Ideas to Increase
Your Club's Membership
If you're a member of a struggling club with less than 12 members, you probably believe that increasing membership in your club is difficult, if not nearly impossible.
Conversely, a club that is member-strong with 25 or more will likely agree that acquiring new members is a pretty simple process. In fact, many clubs in this category spend very little time promoting their club and new members just seem to keep coming! So, what is the difference?
The answer actually has very little to do with luck, but everything to do with the visitor. Here are several proven tips to help you increase your membership:
• Before launching any new member campaign, improve the quality of your meetings. Getting visitors is easy! Impressing guests enough so that they come back...now that's the challenge!
• Separate duties between the VP of Membership and VP of Public Relations. Consider the idea the the VP of PR "gets the visitors in the door" and the VP Membership converts them from being guests to members.
• Have a member create and maintain a small and simple web site for your club. It has been estimated that up to 80% of all club visitors find a club to visit through the Internet. There are many free web-hosting sites available!
• Be sure to notify your International Parent organization of your new website address, so it can be added to their sites.
• Put your web site address on everything promotional that you do.
• Provide a member's name (typically the VP Public Relations), e-mail and phone number on your web site and encourage visitors to contact him or her with any questions.
• Ask your Sergeant-at-Arms to arrive 30 minutes before each meeting. Guests typically show up 15 to 20 minutes early. If no one is there, they might think the meeting was canceled.
• Ask your Sergeant-at-Arms (and other members!) to always be on the lookout for visitors and that they should always be prepared to drop everything to greet the guest.
• Ask your Sergeant-at-Arms to "partner" the guest with a member who will introduce the visitor to the group at the beginning of the meeting and be able to answer questions throughout the meeting as they arise.
• Educate the club members on how important it is that everyone shake hands with the guest before the meeting. This makes the visitor feel welcome and comfortable.
• Always offer participation in Table Topics as an "option" to guests. And, never ask a guest to participate in Table Topics until all eligible members have participated in case there is not enough time for the "paying" members to exercise their skills.
• Consider not allowing guests to join until after they've attended 3 consecutive meetings. That way, they'll know if Red Knights membership will fit into their work schedule.
• Ask for the guest to provide a short comment toward the end of the meeting about what they thought about the meeting. This will give you a good indication whether they are a potential member. Sometimes they'll convince themselves to join right in the middle of their comments! Just make sure to tell the guest at the beginning of the meeting that these comments will be requested at the end so the guest is not caught off-guard.
• If your club has 12 or fewer members... ask an International Officer of Red Knights for ideas on how to increase your membership!
What many people do not realize is that even the large clubs can run into trouble with membership. Usually, a dip in membership is the result of poor leadership in the club and a decline in meeting quality. Make sure you have a good product before trying to get others to buy into it and you'll be at membership capacity in no time! •
Reprinted with Permission.
Your Club's Membership
If you're a member of a struggling club with less than 12 members, you probably believe that increasing membership in your club is difficult, if not nearly impossible.
Conversely, a club that is member-strong with 25 or more will likely agree that acquiring new members is a pretty simple process. In fact, many clubs in this category spend very little time promoting their club and new members just seem to keep coming! So, what is the difference?
The answer actually has very little to do with luck, but everything to do with the visitor. Here are several proven tips to help you increase your membership:
• Before launching any new member campaign, improve the quality of your meetings. Getting visitors is easy! Impressing guests enough so that they come back...now that's the challenge!
• Separate duties between the VP of Membership and VP of Public Relations. Consider the idea the the VP of PR "gets the visitors in the door" and the VP Membership converts them from being guests to members.
• Have a member create and maintain a small and simple web site for your club. It has been estimated that up to 80% of all club visitors find a club to visit through the Internet. There are many free web-hosting sites available!
• Be sure to notify your International Parent organization of your new website address, so it can be added to their sites.
• Put your web site address on everything promotional that you do.
• Provide a member's name (typically the VP Public Relations), e-mail and phone number on your web site and encourage visitors to contact him or her with any questions.
• Ask your Sergeant-at-Arms to arrive 30 minutes before each meeting. Guests typically show up 15 to 20 minutes early. If no one is there, they might think the meeting was canceled.
