Delivered to NAHB's Executive Officer Council

1. The Member-Centric Association
Configuring Your Organization
for
Membership Success
Jodie Slaughter
President and Founding Partner

2. The Member-Centric
Organization
1. Defined
2. Elements
3. Principles
4. “Mini” Case Studies
5. Play a Game
6. Discussion, Q&A

3. The Member-Centric Organization
“Business in no longer about buying and selling
products and services. It is about addressing
people’s motives and desires.”
-Mark Levin
Millennium Membership

12. Delivering Real Value
Meeting expectations = a commodity.
It’s exceeding expectations
and
delivering the WOW.

13. Hallmarks of the Customer/Member Centric
Organization
• Learns what members/customers wants and
delivers according to those desires and motives
• Adds value by exceeding expectations and
delivering the WOW factor

14. For your consideration…

15. 1. Where does your Association create
memorable experiences?
2. Where do you create substandard
experiences?
3. Where can you realistically add value
by exceeding expectations?

16. Why become a member-centric Association?
• Develop deeper, more profitable relationships
• Improve retention
• Strengthen the brand, attract more members
• Others?

17. Member-Centric Defined
What does it mean
to be Member-Centric?

18. ELEMENTS OF THE
Member-Centric
ASSOCIATION
– culture
– metrics
– technology
– knowledge
– segmentation

19. A Member-Centric Association…
CLEARLY DEFINES HOW EACH MEMBER
INTERACTION SHOULD BE CARRIED OUT
It Starts at the Top

20. A Member-Centric Association…
CLEARLY DEFINES HOW EACH MEMBER
INTERACTION SHOULD BE CARRIED OUT
Written customer service rules or credo
Invests in training
Empowers employees

21. Quotable
“The value management places on its talent
has a direct impact on its risks.
How are they treated, compensated,
incentivized, and empowered?
Are these values all in alignment with the organization’s
innovation goals?”
Shira P. White
New Ideas About New Ideas

22. Member Services Performance Standards

23. How do you Build a Culture?
What are you paying attention to?
Values + Behaviors = Norms

24. A Member-Centric Association…
CLEARLY CONVEYS ITS MEMBER-CENTRICITY
Your Phone System
Your Website
Print, Electronic and Other Communications
Program Providers

25. Technology
Does your website convey a member-
centric organization?

28. A Member-Centric Association…
USES TECHNOLOGY AS A TOOL
TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE
Understands customer expectations
Keeps abreast of new developments
Invests in the long-term

29. Technology
Trend: Online management of customer
account

32. A Member-Centric Association…
CREATES/MONITORS SUCCESS MEASURMENTS
BASED ON MEMBER VALUE
Do traditional Key Performance
indicators truly reflect what members value?
New times call for new metrics
We can only impact what we measure

33. “Our vision was to create the world’s most
Member-Centric company, the place where
you can find and buy anything you want
online.”
Jeff Bezos
CEO, Amazon.com
“One of Jeff’s most recurrent phrases when
someone has a good idea is ‘we can measure that.’’
Source: FastCompany

34. Mini-Case: Metrics
Association Forum
of Chicagoland
Budget ~ $3 Million
Staff ~ 15
Members ~ 3,000
New Metrics

35. Mini-Case: Metrics
• Philosophy = Revenue should be derived from
meeting member needs.
• Actions = Identified programs that were
not adding value, innovated.
• New Goal = 10% of income from a new source
every year.

36. A Member-Centric Association…
KNOWS ITS AUDIENCES
Conducts effective market research
Creates a coordinated research plan
Measures trends by repeating questions
Focuses on gathering actionable data

37. Mini-Case: Knowledge
• Omnibus Survey Program streamlines process
and avoids “over-surveying”
• Culture of “data driven” decisions
• Baseline and evaluative data informs
everything from board planning to front lines

40. A Member-Centric Association…
KNOWS WHICH MEMBERS TO FOCUS ON
Segments based on behavioral patterns
Identifies and nurtures key relationships
Fully penetrates core market segments

41. Mini-Case: Knowledge
Products come and go and new
technologies develop at ever
increasing rates, but relationships
with high value customers must be
established and deepened over time
to generate truly sustainable
profitable growth.
-The Customer Centricity™ Suite
Wharton, The University of Pennsylvania

42. Segmentation
“I don’t know the key to success but the
key to failure is trying to please everybody.”
Bill Cosby

43. Mini-Case: Segmentation
Nat’l Assn of College and
University Business
Officers
Washington, DC
Budget ~ $12 million
Staff ~ 50
Members ~ 2,900 orgs

44. Mini-Case: Segmentation
• Identified 22 areas of responsibility
• Used annual census to collect and update data
• Targeted marketing
• Development of new products and services

46. A Member-Centric Association…
ANTICIPATES MEMBER NEEDS…
AND INNOVATES
Meeting today’s needs isn’t enough
Focus on what members will need in the future
This means taking some risks

47. Key Concept: Mission Dashboard
posItIve
f l o w
Totally Totally
Unrelated Related
mission
c a s h relevance
negatIve
© 2004 McKinley Marketing, Inc.

48. Key Concept: Program Dashboard
posItIve
THE MONEY ZONE THE VALUE ZONE
f l o w
Totally Totally
Unrelated Related
missionc a s h relevance
THE DANGER ZONE THE SERVICE ZONE
negatIve
© 2004 McKinley Marketing, Inc.

49. Let’s Play a Game
Which is it?
Member-Centric Organization-Centric

50. Which is it?
The Exec and Board Chair collaborate on all
important decisions.

51. Which is it?
A live person instead of an automated
system answers your phone.

52. Which is it?
You conduct member research before making
decisions on programming or focus.

53. Which is it?
You actively seek out and invite members to
work on advancing your legislative agendas,
write letters, make phone calls, meet with
representatives.

54. Which is it?
You begin a new series of functions which are
only open to CEOs of member companies.

55. Which is it?
You decide to only offer programs that become
cash positive after one year.