Tag Archive for: association success

Member ROI Leakage™ (895 Words)

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Where Association Resources Disappear Before They Become Member Value

Association executives frequently ask whether their organizations have enough resources. Enough revenue, staff, volunteers, sponsors, board engagement, and time. Those are reasonable concerns, but there is another question that deserves equal attention: How much of what you already have is actually being converted into meaningful member value?

An association can have talented staff, active committees, a healthy balance sheet, committed volunteers, and strong industry relationships while still losing considerable value between organizational investment and member outcomes. Money gets spent and people stay busy, but some of the potential value never reaches the member.

I call this Member ROI Leakage™: the loss of potential member value that occurs when an association’s money, time, relationships, knowledge, opportunities, volunteer energy, or leadership attention are consumed without being effectively converted into meaningful member outcomes. This is not simply about waste or efficiency. It is about how well your association converts the resources it already possesses into Member ROI.

Activity Is Not the Same as Member Value

Associations are very good at measuring activity. We count registrations, attendees, webinars, committee meetings, website visits, certifications, sponsors, volunteers, and renewals. These numbers tell us what happened inside the association. They do not necessarily tell us what happened to the member because of the association.

A webinar with 500 attendees demonstrates activity. If members use what they learned to reduce costs, improve productivity, earn a promotion, avoid a regulatory problem, or identify a business opportunity, the webinar has helped create member outcomes. That distinction matters because organizations tend to manage what they measure. When activity becomes the primary evidence of success, leadership can continue investing resources without knowing how much meaningful value members actually receive.

Leakage Can Occur Almost Anywhere

Think of your association as a value-conversion system. Money, staff time, volunteer energy, expertise, relationships, partnerships, reputation, and executive attention enter the organization. Ideally, those resources emerge as professional and economic value for members. The problem is that some potential value can disappear along the way.

Legacy leakage occurs when resources continue flowing toward programs because of institutional history rather than current member value. This does not mean old programs are bad. A 30-year-old program may remain essential while a three-year-old program may already be delivering little value. Age is not the issue; current Member ROI is.

Governance leakage occurs when CEO attention, board time, and organizational momentum are consumed by unnecessary approvals, operational interference, prolonged consensus-building, or delayed decisions. Performance leakage occurs when weak staff or volunteer performance requires others to compensate and redirects leadership attention from opportunity creation to problem management.

Relationship leakage may be less visible but equally important. Associations possess enormous relationship capital among members, volunteers, partners, and industry experts. When the organization fails to connect people who could help one another, potential value remains dormant. Strategic leakage occurs when too many priorities spread money, staff time, and leadership attention so thinly that the association cannot adequately invest in the opportunities capable of creating significantly greater Member ROI.

Potential Value Has No ROI Until It Is Realized

The Value Creation Ecosystem™ expands the traditional association model in which the association creates benefits and members consume them. Value can move from association to member, member to member, partner to member, member to association, and association to the profession. This creates an enormous reservoir of potential value, but potential value and realized value are not the same thing.

A member willing to mentor another member represents potential value. Until the connection occurs, little value has been created. A strategic partner may possess expertise members urgently need, but there is limited Member ROI if members never gain access to it. A board may contain extraordinary industry knowledge, yet some of that potential disappears when its time is consumed discussing operational minutiae.

This suggests a useful way to think about the issue: Potential Member Value − Realized Member Value = Member ROI Leakage™. I am not suggesting this become a literal accounting formula. Rather, it should cause leadership to examine where valuable organizational capacity stops moving toward member outcomes.

Cost Alone Does Not Tell You Enough

When programs are reviewed, the discussion frequently centers on cost. How much staff time does the program require? What revenue does it generate? How many members participate? These are legitimate questions, but they do not tell us enough about value.

The more important question is: What meaningful member outcome does this investment produce? A $100,000 initiative producing substantial member value may be an excellent investment, while a $20,000 program producing almost no meaningful member outcome may be expensive at any price. Cost tells you what the association invested. It does not tell you what members received.

This is why Member ROI Leakage™ is not a cost-cutting strategy. Cutting expenses can actually increase leakage if leadership eliminates something that produces disproportionate member value. The objective is not simply to spend less. The objective is to convert better.

Conduct a Member ROI Leakage Audit

A practical starting point is to examine several of your association’s largest commitments of money, staff time, volunteer energy, relationships, and executive attention. For each, ask three questions: What resources are we investing? What meaningful member outcome is being created? Could these same resources create substantially greater member value somewhere else?

