The Benefit of Networking

I met Tom Morrison, now CEO of the Metal Treating Institute (www.heattreat.net) many years ago when we both belonged to our industry association exec group, the Alliance of State Automotive Aftermarket Association Execs (ASAAA). For the very same reason I tell my association members and prospects that networking is one of the most valuable of our member benefits, I practice what I preach and join as many professional association management groups as I can handle. I join and participate so I, too, can network; not networking to get a job but networking to learn from others who do what I do.

Today, I followed up on my lunch appointment to meet Tom again for the first time in a decade. I remember thinking of him as one of the up-and-coming professional execs, very progressive in his thinking and a technology leader. That is what made today's private networking session with him so valuable for me. Since I last spoke with Tom he has earned the Presidency of the Florida Society of Association Executives and has introduced so many forward-thinking elements to his MTI that he has grown their member equity by over 500%.

My time with Tom today was a seminar. I learned so much from him in such a short period of time it makes me appreciate, again, the real benefit of networking. If I had not met him through ASAAA, I would not be any smarter tomorrow than I was yesterday. But because of my network, I am smarter.

Why am I writing about this today?

Next week I will be networking with three of my industry exec groups in three days, sharing experiences with 40 of my professional colleagues. I know that I will learn something which will benefit my association immediately. Even more valuable, however, I will continue meeting new experts and developing deeper professional relationships that will serve me for many years to come.

What disturbs me is there are many aftermarket association executives who will not be attending those meetings primarily because their Boards have not been convinced that networking for their exec is an investment just like the investment they are preaching to their own prospects. To those Boards and their execs, I implore you to put the TIAE, ASAAA and AASP meetings on your 2012 calendar. Networking is a benefit of membership for your association but when your executive director is networking, the association benefits.

Balancing the Board-CEO Relationship

I've heard many complaints from fellow association executives about their relationship with their Board. Of course, we all seek a harmonious, productive and balanced relationship where the winner is a fast-growing association with a happy exec, thrilled Board and appreciative membership. Thankfully, some have found that balance.

Frequently, however, there are associations at opposite ends of the balance scale: Some execs complain they can't get their volunteers out of day-to-day operations leaving them to do what they are best qualified to do; while others complain they can't get volunteers involved enough, even to update the strategic plan.

Like most problems in association management, the solution is a moving-target and has multiple elements to consider. Take, for instance, my own experience with my association. When I accepted the job in 2004, I expressly complimented the Board on their history of direct involvement and told them I would need their passionate efforts to grow the organization.

To my surprise, I lost one volunteer after another within my first year. They would each tell me what a great job I was doing, smile and leave me to do my work and the work I thought they should be doing too. Oh well, I reasoned, they are busy running their own company and I have a lot of association management experience so I should be able to fill in for them. Before long, I found myself managing a massively diverse company with a Board who hardly noticed they were needed. Graciously they (some) would attend our quarterly Board meetings but when we couldn't grow new members or education events missed attendance targets, I was left to blame myself.

In hindsight, I recognized my primary failure was to fulfill one of the most important roles of a professional association manager: volunteer development. I was losing the initial board members because they were burned out. They had given a huge chunk of their cash and emotion to our association already before I arrived so, sure, they were happy to have me. In my haste to put my mark on my new association, I tried to replace with hard work a member development strategy that would take a volunteer's passion. I tried to sell seminar seats with smart promotion when I needed volunteers to show their passion for the events they helped plan. I should have spent more attention to filling the vacant Board seats and delegating responsibilities they would likely have enjoyed.

Meanwhile, I see associations where volunteers are picking the napkin colors, designing sales flyers, writing their own press releases and recruiting their neighbors kid as the association's preferred web developer. This is where the professional in professional association management earns his keep. The best of us professionals will recognize how to harness the passion and expertise of a volunteer and balance it with the processes and practices taught by our own American Society of Association Executives to separate the Board's strategic role from the staff's tactical role along a very wide gray line between them.

In developing volunteers and balancing their direct involvement in association activities it is the professional executive director's responsibility to know each members relevant skill and interest, then to direct their effort towards a productive result. Each volunteer has their own skill, interest and level of effort. But most want the same thing from their volunteer experience: A feeling of accomplishment in growing their association.

