Tag Archives: nonprofits

Growing Custo/Members For the Long Haul

by on July 18, 2005 in Business, Work

I’m remembering one of the things that I dislike passionately about associations – the constant dues haggling. Here are just a few of scenarios:

  • A member complains that their dues are too high and wants a discount.
  • A potential member says he has a handful of people to bring into the association and wants to cut a deal for reduced dues.
  • A volunteer leader is trying to develop a more international attendance for a meeting and wants to help non-US prospects join through discounted dues.

On the surface, I think a couple of attitudes drive these requests: the notion of the non-profit as charity and the belief that member growth is always beneficial.

I’m taking a stab at the charity issue. I simply don’t know why folks think non-profits have no regard for their own financial health. Perhaps it’s that term non-profit. What I do know is that it is very hard to get folks to understand that decisions must be put through a financial test and that giving something away works toward an association’s long-term vitality.

The more insidious attitude is that any type of membership growth is good for the association. The problem is that offering discounts on membership is purely a short-term solution. Yes, it may bring in members now, but what does it then say about the overall value of the membership? And here’s the more interesting question: are the members seeking a discount the right type of members for the association? Wouldn’t you rather have a member who wants to pay full price because they believe in the value rather than a member who constantly looks to cut their spending?

The common response is that if you give the member a taste now of all the association has to offer, they’ll undoubtedly come back for more next year. I believe this is not only a vicious myth, but the antithesis of creating a passionate experience. The relationship has been marred from the beginning where the association has essentially stated that we really don’t believe in the value of our own offerings.

Here is my proposition: that associations (and I’m putting my own right at the front of this line) stop looking for just any member to join and start looking for the right member to join. And the first way they can show that they are the right member is to be willing to pay in full for their membership.

Or is that asking for too much?

Harness The Power Of The Testimonial

by on June 22, 2005 in Business

John Jantsch offers some good suggestions for how to develop the case study as testimonial. In Involve Your Clients In Their Story, he recommends these four questions as the basis of a one page case study:

  1. What solution were you seeking when you hired us?
  2. What did/do we provide that you value the most?
  3. What has been the result of working with us?
  4. What would you tell others who are considering hiring us?

If your association is looking to harness the power of the member testimonial, John’s questions might be slightly tweaked like so:

  1. What challenge or problem were you seeking a solution for?
  2. What did/do we provide that you value the most?
  3. What has been the result of your membership with us?
  4. What would you tell others who are considering joining us?

Why do your members continue to renew? What’s the lasting value? If your members are like most, they want their association to help them solve a problem.

Now capture that data in a powerful testimonial. Gather ten or twenty more. Let the member tell their story and give them the tools to share their story with other potential members. It’s word of mouth marketing like this that builds ever-increasing and long-lasting connections. As John points out, it creates relationships where association and member are now responsible for each other’s success:

I believe fully that doing business long term means
creating relationships – in any healthy relationship both parties have
a responsibility to help each other get what they want. If you are not
training your clients to expect to help you build your business, as you
help them get what they want, you are setting yourself up for a short
term relationship.