Membership Growth Blog

WOW!

What a crazy ride it has been the past few months. I am now involved in multiple membership organizations and have been given the role of Chair for a major organization’s North American Membership Committee.

In my new role, I have the task of developing membership pitches for others to use when convincing others to join the organization. Last week I was giving my pitch at a conference. When I sat down, the speaker sitting next to me shared with me some advice,

STOP SELLING

His advice to me was that people don’t want to be sold into a membership organization. People want to feel like they are part of a community. Selling sets up a vendor-client relationship and not a connected community.

His advice changed my life. I am now tasked with getting people connected and contributing to membership organizations and not buying from our organization.

What a crazy ride!

Which approach is better for driving membership growth targeted at organizations, top down or bottom up?

When trying to reach a corporate or business audience for your membership, do you head straight for the CEO’s door? How is your success? If you are like many organizations, then I am guessing that you are not successful at getting meetings with CEOs of major corporations. Why not?

In order to get the mindshare of a CEO, you need two things: 1. A connection 2. Proof. To have a connection, you need an in with the CEO. Whether it is a friend, associate, board member, or a church member you need to find a way that you can get in front of the CEO. For more information on how to connect, check out Keith Ferrazari’s book Never Eat Alone.

Once you have an audience, what are you going to show them? Are you going to tell them how great your organization is? That is not going to work. If you really want their support, then you are going to have to prove to them that being a part or supporting your organization is going to help them improve their image or bottom line. That is all it takes.

Another tactic is to start from the bottom and work your way to the top. Start recruiting members at the lower level of an organization and use their experience and connection to gain interest over time. This might not be a quick fix, but in the long run if you get enough members within one organization, then you will have a huge momentum push to get in contact with more senior members.

So which way is better?

Are you decisive and a great connector? Go for the top.

Are you good at keeping all types of people in your organization? Then I would recommend starting from the bottom and work your way to the top.

Which ever method you choose, just choose, make a plan, and prove to everyone that your organization is worth joining.

Keep growing,

Chris

Take a good hard look at your membership. Are you serving them or are they serving you?

The more I get involved with more organizations; I am finding many that are focused more on themselves then their members. Traveling the country talking to people about what they are doing and why they are doing it, one finds it difficult to get people interested in joining a mainstream organization. Why is that?

I think a lot of it comes from the feeling that they organization is serving itself before its members. Think about the organizations you belong to, and ask yourself if you really feel like you are special in the organization. When was the last time someone from the organization called you to check up on your satisfaction? When was the last time they did something that made you feel great?

Are you a board member for an organization that is helping itself? What can you do today to reach out to your members, give them a hand, and let them know how much you appreciate their contribution to the organization.

Are you truly passionate about your organization? If not, how do you expect others to be interested in joining?

Passion and purpose are linked when trying to attract new members to your organization. Think about the last time you went into a store to make a major purchase. That is the same attitude that people are going to approach a member based organizations. They are going to want to know all the facts, the benefits, and costs up front but most importantly, your potential members want all of that information delivered with passion.

Walk into an Apple Store with me and see the difference between the employees there versus the nearby Best Buy. Think of the neatly dressed, smiling faces of the Apple employees ready to show you the latest gizmo from the labs. You are encouraged to touch, play, and ask questions. All the prices are laid out, and you are treated like a person.

Now go into Best Buy. Have you found anyone to talk to about a computer? Most likely someone was at the door to make sure people weren’t stealing anything, but all the employees I see are standing around gossiping or trying to look like they aren’t interested in helping. When you go to ask them a question, do they really know the product or does it feel like they are reading the features list off of the side of the box you were looking at?

Are you Apple or Best Buy when someone is coming to see your organization? When you are presenting, are you really showing your passion for your mission, goals, and direction? When you hand out materials, is everything up front and easy to understand?

People are becoming much more cynical towards anyone trying to sell them anything. Because of the increasing numbers of scam artists out there, people are putting up their shields faster than ever. If you are upfront, honest, and open about what your organization offers and any costs involved, then you will be respected. Remember, not everyone wants or needs to join your organization, so don’t waste energy trying to attract people who will not be interested.

Be honest, be open, and most importantly, be passionate. Whether you attract more people or not, people will remember someone with passion.

While reading through my daily feeds, I came on this post by Phil Gerbyshak about 15SecondPitch. If you want WOW! in your life or your organization then you need to stop reading right now and go to 15SecondPitch. In only a few minutes the site will have helped you develop and post your pitch for the world to see. Did I mention that it was awesome.

Here is my 15 Second Pitch: