Member Development: Do you know your potential members by name

Captive membership organizations are blessed and cursed at the same time. Growth is tougher because of membership limitations. But at the same time, easier because of the common bond that exists.

Without member growth, organizations perish as they fail to cover the natural business attrition.

Many member organizations still practice a shotgun approach to their business development efforts. They communicate through broad advertising messages aimed at the target group. Display ads, banner ads, business development, direct selling and even merchandising tools drive leads to the organization.

However, these approaches must be augmented with new tools that allow the membership conversation to take place at an INDIVIDUAL level.

But that requires a robust data management system/approach that allows the organization to manage the acquisition process from engagement to enrollment, seamlessly at an individual level.

This isn’t how many organizations work. But they should.

The robust membership development looks something like this:

–IDENTIFICATION of qualified target members by name (purchased lists, appended lists, and your own internal lists created through marketing efforts)

-CREATION of a prospective member database to manage and enrich with data, insights and follow up as you touch each prospect with outreach efforts

-MANAGEMENT of each interaction

-RESOLUTION of the membership decision. These people stay on your list until they either tell you to stop talking to them, they become inaccessible, or they become a member

With the data under control you can now move the conversation from very general at the initial stage to more specific and relevant.

The more you can speak one-to-one with a prospect about the relevant benefits to that individual, the higher likelihood you have of creating a relationship.

It all starts with your ability to know them as individuals.