Four Business Tips to Start a New Year

I’ve learned four concepts during my business life that have stayed right here in my head for more than twenty years. What makes us remember certain lessons while others go into one ear and out the other? The four tips below have become so much a part of my work life, they are now an automatic part of my thinking. I hope this will be a good reminder for you and maybe even a pass-along to your staff:

1. Plan, Organize, Implement – It’s the business equivalent to “ready, aim, fire.” Whenever I begin a project, I plan what outcome should look like. In light of smaller association staffs and more emphasis on deliverables, the planning step is sometimes shortchanged.

Planning means deciding goals first—yours, your staff’s, and even your boards’. Put yourself inside the head of your association’s members and consider how they will see the final product. What are their current expectations, perceptions, needs? Do you plan to meet those standards or offer an alternative? Answer these questions before you start.

Organizing means putting yourself at the event, reading the e-newsletter, or otherwise stepping into the shoes of your members. What will your audience be anticipating, and what will it take to overachieve your goal? What steps will take to get from here to there in an uncomplicated, logical fashion? Organizing helps anticipate speed bumps, even while in the heat of putting a project together.

The success of any project or event is in direct proportion to your preparation. You deliver more than meets the eye. You deliver assurance that you know exactly what your members need out of the project.

2. Trust. But Verify – This has helped me both as a businessperson and even as a parent! It’s the notion of not trusting every spoken or written word. An example is hearing a board of director say in a meeting, “We know our members want more services. The problem is they’re not willing to pay for them.” Sometimes, a membership survey reveals that members are, in fact, willing to pay more for additional, tailored services. This is the business equivalent of trusting that your kid is at Jake’s house, then calling Jake’s mom to be sure.

3. Manage Up – When I finally grew up to pay more attention to the little things in my career, I remember when my most memorable boss sat me down and said, “Melynn, you have to learn to manage up.” I didn’t understand the concept until years after he spoke the words. What he meant was that every effort, every day, making the boss look good boosts the entire organization. This may sound self-serving to my boss—and I suppose it was—but it has become a priority in my business, and has paid me back in my own career. The passion in my work with associations is to master your communications and value proposition. If I do it well, I make the CEO and staff look good. Yes, I like to have pride in my work. More importantly, the Association CEO and staff have pride in the work they helped create. My first boss might have long forgotten this conversation, but I never will.

4. Once in a while, you will need to sit and have a drink with someone you don’t especially like – I’ll explain with an example: I meet some of the most professional, forward thinking, smart Association CEOs, AEs, EDs and EVPs in this business. Sometimes, there is a “rub” or a disconnect between him or her and their incoming elected leader. This is frustrating for the executive, not to mention unproductive, inefficient, and a waste of a lot of energy. Is the conflict a result of an ulterior motive by the elected leader? Does the leader really want interfere with the AE’s business? Or is the disconnect because of two diverse personalities and backgrounds that just don’t naturally blend together?

When you reach into your sock drawer with your eyes closed, unless the socks were in pairs already, you’d have about the same chance of finding two perfect mates as you would of finding a perfect balance between an AE and volunteer leader. Sometimes getting away from the formal setting and getting to know your colleague as a person first starts to build a small bridge to respect and trust, not to mention a respectable working relationship. It’s a small effort with maximum potential. So have a drink with someone you don’t especially like—and see what happens.

Four simple business ideas. I can attest that these lessons are tried and true. Although I continue to learn new lessons every day, I value the wisdom of the mentor who taught me these. I encourage you to pass your most treasured tips on to your staff. There are future leaders in your association who will appreciate the lessons you’ve learned along the way.

Four Business Tips to Start a New Year

Why Would I Brand My Association?

Your members have options. They can 1) use your service to get what they need, 2) get their services somewhere else, 3) do it themselves, without anyone’s help, or 4) do nothing at all. What will it take to get them to choose you?

Whether your goal is to grow membership, or improve value to the member, the better you can articulate your promise, the more members you will attract, and convert from joiners to lifetime members. Loyal members get involved, respond to calls-to-action, read your mailings, and tell their non-member colleagues about you.

Your brand is your promise.

A brand tells your member the one thing that makes your association valuable to them – bar none. The brand is your promise to them. It is a statement – a symbol that describes clearly how every staff person and board member will interact with members. The brand begins with your knowledge of your members’ biggest needs. It reflects your culture, your philosophies, what you’re good at (or what you aspire to be), and ends with promise that never ends.