That third question is where the discussion becomes useful because it introduces opportunity cost. A program can be successful and still represent leakage if another use of the same resources could create substantially greater Member ROI. Members may enjoy a program, volunteers may feel attached to it, and staff may have invested years building it. Those considerations matter, but they should not automatically determine future resource allocation.

Better Conversion May Matter More Than More Resources

Association strategy frequently begins with scarcity: we need more revenue, staff, volunteers, sponsors, or capacity. Sometimes that is absolutely true. However, adding resources to an organization with substantial Member ROI Leakage™ can simply give it more resources to convert poorly.

Before asking for more, examine what you already have. Where is executive attention disappearing? Where is volunteer expertise sitting dormant? Which relationships are not being activated? Which partnerships contain capabilities members rarely experience? Which programs consume resources disproportionate to the member value they create?

Every association will have some Member ROI Leakage™. The leadership challenge is to identify the consequential leaks and redirect that capacity toward greater member outcomes. The strongest associations may not be those with the most resources, but rather those that become exceptionally good at converting the resources already within their reach into value their members would meaningfully miss if it disappeared.

The better question is not simply whether your association is creating member value. It is how much of the potential value already within your reach is actually becoming Member ROI.

Executive Q&A

1. How do we know whether we have Member ROI Leakage™ if our membership and revenue numbers are healthy?

Healthy membership and revenue tell you something important about organizational performance, but they do not reveal how efficiently your available capacity is being converted into member value. Leakage can exist inside a financially successful association. Look beyond organizational outputs and examine the connection between major investments and meaningful member outcomes. The question is not simply whether a program is successful, but whether the resources committed to it could create substantially greater Member ROI elsewhere.

2. Where should we look first for Member ROI Leakage™?

Start with your largest commitments of money, staff time, volunteer energy, and executive attention. Large commitments create the greatest opportunity for both value creation and leakage. Then look for resources that are difficult to see on a financial statement, particularly relationships, expertise, partnerships, leadership attention, and volunteer knowledge. Some of the largest leaks may involve valuable assets the association already possesses but has never fully activated.

3. How do we measure member outcomes when many association benefits do not produce an obvious financial return?

Member ROI should not be limited to dollars returned to the member. Outcomes can include time saved, problems avoided, knowledge gained and applied, professional opportunities created, relationships developed, influence increased, career advancement, improved business performance, or access that would otherwise be difficult to obtain. The important shift is from measuring whether members participated to understanding what changed for them because they participated.

4. How do we distinguish Member ROI Leakage™ from ordinary organizational inefficiency?

Efficiency asks whether the organization is using resources economically. Member ROI Leakage™ asks whether those resources are becoming meaningful member value. An efficiently delivered program can still represent leakage if it produces limited member outcomes. Conversely, an expensive program may represent an excellent investment if it creates substantial Member ROI. Efficiency matters, but value conversion is the larger strategic question.

5. Could a popular program still represent Member ROI Leakage™?

Absolutely. Popularity demonstrates that members like or use something; it does not automatically establish the value they receive from it. A program can have strong attendance, positive evaluations, and considerable organizational support while producing relatively modest outcomes. The appropriate question is not whether members like the program enough to keep it. Leadership should ask whether the resources invested are producing sufficient Member ROI compared with other opportunities available to the association.

6. How do we raise this issue with a board without making the discussion sound like a cost-cutting exercise?

Frame the conversation around value creation and resource allocation rather than elimination. Begin with the resources being invested, identify the member outcomes those resources are intended to create, and then ask whether greater value could be created through a different allocation. The objective is not to find programs to cut. It is to increase the amount of organizational capacity that ultimately becomes meaningful member value.

7. What should we do when a legacy program has strong emotional support but questionable Member ROI?

Separate respect for the program’s history from the decision about its future. Determine what members currently value about the program, what outcomes it produces, what it truly costs to deliver, and what other opportunities those resources could support. A long-standing program may remain essential and deserve continued investment. The problem occurs when history becomes the primary justification for resources that could create greater value elsewhere.

8. How can we identify relationship leakage when relationships are difficult to measure?

Begin by identifying valuable connections the association is uniquely positioned to facilitate. Look at mentoring, peer problem-solving, professional introductions, referrals, access to experts, partner expertise, and connections between experienced and emerging professionals. Then examine whether those connections are actually occurring. You do not need to assign a dollar value to every relationship. You do need to determine whether valuable relationship capital is being activated or simply sitting inside the membership community.

