Chamber Leadership: new member kit

Showing posts with label new member kit. Show all posts

3 Tips to Engage New Members

You’ve heard me and many others say before, that engaging your members in your program of work, is the easiest way to improve your member retention.

So what are you doing, for not only your first year members, but also your base members too?

Here’s three quick things you could implement very easily, not only to welcome new members, but will also help on the back end when it comes to retention.

In fact, I know you’re already doing the first one.

New Member Kit - we’ve all got the thank you letter, web sticker and some form of the Chamber member plaque/sticker, but what else are you including in your new member kit? Do you include a schedule of your upcoming programs or a copy of your mission statement? The goal of your new member kit should be to make your new members feel welcome and to get a sense of what the Chamber will do on their behalf and the business community at large.

Special Invitation - pick an upcoming program or event for them to attend and make sure you have a buddy system where they are met at the registration table and that buddy will stay with them throughout their first event they attend. Nobody wants to attend an event and feel isolated. Formalize this in a way that works best for your Chamber.

Personal Phone Call - this is so easy to do and it gives the personal touch that any new member will appreciate. The goal is to check-in and see how they are doing, ask if there is anything you can do for them and then end the call with a simple “Thank You” for being a member. And by the way, the CEO needs to make this call.

If you do these three things to engage your new members it will be a good starting point to improve their engagement with the Chamber and it will help with your first year retention rates.

5 Must-Have Collateral Pieces in Your New Member Kits

We all know first impressions mean a lot!

Based on that premise, what are you doing with your new member kit, which will be the first impression your new member gets of your organization?

Is it professional? Is it delivered in a timely fashion?

You should be able to answer yes to those two questions above and here are my list of 5 must-have collaterals in your new kit 1) Welcome Letter; 2) Membership Card 3) Decal or plaque; 4) Features of Membership; and 5) List of Upcoming Events.

Welcome Letter - this should come from your CEO. Keep it short and sweet, thank them for joining, tell them what the chambers been working on, and tee-up what else is in the new member kit.

Membership Card - ideally this is attached to the letter (hint it will allow you to do a mail merge) and the end product is professional. Make sure their member number is on the card and you instruct them to put it in their wallet.

Decal or Plaque - I think you know this one! Ask them to prominently place their membership decal or plaque where others in the community can see it - the businesses front window or by the cash register.

Features of Membership - explain the features of membership and the benefit they will get from those features (i.e., educational program is the feature and the knowledge gained from that educational program is the benefit).

List of Upcoming Events - create a list of programs that are scheduled for the next quarter. Put it in a form that they can post to a bulletin board or maybe put on their refrigerator that will be a constant reminder of your organizations upcoming events.

Get started on upgrading your new member kit today!