There is an important, unexpected benefit to branding. When you declare your promise to your members, it’s a unified statement of your value. When a company commits to a promise that “We Try Harder” (like Avis) or “We’re In It For You” (like OKC REALTORS® Association), the staff and leadership is responsible to deliver on that promise.

 It is not only a “marketing promise”,

it is an organizational commitment delivered

in every single interaction.

• People have the obligation to reinforce the brand for their small piece of your business.
• When leadership makes decisions based on the brand, it is a demonstration of their commitment over time.
• Finally, the brand is a tangible way to measure the efforts of your organization, so that each staff member and leader is not only satisfying his/her piece of the pie, but also delivering on the association’s unified brand promise.

Branding doesn’t stop when new leadership takes office, or when a staff member is replaced. Brand building that lasts requires trust and consistency, year after year. You earn your brand by continuing to deliver it over time.

It’s not about your logo.

The definition of “brand” (noun) came from cattle-ranchers, who burn a mark – the “brand” – on the haunches of their cattle to differentiate their cattle from other ranchers. Unlike the literal definition of the brand, this is not what I mean by a brand. In marketing terms, a brand is a distinctive characteristic that sets a product, service, person, or place apart from other products services, people, or places.

The European Brands Association proposes that a “brand is a constant point of reference; a contract, a signpost, a relationship. It is a signpost because it shows consumers a way to fulfill their needs. It is a relationship because trust and loyalty are earned over time.” This may be the most misunderstood and undervalued marketing concept. Let’s explore more below.

Good customer service is not a brand.

Customer service is a basis for running a good business. However, it is difficult to call it a true point of differentiation. You will need to work harder to determine a promise your members will consider valuable and one that gets their attention.

Building your brand and then delivering can actually provide your members a return on their investment.

As Warren McKenna says, “You brand yourself through your people, your places, and your things.”

Branded People – Consider your association staff, volunteers, committee members, and board of directors as “Agents of Change”. From the mailroom to the boardroom, your constituents can be a strategic force for change.

Branded Places – Build events on a philosophy of “anticipate, experience, and remember.” Any physical place is an opportunity to build a relationship. Every place you are in front of your members, at industry conferences, training events, seminars, etc., you have the opportunity to build on your brand.

Branded Things – Develop touch points that can demonstrate value while also providing unique channels to service members: membership materials, websites, brochures, newsletters…the list goes on. The continuity of these vehicles is essential in building a two-way dialogue with your members, to build on your brand.

What’s involved in determining a brand?

• A brand will be useless if it doesn’t help you improve your members’ experience. For your brand to be relevant, you must identify what your members really want (the vital needs). Discover their top three needs through a member survey. Find out what members think is most important.
• A brand can be a way to change the skills or direction of an organization. You must evaluate your desired strengths against your current strengths in order to brand yourself realistically. A branding assessment, though not long or involved, will help you direct your efforts. It can bring your staff and board closer, can bring focus to a trait that requires development, and can position you to attract a more involved membership.
• Ultimately you want to fill in these two blanks:

1. Why would members join if they didn’t have to? In other words, what one valuable member benefit do you want to be known for?
2. If you are known for the one benefit above, how will it help you achieve your association’s goals?

Selected properly, and embraced by your leadership, your brand is an intangible yet invaluable asset. It is the basis of the way you communicate your association’s value.

For more information on branding, click here for nSight Marketing’s one-pager on the topic.

Melynn is dedicated to improving value to your members through communications and committed to the success of trade Associations. She can be reached at melynn@nsightmarketing.com or 913.220.7753.

Why Would I Brand My Association?

Communicating using the Internet Tools

At my Rotary meeting this week, two of our young members presented a program entitled: "Social Media: Why it's Not Going Away and More on What it's About" (Average age of the club member in this club - 58 years).
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My boomer-age Rotarian friend leaned over and said "Do you have facebook?" I said "Yes, I have it all". To which he replied: "I don't know why I would use it except to keep up on my kids".


It made me think of three things I would say to him, and other baby boomers who still want to grow their business:


1) For the 95% of us that are actually looking for new business, a blog, a Facebook profile, or LinkedIn page are necessary places to establish a brand, and credibility and relationships. Blog about your specialty. Offer up helpful tips on your Facebook page that people you know will value. It helps show that you know your stuff. Without advertising. (It's especially helpful to have someone specific in your mind - a "persona".)