9. How often should we conduct a Member ROI Leakage Audit?

The larger review should be incorporated into the association’s strategic planning and resource-allocation process rather than treated as a one-time exercise. However, leadership teams can use the three questions from the article whenever significant programs, investments, or commitments are reviewed: What are we investing? What meaningful member outcome is being created? Could these resources create substantially greater member value elsewhere? Used consistently, those questions can change how resource decisions are made.

10. What is the most important leadership shift required to reduce Member ROI Leakage™?

Stop assuming that more organizational activity automatically creates more member value. Leadership should increasingly manage the association as a value-conversion system. That means understanding the resources already available, identifying where potential value is being lost or left dormant, and deliberately reallocating capacity toward better member outcomes. The goal is not maximum activity or minimum cost. It is maximum meaningful Member ROI from the resources already within your reach.

Your Members Invest Far More Than Their Dues (940 Words)

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Association executives have spent decades learning how to demonstrate that membership is worth more than the dues a member pays. If annual dues are $750 and the association can identify $3,000 in member benefits, the calculation appears compelling. The member receives four dollars of value for every dollar invested, and leadership can confidently point to excellent Member ROI.

I have been teaching this calculation method since 2000, and it became the foundation of my 2014 book, The ROI of Membership. I still believe strongly in measuring and communicating the real-dollar value an association delivers. However, my thinking has evolved because I now believe the traditional calculation can leave something important out: the $750 may not represent the member’s actual investment.

Membership Has a Hidden Cost

Dues are attractive to measure because they are obvious. The amount appears on an invoice, enters the accounting system, and becomes revenue on the association’s financial statements. The rest of the member’s investment is easier to overlook because most of it never appears on our books.

In The ROI of Membership, I recognized both time and money as member investments, but the methodology concentrated primarily on quantifying real-dollar value and comparing it with the financial cost of belonging. Today, I believe we need to widen that lens. A member who attends programs, reads association communications, serves on a committee, answers surveys, mentors colleagues, shares expertise, and travels to meetings is investing considerably more than dues.

This matters because members today are not merely experiencing financial pressure. They are experiencing what I have described as an Attention Recession. Work, employees, customers, family, other organizations, online communities, LinkedIn, free educational resources, and an almost unlimited supply of information are all competing for the same finite resource: the member’s attention.

The Investment Is Bigger Than the Invoice

When someone chooses membership, the investment can include money, time, attention, participation, expertise, relationships, reputation, and opportunity cost. Not every member invests these equally, which makes the economics of membership considerably more sophisticated than simply comparing benefits with dues.

Consider a corporate member paying $10,000 annually but requiring relatively little personal involvement from any one executive. Compare that with an individual volunteer leader paying $500 in dues while contributing 100 hours annually, sharing expertise, participating in meetings, opening professional relationships, and lending credibility to association initiatives. The dues ledger tells us who paid more money; it does not necessarily tell us who invested more in the association.

We do not need to force every hour, relationship, or ounce of attention into an artificial dollar amount. We do, however, need to acknowledge that these investments are real and that they influence how members ultimately judge their return.

We Know What Members Are Worth to Us

Associations have become quite sophisticated at measuring what members are worth to the organization. We track dues revenue, renewal rates, lifetime value, event registrations, sponsorships, volunteer participation, contributions, purchases, and other forms of engagement because leadership needs to understand the economic health of the organization.

My thinking today increasingly asks us to turn that telescope around and examine what the association is worth to the member. Instead of beginning only with what the member contributes financially, we need to consider the member’s complete investment and then examine the meaningful value returned.

That distinction should matter to CEOs and boards because sustainable membership growth depends on both sides of the exchange remaining favorable.

Benefits Offered Are Not Value Received

Associations also tend to equate the number of benefits offered with the amount of value delivered. An organization may proudly list 29 benefits of membership, but that does not mean an individual member receives meaningful value from all 29. There is an important difference between benefits available and value realized.

Utilization alone cannot determine value either. A member does not have to personally use every benefit for that benefit to create value. Advocacy is a good example. In 2014, I drew a strong distinction between member-only benefits and industry stakeholder benefits, particularly for recruitment. I still believe that distinction matters. Yet my thinking has broadened because value to an existing member can extend beyond what that member personally consumes. An advocacy victory can create significant economic value even for a member who never attends a government affairs meeting.

