I recently attended a seminar where Shari Pash, a membership and sales strategist, outlined what you should be focusing on in your membership development.
What is your member’s “Why?” Do you track that information for each of your members?
She challenged each attendee to have a strong data management system so you can track member and prospective member interactions.
She challenged each attendee to have a strong data management system so you can track member and prospective member interactions.
You must record and document member touches and interactions.
Think building relationships. That statement has been said many times on this blog in the past and go HERE for a post titled Never a Transaction: A Relationship.
She went on to talk about prospect levels (A’s, B’s and C’s) and how you might treat them in your recruitment pipeline. It’s important to spend your time wisely in recruiting new members.
You need to give a definition to each so you can track progress and again spend your time wisely to grow membership.
Focus on the A’s and B’s, your retention levels will go up. The C’s are the ones that will drop their membership and drive your retention rate down.
Don’t spend too much time chasing the C’s.
Define your goals. How many new members per month do you strive for? How much revenue? I hope you have goals for both and that you’re tracking both.
Transaction vs Relational - selling a renewal or sponsorship vs how can we continue to be part of your strategy of growth. There is a big difference. Again, build relationships.
Intentional Recruitment - move from chasing and convincing to motivating. Tell a story, use testimonials, maybe in your email signature line.
Overcoming the objection of no time, I don’t attend any events.
Respond with ways for a member to get exposure without attending an event:
- Share how many hits they’ve gotten on your directory;
- Participate in our social media - like, share with our 10,000 followers.
She recapped with a review of moving away from chasing a prospect to motivating your prospects to join.
Build your pipeline, keep and active sheet that you can track your calls, communications, etc. Do you have a 30, 60, 90 day forecast?
For more information on Shari and her program of work go HERE.
Final thought, you must have a strategy and data to be successful!
