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10 Great Ways to Get and Keep Your Members
About ten years ago, I attended a one day seminar on getting and keeping members presented by Mark Levin. Mr. Levin, who specializes in membership development, left us with these gems on how to “get and keep” members.
In 2000, the CCA hired Mr. Levin to attend our National Curling Congress in Saskatoon where we received permission to re-print them with a bit of a curling flavour. And even though it was that long ago, the ideas are still very relevant today!
Enjoy!
(ps. if you notice the emphasis on first year members, score an A+. Mr. Levin’s theories on retention focus on keeping new members involved; something we need to do in our buildings.)
Danny Lamoureux (reprinted from the Business of Curling Magazine February 2000)
10 Great Ways to Get and Keep Your Members
- Send a special newsletter to new members during their first year.
- When members drop out try to find out why.
- Send a mini-survey to first-year members three months after they join to see how they’re rating your service.
- Have group orientations so first-year members see others who have made the same commitment.
- Get members to volunteer or involved at some level because involved members donít drop out.
- If you ask a member to volunteer to do a job, make sure itís a worthwhile job!
- Offer incentives to the first-year members who renew the following year. (isn’t this a different idea from what we do now where we often give huge deals to get them in the first year. Mr. Levin is suggesting we give them the bonuses/incentives/freebies when they sign up for year 2!)
- When important issues come up, call some of your least active members and ask them for their opinion.
- Recognize your members as often as possible. Be sure to thank them for their participation at each and every level.
- Do everything you can to be one of the reasons why your members want to renew. For many members,the volunteers and staff are perceived to be the ìclubî to which they belong. If members perceive you to be a group of dedicated, qualified staff and volunteer leaders, theyíll probably be back.