one third of respondents (33 percent) felt their membership base had recovered from the Great Recession; about half felt they were within 10 percent of their pre-recession membership base and one in six respondents (17 percent) felt they were &#8220;never going back&#8221; to the flush days before the recession.<\/p>\n<p>According to Graham, the economic climate is such that if you have a strong value proposition, you\u2019re going to be successful. But, if you don\u2019t have a strong value proposition then you\u2019re not. &#8220;The [less engaged] members you had before the [financial] crisis, just aren\u2019t coming back,&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Sharon Kneebone<\/span>, director of membership for the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ift.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Institute of Food Technologists (IFT)<\/a>, put it more bluntly: &#8220;An unengaged member is a member who\u2019s halfway out the door.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But that\u2019s not always a bad thing.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Jay Iverson<\/span>, executive officer of the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/hbaiowa.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Home Builders Association of Iowa<\/a>, told me last month that the building industry is not back to pre-recession levels in his state, but it\u2019s certainly getting closer. So is membership following suit? &#8220;Not really, but that\u2019s OK,&#8221; Iverson said. In this kind of economy &#8220;we\u2019ve weeded out the pretenders, the non-engaged members, and have a much better quality of membership.&#8221;<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><br \/>\nMaybe we shouldn\u2019t get so hung up on membership numbers or even the term &#8220;member.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Jeff De Cagna,<\/span>\u00a0head of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.principledinnovation.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Principled Innovation, LLC<\/a>, which\u00a0counsels\u00a0association boards, CEOs and C-Suite executives, told me last week that membership is just one possible relationship that associations can have with their stakeholders. A full membership &#8220;will not be the right relationship for every stakeholder, including those who may still have an interest in collaborating with each other (and with the association) to create value.&#8221;<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"color: #444444;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Improving member communications<br \/>\n<\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\">According to the 2014 edition of our annual\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.naylor.com\/benchmarking\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">association communication benchmarking report<\/a>, nearly half of associations (46.1 percent) are making a concerted effort to customize communications efforts for new members (i.e. those who joined in the last six months), nearly 30 percent are customizing communications just for young professionals and 28 percent are specifically tailoring communications for their student members.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.naylornetwork.com\/NAY-ADVISER\/assets\/did%20you%20know%20sept.%202014%20graph.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-3191\" src=\"https:\/\/www.naylor.com\/associationadviser\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/09\/WEB-Chart-Q20-To-what-extent-customize-1024x812.png\" alt=\"to what extent do associations customize communications for member subgroups?\" width=\"640\" height=\"508\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.naylor.com\/associationadviser\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/09\/WEB-Chart-Q20-To-what-extent-customize-1024x812.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.naylor.com\/associationadviser\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/09\/WEB-Chart-Q20-To-what-extent-customize-300x238.png 300w, https:\/\/www.naylor.com\/associationadviser\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/09\/WEB-Chart-Q20-To-what-extent-customize-768x609.png 768w, https:\/\/www.naylor.com\/associationadviser\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/09\/WEB-Chart-Q20-To-what-extent-customize.png 1380w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\">One survey respondent wrote, &#8220;Everyone assumes the next-generation member is going to be completely tech savvy and mobile, but the old phone call still hits home with them.&#8221; Another respondent suggested spending the time to find out how each member subgroup wants to be communicated with. &#8220;Make sure you use personal contact and face-to-face when available. It always helps to put a face with an association. Looking like you care will never go out of style.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Greg Melia, CAE<\/span>, chief membership and volunteer relations officer at ASAE, told us that the one-size-fits-all membership model is outdated. &#8220;Newer members might not be aware of all of the benefits that they are entitled to. They may have been attracted to just one specific benefit that they only had a temporary need for.&#8221; Continually updating and customizing your communications for important member subgroups may compel them to stay with your association, Melia added.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">See\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Tamara Groom\u2019s article\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.naylor.com\/associationadviser\/index.php\/5-recommendations-winning-communications-strategy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">5 Recommendations for a Winning Communications Strategy<\/a>\u00a0f<\/span><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">or more suggestions<\/span><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\">Kneebone said IFT is revamping all of its membership pages and making the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ift.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ift.org<\/a>\u00a0website more mobile friendly. It\u2019s also creating a video catalog of &#8220;member personas&#8221; so that everyone who visits the site\u2014from students to longstanding professionals\u2014can get the IFT story from someone who &#8220;looks like me, acts like me and thinks like me.&#8221; (<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">See\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">this issue&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.naylor.com\/associationadviser\/well-really-know-members\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Corner Office<\/a>\u00a0profile for more insights from Kneebone.)<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"color: #444444;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Re-thinking the member-only model in an open source era<\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\">According to De Cagna, &#8220;associations must have the flexibility and humility to negotiate meaningful relationships on their stakeholders&#8217; terms, rather than on their own terms.