2) The same reason you belong to Rotary or frequent social, philanthropic luncheons, or other networking functions is the reason Facebook is an efficient way to get connected to your community and get into conversations. Conversations lead to introductions, and meeting new people is simply good for business.


3) Information is abundant on the internet, and access to knowledge and ideas are available from unlimited sources. Quickly get information right to your desk by Googling the exact information you need! My last Google search was for a remedy for my dog after being sprayed by a skunk on Halloween! Without the instant access to information, and a subsequent 6am visit to Wall Mart, my house would be unlivable (and my animal impossible to live with)! This info, not out of a veterinary journal, came from bloggers about their pets. Who knows when people are looking for financial planning or accounting advice in a pinch will run across you!


Remember, the purpose of communication falls into one of two categories: to inform, to build a relationship, or a call-to-action. When people talk to each other, it is either to exchange information or to ask someone to do something. As Stephen said this week at Rotary, the fastest segment of users on social media are over 40 years of age. Try it for yourself. In the end, you have the choice not to use this technology, if you don't find it useful!

The generation gap seems to both widen and become narrower at the same time! I hope more of our clubmates will chose to see what it's all about.

Communicating using the Internet Tools

Get What You Pay For

In this summer's edition of REA Magazine (a publication for association executives in the real estate industry), I wrote an article that any association executive, association ceo, or executive director should consider reading. Any executive who juggles members, staff, and a changing market likely has faced this same conversation in a board meeting.

The article compiled a list of seven ideas to keep members motivated in a downturn. AEs surveyed talked about how their offerings change in times of economic distress. As expected, conventional wisdom was split right down the middle: offering education and other member services for free is a real draw.  To balance this out, other AEs believe that associations actually create more value for their offerings when they charge a small fee for a class or an event. (Read the article here_Marketing in a Downturn)

Since publishing, two convincing  arguments have surfaced to add to the list! One AE has acquired a fax-to-email service that he gives away as an incentive for joining - generating nearly 200 new members this year!

Another board of directors made the decision to raise dues - by 30%! At the same time they laid out several payment options in advance to help ease the transition. "It was a necessary step to keep the association healthy" says the executive director. The jury is out, but he believes transparency in communicating the association's finances helps to build member loyalty.

Executives and marketing types have mixed feelings about which direction to take when the goal is delivering more value to the member. Corporate giants have experienced the same dilemma, with related consequences. It is a great article that we in not-for-profit marketing should learn from. Why Charging Just a Little Can Be Smarter Than Charging Nothing at All. (Link to Fast Company). 

Free is tempting, but is it a legitimate business strategy?

Get What You Pay For

Are you listening?

My favorite quote of the week: “In a society of super-sophisticated communication, we often suffer from a shortage of listeners.”                                                                                                      – Erma Bombeck


If you and I haven’t met yet (or better yet if we have), you know my mantra from spending the past 20+ years with real estate professionals: REALTORS® really want three things from your association:


     1. They want to LEARN something they can apply to their work,
     2. They want you to ADVOCATE for them to keep the industry healthy, and
     3. They want you to help them MAKE more money! That’s it.

In a recent article I wrote for an association newsmagazine outlined how Nobu Hata, a REALTOR® in Minneapolis uses his Facebook business page as a referral and sales tool. He admits to getting nearly 30% of his leads there. Instead of telling you more here, you can link to the article by clicking here.


If you want to give your members a two of their three biggest asks – learning helping them make more money, you have my cyberspace permission to link this article onto your blog or forward it to your membership in your e-newsletter! Please use caution when promoting this: Social networking is not a selling strategy; it is a social strategy, and is meant to build relationships. As you well-know, the best sales professionals approach the relationship first, before (and many times instead of) a direct solicitation.

Let me know if Facebook is helping your members by replying to this post.

Are you listening?

Making Decisions by Fact

In today's tight economy, many associations are re-examining their role to find the most important ways to support their members.

While in a client review of member survey results, a staff member teased “we have a case of what’s new - itis.”

This association GETS the purpose of formal member input. Here’s more about the comment she made: “A member survey helps remind us what’s important to the TOTAL MEMBERSHIP of the association – not just the current leadership, or the staff alone.

