Understand what drives people to become
members, why they remain or why they quit
Learn how to effectively target potential
members, learn how they view the organization and what they’re
looking for when they join.
Learn how to satisfy member needs
by defining those needs before they become members, and
then learn how to deliver on your promises.
Learn the skinny on effective membership
sales and retention tools, find out the best in entrance,
and exit, mechanisms
Brainstorm effective contact and re-contact
programs; learn how to use your communications tools as
membership retention devices
Theme
Reading
Discussion
Questions
Week
One
What
Drives Someone to Join?
Membership Development: An Action Plan for Results
by Patricia Rich
Is
there magic to understanding how to attract and
retain a member. How do you mix self-interest
and the goals of the organization? How do you
begin the process of developing member expectations
before they develop on their own? What internal
psychology and staff psychology do you need to
inculcate to ensure successful membership development
and retention?
Week
Two
Where
are the prospects and how do you attract them?
What are the opening moves you must make to not
only sell a member, but also establish their loyalty.
Membership
Development: An Action Plan for Results by Patricia
Rich
How
do we get members? How do we sell them and what
does the selling process say about the organization?
How do you develop a membership ethic and nurture
it and how do you get inside a members head and
prevent in-thinking?
Week
Three
The
Retention Program: How Do You Keep ‘em?
Membership
Development: An Action Plan for Results by Patricia
Rich
How
do we strengthen and nurture relationships with
members?
Week
Four
Effective
membership communications and contact programs.
Membership
Development: An Action Plan for Results by Patricia
Rich
How
do you design your communications programs to
sell and retain members and how can you use current
members to gain new ones.
About Neil...
Neil F. Sherman spent 25 years in not-for-profit
management, ending his career as the President and CEO of
the Stamford Connecticut Chamber of Commerce. Prior to his
career in Stamford, Sherman was a Vice President for the Bridgeport
Regional Business Council where he founded and nurtured the
Stratford Chamber of Commerce.
Starting out in communications, Sherman ultimately boosted
his career by integrating communications and programming with
membership development and retention. During the career, he
sold more than $3 million dollars in Chamber of Commerce memberships
and became an instructor at the Institutes for Organization
Management in Membership Development and Retention. During
his five-year career in Stamford, Sherman took the organization
from a membership of 200 businesses and individuals to more
than 1,600 and increased the Chamber’s budget from $200,000
to $1.4 million. He was president of the Connecticut Association
of Chamber of Commerce Executives in 1996 and 1997, and was
a Board planning facilitator for Chambers and organizations
throughout the Northeast.
In 1999, Sherman pursued a life-long dream of writing for
a living and was a reporter for HealthScout News, a daily
internet health/and medical wire service. Becoming fascinated
by the growing retail and commercial possibilities of digital
publishing, Sherman is now President of Image Medi LLC, a
digital publishing company that creates community and economic
development guides as well as business lists and membership
directories on CD-ROM