• Ask your Sergeant-at-Arms (and other members!) to always be on the lookout for visitors and that they should always be prepared to drop everything to greet the guest.
• Ask your Sergeant-at-Arms to "partner" the guest with a member who will introduce the visitor to the group at the beginning of the meeting and be able to answer questions throughout the meeting as they arise.
• Educate the club members on how important it is that everyone shake hands with the guest before the meeting. This makes the visitor feel welcome and comfortable.
• Always offer participation in Table Topics as an "option" to guests. And, never ask a guest to participate in Table Topics until all eligible members have participated in case there is not enough time for the "paying" members to exercise their skills.
• Consider not allowing guests to join until after they've attended 3 consecutive meetings. That way, they'll know if Red Knights membership will fit into their work schedule.
• Ask for the guest to provide a short comment toward the end of the meeting about what they thought about the meeting. This will give you a good indication whether they are a potential member. Sometimes they'll convince themselves to join right in the middle of their comments! Just make sure to tell the guest at the beginning of the meeting that these comments will be requested at the end so the guest is not caught off-guard.
• If your club has 12 or fewer members... ask an International Officer of Red Knights for ideas on how to increase your membership!
What many people do not realize is that even the large clubs can run into trouble with membership. Usually, a dip in membership is the result of poor leadership in the club and a decline in meeting quality. Make sure you have a good product before trying to get others to buy into it and you'll be at membership capacity in no time! •
Reprinted with Permission.
Take Care of Your Current
Club Members
Many club members underestimate the importance of retaining current members. There are several reasons why focusing on retaining members is critical to your club's success. Here are a few.
Tenured members:
• Serve as important role models for newer members.
• Provide incentive to guests that the club has quality and experienced members that they'll be able to learn from.
• Prove that Red Knights is not an overnight process but an ongoing process for continual self-improvement.
Here are several tips for how to retain your members past the first year:
• Recruit them to be mentors for new members.
• Publicly award members for their involment and club achievements.
• Encourage their participation in club activities and goals.
• Encourage members to take leadership roals in the club. Be creative with your membership, you never know where the next big idea will come from.
• Encourage leadership outside of your local club. Suggest that your more experienced members serve at the Red Knight State level or at the Red Knight’s International level. Many seasoned Red Knights continue as members just to help others. Serving at the State or International capacity does just that on an even higher level.
More Ideas for Retaining Members!
These ideas for retaining members are not in any particular order. Take a moment to think about each one, and choose those that you think will work for your club, adapting them as you wish. Hopefully they will help your club grow and become strong!
• Send a thank you note, EVERY time somebody comes to visit!
• Give an incentive, such as a free gift, to members who renew by a certain date.
• Have a renewal lottery - renew more quickly to get in.
• Communicate successes to members regularly.
• Generate segmented and targeted renewal notices. Tell each segment how membership benefited them this year.
• Send a special certificate of thanks to first-time renewals. The first two years produce the most drops. Focus hard on the first renewal.
• Identify and recognize members with the most tenure. Sends a message that people stay a long-time.
• Identify at least four specific contacts to make with first year members that are above and beyond the normal. Phone, e-mail or special newsletter.
• Develop a written retention plan. Include retention goals (retention rate, retention rates by category, % of drops that were first year members, activities to be undertaken, resources available to help, etc.
• Do an e-mail survey of important questions and issues as they arise.
• Establish an involvement committee. Purpose to get members to participate in some way.
• Involve the board in retention efforts. The health and growth of the organization is already among the board's responsibilities. Divide the membership among the board and devise a retention system that awards points to board members for each member of their "team" during the year. i.e. 1 point if they attend a meeting, 25 points if they renew, etc., etc. Get commitment from the top volunteer leaders to not only talk about the importance of member participation and retention but also do something about it.
• Institute a "thank you" column in publication to recognize members for involvement and leadership.
• Send a member profile form to new members to gain information.
• Keep experienced members active through targeted involvement. Need to keep older members and new ones interested and involved. Keep the activities meaningful.
• During functions, suggest that officers look for new members and spend time with them. Make sure new members' nametags indicate their status.
• Establish standards for responding to members.