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\">Case in point: At a recent presentation for association membership directors,\u00a0<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lowell Aplebaum<\/span>, senior director of membership and professional development of the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sfn.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Society for Neuroscience<\/a>, said his organization is making more of its resources and discussions available to non-members. The more that non-members can get a taste of what the society has to offer, the more likely they are to join. Scientists have always been big on knowledge sharing, said Aplebaum. &#8220;They believe all papers, research, knowledge and discussions should be open to all within the profession. You can\u2019t make everything member-only if you don\u2019t want to isolate neuroscientists.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\">According to Kneebone, research tells us that member needs haven\u2019t changed. &#8220;What\u00a0<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">has\u00a0<\/span>changed dramatically is how we deliver on those needs. Our past offering has always been: \u2018You pay this price and you get these services\u2019 and there is no deviation.&#8221; But that no longer flies in today\u2019s world of mass customization. In response, IFT has unveiled a new online community that\u2019s partially open-access. The idea is that people will be &#8220;friends of IFT&#8221; and if they want to engage and have their conversations around IFT, they can. They\u2019ll be limited in how they can participate, and what they can see, &#8220;but we\u2019ll be engaging a broader community,&#8221; added Kneebone.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Russ Klein<\/span>, the new CEO of the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ama.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">American Marketing Association (AMA)<\/a>, said that associations must be ready to compete in a world of &#8220;open source innovation and a sharing economy.&#8221; They must compete not only with other associations, but with online learning vendors and prestigious universities like MIT that has posted its entire 1,800 course curriculum online for free.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\">The AMA &#8220;must deliver relevant thought and service leadership to its constituents, and our products and services must be peerless to command some level of pricing power,&#8221; added Klein.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In today\u2019s age of transformation, association decision-makers must let go of their orthodox beliefs and rise to the serious challenge of building truly 21st century organizations,&#8221; observed De Cagna. &#8220;Earning the right to be called a leader demands nothing less.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Jenny Matthews,<\/span>\u00a0the youthful looking head of the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.tnsae.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tennessee Society of Association Executives<\/a>, said that many TNSAE members are within five years of retiring. TNSAE must prepare the younger generation to step up and fill the void while keeping long-standing members engaged.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\">&#8220;We\u2019re trying to make our education relevant to both populations,&#8221; she said. &#8220;You really have to be on top of technology and social media, but at the same you have to have great education programs so that people can walk away with valuable takeaways.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\">She said younger members are more likely to ask &#8220;What am I getting for my dollar?&#8221; while boomers are more likely to remain members because they feel it\u2019s the right thing to do and they want to stay involved.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Being a resource for members (and their employers)<\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Annette Homan,<\/span>\u00a0deputy executive director of the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rims.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc.<\/a>, said one of the biggest benefits RIMS brings to the table is educating employers about what its members really do. &#8220;Risk is not a four letter word,&#8221; says Homan.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\">&#8220;It\u2019s not just about purchasing insurance and monitoring risks your organization could be facing, it\u2019s about helping your organization go after opportunities the right way,&#8221; she said. &#8220;A lot of RIMS members work at organizations that are going global, explained Homan. &#8220;A risk manager is someone who is being asked for their opinion about what their organization can do to grow and be successful. A risk manager is someone who can educate all the business leaders at the organization on how they can manage their risks more effectively.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\">Technology, communication tools and demographic trends keep shifting, but one constant remains\u2014you can\u2019t go wrong by being a helpful resource for your members. TNSAE\u2019s Matthews said that &#8220;being present for your members, answering their questions quickly, educating them, and really being a great resource for them&#8221; is one of the most important ways to demonstrate value. So is great customer service.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"color: #444444;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Conclusion<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;We want members to recall that TNSAE helped them with a question they had and saved them a lot of time. That way it\u2019s a no-brainer when they get that dues bill every year,&#8221; said Matthews.<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s one piece of mail that won\u2019t get tossed away unopened regardless of what shape the economy is in.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #444444;\"><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Hank Berkowitz\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">is the moderator-in-chief of\u00a0<\/span>Association Adviser eNews.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>High performing associations are focusing on the engagement level of their members\u2014not how many dues bills they send out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":31,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,4],"tags":[547,49,548,544,226,549,115,131,74,550,551,545,552],"class_list":["post-3221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-membership","tag-american-marketing-association","tag-asae","tag-home-builders-association-of-iowa","tag-institute-of-food-technology","tag-jeff-decagna","tag-jenny-matthews","tag-john-graham","tag-members","tag-membership-2","tag-risk-and-insurance-management-society","tag-russ-klein","tag-sharon-kneebone","tag-tennessee-sae"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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