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By Ed Rigsbee, CSP (532 words) Trade associations and
professional societies that primarily focus on legislative matters can
run the risk of neglecting its membership. Does that mean that focusing
on influencing politicians is a bad thing? Not as long as the
organization’s members don’t get left behind. Unfortunately, this is
just what happens, much too frequently. Here is an important
question, “Does your organization’s legislative activities create
value for non-members?” You’ll most likely answer, “Yes they
do.” If so, what’s the
benefit in membership? Where’s the motivation for a person or a
company to continue giving the organization money when others receive
basically the same benefits with no cost involved? You might answer with,
“Well, they need to support their industry.” I agree, however the
drop-offs or non-joiners intensely disagree. And, they vote with their
checkbooks. Not long ago, an
association in the Pacific Northwest hired me to conduct my Member Value
ProcessTM at their annual meeting. While we determined that
the association delivered acceptable value to its members, it was
crystal clear to the board of directors that much of the work in which
the association focused (legislative), benefited the industry as a whole
and not just its membership. Gosh, I hate it when
people want to shoot the messenger rather than to listen to the message,
but that’s the life of a consultant. As you guessed, the board was not
happy with the findings—few really do enjoy looking into the mirror,
let alone bringing it up close. So, what’s the
solution? The simple solution is to deliver more value to your members
than to your industry. Granted, some non-members will always get value
from the important legislative work in which associations participate;
however, this needs to be minimized. Here is the most
important question that organizational staff can pose to the volunteer
leadership, “What else can we offer to our members that costs us very
little yet is perceived by members as being highly valuable to them?”
You answer that question, and you’ve solved the age-old riddle! As an example, the
association mentioned above charged the non-members the same price to
attend the annual meeting as the paid members—justifying this horrific
action by saying that they needed more bodies to walk through their expo
to satisfy their vendor/allied members. Hogwash I say. Honor your
members by giving them a HUGH discount. Another association
gave members, and non-members the subscription to their newsletter at no
charge. That’s okay for the members, but hellfire—make the
non-members pay. A third example is the
association that sold its membership list to non-members for the same
price as to its members. Let’s not go down the path of the ethics of
selling membership lists but rather the ethics of treating your members
so poorly. I bet if the staff and
volunteer leaders of your organization were to spend a single day
brainstorming ideas on how to deliver more value to the membership, you
would be amazed at what you’d discover. My parting words are, “Please don’t whine about poor member retention or recruitment if you’ve never spent a day brainstorming how to deliver enough value to your members so they could justify the cost of their membership. #
# # Ed Rigsbee, CSP is the Chief Member Evangelist at Grow Your Association, a consultancy organization that helps trade associations and professional societies to grow. He is the president and executive director of Cigar PEG Educational Institute, a 501 (c) (3) public charity that serves to improve the industry of professional speaking. Ed is the author of four books: PartnerShift, Developing Strategic Alliances, The Art of Partnering, and Brian Gets to Play. He has over 1,500 published articles to his credit and is a regular keynote presenter at trade association and corporate conferences across North America. He can be reached at 800-839-1520 or www.GrowingYourAssociation.com |
Can
Associations Serve the Industry, and its Members?