• Send mini-surveys that can be done quickly (via fax or email).
• When a new member joins, e-mail congratulations from an organizational leader that same day.
• Increase meeting attendance by featuring an interview with the meeting's keynote speaker in the publication that comes out a month before the meeting.
• List new members on your Web site.
• Combine and coordinate all forms of member communication to support membership recruitment and retention efforts.
• Have a special list serve and/or special section of the Web site for first year members.
• There are only two forms of currency that we can use to pay our members: Recognition and Tradition!! Look for any opportunity to recognize any member's contribution. Create a Tradition in your club and recognize those that uphold that tradition.
• Establish a member-mentoring plan. Assign new members to current members.
• Put individual e-mail addresses of key leaders on your Web site. •
Reprinted with Permission.
Club Members
Many club members underestimate the importance of retaining current members. There are several reasons why focusing on retaining members is critical to your club's success. Here are a few.
Tenured members:
• Serve as important role models for newer members.
• Provide incentive to guests that the club has quality and experienced members that they'll be able to learn from.
• Prove that Red Knights is not an overnight process but an ongoing process for continual self-improvement.
Here are several tips for how to retain your members past the first year:
• Recruit them to be mentors for new members.
• Publicly award members for their involment and club achievements.
• Encourage their participation in club activities and goals.
• Encourage members to take leadership roals in the club. Be creative with your membership, you never know where the next big idea will come from.
• Encourage leadership outside of your local club. Suggest that your more experienced members serve at the Red Knight State level or at the Red Knight’s International level. Many seasoned Red Knights continue as members just to help others. Serving at the State or International capacity does just that on an even higher level.
More Ideas for Retaining Members!
These ideas for retaining members are not in any particular order. Take a moment to think about each one, and choose those that you think will work for your club, adapting them as you wish. Hopefully they will help your club grow and become strong!
• Send a thank you note, EVERY time somebody comes to visit!
• Give an incentive, such as a free gift, to members who renew by a certain date.
• Have a renewal lottery - renew more quickly to get in.
• Communicate successes to members regularly.
• Generate segmented and targeted renewal notices. Tell each segment how membership benefited them this year.
• Send a special certificate of thanks to first-time renewals. The first two years produce the most drops. Focus hard on the first renewal.
• Identify and recognize members with the most tenure. Sends a message that people stay a long-time.
• Identify at least four specific contacts to make with first year members that are above and beyond the normal. Phone, e-mail or special newsletter.
• Develop a written retention plan. Include retention goals (retention rate, retention rates by category, % of drops that were first year members, activities to be undertaken, resources available to help, etc.
• Do an e-mail survey of important questions and issues as they arise.
• Establish an involvement committee. Purpose to get members to participate in some way.
• Involve the board in retention efforts. The health and growth of the organization is already among the board's responsibilities. Divide the membership among the board and devise a retention system that awards points to board members for each member of their "team" during the year. i.e. 1 point if they attend a meeting, 25 points if they renew, etc., etc. Get commitment from the top volunteer leaders to not only talk about the importance of member participation and retention but also do something about it.
• Institute a "thank you" column in publication to recognize members for involvement and leadership.
• Send a member profile form to new members to gain information.
• Keep experienced members active through targeted involvement. Need to keep older members and new ones interested and involved. Keep the activities meaningful.
• During functions, suggest that officers look for new members and spend time with them. Make sure new members' nametags indicate their status.
• Establish standards for responding to members.
• Send mini-surveys that can be done quickly (via fax or email).
• When a new member joins, e-mail congratulations from an organizational leader that same day.
• Increase meeting attendance by featuring an interview with the meeting's keynote speaker in the publication that comes out a month before the meeting.
• List new members on your Web site.
• Combine and coordinate all forms of member communication to support membership recruitment and retention efforts.
• Have a special list serve and/or special section of the Web site for first year members.
• There are only two forms of currency that we can use to pay our members: Recognition and Tradition!! Look for any opportunity to recognize any member's contribution. Create a Tradition in your club and recognize those that uphold that tradition.
• Establish a member-mentoring plan. Assign new members to current members.
• Put individual e-mail addresses of key leaders on your Web site. •
Reprinted with Permission.