The executive challenge is therefore more sophisticated than counting benefits or measuring usage. We need to understand what members genuinely perceive as valuable, what value they actually receive, and what they must invest to remain part of the relationship.

Put the Member’s Side on the Board Agenda

Membership retention is frequently treated as a membership department responsibility. The board receives the renewal number, discusses whether it increased or decreased, and perhaps reviews the latest membership survey. But if Member ROI ultimately determines whether belonging continues to make economic and professional sense, the issue belongs at the governance level.

Boards and CEOs should examine what membership actually requires members to invest, what meaningful value members receive in return, and whether the total exchange remains favorable enough that a rational member would choose membership again today. Renewal alone cannot answer that question because habit, relationships, professional identity, and institutional momentum can temporarily mask declining value.

Look at Both Sides of the Equation

Return to our original example. Perhaps annual dues really are $750 and the association genuinely delivers $3,000 in member value. That may represent an excellent return, but the calculation is incomplete if we ignore the member’s investment of time, attention, participation, expertise, relationships, reputation, and lost opportunities.

This does not invalidate what I wrote in The ROI of Membership in 2014. It expands it. I still believe associations should quantify, prove, and communicate the value they deliver. What has evolved is my understanding of the other side of the equation.

Associations have spent decades calculating what a member is worth to the organization. Perhaps it is time we became equally rigorous about calculating what the organization is worth to the member.

Executive Q&A:

1. If dues are no longer the member’s complete investment, what else should association leaders consider?

Association leaders should consider the full range of resources members commit to belonging, including time, attention, participation, expertise, relationships, reputation, and opportunity cost. The objective is not necessarily to assign a precise dollar amount to each investment. It is to recognize that dues represent only the most visible portion of what membership requires from the member.

2. How can we measure Member ROI if time, attention, and relationships are difficult to quantify?

Do not allow the difficulty of achieving mathematical precision to become an excuse for ignoring meaningful member investments. Begin by identifying what members must contribute to access the value you provide. Measure what can reasonably be measured, such as time spent traveling, attending programs, volunteering, or participating in association activities. For less tangible investments, qualitative member research can reveal whether members believe the value received justifies what they are putting into the relationship.

3. Are we suggesting that highly engaged members could actually experience lower Member ROI?

Potentially. Engagement requires investment. A highly engaged volunteer may receive substantial value from leadership opportunities, relationships, access, and professional visibility, but that member may also contribute significant time and expertise. Associations should not automatically assume that greater engagement equals greater Member ROI. The important question is whether the value received remains favorable relative to the member’s total investment.

4. Should we try to reduce the amount of time members spend with our association?

Not necessarily. The objective is not to minimize member time; it is to make that time worth investing. A two-hour program that produces an important business relationship, solves a costly problem, or delivers knowledge a member can immediately apply may generate excellent Member ROI. The danger is consuming member time without delivering sufficient corresponding value.

5. If a benefit is rarely used, does that mean it has little member value?

No. Usage and value are related, but they are not the same. Advocacy demonstrates the distinction particularly well. Members may never personally participate in the association’s advocacy work while receiving substantial economic or professional value from its results. The appropriate question is not simply whether members use a benefit, but whether they recognize and receive meaningful value from it.

6. How should this change the way we communicate our membership value proposition?

Move beyond publishing a long inventory of available features of membership. Members need to understand the benefit outcomes they make possible and the value those outcomes can create. Rather than telling members only what they receive, help them recognize what the association saves them, earns them, protects for them, makes easier, or enables them to accomplish.

7. Does this mean our current Member ROI calculations are wrong?

Not necessarily. Comparing real-dollar member value with dues remains useful because both sides of that calculation can be quantified. The evolution is recognizing that the calculation may be incomplete. Dues tell us what the member invested financially, but they do not capture the member’s entire investment in the relationship. The next level of Member ROI thinking requires examining both.

8. Why should the board be concerned with this rather than leaving it to the membership staff?

Because the issue goes beyond retention tactics. Member ROI affects the sustainability of the membership model itself. Boards make decisions about strategy, dues, programs, resource allocation, technology, events, volunteer structures, and organizational priorities. Each can increase either the value members receive or the investment required from them. That makes the member’s side of the equation a governance issue.