The professional exec is their facilitator, not their grunt. But it is the Exec's job to make that so.

Event Planning Checklist

My volunteer leaders were struggling with the complexities of planning a small event for our trade association so I prepared this checklist to help guide them. I had found several extensive checklists in ASAE Resources but felt they may be too long and detailed for volunteers to consume. Please comment on my list if you can add to it.

Small Event Planning Checklist for a Volunteer-Run Organization

· Establish Objective (membership, fundraising, etc)

· Identify Primary Target Attendee (owners, employees, members, prospects)

· Funding source (equity, sponsors, registration)

· Describe the Specific, Compelling Value (that will create attendance)

· Mission Match (Is it who we are, quality, image, topic, etc?)

· Select Date (no significant cultural or industry conflicts)

· Design Program (Presenters, introducers, emcee)

·  Set Agenda (times and program flow)

·  Prepare budget, set attendance targets

·  Registration Source Responsibilities (direct mail, telemarketing, advertising, personal recruiting, etc)

·  Board Approval

·  Select Location/Sign Contract

· Location set-up requirements/contracts (room set, a/v needs, f-b)

·  Program Chair: Presenters, Special Guests, emcee, room set, a/v, etc.

· F-B Chair: f-b items, planning and on-site management

· Marketing Chair: promo scripts, registration flyer, promo schedule, sales responsibilities, registration handling.

· Sponsorship Chair (if applicable): sponsored items/prices, sponsor sales scripts, flyer, sales responsibilities, recognition, thank you notes

·  Event Chair: Coordinate other Chairs, manage location vendors, oversee on-site flow, timing, quality, bill-pay, photography, press release/newsletter notes, signage, handouts, chair and volunteer thank you notes/recognition

(Source: Skip Potter, c6support)

The First Milepost for the 3-Way Management Team

When I resigned as Executive Director/CEO of my tiny State trade association earlier this year I feared that the Board of Directors would see this as a chance to cut payroll and run the organization themselves, as volunteers; something not uncommon. That scared me, however, because I believe management of a small association is a specialty much the same as running an auto parts store verses running an automotive service center will require different insight, motivations and talents. This situation is much more critical for small associations than it is for large because, just like in any small business, the CEO must be skilled in so many more elements from marketing to finance and beyond. I could not be certain that the Board believed as I did. We had established our association as a respected voice for our members with momentum building for growth in education and collaboration. I did not want us to lose that opportunity to thrive. Had we been a larger association, the Board would likely have hired a new, experienced and expert CEO. But for us smaller associations, the money to do that is not usually there.

When I resigned I asked the Board to consider hiring me in a new role: Executive Advisor, where I would continue to provide them that unique insight, motivation and talent of an ASAE Certified Association Executive without having to pay full price for it. My proposal suggested we form a 3-person executive office of management where the volunteer President is the official CEO, an experienced association administrator is employed as the COO and I become a consultant-contractor-partner with the two of them as their Executive Advisor. Through email and phone calls, every action and decision would have the benefit of my opinion.

I wondered why they would want to do that. There were no existing models like that in the vast realm of automotive state aftermarket associations. I could not find in ASAE any examples of what I was proposing. Why do it?

While some of my closest Board Members and the staff COO-to-be were immediate supporters of the idea, I knew that others would struggle to accept it. Certainly, the Board was filled with very smart and experienced small business entrepreneurs and I knew that they knew how to run a company. The question for them then was: “So what is it – exactly - we volunteers must do to manage our association?” That was it. Bingo. When they had to ask that question to themselves, they knew that I knew they were not prepared to go it on their own.

So the CABA Board of Directors and I are now just one month into this new 3-way management team model and already it looks like a winner. The staff COO/Executive Manager is glad to have me as close as her phone or email to quickly assist with issues of member administration, the database, personnel management, meeting planning, financial statements, governance agendas, network security, and benefit questions like health insurance. The volunteer President/CEO is already glad to have me as a sounding board, critic, writer and advisor on questions like dues schedules, education programs, strategic focus, budgets, volunteer development and membership development.

