What if associations cold-called members?
Big Idea Month is a fever, and the only cure is more great blog posts. Today, Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE, gives us a dose of her usual straightforward honesty in answering the question "What if associations required every staffer to cold-call one member each week just to connect and listen?" on her Thanks for Playing blog.
My favorite line: "We all talk about the idea that we exist to serve members, meet their needs, etc. But most of us have no freakin' clue what those things are."
Remember, Big Idea Month continues through the end of December (or at least until the holidays), and you're encouraged to jump into the mix on your own blog or even here on Acronym (go to the Big Idea Month intro post for the original list of ideas and the lowdown on how to get involved). You could even be really cool and write about more than one "what if" idea, as Elizabeth says she plans to do. Thanks for playing, Elizabeth. And to everyone else, keep the great posts and comments coming!
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Comments
Our membership team started doing this about three years ago and the result has been a dramatic increase in usage of our services and retention rates. We've developed an annual schedule in which each of our members receive no less than four personal touches initiated by our staff before their next renewal. It really seems to work!
Posted by: Marty Mordarski | December 9, 2009 11:41 AM
Marty, that's AWESOME! Some other association pros have some interesting thoughts on this that they've posted over at my blog itself - be sure to check out the comments (and I cross posted a link to your comment, because I think the people over there should hear your story!)
Posted by: Elizabeth Engel | December 10, 2009 4:51 PM