9. What is the most useful question we can ask members to begin understanding their total investment?

Start with something broader than, “Are you satisfied with your membership?” Ask members what they must invest—in addition to dues—to receive meaningful value from the association, and whether what they receive justifies that investment. Follow-up questions can explore time, attention, participation, and opportunity cost. The purpose is to understand the exchange from the member’s perspective rather than asking members to validate the association’s existing benefits.

10. What should association executives do differently after recognizing the member’s complete investment?

Begin evaluating important programs, services, communications, events, and volunteer activities from both sides of the exchange. Determine not only what each delivers but also what it requires from the member to obtain that value. The executive objective should be to increase meaningful value without unnecessarily increasing the member’s burden of participation. The strongest membership proposition is not simply one that delivers more benefits; it is one that produces a return members believe is worth everything they invest to receive it.

The Member Value Multiplier (840 Words)

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Strategic Alliances Have Become a Leadership Imperative for Associations

Association leaders are being asked to deliver more value than ever before while working within the same financial and staffing constraints. Members expect timely education, stronger advocacy, meaningful networking, practical business resources, and immediate access to expertise. Boards expect growth in membership, increased non-dues revenue, and measurable organizational performance. Yet most associations cannot continue expanding programs, hiring staff, or investing in new technology every time a need emerges. The challenge is no longer identifying opportunities to serve members; it is increasing an organization’s capacity to deliver greater value without proportionally increasing its complexity.

For many associations, the instinctive response has been to build internally. Every new initiative becomes another committee, another program, another platform, or another staff responsibility. While each decision may be justified on its own merits, together they create an organization increasingly occupied with maintaining what it has already built. Eventually, growth slows—not because leadership lacks vision, but because the organization has reached its practical capacity.

Capacity, Not Size, Determines Member Value

Years of helping organizations develop strategic alliances taught me an important lesson: the associations delivering the greatest member value were rarely those with the largest budgets or staffs. Their advantage came from understanding that they didn’t have to own every capability. Instead, they intentionally connected members with expertise, resources, and opportunities that existed beyond the organization’s walls. Their success was measured not by what they controlled, but by what they made possible.

That realization became what I now call The Member Value Multiplier™. Associations create greater Member ROI when they multiply organizational capacity rather than simply expanding organizational structure. Strategic alliances allow an organization to offer capabilities that would otherwise require significant investments in people, technology, or infrastructure. Instead of becoming larger, the association becomes more valuable.

Strategic Alliances Are About Mission, Not Transactions

Every association works with vendors, sponsors, consultants, and service providers. Those relationships are important, but they are transactional by design. A strategic alliance is fundamentally different because both organizations invest in achieving outcomes that neither could accomplish alone. The objective is not simply exchanging services or generating revenue; it is advancing a shared mission while creating greater value for members.

Evaluating alliances through the lens of Member ROI also changes how leadership measures success. Revenue matters, but it should not be the only benchmark. The strongest alliances expand educational opportunities, improve access to specialized expertise, strengthen professional networks, create operational efficiencies, or enhance member services in ways that reinforce the association’s long-term relevance. Financial return becomes one benefit of a relationship whose primary purpose is delivering greater member value.

Relationships Create the Capacity to Grow

Nearly three decades past, in Developing Strategic Alliances, I introduced the concept of the Relationship Bank—the idea that trust, credibility, and mutual benefit accumulate through consistent investment. Time has only reinforced that principle. Successful alliances are built long before contracts are signed because organizations that consistently invest in relationships develop opportunities unavailable to those who focus only on transactions. Trust cannot be negotiated into existence; it must be earned over time.

Equally important, and also introduced in Developing Strategic Alliances, is conducting a regular Relationship Value Update (RVU). Associations routinely evaluate programs, budgets, and membership trends, yet many rarely assess whether their strategic relationships continue to advance the mission or improve Member ROI. Every alliance should periodically answer a simple question: Does this relationship create more value for our members today than it did yesterday? If the answer is no, leadership has an obligation to strengthen the relationship—or replace it.

Leadership’s Greatest Responsibility Is to Multiply Value

The most successful associations of the coming decade will not necessarily offer the most programs or employ the largest staffs. They will distinguish themselves by making disciplined decisions about which capabilities must be developed internally and which can be multiplied through carefully selected strategic alliances. Their competitive advantage will come from extending organizational capacity rather than expanding organizational complexity.

