Membership Growth Blog

Here is a great post I found by the author of Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time, Keith Ferrazzi.

In his blog post, he reviews the book Recruit or Die: How Any Business Can Beat the Big Guys in the War for Young Talent

Though the book is about how corporations can attract young talent, I thought that it would be possible to apply this same principle to any organization, be it a foundation, a club, or a major multinational corporation.

The main points he laid out in the post are:

- Get help from people are influential in your recruits’ lives.
- Sell your people
- Deliver on your promises

Think about how you can apply this to any organization and not just business:

1. Think about ways to get big names to support your organization. Imagine the kind of interest you will get in your organization if it is mentioned by a former President, a major sports star, or a talking head on TV.
2. How does your organization sell its members? Think of how much value your members will get from your organization if they use their membership to increase revenues, get more clients, or grow personally.
3. This is a big one for me personally. Does your organization do everything it says it is going to do? What is your value proposition and are you serving your members in line with your values?

This looks like it will be quite an interesting book and I hope that its ideas will become more mainstream.

More questions…
How many lapsed members did you personally reach out and talk with today?
Did you ask someone famous for an endorsement of your organization?
Did someone tell you how they got their new job because of their membership in your organization?

What are you waiting for? Get out there and get building!

Happy Wednesday,

Chris

When people ask me why they can’t attract new members, I ask them how they demonstrate value to potential members.

It is a question that many organizations do not have a good answer for. I understand that many organizations have traditions, a name, or even a large membership. All of those are good, but when was the last time you sat down with your executive team and really asked the tough questions:

Why are our members in our organization?

What have we done to provide them with value today, this week, month, or year?

Where are our members coming from?

Are we attracting the members that will allow us to provide more value in the future?

Do we serve ourselves or our members?

If you find your membership lagging, I think the last question might be the most important one to answer. No matter how old or distinguished your organization is, if you are not adding value to your members lives then you will not grow as an organization.

Next time you meet with your executive committee, think about those questions and ask yourselves, “Is this for me or for them.”

How many new members did you add today?

Chris

1. Have you called or sent a card to potential members?
2. Did you attend a networking event?
3. Did you send a press release announcing an important event?
4. Were you mentioned in your or someone else’s blog?
5. Did you submit an article to a magazine or blog about your organization?
6. Did you stop by and see a member that hasn’t been active in awhile?
7. Did you discuss cross promotion with a similar organization?
8. Have you posted your next meeting location in free newspapers, craigslist, coffee shops, online organizational sites, or on telephone poles?
9. Did you talk about it with a coworker?
10. Did you show someone the value of being in your organization today?