One benefit of my Executive Advisor role may never be obvious to the Board, however: Representation. This role is what keeps our association fresh, vibrant and relevant. My active involvement with our industry’s national trade associations and my interaction and access to all the many other state association executives is not only a source of ideas but a source of resources that will leverage our organization into the future. As a “representative” for our association I am doing for them what we associations are always telling our constituents is the real value in becoming members:  It’s the network: We can learn from each other.

My role as Executive Advisor or a more limited role as contractor for a specific task can be shared among many associations. To discuss any opportunity you see within your association, contact me by phone at 301.502.4985 or by email to skippotter@automystique.com. For more of my association management insights visit http://c6support.blogspot.com.

Can You Push a String Without Bending It?

Volunteer Development

Everyone in business – any business – knows that their number one asset is their people. And the best organizations have great leaders to manage those people into a well-oiled, productive team that executes the mission beyond expectations. But what happens when a GREAT leader of a successful company is asked to be the leader of a non-profit where most of your staff are volunteers?

As a CEO of a non-profit you can get by with whatever management style has made you successful on the corporate side in directing your paid staff on the non-profit side. But you can’t use that same management style to direct your volunteers. Remember? They are YOUR boss. The dilemma is that all those bosses are key volunteers in making your association (and you, the CEO) successful. It is up to you as the GREAT leader to find their passion and align it with the job you need accomplished for the association.

Joanne Fritz in About.com categorizes volunteers into three types: Achievers, Affiliators and Influencers. You need all three types of volunteers but they are motivated quite differently. Read Ms. Fritz’s descriptions at http://nonprofit.about.com/od/volunteers/a/motivatevols.htm.

Tom McKee, an acknowledged management speaker for Volunteer Power, has several valuable suggestions on motivating volunteers, including feedback, recognition, rewards and training. Read about it at http://www.volunteerpower.com/articles/motivate.asp.

Even GREAT leaders in the corporate world struggle to become GREAT leaders in the non-profit world, which is why the profession of association management is an acknowledged field unto itself.

In my experience managing volunteers it has always felt like I was pushing a string across the table while trying to keep it guided straight towards the goal. Frustrating and slow? Yes, of course. But, it-is-what-it-is and a GREAT non-profit CEO must know that it is their responsibility, regardless, to make it happen.

Members Get Members. Staff? Not So Much.

My Volunteer Board President and his fellow Directors recruited more members in a month than I did in seven years on the road.

I have always been jealous of those trade associations with a powerful membership hook, like a killer price on an insurance program or a government mandated certification that members must have for employment. In 20 years of responsibility for membership I never enjoyed the luxury of such a hook. I wasn't alone. Most trade associations have no big hook. Instead most trade associations, at best, have a collection of very little hooks - an education program, trade show, group discount, legislative program, directory and professional network. So when the constituency is not falling at our feet to join us, how is it we little-hook associations recruit new members?

First, it does not hurt to have several little hooks made of gold; a good reputation helps, as well. But these alone don't get you much. Some associations employ sales people or send their executive director on the road to canvas the prospects and convert the masses to association-believers. While these overt attempts at recruiting are honorable, they enjoy little success for those of us with little hooks.

Certainly, if your association is relevant to your population and one of your little hooks connects, some prospects will actually mail you a dues check virtually unsolicited. I refer to these members as the ones who just fell in through the roof. They joined because we bumped into each other at the right time and they liked what they saw.

Real membership recruitment, however, occurs when the members themselves get excited about THEIR association and become CHAMPIONS of it. Staff takes on a sales support role when a member Champion is out verbally representing their organization in every conversation they have with suppliers, customers and peers.

When a staff person presents the membership sales pitch to a prospect the decision to join becomes just one of many nice-to-have, non-urgent issues in the prospect's big pile of decisions waiting for mind-share and money. When a volunteer Champion presents the membership sales pitch to a prospect it becomes personal and the decision to join is more simple.