That is the essence of The Member Value Multiplier. It is not a partnership strategy; it is a leadership philosophy. Associations exist to improve the professional success of their members, not to own every resource required to do so. Leaders who embrace strategic alliances as a means of multiplying organizational capacity will deliver greater Member ROI, strengthen non-dues revenue, and position their organizations to thrive in an environment where expectations continue to rise while resources remain finite. That is leadership focused not on doing more, but on creating more value.

Executive Q&A

1. How do we determine whether a strategic alliance is the right solution instead of developing a new program internally?

Begin with your mission rather than your capabilities. If another organization can help you deliver greater member value faster, at lower cost, and without compromising your brand or member experience, an alliance deserves serious consideration. Build internally only when the capability is truly strategic to your long-term identity.

2. How can we ensure that a strategic alliance strengthens rather than dilutes our association’s brand?

Members should always experience the alliance as an extension of your association’s commitment to serving them. Select partners whose values, reputation, and standards reinforce your own, and maintain clear oversight of the member experience.

3. What criteria should boards use when evaluating potential alliance partners?

Look beyond financial return. Assess mission alignment, complementary strengths, organizational culture, leadership credibility, member impact, and the partner’s commitment to long-term collaboration. The best alliances create value for both organizations while producing even greater value for members.

4. How do strategic alliances contribute to non-dues revenue?

Effective alliances often generate revenue through joint educational programs, certifications, sponsorships, affinity programs, research initiatives, and shared events. The most successful partnerships create sustainable value that benefits members first and revenue second.

5. What risks should association executives consider before entering an alliance?

Poorly aligned missions, unclear governance, uneven expectations, and inadequate communication create the greatest risk. A successful alliance requires shared objectives, defined responsibilities, measurable outcomes, and periodic evaluation.

6. How frequently should an association evaluate its strategic alliances?

At least annually. Conduct a Relationship Value Update (RVU) to determine whether each alliance continues to advance your mission, improve Member ROI, and justify the investment of organizational time and resources.

7. Can smaller associations benefit from strategic alliances as much as larger organizations?

Often more so. Smaller associations can significantly expand their capabilities by leveraging complementary expertise and resources without incurring the costs of additional staff or infrastructure.

8. How should staff and volunteer leaders be involved in alliance development?

Leadership establishes strategic direction, while staff manage implementation and relationship stewardship. Volunteers provide valuable perspective on member needs and can often identify partnership opportunities that strengthen the association’s value proposition.

9. What is the greatest misconception about strategic alliances?

Many leaders view alliances primarily as revenue opportunities. Their greatest value lies in expanding organizational capacity and improving Member ROI. Financial benefits are often the result—not the purpose—of a well-designed alliance.

10. How does The Member Value Multiplier™ change an executive’s approach to leadership?

It shifts leadership from asking, “How do we build this ourselves?” to asking, “Who already does this exceptionally well, and how can we work together to create greater value for our members?” That perspective encourages strategic thinking, resource stewardship, and sustained organizational growth.

Ed Rigsbee’s Raw & Unedited with Corey Perlman, CSP: How to Avoid Social Media Overload

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Ed Rigsbee interviews Corey Perlman, CSP, author of “Social Media Overload!” on how associations can easily leverage their social media activities to grow their organizations, deliver more value to members and further their mission. Contact Corey: 248-388-9788, corey@impactsocialmedia.com & https://coreyperlman.com/

Ed Rigsbee’s Raw & Unedited with Dr. Josh Luke: Slaying Healthcare Costs

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Ed Rigsbee interviews Dr. Josh Luke about his new (February 2019) book, “Health-Wealth for You” DrJoshLuke.com on how association executives can deliver more affordable high-quality healthcare for their staff and members. This book is a must-read for every American adult. Learn how to be an Engaged Healthcare Consumer (EHC) and save yourself and your company $$$$$.

Ed Rigsbee’s Raw & Unedited with Leslie Pogue: “Get on Your H.A.P.P.Y.”

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Ed Rigsbee interviews Leslie Pogue about a road map plan for association executives to get back to a personal place of effectiveness & fulfillment using H.A.P.P.Y. Contact Leslie through https://www.thehabitofhappy.com/

Ed Rigsbee’s Raw & Unedited with Terri Hinkley: Moving from Volunteer to Staff Managed

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Ed Rigsbee interviews Terri Hinkley, CEO at Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses on the topic of moving a membership organization away from volunteer managed to volunteer directed and professional staff managed. Communication is one of the very important key elements for success.