At the office, we get wrapped up in what we do every day. We promote the programs we’re responsible for. The staff and leadership are always coming up with something new to offer to members that will help them avoid risk or enhance productivity. So we have a case of “what’s new”- itis.
We have the same problem in our city with restaurants – there are hundreds of people at the new restaurant that opened. There are only 12 people at the new-ish restaurant that opened 6 weeks ago. But that 6-week-old restaurant is really just getting good. The staff is finally trained; the chef is familiar with the food.

But like that old restaurant, we want to move onto the newest project we’re working on. And we need to show the leadership that the newest project is successful. So we go full steam behind it -to the detriment of the stuff we created last month or last year - even if that stuff is actually more important to the members.

We like the Marcus Buckingham principle of improving on your strengths, not focusing on your weaknesses. A survey shows us what our strengths are … so we can build on them.”

Association marketers and staff play a key role by providing your leadership insight into what members want and which programs are worth hanging on to. 

Making Decisions by Fact

A commercial for commercial members

In Mid-August on a Monday morning, the Wall Street Journal carried a front page story on the foreclosure of a prime commercial development on the west coast; the very same day, section B covered the virtual halt in the commercial real estate market in another part of the country. This week, a Bloomberg news headline read “Commercial Property Values Fall as Rent Drop Forecast”. Bottom line, this is not what associations want to see on in the news. Life is not good for your commercial members.

While on a long delay Friday night, I sat myself on the floor of Washington Regan Airport (with nowhere else to sit), and thought about what an association might do to encourage one segment of your membership who is struggling. Here are three ideas to get you to start thinking:

1. Consider your value proposition to these members. Even though they may be a small segment, is there a thorny issue in your city or state that you can watch, influence or even overcome for them? When you take this on, you help stimulate their business and begin changing their mindset about their business? You probably already do some legislative or political action work on behalf of your members. Get the word out so that your members understand the value of your efforts and what it means to them. Legislative affairs may be the least understood member benefit - in any industry.

2. When there is some good news, like Bloomberg reported just yesterday about existing home sales up 7.2%, encourage commercial members that positive news for the industry is good for all segments – so keep looking for the opportunities that are out there – albeit fewer, those who are looking full time will get the breaks.

3. From coast to coast I see commercial REALTORS® who avoid their residential counterparts. Look for RCA members in your association who get referrals from their residential counterparts. Promote the heck out of it. Tell the stories. Help change the culture. One testimonial from an influential member can sway a lot of long-standing public opinion.

If you say no to these ideas, I trust you can go find a solution of your own. Don’t hide behind the “RCA is a small segment of our membership” excuse. Like one savvy CEO told me, “What’s good for commercial business, and your town square is good for selling houses.”

If you have a great idea, or one that has worked, share it with your peers by replying to this post.

A commercial for commercial members

Social Media - Good Bad and Ugly

Freedom of Speech…How about the concept “Bad News Travels Really Fast?” For all of you (us) involved in the real estate industry, I’d like to remind you of the power of social media as you read about the Twitter debacle between Horizon Realty and their tenant-Tweet-er.

Follow the story below about the “Sue first, then ask questions kind of an organization” who sued their tenant for broadcasting about mold in her apartment. Horizon is in the spotlight - they have a great PR opportunity to rectify the situation. Some bloggers have suggested dropping the lawsuit, admitting to a potential error, and fixing the mold issue. There's an idea!

How about the power of communation where 20 followers turned into hundreds of thousands. That is some powerful communications tool. It may even be monumental enough to convince some of you sign up for this Twitter-thing just in case there's some news you need to know!

Link here to read the story: http://www.copyblogger.com/horizon-realty-group/#more-3986

Social Media - Good Bad and Ugly

Need more volunteers?

Off the subject of social media for a while...REA Magazine is known for offering promising practices for Association Executives (AEs) in all areas of association management. I think the editor, Carolyn Schwaar is a master at editorializing many "right on" themes. I recently wrote an article for the Magazine; AEs who don't seem to ever have enough willing volunteers to fill committees might take a gem or two from your fellow CEOs:

Building a successful association hinges on finding volunteers to give their time, energy, and talent. Yet some associations continually struggle to attract volunteers. These days, some fear even asking members who are experiencing a challenging business environment. Here are some new (and some tried - and- true) tips for recruiting volunteers.