From a collection of academic sales principle allow me to suggest the 4-steps in the buyer's mental process: Awareness, Acceptance, Preference and Action. If the association has communicated to the constituency effectively through the news and their programs, prospects should already be "aware" you exist and even "accept" that what you do is valuable to them. When a member Champion makes their membership sales plea (challenge or command) to a prospect, it essentially blows through the "preference" decision stage where they compare what you do with other available options. A Champion can cut right to the "action" of joining today by securing a personal commitment from the prospect to join your Champion in their cause.

For seven years I mailed newsletters, promotional fliers and membership applications to thousands of prospects throughout Maryland. At best, I created awareness of our association and acceptance of our value. It was not until I connected with my message of passion for membership did my President turn into a "Champion". His passion then flowed easily to other Directors and the association now has many Champions.

What a thrill it is now for all of us: members, staff, Officers, Directors and friends to feel the energy and see real membership growth; the growth we deserved all along.

Newsletter Distribution

How tight should you control your association's newsletter distribution? Do you restrict distribution to one key person at a single member? Some associations contend that if the company wants more of their people to receive it, they must upgrade their membership.

While I appreciate the $1 to $2 cost issue to print and mail each newsletter is an important consideration, the greater consideration is: Who can derive value from your newsletter content? The most valuable newsletters I have seen from aftermarket state associations regularly contain news that should accrue beyond the primary contact.

If your content promotes your own education, golf outing, conference and more you will want all key employees to receive your newsletter. Most primary contacts will not pass along your newsletter. At best, the content is filtered and metered to employees to serve the company's interest, not the associations'. Furthermore, imagine how it may make that store manager or salesman feel to receive their own newsletter addressed to them personally.

Beyond the self-serving promotional nature of your newsletter, if it really does contain valuable news, consider the value you create in the minds of employees who may one day move to another employer who does not hold membership in your organization. And what of the young employee who grows up appreciating the value of your organization.

I suggest you don't skimp on distribution. Get all you can get from your thoughtful dues strategy but then make sure as many of your member's key employees as possible receive your newsletter.

Why do we attend a conference?

Why? To learn, to make contacts and to contribute to the greater good.

While we trade association leaders are always telling members the value of attending a conference, the same value exists for us organization leaders. On that measure I feel I have just completed two of the most valuable two weeks ever spent. A week ago I attended the spring Board meeting of the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers where I learned new education innovations from CARQUEST, met the future of the aftermarket in Hamilton Sloan and enjoined 3 new industry projects with the granting of thousands of dollars from AASP. Last week I attended the Alliance of State Automotive Aftermarket Association Executives held in conjunction with the incredible Spring Leadership Conference for the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association. There I shared insight and expertise with 400 of the most knowledgeable industry leaders; cultivated personal connections with the top executives in aftermarket manufacturing, distribution, service, education and communications; and witnessed pioneering efforts in industry image, business development, technology, education and association management.

What I learned, the amazing people I got to know and the initiatives I am now a part of will make me and my industry better for many many years to come.

Keys to a Strong Trade Association

I won't debate whether the primary element in a successful trade association is the professional staff CEO or the passionate volunteers of the Board and Committees. Evidence abounds to demonstrate success with either of these elements prevalent above the other. But if you want to see super-success you will most likely see it in trade associations where the staff CEO is a skilled and experienced association management professional and the volunteers believe and act as deeply about their association as they do about their business. I challenge you to find a profitably surviving and growing trade association that is void of one or the other of these key elements.

Many small trade associations, however, are financially limited in the level of professional association management they can afford to employ. The most common solution to this challenge is to hire passion if you can't afford the experience. I have great respect for dozens of such passionate Executive Managers and I have learned from most of them myself through the years. Typically, the strength of the passionate Executive Manager is operations; the power to reinvent the association does not yet live in them.

Passionate volunteers are much harder to find and even harder to organize into productive member machines. Without them, the association is in deep trouble. With an engaged team of volunteers who take their Board and Committee positions seriously and who will dedicate themselves to be champions of their specific cause and their association in general, the association is poised for great success.

Imagine the chemistry where your organization has access to the most experienced, best connected and critically inventive CEO talent, employs the most passionate executive manager and sits on the shoulders of many volunteer champions.