Ed Rigsbee, top speaker on Membership Growth

Smart Member Recruitment; Use Evangelists (679 words)

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For effective member recruitment, highly engaged and long-term retained members are your first, best hope. Who more than these members are qualified to sing the praises of the value your membership organization delivers to members? These members could easily be converted to member recruitment evangelists. Since these members can also access their (non-member) colleagues far easier than can professional headquarter staff, why not make the most of what you’ve got?

The Problem

The majority of your engaged and retained members are of Baby Boomer age. Their membership paradigm is that of joining their trade association or professional society because they should, because they need to support their industry or profession. Yes, those were the association good old days—gone perhaps forever. Today, the majority of the younger association and society stakeholders (non-members) are less interested in joining because they should and much more interested in what’s in it for them—what’s my return on investment? This creates a huge selling/recruitment chasm between the generations. Quite frankly, most Baby Boomers are ill-prepared to successfully engage and recruit those of Generation Y age (the twenty-somethings).

The important question is what do current members need in the area of selling tools and ideas to be successful in engaging the interest of non-members, especially younger ones? First, let me tell you what it isn’t. Your current member recruitment “hard-copy package” is most likely ten pounds of paper and other stuff that you have assembled over the years, with a lack of strategy, to convince someone to join your organization. I call this baffling them with bulk. The important learning point here is that you most likely send out gobs of information that a prospective member might, if you are lucky, scan. They surely will not read all the material as it is just too much. A prospective member just wants the core information that explains the, what’s in it for me—how will I profit from membership—prove to me that it is in my best interest to join.

An Argument for Qualitative Research

First is the pre-solution step. You must be able to prove in relative simple terms that membership in your organization is a good business decision. The best way to do this is to conduct active qualitative research among a sampling of your membership to determine the yearly sustainable real-dollar return that they receive from each of their membership investment dollars. Too many well-intended associations have their staff “determine” the dollar-value of member benefits but unfortunately the staff-driven numbers fail to pass the member smell test. For a glance at how this is done visit: http://www.rigsbee.com/association-member-retention-1.htm

The Solution

This the tool for which your engaged members have been waiting. Build a simple member recruitment brochure that dazzles membership prospects with brilliance as opposed to the old way of baffling them with bulk. I am happy to provide any association or society executive with my recommended member recruitment brochure template. To receive this, just email your request to ed@rigsbee.com and put “template request” in the subject box.

Now that you have the proper tangible member recruitment tool (brochure)—one that proves the return on investment (ROI) of membership, you need to re-educate your members on how to promote the organization. Get off of the tired old, no-sale method; of talking about all the advocacy and legislative work the organization does as a reason to join. This is crazy! The non-member already receives this “industry stakeholder” benefit at no cost. Why would they be motivated to pay for that which they already receive for free?

Better, is to teach your current members about all the “member-only” benefits in real-dollar numbers that your organization delivers. Give your members this awesome member recruitment selling tool. Educate your members in how to properly explain why membership on your organization is a good business decision through proving and explaining the real-dollar ROI of membership.

I guarantee you that effective selling technique, proving membership ROI, is far more successful in recruiting long-term members than is attempting guilt—very few people these days join an association or society just because they should.

Executive FAQ & Answers

1. How do we identify potential evangelists?

Look for highly engaged, long-term members who consistently attend events, volunteer, or refer peers informally.

2. What if our senior members resist this new messaging?

Train them with ROI proof and explain the generational shift in buying motives.

3. How much research is necessary before launching?

A structured qualitative session with representative members is sufficient to begin.

4. What should we eliminate from our recruitment packet?

Anything that does not directly prove member-only economic value.

5. How do we prevent ROI exaggeration?

Use member-assigned numbers only. Avoid staff-created estimates.

6. How do we measure evangelist success?

Track referral sources, conversion rates, and retention of recruited members.

7. Should we incentivize evangelists financially?

Incentives can help, but credibility and belief in ROI are more powerful.

8. How do we reframe advocacy?

Position it as a reinforcing benefit — not the lead selling point.

9. How do we support members uncomfortable with selling?

Provide simple scripts and one-page ROI summaries to reduce friction. Better is to create a Member ROI Recruitment brochure digitally and hard-copy. This is the “Ultimate-Tool” for member recruitment evangelists.

10. What is the biggest mistake associations make in peer recruitment?

Failing to equip members with concise, credible economic proof.