1. Ask them in person. Ask 10 members why they got involved in their local or state association, and nine out of ten will say, “Because someone asked me.” Soliciting for volunteers is, after all, just like selling anything else. Cold calling is a difficult way to sell. People do business with people they like. CEO of the Kansas City Regional Association of REALTORS® Diane Ruggiero advises, “You must ask them in person if you really want to get someone to say yes. Go to their office, meet them for coffee, or ask them out for lunch. Make them feel important and always tell them the purpose, the WIIFM (what’s in it for me), and the time involved.”

2. Build trust by being honest. It’s critical to be completely up-front about the commitment involved. Pinellas REALTOR® Organization CEO Ann Guiberson agrees. “Tell volunteers whether it’s a task force that’s going to meet once or twice for two hours each or if it’s an ongoing commitment.” Always overestimate the time commitment slightly just in case a project takes longer than expected. Also, always explain the purpose of the assignment and its importance to the association. Otherwise, a potential volunteer may not think the work is worth his or her time.

3. Find ways to use members’ expertise. Find out what skills and abilities your volunteers bring to you and then match them to committee assignments (but don’t assume someone has skills or particular interests; ask first). A good skill-to-task match makes volunteers feel not only comfortable, but that their expertise is useful to the association. For Vice President of Administrative Services at the Kansas Association of REALTORS® Christy Stinger, the matching process was really common sense. “Two of our members have accounting backgrounds. With so many REALTORS® who are well versed on financials and budgets, those people make sense on a budget and finance committee. Another woman who wrote op-eds for the local paper was appointed to the governmental affairs committee for her ability to explain and communicate her opinions.”

4. Explain the benefit from the members’ point of view. Jim Helsel, 2009 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS ® treasurer, has volunteered since the beginning of his long career. He suggests focusing on the payoff from volunteering. First, Helsel tells potential volunteers that they’ll not only get personal satisfaction and enjoyment from volunteering, but that they’ll also have fun. “Emphasize the networking and learning opportunities in volunteering,” he says. “There’s not a person I’ve met during this journey that hasn’t helped me in my career when I’ve needed it,” Helsel recalls. He credits his volunteer work with bringing referrals from across the country.

5. Follow your instincts. Helsel advises AEs to watch for and nurture prospective volunteers. “Many times it is the AE that sees a reason to push someone to ‘go to the next level’ and use their talents to work for the association and for their industry,” he says. “AEs learn to spot talent. No one sees more than an AE.”

Need more volunteers?

What about us old dogs?

Business, gaining prospects, on-line networking, talking about what you do...does it all fit together?

From my most recent association member survey conducted in June, I learned something surprising. While the Young Professionals segment (gen x and gen Y) fall into the 20% range of the total association membership, 38% use some kind of social technology!

Could that mean that the boomers and even civics are beginning to adopt to this type of technology to make more connections?

I continue to get feedback that confirms this trend. While teaching a writing class at an association this week, I asked for a raise of hands for those who use social networking technology - either facebook or Linked In (specifically). While about 20% of the class said "yes", at least five were tenured professionals.

Joe, a 63 year old veteran commented he had received four leads from Facebook this year. Honest! He acknowledged he has been referred to as 'you dog', but never call him an old dog. Joe, and others have begun to realize online is a place where people can spread their word, and without a single advertisement, it can lead to new prospects.

What about us old dogs?

Social Networking - I was thinking just what you might be thinking!

There was a time I was stuck on the belief that I am not social, and I don't do well at networking. So, this must mean social networking is not for me.

The more I read, listened, asked, and grumbled, the more conflicted I was feeling.

One day, I invited a friend out for a drink. In return, I had an hour to ask him all the idiot questions I had about tip toeing into Social Networking.

Social - I came to realize, was simply a common place where groups of people gather.

Networking was linking up to friends, family, colleagues, and other people to extend my reach in order to find my way to other people.

In the past, social networking - in my mind - should be a direct line between tapping the keys on the keyboard and magically getting more business, or finding the person who could help me make a connection. This just isn't so.

The turning point was realizing everything we do is grounded in who we know. And the more connections we have is a good starting point for helping AEs learn right along with me how this technology can help associations.

This blog is for my Association Executive friends and colleagues. It is a safe place to ask the "idiot questions" (this is my term) and listen to what other people are saying about this technology that is growing in terms of importance and relevance.

Stay tuned and feel free to join in. This is all about learning from each other. We're about to get started.

Social Networking - I was thinking just what you might be thinking!