That is exactly what I am imagining for associations like the Chesapeake Automotive Business Association, a Maryland-based, regional non-profit representing auto service centers, tire dealers, parts jobbers and their suppliers. Their Board has contracted with me to support their Passionate President and their Passionate Executive Manager.

This is an exciting new trail for trade association management which lies somewhere between the traditional CEO/Board model and the Association Management Company model. If you think your association would benefit from my talent, experience and contacts, please let me quote you on my C6Support. SKIP POTTER

Volunteer Development: Coaching

This article by Rick Moyers of philanthropy.com suggests another role for C6Support. Contact me to discuss the opportunity. http://linkd.in/c6coach.

The Newsletter

The primary objective of a trade association newsletter is to get read by the members.

I know this sounds logical and simple but members have no time for fluff and already they are being blasted with print, web, email, social media, video, TV and road signs that are crowding away the attention they can give you.

Put yourself in the member's shoes: Would YOU look forward to getting YOUR newsletter and would you read it as soon as you received it? You wouldn't if it hadn't already established credibility and interest with previous editions. And you would not turn the page on this one if it didn't impress you from the front cover.

This presents a dilemma for state associations. The association needs to communicate to its members but members may not believe they absolutely need to hear from you. At the very least, you must put your name and image in front of members so they don't forget that they are members and likely to forget why they should renew at the next notice. Most importantly, the association will have events, products and programs in which YOU want them to participate... But they may not see an immediate need to participate. So YOUR need, alone, is not enough to get THEM to open and read YOUR newsletter.

The key, then, is to make it OUR newsletter. To do that you must build a reputation that the newsletter is more valuable to them, the member, than it is to you, the association.

To create that value you need to know what gets the member's attention. Take a lesson from the retail media. They use drama, tragedy, controversy and celebrity to sell attention. Why do you think grocery stores put People Magazine and the Inquirer at the checkout counter? They know who their customer is and the majority of female customers know that those front-and-center publications are packed with drama, tragedy, controversy and celebrity. Often the grocery customer does not even wait to get through the checkout line before they have opened that publication. Do your members react that way with your newsletter when it hits the inbox? Congratulations to you if they do.

If they don't, try introducing these elements into your publication:

• Look professional
• Members are celebrities. Use their pictures frequently. Highlight their names in text.
• Limit advertising. No ads larger than a half page placed on odd-pages for optimum exposure.
• Newsletters are for news. Think USA TODAY: headlines and short stories. Feature articles belong in magazines and website files. And remember that magazines are the domain of professional industry publications that you are not likely to ever beat at their game.
• News is timely. If you write your March newsletter in January and the member receives it in April, you have failed this test. Report no news older than 30 days and try to get the February newsletter in their hands before the 2nd or 3rd of February.
• Include compelling monthly sections or elements like Member News, Industry Calendar, Legislative Report, New Members. If you are really brave and confident in the value of your association you might provide a Notice of Lost Members that plays to the People Magazine motives in all of us.
• Sound professional: no misspelled words or poor grammar.
• Be brief and well organized. You will be very lucky to get one minute of your member's attention. If you are really good they will circle something and pass it on to others, take it home to read further on their time or file it for future reference.

Print & mail, email, web, twitter, facebook, linked-in, You-Tube or whatever: You must know your member's real routine if you hope to connect with them. A newsletter, today, is a generic term that should adapt to use any of these modes of delivery. But that is for another blog.

Contact me if you want to know more about Newsletters. Contribute your comments to this blog and help me learn more about the subject, as well.

Consolidating (merging) trade associations

Consolidating two competing trade associations into one stands right up there with negotiating a Middle East peace and American political debate: Parties often focus too much on what separates them than on what successful solution could grow from constructive collaboration.

It is this protectionist, defensive attitude that makes consolidation of two independently healthy associations almost impossible. Often they must wait until one or the other are financially broke which turns a consolidation of proud equals into a merger with one eating the other.

Whether they realize it or not, negotiators and voters in either association have four perspectives to consider in their decisions: Is this good for (1) our industry, (2) the members of our current organization, (3) our current organization,  or (4) me personally? It's my opinion that these considerations are in the correct order. Ultimately if the results of any decision are not good for their industry, the supporting organization will fail as a trade association and may survive only as a club.