Monday, December 20, 2004

Improving membership retention in ACTC (Re: BBB Jan. 2005)

In an Email Michael McGeough said:

I am glad you are looking into improving membership retention for the ACTC.  I went through all the positions from chairman to president of an engineering organization called ISA back in Rochester, NY.  I was membership chairman there for several years.  One of the duties of the membership committee was to call each expiring member and find out why he/she was terminating membership.  It turned out that better than 50% just needed a phone call letting him/her know that someone noticed, or cared, that his/her membership was expiring and the membership was renewed.  Our chapter was about 700 people, not much different than the ACTC, but dues could be paid for many years or for life, so we didn't have as many expirations at any one time as the ACTC does.  I am sure that few people look at the BBB to see when their membership is expiring, so a nudge may be in order, (not a sales pitch).  

Anyhow, I would like to suggest that the membership chairman generate a list of names of expiring members to be sent to the committee.  This list would include members who are 2 or 3 months late on renewals.  That list could be sent out to several volunteers who would call a designated selection of members from the list.  Reasons for termination or renewal could be classified, monitored and addressed.

This is a Hot Link!
Hot Links Hot ACTC News Here! (Important Weblog Entries)


2 comments:

Steve Sloan said...

I think there are some great ideas here. I was the organizing chairman of another organization and one of the most common answers to the question of why have you not joined was, "because nobody ever asked me to."
I think something as simple as a phone call to someone with an expiring membership is a great way to show them we care.

Steve Sloan said...

Thanks for the tip, I updated the hot link!